Easter was day four for me in the hospital and not our typical way of celebrating a holiday. But we made the best of it. We watched Easter mass on TV and received communion in the hospital. That is definitely one thing I like about St. Mary's Hospital - it is faith-based.
Second best part of the day (really my favorite part) was that I was able to leave my room with Brad and Gavin for a wheelchair walk. We visited a little courtyard outside and then the atrium of Lack's which is just a beautiful, serene place. Today, we got out for another adventure over to Mary Free Bed. They have a play room for kids, complete with a Thomas the Train table set which was a huge hit. It was fun to see Gavin explore and have fun! It's difficult to get that natural fun reaction from a toddler when he's confined to a small hospital room. I love seeing him happy and having fun!
Probably Brad's favorite part of Easter was enjoying a nice cold Diet Coke with Lime. For the past at least 8 years, Brad has talked about giving up pop for Lent. This year, he actually did it. 40 days and 40 nights with NONE. If you know Brad, you know he loves his Diet Coke with Lime. It was quite the sacrifice and I'm very proud of him for sticking with it, particularly given all of the stress in our lives would have made it very easy for him to quit. Yay Brad!
And this photo was taken a few days before I moved into my new residence. We were decorating eggs and I wanted to make one for each of my kiddos. So, my official blog announcement of our daughter's name. We wanted something that signifies her story, so we've landed on Grace Evangeline. She will be our angel of grace, regardless of the outcome. I think her name is just beautiful!
As far as other updates go, all is okay for Grace and me in the hospital. I have my weak moments - missing my family and my home. Wishing I had the freedom to come and go as I please. And the hospital schedule is just no fun - keeping me up until 1am, checking vitals at 4am, lab tech at 5:30am, resident at 6:30am...sleep is a luxury around here. Not to mention my arms look like I'm an IV drug abuser. Never had so many pokes and IVs in my life!
On the up side, everyone here is wonderful! In fact, I had a massage and pedicure yesterday which was lovely. And I'm able to continue working part-time which is just great! I love my job, I don't like being away from it, but being able to continue working even just a little gives me a great sense of purpose. It's easy to fill the down time with other things, like watching TV, reading, checking Facebook endlessly...but something about all of these fillers just doesn't seem meaningful. Now, I'm able to fill a few hours a day of downtime with something that has a real purpose and challenges me - work. I like it!
I'm now having every-other-day ultrasounds which have been showing good things. Amniotic fluid is still low, no surprise. But Grace really seems to be doing well aside from this. I'm not an expert, so I won't try to say I know exactly what the MFM specialist is looking at, but he is always reporting good results. They are checking her to assure the blood supply from my placenta, through the umbilical cord, and to Grace is normal, given the sub-par performance of my placenta. And that her heart and brain are using blood/oxygen appropriately. Additionally, they will be tracking her growth, likely a couple of weeks from now compared to past growth assessments. They are concerned her growth may fall off, a sign that she is not getting enough nutrients from the placenta, and an indication for delivery. She's still breach, will likely remain that way, so I probably have a C-section coming my way. I'm nervous about this. It's major surgery!
Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks. We're praying to keep her inutero as long as we can to minimize the risks of prematurity, aside from the unknown lung development. I'm taking it one day at a time. I look forward to updating the marker board in my room with my gestation, currently says 27 weeks 6/7 days. Can't wait to change it to 28 weeks in just a couple of hours at midnight. Each and every day counts!
So, more to come. I have a fun post planned in my head that Gavin will love...stay tuned!
On the up side, everyone here is wonderful! In fact, I had a massage and pedicure yesterday which was lovely. And I'm able to continue working part-time which is just great! I love my job, I don't like being away from it, but being able to continue working even just a little gives me a great sense of purpose. It's easy to fill the down time with other things, like watching TV, reading, checking Facebook endlessly...but something about all of these fillers just doesn't seem meaningful. Now, I'm able to fill a few hours a day of downtime with something that has a real purpose and challenges me - work. I like it!
I'm now having every-other-day ultrasounds which have been showing good things. Amniotic fluid is still low, no surprise. But Grace really seems to be doing well aside from this. I'm not an expert, so I won't try to say I know exactly what the MFM specialist is looking at, but he is always reporting good results. They are checking her to assure the blood supply from my placenta, through the umbilical cord, and to Grace is normal, given the sub-par performance of my placenta. And that her heart and brain are using blood/oxygen appropriately. Additionally, they will be tracking her growth, likely a couple of weeks from now compared to past growth assessments. They are concerned her growth may fall off, a sign that she is not getting enough nutrients from the placenta, and an indication for delivery. She's still breach, will likely remain that way, so I probably have a C-section coming my way. I'm nervous about this. It's major surgery!
Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks. We're praying to keep her inutero as long as we can to minimize the risks of prematurity, aside from the unknown lung development. I'm taking it one day at a time. I look forward to updating the marker board in my room with my gestation, currently says 27 weeks 6/7 days. Can't wait to change it to 28 weeks in just a couple of hours at midnight. Each and every day counts!
So, more to come. I have a fun post planned in my head that Gavin will love...stay tuned!
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