Doctors appointment

So I went back to the hospital today. And praise God all is looking well!!!! My blood pressure was great. Baby looked fantastic on the monitor. I am so very thankful. The contractions were less than on Friday. My heart rate is still off and I am waiting to hear back from the cardiologist but otherwise a fantastic appointment. We were told to just on doing what we are doing. A friend from work brought us dinner last night. Homemade ziti and meatsauce. It was so delicious. I think Preston had four servings! He LOVED it :-) And I am just so very thankful for such wonderful people in our lives that are taking care of us :-)

Playing catch up....

So had my appointment with all the high risk docs on 7/18, and essentially we are in a watch and wait period until something changes. Little Miss looked fantastic on the special ultrasound, and they are saying she is about 3 and a half pounds! Praise God. On Monday 7/22 I had another doctors appointment and non-stress test. She didn't look fantastic on the monitor but looked ok, it ended up being quite a long appointment but she eventually was reactive. Blood pressure was good too. On Wednesday 7/24 I got a very scary call from my cardiologist. She initially got on the phone and grilled me about how I was feeling and if I was having any chest pain, palpitations etc. She said my results weren't good, and that she had to call another cardiologist and would get right back to me. So apparently she called another cardiologist and he made a recommendation for changing the medication that I am on, however the new medication can be very dangerous for the baby. So essentially the conversation was to let them know immediately if I had any worsening symptoms and we would go from there, but to take it easy. On Thursday 7/25 I woke up feeling absolutely horrible. To the point where I was convinced I was getting very sick again:-( Praise God I wasn't! I did have some elevated blood pressures, and I did have protein in my urine which I hadn't had previously. But I was able to come home and was told to go to bed and stay there until I came back the next day.... On Friday I went back and my blood pressures were low! So praise God for that! The results of my 24 hour urine test weren't fantastic but they weren't terrible either. My liver tests and platelets are holding steady! So they again let me come home, saying "Go home and go to bed, don't get up until Monday when you come back." I did have a wonderful friend have a baby shower for me this weekend, and thankfully I begged to go to the shower and had a wonderful time but felt pretty yucky when I came back home and all day yesterday. Yesterday my mom came over at church and stayed for the whole day until after supper. She washed EVERY piece of dirty laundry and folded them and put them away. She also washed all of the bed linens including the blankets! Matt had taken the kids to a church picnic so I was able to really lay low yesterday and focus on growing this baby and spending some one on one time with my mom :-) Such a blessing! Sam had IVIG on Friday and he did fabulously. He had his friend with him and so they played the Wii and had a great morning/afternoon together, while I layed in the other bed until I had to go to the hospital. Thanks to Auntie Sara who stayed with Sammy until he was done. Another wonderful friend is organizing an army of help for me in these next few weeks! I just can't even believe how blessed I am. God is so good to me. He has put some absolutely amazing people in our lives. People are helping with childcare, cleaning, meals etc etc. So very blessed!!! I am headed back to the hospital in a little while. Please keep the baby and I in your prayers. I did unfortunately have some heart stuff going on this weekend and need to speak with the cardiologist this morning to see what the plan is.... On Saturday night I had palpitations but had been napping so when I woke I was sweaty and nauseous. Not completely sure what that means yet.

Sammy is 7!!!

I still can't believe my little tiny miracle baby is 7 years old! It is so amazing thinking back to the time I was pregnant with him and how the devil tried so hard to take him from us. We were told he wouldn't survive my surgery when I was 17weeks pregnant, and then I got kicked in the stomach, and then the severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. And then his first year when he was so sick and they didn't know why. To his second year when he had the hemorrhage and we learned that he had the bleeding disorder. We have had a roller coaster ride like no other with this little boy, and I am so very thankful that God has been with us through it all! God has comforted and provided for us through it all. And these special days of celebration are such a reminder of His unending love for us. Several years ago Sam had requested a camping birthday. He has continued to desire that for his birthday. So this year Matt took Sophia and Sam camping at Lake Dennison. Matt's parents also joined them. They had a wonderful weekend. Preston and I came during the day but slept at home in our beds at night. The day of Sam's party was overcast and had some sprinkles. It was a nice time and he was very excited that we got him his own kayak! He also got some cool legos and some games. But his favorite besides the kayak was the money he received because now he can pick out his own lego set :-) I certainly am lacking on the photo taking lately, but hopefully will be better soon...

Pregnancy Update

Well praise God I made it to 30 weeks, at the rate things are going I may deliver sooner than we had hoped. I am so far behind in updating I am just going to do bullet points by date, just to get caught up.... So I had gone to the ER on June 29th. Two days later... 7/2/13 Was told to go to see cardiologist. I went and met her, and she was very nice. But very concerned with my history, as well as the fact that my mother had cardiomyopathy while pregnant. As well as multiple cardiac issues on my side of the family. My blood pressure was good. So she ordered echocardiogram (special ultrasound of my heart) as well as holter monitor. And increased the medication that the ER started to try to slow down my racing heart rate. 7/5 Labs were redrawn at the OB's office, due to the liver studies being off in the ER 7/8 On this date I received a phone call stating that my liver studies were significantly worse, actually worse than they were when they decided to deliver Preston! But due to some other symptoms that I had they were questioning something called "Cholestatis". This is a condition in which the bile acids build up in your blood. There is all kinds of risks associated with this. I also had my first non-stress test today. It was wonderful to hear this little one's heart beat so strong. I did have some elevated blood pressures at this visit, as well as this was the first visit that I had a large amount of ketones in my urine. 7/9 Preston had IVIG at Children's, and all went well, but no pics :-( 7/11 Had another NST test today. Baby continued to look good but I was also contracting fairly consistently. After the NST I went to the OB unit and had an appointment. At this point they informed me that I did have cholestasis, and told the risk of the baby dying. 7/12 Sent to a endocrinologist to try to figure out why so much ketones in my urine. Now having to monitor my blood sugars, four times a day :-( 7/13 Sam's 7th birthday! (I will write a post about it) 7/15 Echocardiogram: praise God this was normal!!!! Another NST, this time the baby didn't look as good as she had been on the monitor. Call placed to high risk obs.... Scheduled in depth ultrasound, and appointment with team of docs on 7/18 Here is an ultrasound pic of my sweet little miracle! I am relieved knowing that God has a plan for each of our lives and that His plan is perfect. Regardless of what the doctors say or think, regardless of what lab tests, and a variety of other tests show, God is in control of all of this!!! Praise God for His miracles! I look forward to holding this little one in my arms, as a testimony that against all odds God's will always prevails!!!

IVIG and more pregnancy issues

Unfortunately the unit where Sam gets his IVIG is closing soon. I am still so heartbroken about it. It has been so wonderful to go and have the same nurses always care for him in the same room, with the ability to have friends come and spend time with him during the infusion. I am still unsure of what we are going to do next because of the unit closing. This time we went and they got the IV right in and auntie Sara stayed with Sam while I dropped Preston and Sophia with mom as I had an OB appointment. Sam had a blast with auntie Sara, and P and Soph enjoyed their time with Meme and grandpa. My OB appointment didn't go as well as I had hoped that it would. The doctors are getting more and more concerned as am I. My blood pressure was fantastic which is such an answer to prayer. But now I am retaining fluid, and when the doctor reviewed the lab work from the ER, she realized that my liver function tests are already declining :-( She said I am so high risk and have so many issues that I am making them all nervous. And said that I need to call with ANY weird feeling that I have. We are now switching to twice a week visits with the doctor. I don't have any idea how I am going to fit that all in.... So I will go in on Monday, if not sooner. Please be praying that we can keep this little one in for at least six more weeks.

4th of July

Independence Day! Growing up in a military family I have always been very proud to be an American, and proud of the country that I am from. We have always had a big celebration with our family on the 4th. This year was a little different in that we didn't have my siblings around :-( We were able to go to a great parade with Auntie Sara, as well as spend more time at the lake. The parade was wonderful, although it was exceedingly hot, and I felt awful afterwards. The kids really enjoyed it, although Preston was fearful of the sirens from the MANY fire trucks. The fire station also very graciously opens during the 4th festivities so the kids can climb around and get familiar with all of their equipment The kids and Matt got to go water tubing! I was anxious about it but was so glad that they got the opportunity to do something that I so very much enjoyed as a child. I actually went tubing on this very same lake as a kid. It is so funny how different little boys and girls are. You could hear MAtt and Sam laughing, and all the girls did was scream. They were screaming out of pure joy but it was just so opposite of the boys.