Our Little Family

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Asher's Journey


I think I liked the idea of a blog while I was on home bedrest but somehow found myself a little reluctant to want to do much of anything once in the hospital. But Nick and I have recieved so many phone calls and emails that we both think it would be so much easier if I just continued to update via blog as often as possible.
As some of you know, I have now been on strict hospital bedrest for 12 days and boy is it one of the hardest things I never thought Id have to go through. I was admitted last Tuesday after Nick and I made our way (yet again) to OB triage because I had an increase in bleeding. My bleeding started around 18 weeks but never concerned the doctors too much until we started adding other things to the plate. I was also diagnosed with a very large placenta that actually wraps itself around my entire uterus when it should only attach to a small portion, low amniotic fluid which should be over an 8 (mine has been around a 4 or 5), a chronic abruption (which is a small tear in the placenta somewhere), preterm contractions and a baby who does NOT like to be squeezed by them. Honestly, I have one of those 1% pregnancies that every doctor is baffled by.



Tuesday, after the doctor said he would admit me, the nurses tried 5 times to start an IV on me, only to fail each time and actually have to call an anesthesiologist to start one for them (ouch!) Since then, they have only been able to maintain an IV for 24 hours and then have to restart one, until I told the doctors "enough already!" I have been going for fluid scans twice a week and have also been doing something called hydrotherapy once a day. Its basically where I sit in a huge bathtub for about 30 minutes and the doctors believe it forces water into my body and gives Asher more fluid.
Because of my low fluid, the nurses do NST's (non-stress tests) on the baby twice a day. It checks the babies heart rate for 30 minutes and makes sure he accelerates his heart rate with movement. A normal heart rate for 25 weeks, which I am this week is about 120-150. Asher has almost consistently been running in the 160's and they believe he may be just a little stressed from not having enough fluid. Also, because of this, anytime I have a contraction, it squeezes him and his cord and causes his heart rate to drop a little. The doctors say he recovers pretty quickly so they are not super concerned right now. They have given me 2 injections of steroids for Asher's lungs which doctors have seen help mature them just a little quicker, but babies needing to be born early have a much better chance when these are given at least 48 hours before delivery. We are so thankful these were able to be given and have had time to take effect. We know in our hearts they are working because they did a Biophysical Profile on Asher this week which checks for fetal well-being. The score is out of 8 and Asher scored an 8! (thats my boy)!! The last part of the scoring is for breathing. The ultrasound guy told me not to worry if he didnt pass this portion as sometimes these babies are too young to begin breathing but sure enough, within 30 seconds his sweet little lungs started fluttering and I have never been so proud in my life. My Lord has made a perfectly strong son inside of me whom I refoice over daily!
Monday night I started having pre-term contractions that are super painful and about 3 minutes apart. I called Nick at 1am Tuesday morning crying for him to please drive down here because I thought for sure I was in labor as the nurses where placing face masks of oxygen on me, trying to start IV's, poking me with syringes full of Terb (stops contractions), giving me morphine to calm my uterus down and paging doctors. The doctor was able to get there quickly and checked my cervix which, much to our excitement is still closed. That means that these contractions Ive been having for the past 6 days havent dialated me at all. Thats great news!
Asher, as of Tuesday June 1st, was measuring at about 1 pound 4 ounces which is about the 40th percentile for his age, but doctors say this is completely normal. His next growth scan is on June 22nd, we are really praying he measures over 2 pounds, I would be sooo happy!
I will stop here for now as this post is extremely long, but please post any questions I may have not addressed and I promise to keep this updated every few days. Here is a list of some of the things you can pray for as Nick and I are on this long road ahead of us...
1. That Asher will stay put and continue to grow for at least 3-5 more weeks!
2. That I will really start accepting my hospital bedrest sentence and not feel so down everyday.
3. That the doctors will continue to be knowledgable with me and make the best decisions.
4. That God would heal my body and allow it to carry my son full-term!
Thank you all for being such an intricate part of Nick and I's life. We really are so thankful! I cant tell you how grateful I am for my husband these past few weeks as he has truly stepped up in taking care of me, our bills, our home, and...well, everything! He is my gift from God. We daydream constantly about our sweet little boy and think about holding him in our arms and kissing his sweet face....but NOT YET! Cook Asher Cook is my motto!