7 Months!

Holy Moly!  We Made it to 28 weeks :)  


Believe it or not..laying around is so HARD!  I am very used to running around and doing many chores or family outings etc when not working, so the whole bed 24/7 thing is kinda stinky!  But, it seems to be working at keeping little baby in :)

I'm laying in bed with Collin right now, he just had his morning 'bubba' and is a very happy, smiley boy today which makes me very happy because the past few days he has been grumpy!  We think he had a small cold or it was just a few bad teething days, still no teeth yet though!!

My Dr. appointment last week went well, very much to my surprise my cervical length was IMPROVED!?!?  didn't even know that was possible, but i'll take it!  So we will see how tomorrow's appointment goes.  I also get to do a 3 hour glucose test..Hoooray :)

That's all for now!

Bed Rest Blues..

Well, I have been laying/sitting here for over 2 weeks now.. So needless to say I am BORED! and getting restless.  But the good news is.... I've been laying here for 2 weeks :)  
Delaney is now 27 weeks gestation.  With everyday that passes it will give her better chances to fight the odds and avoid complications of prematurity.

My days have been spent with the occasional visitor as well as Collin & Jason or my Mom when Jason's at work.  They "babysit" me!  By helping with house chores and meals so I don't have to strain myself.  They have both been a very big help.  Collin is enjoying hanging out with me in bed.. He's had plenty of tummy time and has been practicing rolling and sitting up :)

I will have another ultrasound to check for cervical length tomorrow morning.  At the last appointment there was significant change and just a little over 1cm was left in tact.  So we will not be surprised if there is continued change to the cervix at the exam tomorrow.  There is a good possibility of getting admitted to the hospital again soon, especially if there is a significant change.  It will get to the point when the inevitable breaking of water or labor will begin, so the Dr.'s may feel more comfortable with us waiting out the rest of the time at the hospital, as it will be safest for the baby.   We will let you all know if that happens..

For now my time will be spent with plenty of play with Collin as well as TV, board games..facebook & pinterest to pass the time :)

Here's the boys hanging out with me in bed :)

Silly Cervix..

Many people have asked questions about what is truly going on with our situation and my cervix..SO, let's get personal about my lady parts!
This has been a learning experience for me..and after talks with our doctors along with the good 'ol internet (wikipedia etc)  I can now pass on some of that information to you all.

Most people know that when a baby is about to be delivered the cervix dilates (opens) to allow the baby to pass through the birth canal.  The cervix must also be effaced (shortened).  In order for the baby to pop out the cervix needs to be 100% effaced and Dilated to 10 cm wide.  The common thing for people to assume is that my cervix is dilated, which it is NOT.. this is a VERY good thing :)  Once dilation starts to happen, my water will surely break from lack of support and Delaney will be on her way!   This is the main reason I am ordered to bed rest is because simply, gravity could do us in.  Because effacement is already underway once contractions and dilation start it will most likely be a very quick delivery.  This also happened with Collin's delivery.. After only 2 contractions I was 3 cm dilated and he was born in 3.5 hours.  I am hoping that this will be a quick delivery as well, because let's face it..giving birth is not exactly fun!  

While on this subject I want to make that very clear..just because Collin was under 2 lbs does not mean his delivery was a breeze!  Contractions are contractions..and frankly, they hurt like hell!  I take pride in not being a "whimpy" girl, I feel like I can take pain, and I can honestly say, I am NOT looking forward to giving birth to Delaney.  Thankfully, once it's over we will have our little girl, and it will all be worth it.  But, I can assure you all we won't be having anymore!  I should ask insurance if they'd be willing to tie my tubes and also give jason a vasectomy!  Besides the fact of not wanting to go through the delivery process again, now knowing of the issues with my body and carrying a pregnancy to full term, I will not be willing to risk it.  We are extremely blessed to have Collin and we got very lucky..we are hoping and praying that Delaney will thrive just as well as her big brother!

Anyway.. back to the cervix info... The average length of a healthy cervix is about 4cm long. After my last appointment it was measured at 1.7cm that means we are at about 60% effaced. According to the OB specialist it is very possible to make it many more weeks.  He's even had patients that made it so far they actually had to be induced!!  So there definitely is hope for us here.  Anything past 32 weeks is like GOLD and past 36 weeks could land us simply a few days in the hospital as opposed to months.  So every day in gestation is wonderful.  Lay in bed and wait is the answer.

I looked up an ultrasound photo on google of a normal cervix to show you in comparison to mine..

So as you can see in the first image there is lots of grey space and it looks closed up.. on mine you can see that big area of black to the left that is the fluid membranes.  If you can see the tiny little plus signs..that is the measurement of still useful and in-tact cervix.  But, you can see there is a black line starting.. that is the membranes and it is called 'funneling'.  Based on this image the Dr.s felt very serious about me being on bed rest.  I will have a repeat ultrasound every thursday to check on the cervix and see if it has progressed.

25 Weeks Gestation

So, here we are again..

For those of you who do not know, our son Collin was born at 25 5/7 weeks gestation after premature rupture of membranes ( Water breaking) at only 25 3/7 weeks gestation.  We spent 108 days in the NICU and now have a happy & healthy 9 month old :)

Very much to our surprise, soon after bringing Collin home from the hospital we found out we were expecting baby #2!   Because of the history with my first extremely premature delivery the Dr.s have been keeping a close eye on me.  All appointments have looked great, I've had perfect blood pressures, not put on much weight at all and passed my glucose screening tests.  I have felt great ever since morning sickness passed. ( it was WAY worse this go round).  We found out at 19 weeks we are expecting a little girl this time, which we decided to name Delaney Morgan.

Well, because of my history, the Dr. ordered an ultrasound at 24 weeks to check cervical length.  Right away we were able to notice that the cervix is starting to shorten (efface) and the membranes/amniotic fluid is funneling down into the now vacant space where cervix should be.  Now knowing this, it is the best guess as to what caused Collin's early delivery.  My condition is known as incompetent or weak cervix.  For most women once becoming pregnant the cervix hardens and becomes blocked (known as the mucus plug) until it is time to deliver the baby.  In my case, we have learned that past the 6th month mark the weight of the growing baby, along with amniotic fluid, blood etc becomes too much for my cervix to handle. Resulting in the cervix starting to weaken and shorten in length.  There was some discussion about possibly doing a cerclage (putting a stitch in to keep cervix closed). Well, the bad news is that we waited too long and it should have been performed much earlier.  Since we did not know this was an issue for me..it is now too late to perform a cerclage.  Tampering with it and trying to put a stitch in could actually break the water or start labor..which is too risky at this gestational age.  We got very lucky with Collin, and we arent willing to risk having another 25 weeker. The only other option at this point is to go on mandatory bed rest.

I've been ordered to bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy..now it is a waiting game as to when I will begin labor.  Most likely it will be like last time and the membranes will rupture from pressure and lack of cervical support.  The good news is that they are still intact and me taking it easy can buy us more time.  Unfortunately with Collin.. we had no idea about my condition and I continued to work my 50 hour a week job that requires standing, lifting and running around!  So, hopefully all this bed rest and relaxing will allow Miss Delaney to stay put a little longer!
It is 100% certain that she will come before her due date (November 21st).  We can  only hope and pray we make it further along.

Yesterday I spent an overnight at the hospital for 24 hour observation to make sure that there were no contractions or other signs of labor accompanying the effacement.  Thankfully there were no signs, and baby seems happy in there!  Good heart rates and plenty of kicking around.   I was given a round of steroids as a just in case.  They have been shown to help boost lung development in babies and could help her when she comes into the world.  If we make it another 3-4 weeks I will go back for another round of steroids.  And, tomorrow I have a check-up at the OB office for another cervical length check ultrasound and a shot of extra hormones called delalutin, which I have been receiving since week 16.  It has been shown to also help with women who have preterm labor.

So that is all for now.. Just wait and see where we end up and when Delaney decides to grace us with her presence!

25 weeks pregnant on the way to my overnight hospital stay..hence the not looking terribly thrilled!

Collin very excited to visit Mommy & Daddy! I missed him so much..it was the first night away from him since he came home from NICU.