One Year!

Dear Baby Delaney-

                    It is hard to believe that 365 days have passed since you came into the world.  This past year with you coming into our lives has been unbelievably amazing and so much more than we could have ever imagined.  While doing all this getting ready for your first birthday party, it got me thinking about things and all I could do was cry.  I want to say sorry to you sissy, because I never knew how much I could possibly love you until you showed me how.  I hate admitting that I had a hard time connecting to you while you were in my belly.  I think its because when your big brother came so early and we were scared, we thought we couldn't go through that ever again.  I remember telling your grammy that I did not want to have any more babies, and soon after that we found out you were coming.  But, the truth is.. God knew best what we needed, and he has shown us that over and over again. Especially since you and your big brother were born.  

Me and Daddy's initial reactions to the news were "oh, poop!" and "what are we going to do?!".  Well, all we needed was love and the amazing family and friends we have. They threw us a baby shower yet again, getting you everything you needed to be fed, clothed, snuggled and even a nice crib for you to sleep in.  We had some of the same doctors again and they helped make sure that you grew and grew inside my belly until you were ready!  

Sissy-girl... You have changed me for the better, I hope to be a good mommy to you and I will love you with all I've got.  You are so beautiful, the prettiest little girl I've ever seen. Your eyes twinkle, and you smile so big and crinkle your nose!  You dance and sing, and give the drool-iest kisses. You can say da-da, ma-ma and you can even wave and say "hi!".  You love to clap your hands and shake your head and wiggle your body when you listen to music.  You are so great at crawling and you are getting ready to stand by yourself and learn how to walk.  You are being such a big girl already trying to feed yourself and you can drink out of a cup!  I am so blessed to watch you grow, and it's going by too quickly!   I know you are going to be a beautiful person inside and out, and I look forward to seeing what great things you are going to accomplish in this life. You are and will be an amazing woman.

I love you Laney-Bug

Love,

Ma-ma

       

11 months

Hard to believe that in just one month our baby girl is going to be a year old!!!

Laney recently had a dr's appointment to get a flu shot and she weighed 21 pounds. She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight and was overall healthy and happy!

She now has 4 teeth. two bottom and two on top!  She has a split in her top teeth and its very adorable.
Sissy is a hungry little piggy she eats two servings of pureed food and/or oatmeal cereal 3xs a day, and she still takes formula.  She is doing very well with a training sippy cup and has her bubba at bed time.
She has been picky about solid foods, but we are working on introducing more.

She has been crawling for awhile now, and pulls herself to stand. She walks along the furniture, but hasn't been able to stand on her own yet.
We love how vocal she is, and how much she loves music. She is constantly humming or singing she says "la-la-la" and sways side-to-side :)  She claps her hands and loves to play peek-a-boo.

We are looking forward to Halloween, she is going to be a ladybug! Which, will also be the theme for her 1st birthday!

Dedication

On Sunday, We had a dedication service for Delaney at the church of the Nazarene. Performed by my uncle, Pastor Mike Chambers.  We also did this service for Collin last summer.  Its nice to get the family together and celebrate our little baby.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a dedication service is, it is very much like a catholic christening, but the difference is in our faith we believe that a person has to choose on their own when they are of an age to understand what it means to be baptized. So this service is actually for us as the parents to say we are promising to raise our children to the best of our ability to teach them what we know about God.  It also makes the God Parents feel official :)

We chose Jason's sister, Teagan as the God Mother.   I got close to Teagan on a family trip a few years back. We bonded during the plane ride there and back and had a great time sneaking out of the hotel in the middle of the night to get ice cream and go on a roller coaster in Las Vegas.  She was also a bridesmaid at our wedding! Teagan is just like her older brother. She's basically the girl version!  She is kind and funny, and a little sarcastic!  She is so much fun to be around and is a good auntie to the babies. We wish we could see her more, as she lives in Maine. At Christmas we gave her a picture of Delaney with a note that said "will you be my godmother?" And she of course, said Yes! :)

And, for the God Father we chose my brother, Seth!   We love Seth for his humor and love of family.  We also have many common interests in music, movies and super heros! He has been an amazing uncle and since he is the oldest, he goes by just "Unkie".  He has been an excellent uncle to both Collin and Delaney, he visits at least once a week.  Although he still refuses to change diapers!  We knew that he was the perfect choice to be a god father because of how great he was with Collin.

Delaney enjoyed her day, even though she slept through most of the party!!
And, an update on how she's doing.... She will be 9 months on the 16th of this month. We just had a Dr.s appointment and she weighed in at 19lb 12 oz and was 28 inches.  She was in the 90th percentile for height. He guessed her at about 5'7, 5'8 as an adult.  She was in the 75th for weight. AND 97th for head circumference.. so we've got a fat head!! LOL  She has a couple immunizations and handled them like a champ!  She cried of course, but settled right down with a hug and kiss.  She's so used to Collin picking on her that she's turned into a tough cookie.  She has been sitting by herself for a while now and she now does an army crawl.  She gets up on all fours and does the rocking back and forth but she's still figuring out how to coordinate a full blown crawl.  She now waves and says "hi" and she babbles, coos and screeches! She definitely loves music and she often hums.  She hums herself to sleep.  She has the best, biggest smile and we often get compliments on her sparkly-smiling eyes. She is a sweetheart for sure.
Here's some updated photos and pics of her dedication

6 months

Miss Delaney is 6 months old now... the time is getting away from us.. I didn't even do a 5 month update!!!! ooops...  She is growing more hair, and it looks like it will be strawberry :) yay!  She has beautiful blue eyes and the cutest dimples/smile.  She weighs about 19 pounds now.

Delaney now has longer periods of awake time during the day.  She takes a morning and evening nap, both about an hour long.  She sleeps through the night about 9 hours, then back to sleep for 2-3 after a morning feeding.

We just stopped breast feeding. She now takes formula.  I was supplementing for a couple weeks, but we just made the switch completely.  My original goal was 3 months, and we made it to 6! :)  Honestly, I would have loved to keep going.. but work really got in the way.  It is hard to have to leave to pump, and since I'm the manager I can't exactly up and leave the crew for 20-30 minutes every few hours. I would be in the back room pumping and get a knock on the door saying "we need you!!"  After a few skipped pumping sessions and Delaney getting hungrier, we had to supplement.  So, I figured since she was already getting the formula I would forget the hassle and quit. 

She can now roll over and also grab her toes!  She tolerates tummy time for quite awhile and she extends her arms out and lifts her head and shoulders completely.  She is sitting propped, and can sit by herself for a few seconds before toppling over.

She is a drool machine, and loves to suck on her hands.  She is now reaching out for faces when you hold her, so you get a nice drooly hand grabbing your face!  hahah

We can't get enough of her smile, and she's quite the chatterbox too.  She is very observant and watches  Collin and also the cats walking around.  She likes the sounds of the TV or music in the car, or the mobile in her crib.  We are looking forward to taking her swimming for the first time, probably next month. she's so cute in her bathing suit! 

4 months

Delaney is now 4 months!  Time is just flying!!!  We love this little girl so much.

She is sweet as can be.. all you have to do is smile at her, and she smiles right back!  She coo's and babbles, and can now do raspberries too!

She tolerates tummy time for awhile, but she prefers to lay on her back.  She is starting to roll onto her sides from her back. And, when she is on her tummy she can lift her head and shoulders and hold them up for quite awhile. She is very strong!

She has the best giggle!  She will giggle when tickled, or if something seems very funny to her. She will giggle at daddy when he gives her eskimo kisses :)  She is going to be a daddy's girl for sure!  She has been going through a phase where she doesn't really like anyone holding her except mommy or daddy.  She does however love to look at people and "chat".  The TV catches her attention a lot (ut-oh!)  Collin is still not interested in watching tv, so this is very different for us.

Delaney has many nicknames already.. "Laney-bug, pretty-pretty, widdle, sissy, baby girl, boggs, and "The Mrs."   To name a few ;)

She weighs 16.5 pounds and is about 27 inches!  ALL with only breast milk!!  So proud of us both for sticking with it!   She takes bottles of pumped milk while I'm away at work, and nurses when I'm at home.  She is a chunka!  She now drools constantly and likes to eat her hands and bibs.

She's a tough little lady too.. Collin likes to smack her on top of the head as he crawls by.. and if her belly is visible, he will poke her belly button too!  She never cries though, she watches every move he makes... I think she will be catching up to him in no time!

She will be leaving her bassinet this month and going to her crib! She's getting too big, and since she sleeps through the night now it is best to get her used to sleeping in her own bed!

12 weeks

Miss Delaney is such a great baby!  I tend to not call her by her name. I've been calling her Sissy mostly, or pretty-pretty or girlfriend! hehe.. I'm sure she will grow into Delaney, just seems a little old for her right now.

Ms. Pork-chop weighs about 16 pounds right now!!!  She eats and eats and eats.  I can't believe that she has grown so much already, and with only breast milk! I feel very proud and accomplished!  I plan to continue nursing, it is going well.  I was worried that my supply would go down, once I returned to work, but I've managed to work pumping times into my daily schedule pretty well.

We can't get enough of the coo's and smiles..she even giggled for Daddy today :)  She enjoys the swing now and takes naps there during the day.  She has been sleeping through the night, about 7 hours!  We do a midnight feeding and sleep until around 7.  At which point she joins me in bed and then she nurses, and we snooze until Collin wakes up, around 9ish :)

She is very strong already lifting her head up and I even saw her reaching to grab her toes.  She loves to be held and snuggled. She is very snuggly, so its great!  Collin gets a little jealous sometimes, so he joins in on the snuggles!  Everything is going great, we couldn't be happier :)

7 weeks old

Delaney is now 7 weeks old!  The time has passed quickly, and it has been great having her home with us.  She sleeps a lot, and eats a lot..normal baby stuff!!   She fits right into our lives..and its already so routine I forget what it was like without her.   Collin LOVES his little sister :)   He likes to touch her, but he tends to hit...we are trying to teach him how to "do nice" or "gentle", but he is very young and it might take awhile for him to fully understand.  He loves to "kiss" her though, his way of kissing to anyone is leaning in and placing his forehead on you. lol. he is so cute!

So far Delaney has been sleeping pretty well. She feeds about every 3-4 hours.  She has had a couple nights where she slept 5-6 hours.  She rarely cries, but when she does she makes it count!  She likes to be held and snuggled.  She does not like the swing.. oh well.

She's already started smiling and cooing also :)

I have to go back to work on monday.. mixed feelings.. I am very excited to get out and be an active part of society again. Being on bed rest since August I am so ready to get back to work.. But I will miss my babies so much!  I'm glad to have a husband that is also a great daddy..I know they will be just fine when I'm at work!

She's Here!!

Delaney Morgan Madison was born @ 1:45 PM on November 16th.  Weighing 10 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 22 inches long!


We arrived at the hospital at 11 am and went through some pre-surgery stuff like signing consent forms meeting with the team that would deliver the baby and then the anesthesiologist.  I had to get an epidural for the procedure.  It was a very awkward feeling...not terribly painful, but uncomfortable.

I was moved into the operating room and Jason had to "scrub-in" putting on the blue outfit with hair net and face mask etc.  The room was actually pretty comfortable, they had music playing and they talked to me the whole time about what was happening.  Same as the epidural procedure, the actual c-section was not terribly painful, but lots of pressure and weird feelings.

Everyone was astounded at Delaney's size..they took her out and Daddy was able to cut the cord.  Dr. Beal (one of our NICU drs. for Collin) was there to look after Delaney while they finished my surgery. It was surreal to be able to hear her crying and know .."WOW she can breathe ALL BY HERSELF!!!!"   What a great feeling :)

After I was all stitched up, and Delaney was weighed and measured they took us back to a recovery room for a few hours where they monitored mine and babies temp and blood pressure.  She wanted to feed right away and she was amazing at latching. She is a little piggy to say the least!   She did have low blood sugar as suspected, so they gave her a tiny cup of formula.  Her temp was low for quite awhile so they had us do skin to skin.  It was so great to be able to hold her and feed her within the first hour of her life.. Such a different experience this time around.

Once Delaney's temp was acceptable they took her for her first bath :)
She is doing so well...She is sleeping good and eating well..We had to supplement some formula because breast milk takes a few days to fully come in and even though she is breast feeding, she wasn't satisfied enough.  So we let her have some formula and then she was very happy and napped for 4 hours on the full belly :)

We think that both of our babies are a good combination of us, with Collin leaning towards Daddy, and Delaney leaning towards me!   I found it very interesting though, that Collin's blood type is mine, and Delaney's is the same as Jason's.

I feel that I am recovering pretty well from the surgery..It is a little sore and hard to move around too much, but I was able to take a shower today and put on real pajamas instead of the hospital robe.. So i'm feeling pretty great :)

We should be able to go home sometime tomorrow!  Here's the first pictures of our "little" lady..

Last Prenatal Check-up!

Today was my last prenatal check up and all is well!!  We are scheduled for a C-section this Friday!

Ultrasound showed plenty of amniotic fluid, so she's happy moving all around still.  She is in position for a vaginal delivery, but that will not matter since she's getting cut out!!  Her measurements were off the charts and they are guessing she will be around 10 lbs 3 oz at time of delivery! WOW. thank goodness we opted for the surgery!!

My Dr. also wanted to inform us that because of her size and my history with the gestational diabetes, do not be alarmed if they bring her up to NICU for observation. She could have low blood sugars at birth because often when the mother is gestational diabetic, baby tries to help out and produce extra insulin. This wouldn't be the end of the world as the NICU staff are like our family! And, we know she will be taken care of by some of the best people in the world.

These next few days will be busy as we prepare for Delaney's arrival. I've started the "nesting" process and have the nursery all ready to go along with clean laundry for everyone and a sparkling oven! LOL why I felt the need to clean the oven?!  who knows!   Now all I have to do is pack up the hospital bag and we should be good to go :)

We will post her first picture sometime Friday evening!

The "Plan"

This week I am 36 weeks gestation a.k.a 9 months!!!! HOLY COW, we made it :)    After having a 25 weeker, this kind of feels like the longest pregnancy ever; and it is accompanied by all the glorious uncomfortable, restless, peeing every 2 hours kinda nights!  .. As my mom said, "Be careful what you wish for!!"

Our most recent ultrasound for baby's measurements showed she is now weighing in at around 8 pounds.  Just 3 weeks ago she was estimated at 6.. so her growth pattern is very strong.  This is a tad bit concerning, seeing that we have 4 weeks to go!  They think she will end up around or over 10 pounds!!!  Because of this information, my Dr. has strongly recommended we opt for a C-section.

There are pro's and con's to this decision.  Overall, it is safer for baby (and me) to get the C-section.  This is because a)  My first baby was under 2 lbs, he didn't exactly pave the way for his MUCH bigger sister and there are risks or tearing, etc. b) Since it took awhile for the gestational diabetes to get in-line with medications, Delaney was exposed to high sugars at times and has obviously packed on the weight.  It is very common for gestational diabetic babies to carry their weight more in the shoulder area and they look like football players. The Dr.'s main concern is shoulder dystocia for the baby, meaning the baby would be at risk of breaking arm/collar bones, cause nerve damage, or worst case death from compression of the umbilical cord in the birth canal.  

So, knowing all of this, the decision is an easy one... C-section it is!

The only real "con" besides the longer recovery time and soreness, and being al drugged up, which I also did not want.. is missing out on the magical moment you see in movies when the baby comes out and is immediately thrown onto your chest and is such a wonderful experience..blah, blah...

That was the one thing I was really looking forward to, but it seems that is something that just cannot happen for me.  I have to remind myself, "who cares?!, I get to hold her for the rest of her life!!"  And besides, after waiting 10 hours to meet Collin, and waiting 5 DAYS to hold Collin.  I am okay with waiting an hour or whatever this time!  I just want her to get here safely, and we can go from there!

Unless nature decides to take a different course and start labor early, Delaney's expected arrival date is November 16th!

Big Girl!

Today was the first appointment of my new regiment.  Every tuesday I will get an ultrasound to measure Delaney.  Followed by a 30 minute non-stress test to make sure her heart rate is normal and watch for contractions.  Finally I meet with the doctor to get my blood pressure, weight etc and go over the week's blood sugar numbers.   Every friday is another NST and my delalutin shot.

So today's ultrasound was great.. I brought my Mom and we got to see lots of details of the big girl!  The ultrasound technician estimated she now weighs about 6lbs 1 oz. HOLY MOLY!  And with 7 weeks to go!!  I guess there is no happy medium for me.. My first was less than 2lbs..and she'll probably be 10!   My dosage of gly-buride (for the diabetes) was upped to 2x's a day. This should help keep my sugars in check.  Since she is already getting big, and with the diabetes it is important to keep the sugars at normal levels so that she wont gain too much weight.  It could cause complications for delivery (such as having to get a c-section) or it could cause her to be hypo-glycemic at birth.

I'm actually hoping that with these check ups every week they will let me deliver a little early.. Hoping for a nice birthday present :)  We will see, it would be cool.

So, here's a picture from the ultrasound of her facing forward, not a terribly clear picture.. but you can see she has fat cheeks already :)

32 Weeks!

So this is all the stuff people told me about pregnancy....
 Heart burn constantly!  TUMS with me at all times
Pee..constantly.
tired..constantly.
uncomfortable..constantly.

haha..oh man...

All these joyous things I never got to experience the first time around.  The good news is, Delaney is now 32 weeks gestation ( 8 Months!)  This was our goal to get past as it will be the safest for her delivery and well being.  We could actually make it full term this time!!  The thought of it really just amazes us and we can't believe that bed rest had such an effect on the pregnancy.  
Oh, and please don't get me wrong I'm not truly complaining about these symptoms, I mention them and laugh and am very happy about it.. because I would much rather have to get up to pee a few times in the middle of the night and have heartburn, than watch my little baby struggle to breathe every night. The trade off is worth it.

Starting next week I will be going to the Doc's 2 times a week!  Every Tuesday I go for a check up as well as an ultrasound to measure her. Reason for that being with the gestational diabetes she could A) Stop growing (which would mean get her out of there)  Or B) Grow too rapidly, in which case they would try to get her delivered by a healthy weight, no more than 9 lbs as that could cause big issues during delivery!   Then of Fridays I will go get my delalutin shot, and also sit around the office for about a half hour getting a non stress test to make sure the baby's heart rate is good and look out for signs of labor/contractions.

It's going to be busy, busy until the end.  All the while getting bigger and more uncomfortable, taking care of Collin, planning his birthday party and praying to God she stays in until after his birthday party!!  LOL

Heart Beats

     

We were given a fetal heart monitor when I was pregnant with Collin, and we pulled it out today to let my visitors have a listen to Delaney's heart beat!

Collin tried it out and he was very happy listening to little sister :)

All is well right now.. I started Gly-buride pills for the gestational diabetes. My numbers have already been improving.  I've been feeling pretty good with a little more moving around. But, most of the day is still spent in bed just to be safe,  since it is still another 10 weeks until the due date.
This weeks appointments consist of tomorrow, a check-up and thursday another delalutin shot.

Maternity Photos :)

Thanks to my new "light" bedrest we were able to get to the mall and get our photos taken :)  It went well and we are pretty pleased with them!  It was so great to be able to do something like this that many people could take for granted.  Not having a full term pregnancy the first time, it feels great to make it to 30 weeks and get our pictures taken.

Everything else is going pretty well, the diabetes stuff is alright. I don't mind the diet at all.. There are still plenty of yummy choices..They wanted me to test my numbers for a week on the diet and see how it went..but my numbers are high whether I am eating well, or not.  So looks like I will be getting medication this week!

Good Cervix, Bad Pancreas..

We did not give my cervix enough credit apparently.. The wonderful bed rest has made it possible for my muscles to relax and the cervix has regained length!  The shortest measurement was .9cm and today it was 2.46cm with little to no funneling :)

The best news about this is at this stage of pregnancy for any woman, it is the "normal" measurement!  This means it is possible for us to get a lot further along in the pregnancy and possibly even full term! WOW, just when we thought it was out of the question, the situation now looks hopeful.  I no longer have to get an ultrasound every single week.. I go back for a standard check up in 2 weeks.

Since there has been such great progress, the Dr. said I can do 'light activities' now :)  So that means we will be going this week to get maternity photos taken.  This is such a big deal because we never got the opportunity during the first pregnancy, and I only have one photograph of Collin in belly.. So this is going to be great :)  It will also be nice to get pictures of us taken with Collin for his 10 month photos. I take his pictures constantly, but there's something special about classic studio lighting photos! I am very much looking forward to it, and of course we will share them with you, here :)

The not so good news of the week is that I failed miserably at my glucose tolerance test, so I am now a gestational diabetic.  I have been given a monitor and have to check my blood sugar 4x's a day.  I went to see the nutritionist and she gave me a meal plan. It's not so bad.. I will miss soda and candy though.. The Dr. decided to give me a week on the diet and see how it goes, but my #'s have been pretty high so far and based on the glucose test, he said I will most likely need medication to keep it in check.  

Just a little info on diabetes, if you are not familiar....
All foods have varied levels of sugar and also carbohydrates. Carbs turn into sugars while being processed. We use the sugars for energy throughout the day.  In order to absorb these sugars, our pancreas creates insulin. Insulin combines with the sugar in your blood and works as a "key" to help the sugars be processed.  As pregnancy progresses, the placenta creates a hormone that is an 'anti-insulin' making it more difficult for the mother's body; Because it will need to create extra insulin to compensate.  The tests that I took show that the level of sugar in my blood (a.k.a BloodSugar) is High, meaning that my body is not creating enough insulin to keep up.  Usually a diet change, with lower amounts of sugars and carbohydrates will help.  In my case, I will most likely need medication or possibly insulin injections to keep the blood sugars at a more acceptable range.  This issue is easily fixed with diet and medication..and the good news is it goes away as soon as the baby is delivered. The down side is, I will have to get checked 1-2 times a year as I am now at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. I also have family history, so I will have to do some dieting and exercising once baby is born, as lower body weight can help keep the diabetes away!

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.