Some more after math

I actually have my own shirt and bra on today. I feel almost normal! except for the iv in my hand and the baby monitors that are constantly falling off or the baby is moving so they have to keep readjusting the monitors. The Nurses all say they have the hardest time with me cause being up in Labor and delivary they normally have women that are like 37 weeks or more not my 25 week baby who still has lots of room to move around.

I'm going to get a shower again today and I'll feel even more like normal. Oh side note. I got a cute hair cut from my friend Jill before I left and it is awesome. I haven't 'done' it since being in the hospital and it still looks cute. I love hair cuts that look good even if you just let them dry.

Last night was probably the worst night of all cause I think ALL of my pain meds wore off right around 1 in the morning. It was aweful!!! lucky for all patients a nurse is just s button away. two Viactin did the trick. But I think the 6 hour wait is a bit to long. The pain starts to come back a couple hours before that. Other then that I'm doing good. I sent Matthew to the family house to do some laundry. He's all out of clothes! Now I'm just bidding time till my next Ultra sound. Should be anytime now. Just checking on the babies fluid levels. I really hope to get out of here tomorrow but we'll see. I don't know yet.

I drink my fluids all right and I'm peeing like I should. And breathing fine. Now I just need to get my pain under control and I'm home free. Well and taking the pills the keep my uterus calm for the next month or so.

We have a great view from the hospital window. Golden Gate bridge is in my view and golden gate park. . The bay is viewable when the fog isn't so present, which it is most of the time.

I haven't thrown up yesterday or today. Friday everything I ate came right up. I think it was the magnesium I was taking. Hospital food isn't that bad. Matthew ordered a pizza and gave half of it to the night nurses last night.

I have a super cute picture of kathryn in the window ceil and all the docs and nurses that come in all think she's the cutest thing ever.

MOMs Surgery Details

Ok, so Heather has asked me to put up a post of the details of the operation today.

We woke up about 8am after a relatively restless night. Heather got one IV in her right hand, and two blood draws, and a T.B. test. About 10:30am she got the epideral(spelling), which took two tries (we think a newb was trying out for the anesthesiology team :0P). I stepped out of the room for that part.

About 11:00 she got a G.I. Cocktail (for heartburn, etc) and an antibiotic injection.

About 11:30 Heather was carted away to the O.R. prep room where we waited until 12:00 or so. Right when they were about to take her to the O.R. the anesthesia team stated the people upstairs were a little pre-emptive in their G.I. Cocktail and antibiotics and gave her those again.

I got to give her a nice kiss and then she went into surgery.

Meanwhile... elsewhere... I made it back through the maze of hospital corridors with only one wrong turn and focused on the computer for a few hours until about 2:20 the Dr. who operated on baby Charlotte came back and said everything was great and that he had finished his part of the proceedure. He said that Charlotte was exactly in the right position and they didn't have to move her at all, and also that the damage hole in her back wasn't that big. He said it was a piece of cake. Additionally he stated that Charlotte's skin wasn't as fragile as he normally sees, because she was being operated on 2 weeks later than the usual baby, which means he was able to do the repair quite easily without the use of a "patch". Lastly he stated that the surgery had about 30 minutes to go until Heather was all sewed up.

Well that was good news and I let her parents know. Then came the pacing, up and down the hallway waiting for her to arrive. I had just dialed my parents to let them know when I saw Heather being wheeled into the door. Needless to say, I said I'd call my parents back.

It was quite a hassle and took 4 people to get Heather, tubes and all, back into her hospital bed. There was hussle and bussle for the next hour or so. Heather slowly started to become more concious, but every time she spoke it sounded like she was very sleepy and had recently been to a dentist :)

She slept for a good long time, off and on.

We just finished Skyping with her parents and Kathryn and now Heather is falling asleep again.

So far so good :) I'll try to keep her blog up to date for all of you who are almost as anxious about her well being as I am.

Thanks for all your support!!

Long Two Days at an END... yet to continue

We started evaluations Monday morning, with an Ultrasound, meeting lots of the doctors and then a very long MRI. Which wasn't so bad for the first half but the second half was almost unbearable. Anyway all the meetings that day were mostly stuff we already new. Research pays off. Then today we met with some more interesting people. The coordinator for the Spina Bifida clinic, the Neurosurgeon and the Urologist. Lots of new things for after care. Which I found way more interesting then learning about all the risks involved. We had a fetal ECHO which took forever and 4 different people trying to find one last part but Charlotte just wouldn't budge. So after all that we went in and signed the papers and they put us in their magic computer. Matthew and I flipped a coin ten times while they were gone to the computer. Our random outcome said we'd be coming home. But we were wrong. Finally I have something to plan on and get ready for. I have surgery on Thursday afternoon about 1:00. Matthew and I get to do some site seeing tomorrow all day and to be ready to be admitted to the hospital Tomorrow night around 8. I'll be in the hospital for recovery for about 5 days. Then we get moved to the family house for the next while until we have her.

I really don't know how I'm feeling. I'm happy to be able to help out little Charlotte but scared to have to have such an invasive surgery. All the doctors sounded confident but that the risks are all so very there.

I'm happy that Matthew gets to stay with me and am very grateful to his new employment for letting him come and telecommute.

We'll take some fun pictures tomorrow. I'm hoping to make it over to Fishermans Wharf and maybe the Observatorium. Any one know of some fun places to go visit tomorrow and a great restaurant for my 'last meal' for a while, make a quick post so we can get it tomorrow morning and plan our day!

We are excited at the possibilities and the care we are going to get here.

I know Kathryn is in good hands. I am going to miss her terribly but I know we are doing the right thing for our family. If anyone wants to come visit they are more then welcome.

We'll keep you all updated! We love you and thank you for all of your love and concern for us and our sweet, wiggly, baby Charlotte.

Televise the Paralympic Games Petition

Televise the Paralympic Games Petition

I got this from one of the Mom's in my Yahoo group that has a Spina Bifida child. I think this is a very worthy cause. So if you feel inclined please feel free to sign the petition and pass it along!

Fun day with Kathryn

Kathryn got up around 7:30 this morning and saw the Lincoln Logs in the closet and wanted to play with blocks. I got them out and we built houses for the little people. That was a great start of the day. Plus eating waffles, our all time favorite breakfast. As we were playing blocks my mom comes in and asks if I want to go to the temple with her and I said yeah that's a good idea and as soon as I said that Kathryn put her hand on my knee and said "stay mommy, Stay." I couldn't handle that at all. It finally hit me hard that I was about to leave my little girl for what could be potentially 3 months. I decided against the temple and just did some fun things with Kathryn.

We first went over to my friend DaNelle's to see their new baby goats. They are only a week old and can run faster then I can for sure. They were so cute and Kathryn had a lot of fun chasing and petting them. These are way better then the goats at the Zoo. DaNelle's husband Kevin even let Kathryn ride on the mommy goat.

Isn't that just the greatest face. But poor little goat.

Then here is Lydia and Kathryn holding these little cuties. This almost made me want to have cute little goats as well. Maybe if we can get the kind of yard they have we might consider it!

We then went off to McDonald's for lunch. Kathryn ate most of her frie's and even took a few bites of her hamburger before she was interested in going to play in the playground. She loves climbing up in these play things. She was squealing the whole time, just having the time of her life. She must have played to hard cause she fell asleep in the car before we got to the next destination. I picked up her potty chair from the house to take to my mom's. Kathryn has been taking off her diaper and wanting to go pee pee in the potty. She's gone a few times the last two days. It's a bad thing when she brought me her diaper that she already had pooped in though. I guess it's time to get some panties.

My parents have a dog named Charlie. Kathryn just loves this dog. Wants to do everything the dog does. This dog is funny in that it likes to sleep on the back of the couch. So of course that is where Kathryn likes to lay down when she has a chance. It scares me to have her up there. This dog keeps Kathryn so entertained sometimes. I think it's a good thing he's here cause I'm sure she won't miss me that much with Charlie to keep her company.

I'm going to miss my little, I mean big girl. I know and feel we are doing the right thing for baby Charlotte. Giving her the best care we can, so I know Kathryn will be taken care of if we're gone for 3 months, but it doesn't make it any easier to leave. I leave tomorrow evening and could be gone for quite a long time. I'll have to miss her birthday if that is the case. Thank goodness for things like Skype Video and email for some good pictures that I'm going to demand from my family. She's already so grown up from when Matthew left and that was just 3 weeks. She's saying prayers now, which is so Cute! I love it. Makes me so proud every time I hear her say them. She's learning to obey and do what I ask her. She still gets her way a lot of the time. I'm sure a softy but she's learning and so am I. I'm going to miss her so much but I know she's going to be in good hands. Thanks in advance to Rachel, my parents and Matthew's parents, and Jessica for helping take care of our little sunshine.

I LOVE YOU, KATHRYN OLIVIA

Kathryn's First Hair Cut

This is Kathryn's first professional Haircut. I got my hair colored and cut so I could look extra HOT for Matthew when I see in tomorrow. While I was there I had Jill look at Kathryn's and see if she could use a little trim. She just evened out her bangs and made the bottom even. About an inch in the very back. I got to save the trimmings for her baby book. She looked so cute sitting in that chair. Especially with the black drape with Kathryn's stark white hair. She did so well too. No squirming for the cutting part just got a little overwhelmed with the doing part.

Here's the finished product. She got all wiggly before I could get a good picture.

Thanks Jill, My hair looks great and so does Kathryn's!

24 week Picture

I'm 24 weeks. Still looking good! Sorry My hair's not done so well but it was raining all day!

San Francisco Here We Come

So I finally got my amnio results back and all is good to go. I've been on the phone all afternoon with the people at MOM's scheduling flights and insurance companies and all that. I leave Phoenix at 5:50 on Sunday afternoon and Matthew leaves VA at 4:30 and I get to San Fran 30 minutes before he does.

We start our evaluations on Monday the 25th for all day testing and education and talking with surgeons and more testing to make sure that we qualify for the study. Then by Tuesday night we have to say yes we want to continue with the study or no thank you. If we say yes they put us in the computer right then and we find out if we will be staying and have surgery on Thursday the 28th or we come home Wednesday afternoon to come back in 12 weeks.

If we do have to stay we're planning on bringing my mom and Kathryn out in March for my mom's Spring Break. They will have to bring our car seat and other baby things we will need to bring our little Charlotte home. It's going to be really hard to be away from Kathryn for so long. I've only been gone from her for 3 days and that was hard enough. Thank goodness for Skype that we can video conference with her even if we just get to look at her.

I'm also very thankful for Matthew's new employment for letting him come with me for the study. I have to have a support person and his new job is letting him telecommute from San Fran! They have been so supportive and just willing to help us out. We are so blessed to have gotten this position at this time. I don't know what we would have done otherwise. I think the study would have not been one of our options.

Did you catch the name for our little one earlier. Yep we've chosen a name for this little angel, Charlotte Adara. I think it fits her well and Kathryn can even say her name.

Well, Wish us luck, keep us in your prayers and we will for sure keep you posted!

Sleep or not to Sleep

This post is dedicated to my friend and old roommates blog, Who needs sleep?

I've come up with the worst part of staying with my parents. SLEEPING IN THE SAME ROOM AS KATHRYN! I've been here 2 weeks now and I've only gotten 1 full nights sleep.

Kathryn starts out in here own bed on the floor but by between 11 and 3 she's up and in my bed kicking around and wiggling and kicking the wall...

There have been a few times that she has got up with me and went to sleep but those are few and far between. Those nights are better but I fall asleep and then wakeup cause I find her right next to me so I can't move. Which for a pregnant women is not pleasant. So I wake up sore from being on my back most of the night.

Last night I was up from 11:30 to 4 trying to get her to sleep on her bed or up with me but to not move. and then to make things worse I had a big dinner that decided it needed to come up with some really bad heart burn. A couple of tums and a drink of water mixed with baking soda later I got in bed propped the pillows up and just sat there thinking about getting up and just leaving Kathryn in the room and coming to make this post. But She would have cried and followed me in here anyway. So now at 7:30 she thinks its time to get up and play with my parents dog Charley and watch Wonder Pets. Thank goodness for cartoons in the mornings. Gives me time to wake up and shower.

So I'm just wondering if I should move back home and see if she'll sleep in her bed and stay there or just let her have my bed and I'll sleep on her crib mattress. I might get more sleep on her bed. ha ha


Oh and no pictures yet cause Kathryn broke the camera over Christmas at grandpa and grandma weir's.

Amnio - Scary or Not Scary

I had my amnio today. I didn't feel nervous at all until we got in the car to go to the doctors office and then waiting in the waiting room. Thankfully Rachel and my cousin Kezia, who is visiting, came with to help ease the pressure, ha ha no pun intended on a pregnant women with a very full bladder. Anyway I get to have another little ultra sound just to make sure where the baby is and such then the Doc comes in with this packet of stuff and just get's to it. The amnio part only took like maybe 2 minutes. I didn't look at the needle it self but Rachel said it wasn't as big or as long as she thought it would be. They took two viles of amniotic fluid which took the longest part of the whole thing. It didn't hurt to put the needle in until it hit my uterus. It was like a bad menstrual cramp for the duration of the time the needle was in. So not bad at all.

So I'd have to say the amnio was not scary.

I did have my sister watch Kathryn for me all day. I should be going to get her soon. I was told to take it easy the rest of the day and no heavy lifting which includes my 26 lb baby. I've just watched a movie, had a conference call with MOM's and had a short nap. Know I'm just sitting at the computer updating my blog and keeping updated on others. It's been a pretty easy day!

Results from the amnio take 2-3 days for the initial results and then 7-10 for the full results. We should know when and where we go for the MOM's evaluation I'm guessing by the end of the week.

Updates on Baby #2

I'm still picking out names. Thanks for those who have done my poll so far. I think I have one I'm leaning towards but it might be overturned by the votes I get.

I have all my medical records sent and received to the MOM's study. We have a conference call on Monday with one of the coordinator's sometime after my Amnio. I should have a packet at the house from them with consent forms and such to fill out and send back. I'll be doing that tomorrow. I found some awesome youtube video's that the study put out a year ago. There is a series of 8 videos. Very enlightening.

I got the referral to a perinatologist, the high risk OB doctor. Phoenix Perinatal Associates. I need to call them to make my first appointment tomorrow. Because if I get chosen for the post-natal surgery I would come back home and do all my regular care at home until about 36 weeks when I would go back for delivery at 37 weeks.

Matthew might be coming home sooner then the 3 months. Everyone there is saying why he's there in the first place when he could be doing all of his job telecommute. So that is a good sign that we will be able to go with and be with me for the trial.

I'm doing pretty good. Emotionally I'm ok. Not perfect. I still have feelings of loneliness and sadness. But I think that is mostly because of having Matthew gone. It hasn't even been a week and I'm missing him terribly. Living with my parents is weird but doable. I still would rather be here then be staying at my house alone. I go back every other day to pack things up and to just be on my own. Being at my parents I watch a lot of TV which I haven't done in years. I get my occasional Hulu episode but not like having a TV on all the time. I do like that Kathryn has a cartoon to watch while I take a shower. She got to watch Sesame Street and curious George today.

Well there's an update. I will know about 2 weeks after my Amnio on Monday when I will go to one of the centers for evaluation. Hopefully sooner cause I'm 22 weeks today and this has to be done by 25 weeks......

Names for our little Angel

Ever since I found out our little angel will have Spina Bifida I've been really wanting to have a name for her. I want to call her by her name.

I've really liked Liselle and Adara but every time I say that I get really weird looks and no one can pronounce Liselle anyway.

I've been thinking about Kathryn's name and just how classic it is. So I decided to try to come up with something more along those lines. I also new I wanted to have a family name involved either first or middle name.

The other night my mom and I went to the family search and checked my Turley side for names and the Heaton side for names. We came up with a list of about 8 family names and 4 others that I just like.

I'm going to do a poll on the side to see which you guys like. I'll tell you my favorites after the poll is done.