Friday, December 27, 2013

Merry Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. Santa came and the kids are thrilled... except for Savannah, she mostly just slept.

We did Christmas Eve at my mom's house which was fun and slightly chaotic, 6 kids and a pile of presents so obviously I didn't expect anything else.







Savannah was there I promise, but like I said she mostly just slept. Sophie is the oldest and the closest to understanding the Santa concept so she was probably the most fun. She was so excited that night but we reminded her Santa could only come when she was asleep (thank you Doc McStuffins for enforcing that!) and she eventually did lay down.




Can you tell which present was the biggest hit?






While she was asleep for the beginning of the morning Savannah did finally join us!


The kid did eventually play with other things



The kids are still madly in love with their train table and trains, Sam asks every time he wakes up if he can play with it. 

Overall the kids had a ton of fun on Christmas eve with our family and they were absolutely adorable on Christmas morning. I do have to say, despite whatever dread I was feeling about Christmas this year, that I am looking forward to next year.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Savannah is here

... and oh say almost 3 weeks old!

I managed to make it to exactly 39weeks which is beyond measure of what I had hoped for. Because of all the issues my OB said he wanted me scheduled for November 18th, exactly 39 weeks.

I went in the morning to the hospital with my mother and Carl, there was one emergency c-section that bumped me back a little.

I went back to the OR and they had some trouble getting the spinal in the right place, that felt weird. Finally they got it right. Of course in my usual style the spinal made me throw up. My mom came back right as I was finishing that.

It didn't seem like too long of a time before they were actually delivering Savannah. The actual process of removing her was a little more muddled than any of her brothers or sister. She had to be assisted out with forceps and even then she was very stuck, seriously the entire table was moving.

At 11:36 am Savannah Lee was born weighing 7lbs 11oz and measuring 20inches long.


I'm apparently stubborn and not only refused narcotics while in the hospital but I also insisted on coming home a day early.  Then of course I may or may not have driven on the 21st.

1 day old!

 our first night home

Hair, oh my goodness the hair!

So far I think we're adjusting well. Savannah is a sleepy little thing still and has really only one awake period a day. 
Sophie and Sam absolutely adore having her around. Simon on the other hand is curious but really just wants to be a little baby himself. 

 
Simon peeking in at Savannah


 

Monday, September 2, 2013

28 weeks

27.1 weeks

Look at us! 
Our 2nd goal has been met! Our first was 24weeks, that week came and went with some hospital time.
Today I am 28weeks pregnant. It is at this point that the survival rate of preemies skyrockets to around 95%. Fingers crossed for a boring week.
I have been holding my breath waiting for this day. With every doctors appointment I panic a little, that's a lot when you remember I go twice a week, wondering if today is the day something is going to go wrong. 
On August 27th we went for our growth scan, we are monitored every Tuesday for a BPP but every 3rd week we measure for growth. She grew! Granted she isn't magically "normal" size or even close to it but her growth between 24 weeks and 27 was proportionate. 
Our next goal is 32 weeks (September 30th) on the inside, which brings survival rates to 98%. Between now and then, though, I have 4 BPPs, 4 NSTs, and not to mention a regular OB appt. I'll also have to go in for a 3hr glucola, to determine if I'm a gestational diabetic as well.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Week 26!

According to my pregnancy ticker I have about 98 days left. This is assuming I was going to 40 weeks, but I'm not. Maybe 39 weeks, so that would be like 91, but more realistically would be 38... so 84ish days!

I see the doctors once a week for ultrasounds, because her size we monitor Savannah's cord blood flow and obviously her size. I see them every Tuesday through the end of September, which will put me at 31 weeks. After 31 there is talk about needing to go twice a week for continued ultrasounds and adding NSTs.

The real goal here is to make it to 31 weeks, rather right now we're aiming for 28weeks. I obviously don't want a 28week birth but at 28weeks the survivor rate jumps to 96%.

Currently Savannah seems okay in there, her ultrasounds are going well. She's very stubborn and there are still some anatomy shots that haven't been taken.

On Saturday Carl and I went to see a movie in theaters, apparently she was less than thrilled at being kept awake at 10pm. She spent the entire moving kicking me silly.

Another test awaits in a few weeks. The dreaded glucose challenge. With Simon I failed my 3hr glucose and was labeled a gestational diabetic, because of this I had a one hour test around 19 weeks. I passed with normal numbers but I still have to take it again around this time to ensure I haven't developed it in the past few weeks. Sure the diabetes wasn't terrible, mine was diet controlled, but I really don't need any other issues right now so I'm crossing all my fingers and toes I pass this test as well.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

The tale of S4

Late in March, the 26th to be exact. I had a feeling... I didn't want to pay attention to it.

I have PCOS, or poly cystic ovarian syndrom, this means my cycle is not terribly predictable. So being a couple days late is not a big deal, its actually pretty normal. This time though I had that feeling.

The following day I took a pregnancy test.

Now lets get this straight. After Simon's pregnancy I had decided even though we wanted one more baby we would wait a while. I wanted the kids be more independent and able to help me. So we figured maybe when Simon was 3 we would try.

But that test took less than a few seconds to tell me #4 was coming sooner than expected.

Around 10 weeks I went in for a viability ultrasound, this basically makes sure baby is where it should be and how big. At first the Dr couldn't find the baby and in a less than professional manner told me "There is no baby in there."

I laid there for a few minutes inwardly panicking. I've miscarried once before but a missed miscarriage was a whole different bucket. I wanted to cry but I couldn't.

After a few minutes an ultrasound tech came in and found the baby. This is my 4th baby so even at 10weeks my uterus was all the way up to my belly button. I have an anterior placenta, meaning its situated to the front of the uterus, but it was also up top. Baby and placenta had traveled all the way up to my belly button.

My due date was 11/25/13. My first winter baby!

At 12 weeks we saw a healthy little bean




Around this time my blood pressure picked up. It wasn't shocking like near the end with Simon but I wanted it to be noted and monitored. My current OB, the same one who told me I wasn't pregnant, basically shrugged me off.

Well it was time to switch.

My first appointment with my new doctors and I was immediately labeled high risk and referred to Maternal Fetal Medicine, or the high risk specialists.

With my 20 week ultrasound we noticed baby was measuring smaller, about 1.5 weeks behind. Not a big deal, we didn't get in to date her until around 10 weeks which is less accurate than an ultrasound at 6.

We also noticed a healthy, stubborn, little girl.

 This little girl made 2 and 2, an even household. I was so thrilled! We went back and forth on names, thought we had found one but decided it wasn't working. I do believe we have a name Savannah Lynn. Savannah has been on our lists since possibly Sam. Lynn is actually for my mother. You don't know it unless you know her... well, but some variant of Lynn is in her name.

We missed a few anatomy shots and her size warranted a return visit and ultrasound.

So on 8/8/13, approximately 24 weeks, I went in. 

First my blood pressure was 160/70. I knew from the nurses face I probably wasn't going home after my appointment. But they let me go to ultrasound. 

Savannah was still stubborn and we only managed to get the few shots we missed.






Then came the concerning news. Savannah was still small except this time she measured less than 10%. The ultrasound had to be longer to conduct a cord blood flow test to make sure her cord is doing its job well. She passed but it doesn't change the fact that <10% isn't good. It classifies as "poor fetal growth" in my medical records. 

My blood pressure did get me a trip to OB triage for a few hours, the NST (non-stress test) they got from Savannah looked lovely.

We will be monitored more closely by maternal fetal medicine, and by closely I mean frequently. I have never had a small child, in fact my other kids got growth ultrasounds for the opposite reason! Sophie, my smallest at birth, was even considered large and in charge at 7lbs 15oz. This is new and frightening territory with me.

I've never worried about my kids like this. When I was pregnant with Simon I was the one who was sick. The only time he ever showed stress from my condition was less than 24 hours before he was born. This time is different and to be honest, as much as I try not to worry, I'm scared and worried.

Our update

The last time I posted was in October as we were getting ready for Halloween and winter.

Our happenings since then with pictures:

Halloween happened

Simon started growing up
November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July


We got a guinea pig in March, Sophia named him Piggy Piggy


Also at the end of March we discovered I was pregnant again: This makes #4




I got a good picture of my 3 little ones in April




We went to the Zoo in July






Also in July we learned #4 was...


Mommy might be as big as a house
 

Sam turned 2 on July 28






Sophia turned 3 on August 1