1 Week Down......

Well, I've officially made it 1 full week here at Vanderbilt Hospital. The week actually went pretty fast. I've had a lot of visitors who have brought lunch....thanks everyone....and Chad and I just hang out a lot. Since we obviously don't have TIVO here at the hospital, Chad figured out a way to download TV shows from home and bring them in to play on my laptop. Thank goodness....can't miss my shows:)

Nothing new to report. I learned today that I won't be having weekly ultrasounds anymore. The doctor explained to me today that at a certain point that can only tell them so much. So, right now we are just waiting for the baby to be born. I'm asked about every 2 hours if I'm having contractions....so they are on top of it! I'm at about 28 1/2 weeks and I read somewhere that for every day that I am here in the hospital we are saving our little baby 2 days from being in the NICU. I remind myself of that when I'm anxious and bored.....I would much rather be here just laying around waiting for her arrival than to be watching her in the NICU.

I found out last night that I am allowed 1 wheelchair ride each day. Of course Chad has to go with me and we have to stay on Vanderbilt Property, but there are a lot of places we can go. There is outdoor areas and several food options. Today was my first venture outside and we went outside and watched some Squirrels eating french fries. It was so cute. They would just down in the garbage can and pop out holding a fry and eat it and then go in for more. It was pretty entertaining:)

Handmade with Love

My project last week when I was home was to make a little owl mobile for the baby's room. It turned out pretty cute! We hung it above the changing table to give her a distraction during diaper changing time:)

Luckily before I was admitted to the hospital, we pretty much have the nursery in order. Chad is going to be designing some artwork for some frames we bought and my mom is working on a valance for the window. Once those 2 projects are complete, we will take some pictures for everyone to see. I love how it came together and I can't wait to take our little baby home so she can enjoy it too!

Bedrest with Bathroom Privledges

That is my current status. Boy, I never thought that going to the bathroom would be a privledge:) Most people who know me already kind of know what is going on right now with the pregnancy. But, here's the run down. On Monday I had my follow up ultrasound and my cervix has shortened some more and also I was starting to dilate. It was enough of a concern that our Dr. decided it was time to admit me to the hospital most likely for the remainder of the pregnancy. So, I was admitted on Monday and here I am just hanging out and wishing I wasn't here, but I also hope I'll be here for a while so that the baby has time to grow. The main reason I am here at the hospital is for stricter bed rest and also for closer monitoring and so that I am here if something happens. With the fact that my cervix is barely there and also the fact that I'm dilated could mean that things could happen quickly when they do and so they want me already here.

Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks along. On Tuesday, a Dr. from the NICU came and talked with Chad and I. She wanted us to be informed on what to expect. Each week she will come and talk to us about "if our baby were born today"' what would the issues, concerns, obstacles be. She stressed that she doesn't want to scare us, but knows that having a baby in the NICU can be very stressful and overwhelming and the better informed we are the more confident we will feel.

Right now at 27 weeks 6 days, the survival rate is very good. Thankfully! But, there are many complications and obstacles for a baby that small to overcome. The biggest thing is infections. The skin is very thin on a baby that age and also they tend to have to have IV's and tubes that can increase infection. The immune system is just not fully developed. There is also a high chance of learning and developmental issues. And also concerns with growth and weight gain. If she were born now we would be spending about 3-4 months in the NICU. Scary to think about, but I'm also confident that we can get a little further. At week 30 and 31, many of the major concerns are reduced and one of the main issues would just be weight gain. She would still have a good amount of time in the NICU, but she would be in a much better situation.

So, we wait...patiently. It's a very strange time for Chad and I. It's hard to think that we won't have an opportunity to do anything outside this hospital until we have a baby. No evenings out, not getting to sleep in the same bed, our trips to Target. It's certainly now how I pictured things at all. I imagined us taking a couple last weekend trips before the baby and just enjoying our last bit of time with just to two of us. But, we keep focusing on a few months down the road when hopefully our life will resume to a new normal for us. Through all of this Chad has been wonderful. I can't imagine going through this with anyone else in the world.

We will keep you posted and hopefully we will have nothing eventful to report anytime soon.

On a happier and cuter note....occasionally here at the hospital they hook me up to a heartrate monitor and contractions monitor. Today the entire 20 minutes I was hooked up, the baby had the hiccups and you could hear them so clearly through the monitor. It was really cute!

Our First Baby Shower

Last night was our first baby shower and it was super fun! It was hosted by my friend Karin and my sisters Greta and Tara. We decided to have it be a co-ed friends and family shower and both mine and Chad's parent were able to be there. We had yummy Mexican food and the decor theme was owls.....which are just my favorite thing right now. The owl cupcakes were just the cutest things ever! We played a couple fun games. One of which you are banned from saying the word "cute" and "baby". I lost very quickly when I started opening my presents. The word cute was about the only word I could say:) The other game we played was guessing who was who in their baby pictures. It was really cute and I got all of them right! It helped that I was related to nearly everyone there. One really cool thing they did was make us little iron on onesies that my sister Greta had designed. We got a ton of great gifts and are off to a great start on getting the things we need to be ready for the little one. Thanks to everyone that was there......we really appreciate it!

Getting Bigger.....

That is referring to both me AND the baby:) This picture is taken at 26 weeks. It's funny now thinking back to early on in pregnancy when you just can't wait to be showing a little so that it actually looks like you are pregnant. Well....that seems so long ago:) I've officially decided I am no longer going to weigh myself or pay any attention when they weigh me at the Dr. office. I felt I was somewhat on track until bed rest hit and now it's becoming all too apparent that my metabolism is also on bed rest. I'm trying to not worry too much about it and hope that it kicks back in when I'm able to be up and around again.

Anyway, we did have a follow up ultrasound and Dr. appointment this morning. Unfortunately each week my cervix is measuring shorter and shorter. One week ago it was approx .8-.9cm and today is measuring .5-.6cm. Based on the last 4 measurements it is just getting shorter each week. The topic of admitting me to the hospital did come up, but the doctor really thinks that at this point I am just fine at home but that we need to be prepared for the possibility of being in the hospital in the coming weeks. Each week we will check it again and the hope would be somehow it would just stay where it's at, but if it continues to shorten at the same rate over the next couple weeks it will be pretty much nonexistent. At that point even if I have had no contractions, my "water" could break in which case I would need to be admitted to the hospital where they can usually delay a birth for sometimes 1-2 weeks after that. So much is unknown and all we can do is just wait until the weekly appointment and see how things are looking.

On a happier note....I'm very excited that my parents are coming to town this weekend. I'm having my first baby shower! I've been looking forward to this so much as it's given me a little milestone to focus on lately. The Dr. is okay with us leaving the home in a very controlled setting of sitting, being in a wheelchair and being only about 15 minutes away from Vanderbilt Hospital. So, even though I will be limited my leaving the house now even more than ever.....it does me a lot of good to occasionally leave just to see the outside world.

The baby's room is coming along and just as soon as we get a few more little things done in there I will post some pictures. I just know she's gonna love her little room. It's so her:) Well...it's so me...which since I'm her mommy means it's so her.

Thanks for your continued prayers and we will just keep you updated along the way.

Baby Update

We had a follow up ultrasound yesterday....which was following up from one 1 week earlier. The week earlier the ultrasound showed that my cervix was measuring shorter than it had been. This may not mean anything to many, but just for your info it had been about 1.6 cm after the cerclage procedure. So, one week ago it was only measuring around .9-1 cm. They wanted to see us again in 1 week just to track any changes and see if maybe there was just some inconsistency in measuring or something. Yesterday it was measuring between .8-.9. The normal range would be around 3 cm. We are working with a high risk specialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine and thankfully we know all she handles is high risk situations. She felt concerned enough to advise us to do a round of steroid shots to help the baby's lungs develop and to also prevent bleeding of the brain in very early births. I had the initial steroid shot yesterday and another today. The lungs are one of the last things that a baby develops so this is critical for her. They hooked me up to a monitor for awhile to try to track any possible contractions that might be causing me to progress without me even realizing it. It didn't show anything. So, the plan now is weekly ultrasounds and also I am now on bed rest until the baby comes.

Overall I feel pretty much at peace about things. I feel like we have done everything medically we can do at this point and we are just trusting that God is going to keep our baby girl safe. It's so hard to know what to expect. The signs are pointing at a possibly very early delivery, but you never know. She could decide to stay in there full term and really surprise everyone. I'm thankful for every day that she stays in there because each day increases the odds of a good outcome by 4%. I'm currently 26 weeks and by week 28 there is a nearly 90% survival rate for babies. That encourages me and I feel even better knowing that we have taken steps to further her development which would help even more. However....that is still very scary for us to think about.

My next ultrasound and Dr. appointment is on Monday and so we will let you all know what we find out then. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers for our baby girl.

Cha Chah = Yum Yum

Just got back from a lovely dinner out at a new restaurant on Belmont Blvd. The same owners of one of our favorite restaurants, PM, opened up a new restaurant right next door called Cha Chah. They specialize in Tapas, which are an assortment of finger foods, appetizers, canapes' and the idea originated in Spain. Typically the idea is to order several tapas to experience and share. Here's what we got:

Jen - Hybiscus Cranberry Tea - served iced....super yummy!
Chad - Hot Green Tea....he liked it...but not super unique.

Dip trio -
citrus zest hummus
blue Cheese Bacon and chives (Chad's fave)
artichoke and Parmesan Tapenade (My fave)

Tapas -
goat cheese and tomato tortilla espanola
chicken samosas with tamarind sauce
citrus zest and ginger crab fritters

The atmosphere was great and we ate on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree Nashville evening. Lots of people were out walking their dogs on Belmont and there was just a lot of energy in the air. Obviously I've been feeling pretty cooped up lately and this was a wonderful night out that almost made us feel like we were on vacation for about an hour:) We totally give Cha Chah 2 thumbs up and can't wait to go back to try some more yummy things they have.

Done Registering......I think

Chad and I have said to each other that it feels like not that long ago we were let loose in Target with the little scanner gun....but we were registering for our wedding. We got to go crazy again with the scan gun to register for baby stuff and boy (I mean girl)...it's tricky. What does a little baby need? A lot! There are lists you can look up to help you know what you need and I'm convinced are made by the people that sell the products and so of course....they want to make you think you need everything.

After reviewing various websites and consulting friends on what one really does need....I think we are all done having fun with the scan guns. We registered for almost everything at Target, only a couple items at Babies R Us and a few things at a website called Land of Nod.

Here are the websites if you want to check them out. Just search under Chad and Jennifer Hunter.

www.target.com
www.babiesrus.com
www.landofnod.com

And, please...if we have forgotten something imperative to our child's well being....please let us know:)