Jack Family Fun!: 28 Weeks- 7 months!!!

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester people!!! It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last prego post. Chewy is still as active as ever- moving, rolling, kicking nearly all day long! J & A love watching my belly move and they enjoy having their littlest brother kick them (something that will certainly change as Chewy grows up).

7 Months

I met with my doctor and we spent a lot of time talking about pre-term labor... is it likely to happen again? Would the hospital stop labor? etc. Basically it could happen... since it was spontaneous both times before, it could repeat itself. And the hospital normally wouldn't stop labor at 36 or 37 weeks, but in my case 37 weeks just isn't enough time for those lungs to develop. Aaron was born at 36 weeks and 6 days and still ended up in the NICU for nearly 2 weeks. Dr. Brunel said we would try to keep me pregnant as long as possible depending on what my blood pressure is doing. If my blood pressure stays too high for too long, the risk to my health outweighs the inconvenience of another NICU experience. We talked about getting steroid shots at 34 weeks which are usually only given once you go into labor to give the baby's lungs an extra boost of development. There really aren't any studies showing them to be effective for women who carry past 34 weeks, but it certainly couldn't hurt either.

Little foot!

I also had my first Rho-gam shot. I am RH negative which could cause problems if the baby is Rh positive. Basically my body could recognize the baby's Rh positive blood as foreign and start to attack it. So I have to get a shot of antibodies that will prevent my blood from attacking the baby's blood. It was quick and painless. If I experience any sort of trauma from here on out (say a fall or some other impact to the stomach area), I will have to get another shot and I will have my final shot after delivery.

My doctor also suggested that I meet with a Peri-natologist in Modesto to discuss my birth history and current blood pressure issues and get his advice on how the rest of the this pregnancy and delivery should go. One thing we're trying to figure out is if I should deliver in Sonora and run the chance that the baby will need the NICU. Then the baby will be transferred to Modesto while I will have to stay in Sonora for at least 24 hours after delivery. This is what happened when Aaron was born and it was heartbreaking to be so far away for so long.

Beautiful face and hand!

So off I went to Modesto this week and met with Dr. O. First I had a level 2 ultrasound during which the technician examined and measured all of Chewy's parts and confirmed that he is in fact a boy. Based on his bone measurements she said he weighed 2 lbs 15 ounces which is normal for his gestational age. Dr. O and I spent a lot of time talking about my delivery history. Of course my blood pressure was high in his office too, but I brought my trusty chart of my normal at home numbers. After hearing about the deliveries of Jonathan and Aaron he offered some insights. He said that because the hospitals never did their own ultrasounds to determine or confirm gestational age, it's possible that the boys were actually younger than we thought therefore accounting for their underdevelopment. He also said that the magnesium sulfate I was on for both labors and deliveries (which is a powerful muscle relaxer) would have greatly effected their abilities to breathe upon birth. He said that he would not recommend my being on mag sulfate at all during this delivery unless I developed pre-ecclampsia which is characterized by high blood pressure accompanied by protein in the urine among some other symptoms. He said that if my blood pressure is elevated for too long during labor and delivery I could be given different medications to treat just that, medication that would not cause the baby to be sluggish. He also had me stay and do a non-stress test where I was hooked up to monitors that kept track of Chewy's heartbeat and if contractions were occurring (which they weren't). That went well and also retook my blood pressure again and it had come down quite a bit (into the medium part of the normal range). He recommended that I continue to do the non-stress tests 1-2 times a week in Sonora and also that I have some additional blood work done to determine if I have high blood pressure in general.

Arms!!

So I have my normal dr. appt in Sonora next week and now my appts with Dr. Brunel will be every 2 weeks now that we are in the 3rd trimester, and I have to go back to see Dr. O in Modesto in 4 weeks.

Here's the goal prayer warriors... We're praying that my blood pressure continues to stay in the normal range at home (so far so good there!) and praying that labor doesn't start on it's own until 38 WEEKS!! That's the goal... to get to 38 weeks. If I can make it to 38 weeks then I can deliver in Sonora and in all likelihood the baby's lungs will be fully developed. Please keep us in your prayers. We deeply appreciate all your love and support. We know that God created this baby and that He already knows the hour of Corban's birth and all the surrounding circumstances.

So if the goal is 38 weeks, that means I have less than 10 weeks left! EEK!!!

The boys have been so excited about their little brother, we decided to do some artwork to decorate his room (and their room too). I saw this idea on Pinterest and while I think it would have turned out better on canvas, it still looks pretty good on paper. I spelled our their names with painter's tape and then let the boys fingerpaint all over the paper. When the paint was dry we removed the tape! Voila! Here's what we got: