Random Stories

- So Kevin called me at like 10:30 at night, and I was awoken from a dead sleep. Here is our conversation, as Kevin tells it.

Me: Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.
You: Oh I wasn't sleeping, I was getting the baby's heart beat.
Me: Really, the nurse is there?
You: No I was doing it myself.
Me: You're on a non stress test?
You: No, I have a thing.
Me: What thing? They left a doppler? That's odd.
You: No, not a doppler, a thing, you don't have to have a nurse.
Me: Are you still asleep?
You: No!
Me: Are you sure? You're not making any sense.
You: No I'm not asleep, I'm really taking the heatbeat now, I have a thing.
Me: What thing?
You: It's a thing.....Ummmm.....you know.
Me: Okay, get some sleep. Bye.
You: No don't go, I'm wide awake and want to talk to you.
Me: No you're not.
You: Yes I am.

- So I've been watching "Charmed." Right when I got to the hospital - Chis Perry, Piper's son from the future - came back through time to help keep his older brother from turning evil. And let me tell you, Chris (played by actor Drew Fuller) is a total fox!

So I started watching every day, and Chris just got cuter and cuter! I started having romantic dreams about him. Like we were sitting next to eachother and our knees were almost touching, stuff like that. Nothing sexual, don't worry!

Anyway, unfortunately, Chris was killed last night. :( Yes, it was killed trying to save his brother, the whole reason he had come back through time in the first place.

I've known for a while that he was going to die - I read it on a web site somewhere (after all, I'm watching re-runs). So each day as we found out more and more about Chris, I knew his time was coming to and end. Finally, Gideon shows up in one of the shows. I had read that Gideon had killed Chris, so I knew time was running out. I watched each episode with baited breath, knowing Chris' death was coming soon.

And finally last night, while a storm raged on outside my window (I'm not including that information to be dramatic, but rather because I almost lost the satellite signal several times), Chris was finally killed by Gideon. It was actually very sad and I cried a little.

Now, my unhealthy obsession with this character must end, because I will never see him again. I can only wait until one of the other time slots on TNT who plays Charmed reruns gets to the point where Chris again comes back through time.

Although of course I will have to watch the whole time knowing that he eventually dies. It's all too sad.

- Here is how I'm thinking about the remainer of my bedrest time.

I've already been on bedrest for 7 weeks, and I have 7 left to go. So I'm now at a halfway point. That's cause for a YAY. :)

You see, I'm 26.5 weeks along right now. It's a little more than a week until I hit 27 weeks. Once I hit 27 weeks, it's only one week until 28, which is great!

But when I get to 28 weeks, it's just 2 more weeks until 30, which is really amazing.

But of course once I get to 30, it is only 4 weeks until 34! I can definitely do that. :)

So you see, when you break things down, it is practically no time at all until my target date!

Week 26!

Wow, I am now officially at Week 26. That's amazing.

I'm so greedy though. I want to make 28 for sure, and I REALLY hope for 30. But, really, 30 kind of sucks and what I REALLY, REALLY want is 35. At 35 there is a good chance that the baby will breathe fine and not end up in the NICU. He might just go home with us! He would weigh like 4 or 5 pounds! How amazing would that be, after all of this worrying and waiting and hoping and praying.

I have these odd dreams all the time now... I'll have a dream that I'm out doing something, like, say, walking down the street. Then, suddenly I remember that I should be on strict bedrest, so I panic and then end up laying down on the sidewalk.

Last night I was dreaming that I was going back to college to finish my bachelor's. I was in a dorm room looking over my class schedule, and I thought about how I needed to buy school supplies and was so excited about that. I was going to buy some cute little folders and matching pens. Then, I realized I was supposed to be on bedrest so I quickly laid down flat on the floor. I will have to order the folders and pens online, I thought, since I can't get up. :)

Our current favorite name for the baby is Phineas. It was always one of my favorite names since I read the book "A Separate Peace." I loved Finny in that book. So when Kevin said it was his favorite name, it really stuck with me too. It is an odd name, difficult to pull off, but if anyone can do it - it is our baby. I hope Finny isn't mad at us in the future for using such a name. :)

Here is an update that I posted on one of my message boards:

Everything seems to be going remarkably well! I've had a few scares due to my white blood cell count going up and down, but today it is back down again so it looks like my count is just fluctuating, rather than a sign of an infection building up.

I've been having an ultrasound every 2 weeks, and I had one on Monday. The baby looks great - we saw a little penis, so it is definitely a boy! He weighs almost 2 pounds at this point, and there was a little more amniotic fluid than I normally have (AFI 3.7). We could actually see the baby opening and closing his mouth to drink! So that's a great sign.

I'm still having some problems with my appetite... first I'm a vegetarian, and second I'm pregnant. So it is really difficult for me to eat hospital food all the time. I still throw up now and then, and the doctors offered me Zofran but I refused. I don't feel I throw up enough to make it worth it.

Unfortunately I'm in a hospital almost 2 hours away from home, so it is difficult for my husband to bring me food. He has brought me snacks, which really helps. I now have some food from each of the food groups: salty snacks, chocolate snacks and sweet candy snacks. Yesterday he brought me the sweet candy, and included were some Jolly Ranger lollipops. Oh man, an apple Jolly Ranger lollipop must have been one of the best things I've ever tasted.

He also brought me pizza one time. It was a little cold, but it was so incredibly delicious. I feel like my stomach has shrunken so much so it is difficult to eat much all at once, but I ate so much pizza I thought I would explode! It was great though. Good times.

I also feel the baby kicking all the time now. He's doing a new thing recently - a slow kick, like a stretch. It looks so funny because you can see my blankets and everything move up slowly, then back down. I'm sitting here laying down all the time, so it is very easy to pay attention to all the kicking.

I started Heprin shots a week and a half ago, meant to reduce blood clots. I have to get a shot twice a day, every day. I don't mind being stuck by needles, I'm getting to be a pro at that, but man, the medicine going in really STINGS. But, hey, it's worth it. The last thing in the world I need is a bloodclot!

Quick update - 24 weeks!

Hello there!

I'm 24 weeks today, and so excited! Some adorable women were asking about me on one of my message boards, so I gave them a quick update. I figure I'll use it here as well to save some typing time. :)

Hi everyone!

I have good news! Everything is going great and I hit 24 weeks today, after one month of strict bedrest. 24 weeks is the viability cut off point, so my baby has more than 50% chance of survival at this point, and it gets better every day.

I SOOOO appreciate you guys asking about me - I actually have been busy with work! I worked 26 hours last week while laying almost totally flat on my hospital bed. It really helps me pass the time and not feel guilty about missing work (I'm the head of my department so I want to stay involved).

At this point, there is no reason - other than if I contract an infection - that I can't go another 2 months with this baby. My doctor wants me to make it to 34 weeks now. I really feel I can make it.

I'm sick of sitting in bed, but honestly I'm not doing too bad at all. I'm on another mailing list with ladies who are on bedrest, and some of them are totally going bonkers. Me, I think I'm naturally a lazy hermit if left to my own resources, so lots of the time I've actually very comfortable. I can take a nap any damn time I want, I can use my computer and work or play video games or chat on message boards ALL NIGHT then sleep all day! Once a day or so I have a moment where I feel whiney because I want to do something else - usually when there is nothing good on TV. But, mostly I'm OK.

I have lost some weight since being in the hospital, and I had lost about 10 pounds before my water broke as well, so I think I've lost like 25 pounds at this point. So now I have to drink Ensure Plus and some extra snacks to try to gain more weight. Honestly, I don't want to gain too much weight because I have a fibroid and my stomach is already so huge, the last thing I want to do is add a layer of fat on there. Also, I'm worried about gestational diabetes, which would suck for a premature baby (which I will almost certainly have). But anyway, I don't want to lose a bunch of weight either, so I'm trying to eat what I can, when I can.

I got my first round of steroid shots today and yesterday, so that will really help the baby if something goes wrong. I also had the first of my now daily non stress tests, where they monitor the baby's heartbeat for 30 minutes. He passed with huge flying colors. The nurse said that his heartbeat was basically as good as it can possibly be. So that was really exciting. And I loved the test... I just sat there listening to my baby's heartbeat and I sang quietly for a while, and then I talked to him about some random things at the end. His heartbeat actually went up a little when I was talking, so I know he was hearing me.

I also had a big ultrasound last weeks and everything looks really good, other than the fact that my fibroid is growin (20 cm now) and the baby still has very little fluid (AFI 2.0). But, everything else couldn't be better! She didn't actually see a penis, but she was pretty sure she saw a scrotum, so she says it is 80% chance a boy.

Anyway, thanks again for asking about me! You guys are so wonderful. I will keep you updated if anything happens.

Christine