{Pregnancy Update} 25 Weeks

I know I've said it before, but it's true - this pregnancy is flying by. I haven't posted a pregnancy update in 3 weeks, so it's about time.

I feel a new sense of responsibility now that I've passed the 6 month mark. Viability begins at 24 weeks, so if something crazy were to happen and this baby suddenly ended up being born, she could survive. I'm still trusting God's plan, but feel the need to be extra vigilant from here on out. I'm already counting kicks, but I don't think I technically have to start that until 28 weeks. It brings me peace of mind.

Even though I feel so much more aware and educated this time around, I still have my "crazy pregnant lady" moments. For instance, I bumped my belly the other night on a door handle and it bruised the following day. I worried I hit the baby in the head (the head seems to be a constant area of concern for me), or that the placenta was damaged. I called the OB on call at the hospital just to make sure they didn't want to check on the baby. I refrained from asking them if they thought I hit the baby in the head. They were not worried about me (not unless I was leaking, bleeding, or contracting - which I wasn't). Baby Girl was moving around just fine. I also decided someone should invent a helmet for baby bumps.

I felt silly calling the doc about bumping into a door handle, but at the same time, as I get farther along, I'm needing more reassurance everything really is going well. Since our only experience is "the path less traveled", it almost feels surreal my body is truly working how God intended it to, and I'm carrying a healthy child. It makes me incredibly emotional (I'm blaming those lovely pregnancy hormones).

Anyways, enough of the therapy session. Here's an actual update on our sweet (still un-named) Baby Girl.

Two weeks ago, I had the ECHO ultrasound to check on the baby's heart. At the anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks, there were a few images that made the doctor want to double check the baby didn't have a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). She doesn't. I didn't think she did. They gave me some really cool pictures of her.

Her kicks are getting stronger and it's the coolest thing to feel her move throughout the day and night. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law were able to feel her move when I put their hand on my belly. I feel really proud when people tell me I'm getting bigger. She is growing right on schedule and I will have another ultrasound in 2 weeks to make sure she continues to grow well.

tennsense@gmail.com

Amy

Seven Snippets Sunday - Surgery Update

 

---1---

 

I apologize for not posting recently. This past week was a busy one for us. Tennyson had a few rough days at the beginning, but she has been an angel for these last three days. Two weeks down, two to go. We're finally in a good routine, and she's back to sleeping well.

 

---2---

 

I have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly Tennyson has healed and adjusted to the casts. I had prepared for her to be out of school for at least two weeks, but she started back this past Wednesday. She went for two hours the first day and did well, so she went for four hours on Thursday and Friday. She loved getting out of the house and seeing her teachers and friends. I didn't want her diaper to show, so she got to wear skirts and dresses. She looked SO adorable.

 

---3---

 

The beanbag has worked out OK. Somehow the bag I put the beans in tore and so we have been leaving a trail of beans wherever we take it. How annoying. We sent Tenn to school with the beanbag chair in the wagon, and while she looks like a little princess being pulled into school, it really isn't supporting her the way she needs it to. We'll have to try something different tomorrow when we take her to school.

This is what she looks like rolling into school (she's out on a walk in this picture, she goes to school in a skirt or a dress).

(the blanket under her knees is to make sure she doesn't have too much pressure on her heels and get pressure sores)

 

---4---

 

Tennyson is completely off her medicines she went home from the hospital on. I anticipate we will need them again once her casts come off, but for now, it's been wonderful to have her sweet personality back. The meds made her so sleepy. Her eyes would roll around and she couldn't stay awake long enough to focus on anything.

 

---5---

 

I have another set of hands in the house! Tennyson's Aunt T moved in this week. I am beyond grateful that she moved across the country to live with us. We are so happy she's here, and Tennyson adores her Aunt T.

 

---6---

 

 

 

Aunt T and Tenny on a walk. She has loved every opportunity to get out of the house.

 

---7---

 

Tenny's cute outfit on her first day back to school. She's not a fan of the camera flash, so her eyes are closed - oh well, still cute!

 

 

Amy

 

tennsense@gmail.com 

Surgery Update - Day Three

We are home!

Tenn slept great last night. Our nurse stayed on top of her pain medicine and it made a huge difference. She fell asleep around 10:30pm and woke up at 8:00am. The night nurse had blond hair, that was pulled back in a ponytail, so I think she thought it was me each time the nurse came in to take vitals. She fell right back to sleep each time.

The doctors came in at 5:30am for rounds (seriously, who functions that early!?), and said she could go home. Her discharge orders were in by 9:00am, but we still had to wait for a special carseat (called a "Hippo" by Britax) to be delivered.

Tenn was really annoyed by anyone and everyone who came into our room today. To be honest, so was I. We were both ready to get out of there.

The carseat came, and then we were upgraded to an even bigger wheelchair so the carseat could fit in it. Awesome. I wish I would have taken a picture of them wheeling her out. However, it didn't seem appropriate to take a picture of her crying, and I wanted to get the heck out of there.

I had anticipated leaving in the afternoon right after my doctors appointment, but then they handed me her discharge orders - with paper prescriptions for pain medicine.

{short backstory} - Last week, I called her doctors office to get her pain medicines filled ahead of time so I would have them when we went home. The nurse assured me we would be sent home with them. This has never happened. Ever. We have never been given meds to go home with. We always get scripts to take to our pharmacy after she gets home from a hospital stay. I guess it was too good to be true. I should have asked about this yesterday, so our pharmacy could have had the meds in stock for us. Lesson learned. Oh well.

I called our pharmacy to see if they had them in stock, but of course, they didn't. So I had to go have them filled at the hospital pharmacy. We didn't leave the hospital until 6pm.

Tenn was exhausted and slept the entire car ride home. She woke up when we pulled in the driveway. I said, "We're home!", and she gave me a big smile.

Amy

tennsense@gmail.com

Surgery Update - Day Two

Overall, today went far better than I had prepared for. Tennyson slept very well last night in between nurses coming in to check vitals. Around 2am her nurse let me know she had a fever. I was surprised because she has been getting antibiotics in her I.V., but the doctors who did rounds this morning (at 5:30am!) weren't concerned about it and said it was normal.

She was downright giggly this morning when she woke up. I can only attribute it to the dose of pain medicine she received around 6:00am. She also got some Tylenol, which brought her temperature down quickly.

I had to leave her around 9:00am to go to my ultrasound downstairs in the Women's Hospital. It was a quick appointment and I was able to get back within 45 minutes. As the morning went on, she became more irritable, which was what I expected. She cries every time the nurses come in.

After each dose of pain medicine, she took a good nap. When she slept, I slept. So, we both got three good long naps in today.

She was fitted for a wheelchair rental that will go home with us. They brought an adult sized wheelchair. I asked them to bring a pediatric wheelchair, but it was too small. So for now, she gets a big wheelchair. We might be able to use a wagon once we get her home.

I'm still trying to arrange for a car seat that will be able to accommodate her lovely new casts. Hopefully, we can go home tomorrow afternoon. I think she'll be more comfortable and we'll be able to figure out a good routine for her.

They handed out balloons today and I couldn't help but laugh at what her balloon said on it.

Amy

tennsense@gmail.com

Surgery Update - Day One

Well, today was surgery day for Tenny. The past few days have all merged into one really long day for me. We came up to Chapel Hill last night since we knew she'd be one of the first ones to go today. After we checked into our hotel we went out to dinner together and I had such a fun time with her. I tried to soak it all in, knowing I might not see her happy for quite a long time.

I could barely sleep last night, worrying that I would sleep in and miss the surgery altogether (even though I set up a wake up call and set an alarm). We woke up around 5:45am and Tenn was already cranky. I don't blame her. It's no fun to get up when it's still dark outside.

We arrived at the hospital and checked her in. They sent us up to surgery and we only waited for a few minutes before they called her back to start getting her prepped. I talked to the anesthesiologist, the resident anesthesiologist, the nurse who would be with her, her doctor that would be performing the surgery, and his two residents. After that, they took her vitals, did a weight check and she was ready to go. They asked if I wanted to take her back. I've done that one other time, and knew we would both do better if they just took her. I watched them walk her back and she was so brave, she didn't even cry, but I'm sure she was scared.

The surgery took about 2 hours, so I went and ate breakfast and then sat in the waiting room until they came to tell me she was done. People have some crazy conversations in hospital waiting rooms. I was happy to see her doctor when he came in. He wasn't smiling and I instantly started to panic. I think he could tell and he told me right away it went great and she was doing fine. He said she had minimal bleeding, but to prepare myself for how wide her legs were casted.

I waited a few more minutes and was called back to the recovery area. She actually sounded good. She's usually really hoarse from the breathing tube, but not this time. They called me back because she was holding her breath a lot while crying. I could hear her even before I saw her. They couldn't tell if she was in pain, scared, or mad. I was guessing it was a combination of all three. It's hard to for me to figure out exactly what her cries mean when she's waking up from anesthesia. She was definitely holding her breath a lot so I attributed it to pain. They tried quite a few pain meds and she was still crying and holding her breath, so she had to have the oxygen mask on. I think this made her even more mad. She was covered in blankets so I didn't see her casts right away

I even bought cute socks and slippers....oh well

She stayed in recovery for over three hours. She cried for most of that time, but soon I was able to comfort her and she slept a little. I peeked at her casts and was surprised at how far apart her legs were. I also hadn't anticipated her feet would be included.

She took a second nap after they moved her up to her private room and I took the opportunity to go grab our bags from the car and get something to eat. They started her on pedialite, but she threw up. I was able to clean her up and put a shirt on her.

I was a little nervous earlier this evening because she started to have spasms that looked similar to her myoclonic seizures. I wasn't sure if these were the muscle spasms we were warned about, or if she was actually having seizures. I asked the nurse to call her doctor to come tell me what he thought. He was certain they were only muscle spasms, but increased her valium to help calm them.

Thank goodness for Kipper the Dog

I anticipate a pretty sleepless night, but know tomorrow will be better. She's still pretty upset when she is awake, but they are giving her pain medicine around the clock.

Amy

tennsense@gmail.com

{Tutorial} Make Your Own Beanbag Chair

Preparation continues for the big surgery next week. It was mentioned to me by more than one person that a beanbag chair works well for positioning after this type of surgery. I looked everywhere for a beanbag that would work, but they were all crazy expensive. Seriously, who knew beanbag chairs could cost nearly $100 for the big ones. I'm not paying that much for a beanbag. The ones I found on craisglist were questionable...I'm not a fan of questionable.

Tennyson's physical therapist mentioned making one. She had seen something on pinterest that showed how to make a dog bed, but it was essentially the same idea. I didn't bother trying to find that tutorial, since it sounded pretty straight forward.

I'm happy with how it turned out! It's the size I wanted, it's super soft, and I can wash it if I need to. Tennyson will fit perfectly on it.

Would you like to make one of your own?

Here's what you'll need:

2 bags of beans - $11.49 each

1 1/2 yards of fleece fabric (top layer) - $8.16

1 1/2 yards of fleece fabric (bottom layer) - $7.41

Zippered twin mattress cover - $7.97

Sharp scissors (I already had these)

Total cost: $46.52 

 

 

I'm a visual learner, so get ready for picture overload....

First, lay out one layer of fabric:

This is where you might think I'm a little crazy...I needed a circle template, so I used a small table we had in our kitchen.

I used my hand as a guide, because I wanted a very large bean bag.

Keep cutting until you have a circle.

Next, lay your second fabric down and place the circle on top.

Then, use your top layer as the template and cut around it.

 

 

Now, your fabric should look like this:

 



Next, open your zippered mattress cover and poor the beans into it.

 

Spill the beans all over the place.

 

Poor both bags of beans into the zippered mattress cover and zip it up. You're not going to fill the mattress cover up with just 2 bags of beans, so there will be a lot of extra mattress cover...just wad it up and shove it on top. You won't be able to tell once it's inside the beanbag.

 

If you aren't going to sew your seams shut, you're going to make cuts like this around the entire blanket.

If you are going to sew your seams closed, make sure you face the right sides (printed sides) of your fabric together before you pin them in place. My fabric was the same on both sides, so it didn't matter which sides showed.

 

Pin 3/4 of the way around your fabric, leaving an opening to put the beans inside the bag.

 

Sew a simple seam along the edge.

 

I doubled up my seam, because I hate having to go back and repair holes in things I make. It's such a pain.

Now you have your sewn circle with an opening.

 

Turn it inside out. Now you don't see those exposed edges.

 

Go to the part of your circle you didn't sew closed.

 

Make cuts like this all along the edge.

 

Stuff your beans in the bag.

 

Now it looks like this:

 

Tie them together...you're almost done!

 

Now you have a giant bean bag!

 

So, I realize it does resemble a dog bed, but it won't when sweet Tennyson is laying on it.

 

If it needs to be washed, I can just untie a few of the bows and pull the bag of beans out. 

 

Also, I'm hoping Tennyson won't have to be out of school the entire time she is in casts. Her doctors mentioned putting her in a wagon padded with pillows when she goes back to school. This might be able to pad her wagon and prop her up if she feels up to going.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

{Update: After using the bean bag, there are definitely some changes I would make: 1) Spend the extra couple of dollars on the fabric mattress cover. Ours ripped and I was left with a GIANT mess of beans to clean up. 2) If you can put a zipper on - do it! The combination of the torn plastic mattress cover and the holes in between the ties was messy. All the spilled beans made their way out of every possible hole. I'm still finding beans in my living room, even after I swear I've found every single one of them.}

 

 

Amy

 

tennsense@gmail.com

{Pregnancy Update} 22 Weeks

I'm completely enjoying this stage of my pregnancy! I feel good. I'm not tired. I'm not nauseous. I've stopped having nosebleeds. I'm not uncomfortable. I'm sleeping good. It's wonderful! According to my babycenter.com e-mails, baby girl is about 11 inches long and weighs just around a pound.

It was only a few weeks ago I was waiting to feel this baby girl kick. Now, she makes sure I know when she's awake. It went from soft little flutters to full on kicks within two weeks!

I only have 15 more weeks until I'm technically full term (37 weeks). With the unexpected scheduling of Tennyson's surgery, I feel like the next few months are going to go quickly. Tenn's surgery is next Tuesday. I have an ultrasound to look at this baby's heart the following morning, and the next day, I'll get to see my doctor. At least I'll be in the same hospital for all of this. It actually makes it quite convenient.

I've been contemplating using a doula for this birth. The hospital has volunteer doulas that are on call and they don't charge for their services. I'm in the process of being matched with one. I think I've started to process early enough to find someone I'm comfortable with.

Last time around, I read every single chapter of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" except the chapter on c-sections. I even had written a birth plan. About a month after Tennyson was born, I found my birth plan and I half laughed, half cried as I read it. Everything happened so differently than what I had planned.

This time, I'm not planning. I have discussed a 'loose' birth plan with my doctor. If I have a healthy, boring pregnancy, then I will attempt a VBAC. I'm lucky to have a doctor who actually recommended that route. I've always heard of women having to fight for a VBAC, or having to find a doctor that would actually support them in trying for a VBAC. However, the baby comes first - not the birth experience - so a c-section will remain an option as well. As the pregnancy progresses and the growth scans of baby begin, I'll have a better idea what delivery route will be best.

I'll try to post a belly picture soon. (maybe tomorrow). The baby belly is definitely getting bigger. I found Mama Bee Belly Butter and Oil by Burt's Bees. I'm in love with this stuff! I'm slightly obsessive about moisturizing while pregnant. It doesn't stink and it's not greasy. I definitely recommend it.

 

On a completely different note, I'm excited to share that I have a phone appointment with Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. She's the doctor in charge of the clinical trial at Duke using stem cells to treat cerebral palsy. I'll hopefully get to address some questions about Tennyson, and get some answers about banking the cord blood with Duke's Cord Blood Bank. It's a small step, but one that will hopefully open up doors for us in the future.

tennsense@gmail.com

Amy

Seven Snippets Sunday

 

---1---

Tennyson's physical therapist arranged for her to trial a power wheelchair. She had an opportunity about a year ago to try a power chair, but it had a joystick she had to try and manipulate with her hand. She didn't have the motor skills to be successful with a joystick. This time, she is learning to control the chair with her head. She can turn by looking side to side, and to go forward, she puts her head against the head rest. Here is a cute video of her trying it for the first time with the head controls.

 

 

 

---2---

I took this picture last night of Tenn. I can't get over how grown up she looks! I had to do a double take when I saw it. I wish it was clearer. I guess I focused on Santa, rather than her face. Yes, she is wearing Christmas jammies...it's close enough, right? Only 78 more days until Christmas!

 

 

 

---3---

Last week we weren't supposed to have any appointments. She ended up having two. One for a weight check, and the other to see her Developmental Pediatrician. Both appointments went great. Tennyson gained a pound in the last month! She is now 24lbs and is 36 inches long. She needs to keep the weight gain going, because she will definitely lose some muscle following her hip surgery.

 

---4---

Neither of us have any appointments this week! Let's hope we can keep it that way.

 

---5---

Tennyson's surgery is only 9 days away! Good news - I found out her cast won't cover her hips and lower tummy, but will still cover both of her legs all the way up to her groin. Bad news - I found her doctor will be out of town the week she was supposed to get her casts removed, so she has to stay in them for an extra week. A month just sounds so much longer than 3 weeks!

 

---6---

Tennyson has been completely seizure free for 2 full weeks! Thank you, God, for answering that prayer! It has been such a blessing to not have to think about seizures.

 

---7---

Tenny is getting more curious about food! One of her new favorites is orange sherbet. I also let her try the powder on a white donut...(seriously, how can I NOT share with her when she just stares at me while I eat next to her!? She's just so cute!).

 

 

 

tennsense@gmai.com

 

Amy