All in a week

TUESDAY: We visit the 4F clinic and get another non-stress test and an anatomy ultrasound to see how the baby is growing. Dr. Mueller lets us know that although lots of test results are coming back normal, the baby's growth is just not where they want it to be and she would probably be better served in the care of the NICU. My C-section is scheduled for 9am the next day.

WEDNESDAY: Ready to go! We are terrified, excited and hopeful - we have no idea what to expect with this baby at 33 weeks and 4 days gestation.

anticipation

9:53 am - the NICU team working on the baby in the O.R.


and into our lives on two tiny little feet
walks Margaret Hanae True
1420 grams - 3lbs 2oz

THURSDAY: Maggie's doing amazing. No need for breathing tubes or any other real life support other than an IV for nutrition and her feeding tube. She is remarkably stable and is enjoying her feeds. We can't believe how well she is. It's so strange to sit in the NICU with a baby whose alarms never go off -- she just needs to eat and grow.

FRIDAY: Maggie's feeds keep going up and they let us know that if she keeps doing well she'll probably be transferred to St. Catharines for level 2 care as soon as there's a bed.

SATURDAY: I go home and have to leave my Maggie in the care of the NICU nurses.

SUNDAY: She just keeps doing fine! feeding and growing.....

MONDAY: Maggie weighs in at 1475 grams -- more than her birth weight.

TUESDAY: In record time, she is transferred home-ish...to the General Hospital in St. Catharines. We are so relieved and proud of her and we can't wait for everyone to meet her. She is so cute and cuddly and seems to have Kie's laid back personality.

There are no words to say that will mean as much as how it feels to have her close to home, to have her in our arms and to know that she's well and safe and coming home to us forever....soon.

Keep on keeping on.....

So we had our usual Friday visit to the 4F clinic today. (the 4F clinic is the high risk pregnancy clinic at McMaster) The good news is that everything is still looking OK so far. Baby is doing well enough to not need to be born yet and the doctor said that we won't know what the future holds until we see what kind of trend is happening with baby's growth. We won't know any more about how she is doing until we get another ultrasound on Tuesday to check her growth over the past 2 weeks. I've had so many ultrasounds in this pregnancy I feel like I should be bringing my own gel to my appointments. All of this just reinforces how glad I am to be Canadian and not have to worry about health insurance or the cost of these procedures.

Anyway, so it's back on bedrest. I'm trying to find ways to feel productive while I can't do anything. I knitted my first sock. My life is pretty simple right now. Just moving slowly through the days....getting further along than I ever thought I would.

Bumpy Road Ahead

So here we are in week 32 of the next pregnancy. Quite honestly, I'm amazed that I've gotten so far without too many problems. At the 27 week 3 day mark, I exhaled -- but we've hit some rough road.

I've been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, again, though this time it seems to be holding off. My blood pressure is well contained with medication, and I haven't had any other side effects. The big concern this time is that the baby doesn't seem to be growing as much as she should. I've been going in to McMaster for ultrasounds to check umbilical blood flow and non-stress tests (where they monitor baby's heartrate) twice a week for a while now. They are waiting until next Tuesday to measure the baby again to let us know if she's still not growing, and then a decision will be made about how to progress. In the meantime, I'm supposed to be doing kick counts every few hours to ensure that the baby is OK and still moving around. I have been seriously hyper vigilant and find myself pretty much constantly checking. I feel like they've handed me a glass egg on an uneven spoon to hold in my mouth....terrified that I'll drop it, or miss something, or that things will go pear shaped while I'm not paying attention.

Kie has been amazing, and has taken on all of the responsibilities of the house and Sophie's care so that I can be on bedrest. I wouldn't have gotten this far without him.

So we wait, again, to see what's going to happen. And our hopes for a birth where the baby gets to stay with us in room and we all leave the hospital together are dashed, but we know that whatever happens we've driven this road before....and we got through it. It's just not the path we wanted to take again.