Overdue - He's here and healthy!

Baby boy arrived at 35w4d, perfect, healthy, and NO NICU time!!!!

He arrived in May (WHOOPS)!

My TAC held tight the entire time (cervix always measured 4-5.5 cm!), baby boy was schedule early because of a really awful rash I developed - it wasn't clear what it was exactly and they were worried it could be harmful to the baby.

Baby boy was 7 lb, 1 oz. Pink, healthy, crying, perfect.

He spent a week in the intermediate nursery for some A&B's, blood sugar issues, jaundice, and feeding. Overall, he did great.

Having a healthy baby is just awesome. I got to hold him the 2nd day after birth (we were both too sick the first day) and that was awesome. My stay was extended in the hospital so he got to leave with us.

When you've had a sick baby, you don't take for granted a single "normal" thing. Everything is a miracle.

19 weeks!

I am 19 weeks and officially over half way done (since I'll be scheduled at 37 weeks)! I'm feeling great now - better than last week and my back hasn't hurt in a few days!!! I felt my first baby kick this morning when I was laying in bed.

We had our anatomy scan at 18w3d, and it's a BOY! Peanut is going to love having a little brother to play with it.

Everything looked great. My cerclage is holding strong and my cervix was 5+ cm long. WOOT!

Update on Peanut

A lot has happened since I last blogged:

Surgery

• Peanut developed another chronic ear & sinus infection and after a long 3 months, he finally had surgery. He got ear tubes, his adenoids removed (they were enlarged), an endoscopy, and lots of bloodwork.
• He did okay with the surgery but in order to coordinate with both GI & ENT doctors, it wasn't until 3:00 PM. BOOO. This resulted in no eating for the little guy for 24 HOURS total, and also an overtired kid (you can't nap if you're starving). Since his surgery was late in the day and he had a few things done they had to keep him over night. He slept fine at the hospital but was so just whipped the next day. He was gagging & puking from exhaustion. Once we got a night of sleep at home under his belt, he recovered quickly.
  
• His endoscopy still showed some irritation (evidence of reflux), but less than last year's, so the meds are still doing well.
  
• His bloodwork came back normal - no Celiac, no allergies, no anemia, etc, except part of his immune system numbers are lower than normal. We're seeing a doctor to understand this better.

Occupational Therapy

• When Peanut turn 18 months adjusted we were quickly realizing that intead of catching up to his adjusted age, he was fairly steadily falling behind. He used to measure ahead of is adjusted age and he was acting more similar to much younger friends. Our main concerns were speech (no progress really at all - 2 words, and very few sounds or effort) and feeding (would NOT self feed, refused most foods).
  
• We had him evaluated and Early Intervention therapy was recommend in all areas. Since he is progressing most normally in his physical skills, we opted out of PT for now.
  
• We started speech & occupational therapy and have been for around 2 months now. (He is now 21 months adjusted.)
  
• Since recovering from surgery, he had made an insane amount of progress with his willingness to eat. He is eating all kinds of things he would not before. He also is throwing/refusing less. He will eat in his high chair without rage. This morning he ate 3/4 of a waffle with a FORK. This is just unheard of. I never thought he would progress so quickly. I think now that he finally doesn't have an infection he just feels so much better, and the OT helps us target things he can eat without gagging. (He does have difficult chewing & swallowing some foods, so we avoid those for now.)

Speech Therapy

• Unfortunately, he has made no progress in his speech. He hasn't' made any new sounds. He says "car" more often but that's really it. Sometimes he says "Gagi" (daddy) too. He still cannot say the mmm or d sounds. He doesn't babble much and is usually silent with occasional bursts of "car" and "gagigagi!". He imitates vehicle sounds "honk honk" and the fire truck siren, but only without moving his mouth, so it really isn't a speech sound.
  
• His ST thinks he has apraxia of speech, not a speech delay, because he isn't progressing normally. The apraxia would be a result of his brain damage at birth. We hope she is wrong as this can be very difficult to overcome.
  
• In the mean time we are being as diligent as we can about doing his daily exercises. We have to keep a log to keep track of them in addition to his medicines every day. It's a lot to remember.
  
• We are also working hard on sign language so that he can learn to communicate in some way. He has great receptive language and I hope he picks signing up quickly. Right now he signs "more" and "all done" and "eat" and is close to signing "milk". If he does have apraxia of speech, it could be a long, long time before he can communicate much with words.
• If he doesn't show progress within 2 months, we'll have to increase therapy to 2x/week. I hope we don't because right now, between therapy (right now 2x/week total) plus doctor appointments, we have little free time to do "kid stuff", like playing with friends.
• He sees the developmental pediatrician (NICU follow-up doctor) in April when he is 2 years old adjusted. Hopefully we'll have good news to report to him.

While overall he is doing well, and I know we are so so lucky, it makes me scared for #2. There are so many what if's.

Way Overdue - Pregnancy Update

Wow time slipped away from me! I'll be 18 weeks pregnant tomorrow!!!!

So far I'm feeling great as long as I keep eating every 2-3 hours and get enough rest. I'm starting to get a small bit of soreness in my back, but nothing that's a big deal.

First trimester was thankfully uneventful.

I started P17 progesterone shots (to help prevent PTL) at 16 weeks and will bet getting them every Monday. I was scared they would hurt (in the muscle!) but they really don't. Big relief. I'm not a shot person.

Also at 16 weeks I started my bi-weekly ultrasounds. I go in every other week until 26 weeks (I'm petitioning for 30 though) and they do a transvaginal ultrasound to check my cerclage and measure my cervical length.

At both my 7 week and 16 week ultrasounds, my cervix was 4 cm (well 4 and 4.1 cm, respectively). They were happy with that number and want it above 3 cm. There were no signs of funneling either.

The bad news is they debated about the benefit of the ultrasounds, because since I have a TAC, that's already the best they can do, but we agreed that the last effort would be to go on bed rest. So, it's worth it to me. Anything to increase the chance of a term baby is worth it to me.

My next appointment is at 18 1/2 weeks and is my anatomy scan!

My first goal is 30 weeks. 30 weeks is not good, but it's far better than 26 or worse. My next goal will be 34 weeks and I'll be celebrating. Obviously though, I'm praying so hard for a term baby. Please join me!

Updates

We've been very busy lately so I haven't had time to keep up with my blog.

We're still waiting! Thankfully my body is acting normally, even if I'm not pregnant yet :) Hopefully I'll have good news to share sometime soon.

RSV has been on my mind lately. Last year Peanut was almost in total isolation (no public places, no kid interaction, etc.), got monthly Synagis vaccines (antibodies to fight against RSV), and he didn't get sick at all. I know this year we need to find some balance. He needs social interaction; so do I.

The doctors say that we should "be very careful but not too strict" (so that he doesn't get RSV but so he can have some exposure to build his immune system).

I wish I could invent a germ strainer to sort out all the RSV vs. Non-RSV germs.

In all seriousness, they do think he'll probably be okay if he gets RSV, but it could be very serious for him still. We will be laying the ground rules starting in October...

...in the mean time, I'm going to take Peanut to the Children's Museum for the first and only time this year before the germies hit.

p.s. He has his 4th (or 5th? I lost count) cold this summer! He's almost over it aside from coughing (which sounds nasty when he gets into coughing fits at night, but the doctor listened to him and said he's okay and at 95% O2 saturation). He's handling each cold better, only one puke this time. :)

NICU Picnic

This past weekend we took Peanut to the NICU picnic. It's an amazing event. All of the doctors, nurses, hospital staff, NICU graduates, and their families are invited. There are rides, animals, trains, food, you name it.

Peanut had an absolute blast this year. He got to see his NICU "roommates" again. They are all walking and doing so so well. Peanut was born the earliest of them all. He isn't the smallest now (he is probably the tallest, actually!!). He is the last to walk, but we all KNOW he can walk, he's just stubborn. But hey, that's why he's here.

It's amazing is you look around and you see little miracles everywhere. It's amazing to think a lot of these kids went through what Peanut went through, and to see them laughing, running, and having fun.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be a NICU nurse or doctor and to save babies every day. They are such angels. It's such an interesting field to me, but I think it would be incredibly emotionally draining at the same time. Part of me wishes it was my calling, but it clearly isn't :) Kudos to these people that are amazing at what they do.

I feel like I owe them so much. I want to give back in some way. That's something I need to ponder.

Nerves

I'll be 12 dpo tomorrow of our first cycle TTC.

I'm normally a patient, rational person. I'm an engineer for heaven's sake. I think logically. I like data and statistics.

I'd like to ask myself WHY I feel so darn impatient about this. It is statistically unlikely that I'll get pregnant our first cycle. It is not logical to expect that. I have no reason to be impatient. I have an adorable toddler that keeps me insanely busy.

I do not feel pregnant at all. With Peanut, I had one sign - I was sore. I don't feel sore. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised tomorrow....

I'm trying to remember what my husband keeps telling me. That this will happen when it's meant to happen and we'll have fun in the mean time. He always know what to say when I need him.