Sunday, April 30, 2006

Line in, wiggle worm, grandmas

Casey had her arm IVs and umbilical line removed and they put in what called a PICC line, which will stay there for the remainder of her stay in ICU (they are telling us at this point most likely 1 month). It threads from her upper arm to just above her heart. It's safer for moving her around and is less prone to infection. They have to xray before and after to make sure it was threaded perfectly, so we weren't able to be there for the procedure, but the nurses said she did great.

Besides the PICC, she still has a nasal canula for adding oxygen and a little tube from that goes from her nose to her stomach. It's just used to vent stomach air right now, but will be used soon for feeding. The feeding tube is just until her gag reflex develops, which is needed before she can feed through her mouth. They still have Marty pumping is preparation and are storing her milk in NICU. Until they start using the feeding tube with mom's milk, they are feeding Casey a synthetic cocktail through IV. When they start mom's milk, they will do 1/2 to 1 cc and then take a series of xrays to check that her digestive system is working as expected. If everything looks good, they will increase milk and ween her off the synthetics.

Yesterday Casey wiggled and whined a lot when having her temperature taken and when they were doing physical therapy with her legs. This is the most response she has shown since before her seizures and is very encouraging. We took some books that we read to her during the last trimester before we went to bed. She definitely responds to our voices when we read these and I think her favorite book is "I Love You All the Time."

Marty is recovering well at home now. She is able to make it up our stairs and is doing remarkable considering her condition just 1 week ago today. It's great to be just a few blocks from the hospital. Right now we still drive and are trying to figure out a good schedule for visiting Casey, but when Marty is recovered more, we will be able to just walk over there any time day or night.

Marty's mom was here from Austin for the last few days, and my mom and my brother Ken and his wife Jen are coming in today from Chicagoland. Marty's mom brought a teddy bear that they let us leave in with Casey, and grandma was able to hold her grandaughter for a while. It's has been so great to have so many family and friends helping during this time for us.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Quite a day!

Well, Casey has had quite a good day - she is breathing on her own and is getting some flexibility back after a hard couple days.

Tomorrow is a new day and we are very thankful for today. Posted by Picasa

Ventilator off, sunbathing

Casey finally got her ventilator tube taken out this morning and is stable. They are still giving her oxygen though a nasal canula. If she remains stable today they will schedule a CT end of the day or tomorrow morning.

She is definitely much happier without the tube in her throat. She is wiggling her toes and stretches her arms a little bit now. Her legs aren't as stiff today as they were the last couple days due to seizures. The nurses continue to do range of motion exercises with her to keep her as loose as possible.

They have her under a special light since she developed some jaundiced common with pre-term babies. This is why she has the mask on her face and her feet have been getting cold, which is why she has on the flower slippers, or maybe she just takes after her mom's fashion sense :-) Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Marty moving and Casey Updates

It looks like Marty will be moving out of ICU today into the post-partem recovery area today if things stay stable. This is great since we are on the 2nd floor right now and post-partem is on the 4th floor across from NICU.

Casey had head ultrasound and EEG done yesterday but the specialist was not in to read the results as she had an accident and broke her pelvis! This morning they will be trying to find someone else to do this. They have said Casey may get a CT scan today based on the results.

Casey is getting about 60% oxygen and is getting help from the ventilator at about 25 breathes per minute. She is breathing much faster than that, but they are very small. They will be trying to gradually wean her off the oxygen and ventilator support, but it took take days/weeks for this to occur based on how she responds at each level.

That's all for now - will update more later...

Monday, April 24, 2006

First Video from the NICU

Marty finally stabilized enough to get in a wheelchair and go to the NICU to see Casey around 5pm PST. Her color is much better and her breathing and heart rate have slowed down a bit from a high level that everyone was concerned about.

Here is a movie I brought back to Marty earlier in the afternoon. It's Windows Media Video (wmv) format, so please let me know if you have problems opening it. It's about 13MB so it's probably best to save locally before trying to open. Posted by Picasa

It's a girl!

Well, the baby arrived quick and unexpected, but she is here. Marty and baby Casey are both in ICU here at St. John's in Santa Monica. They haven't been able to see each other yet, which has been really hard, but I am trying to relay status, pictures, and videos as much as possible. The doctors here have been great and both mom and daughter are getting better by the hour.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers! I will post more when I have updates... Posted by Picasa

Thursday, April 20, 2006

I can see the finish line....

I am so surprised at how fast this has all flown by. It seems like just yesterday Tim and I were talking about wanting to start trying to pregnant, and now we are less than a month away from being parents. I am ready to meet my little one, and I am more than ready to not be pregnant any more.

It's hard to say that. I have been so lucky with everything through the entire pregnancy that I really can't complain. It has not been bad at all. Don't get me wrong, there have been a few bad days. There were a few surprises too. Did you know that nose bleeds are common with pregnancy? I had nose bleeds every day of my second tri, and off and on still into my third. Not gushers, but when I would blow my nose, there was normally blood. I guess if I have to pick between that and morning sickness I am glad I got the nose bleeds. I was also really surprised by how fast your body changes. It really is over night. I went to bed small and the next day I woke up with a belly, and it just kept on growing.

Now that we are getting near the end, I am feeling new stuff, and my body is changing even more. False labor (Braxton Hickocks - may be spelled wrong) has set on pretty good. I started getting them on occasion over a month ago, but in the past couple of days I am getting them more often, and much stronger. I swell like crazy too. My feet and hands are huge and squichy by the end of the day. I am SOOOO tired lately. Around 3:30-4:00 I hit a wall, HARD. It's a struggle to finish out my work day. I don't see the gym much anymore. I used to come home, go to the gym, make dinner, stay up and hang out with Tim and never felt tired. Needless to say, Tim has had to do a lot more of the cooking and chores lately. I haven't dropped yet, I don't think. And I haven't lost my plug either. They say that these could happen weeks before the baby comes, or minutes, so I guess it's not really a sign either way.

We had an appointment on Tuesday. We go every Tuesday now until the baby arrives. The baby looks healthy. Still bigger than average for his/her due date, but it hasn't gotten too much bigger since our last one. We meet/interview the pediatrician next week. Our OB refered us, so I am pretty sure we will like her.

Tim and I have been swamped with work. We both are trying to get as much done as we can before taking time off. In addition to that Tim's race season is getting started so he has been pretty busy training and getting ready for his races. He signed on with Polar, and he is the local team leader. He will have a little more to do, but it's worth it.

I have been interviewing people this week to take over while I am out. I leave work 1 week before the baby is due, so I am really running out of time. I have a few more interviews coming up, but hopefully we will have an offer out early next week and get someone in very soon.

That's pretty much all that's going on right now. I will post more as things continue to develop. Keep checking back. We will post pictures, video, etc VERY soon.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Less Than 5 Weeks Left...

No doctor appointments this week, but we do have a few other things to report on. Tim and I finished our birthing classes last night. I guess we are as ready as we are going to be. We learned a few good stretches and techniques to use to help with the pain of labor. The stretches they say to do now, and the pain techniques will come in handy later.

We have seen ads and all kinds of stuff all over the place talking about cord blood banking. As if we don’t have enough normal baby stuff to worry about, now we need to figure out if this is something we should do or not. We talked with our doctor as well as with the birthing instructor. It seems that our original thought was right. If we had leukemia or other types of cancers in our family then this is something we should probably do. But, being that the only cancers Tim and I are aware of on either his or my side is lung cancer (and the cases we know of were life time smokers) banking the cord blood is probably not something we should be worried about. Thank goodness, it’s kind of expensive. However, in reading up on it I did see a lot of places that take the cord blood as a donation. Many people are not able to find bone marrow matches. I think I am going to look into donating ours. It’s either that or it just gets discarded. If it can do someone some good, then why not.

Tim has been looking into video options. He is looking to post to the blog from the hospital with a video feed of the baby so everyone that can’t be here with us can still see the baby right away. I am not sure exactly when it will be, but keep an eye on the blog in the next 3-5 weeks and you should see the video post. Don’t worry, there won’t be any birth video, it will all be after the baby and I are cleaned up.

We talked to our OB and were able to find a pediatrician this week as well. We meet with them on 4/27. We both have a lot of questions about the test that are performed after birth, immunization schedules, etc, so having some time ahead of schedule to go ahead and get the insurance details on file and ask our questions will be nice. They tried to get us in sooner, but that was the earliest they could do.

Tim and I are both working up until the baby is due (I have 1 week before, but not much). So right now we are both focusing on getting as much done as we can so that while we are out we can enjoy each other, the baby, and not even think about work.

We start our weekly appointments on Tuesday (the final 4 weeks). They are doing a full work up next week. There is some state mandated test they have to do (strep B, etc). After the full work up we should have a better idea of what to expect for delivery. We should know if the baby is getting into position yet, if the size is going to be greater or less than expected, etc. So next week I should have a good bit to report on.

Hope everyone is doing great, and be sure to check back often. The last few weeks should have many post, and very soon the baby video and pictures!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

34 down - 6 to go

So yesterday was a pretty busy and exciting day for Tim and I.

Tim did a race on Sunday and got bit by something on his leg. The bite did not want to heal so we started out our day with him going to the doctor to get his bite checked out. Turns out it was a yellow jacket. The doctor gave him some medicine, so hopefully it will heal soon.

As you all know, Tim does triathlons. Last year and the year before he was sponsored by Amino Vital. They were okay, but he wanted a sponsor that was more involved. So this year he decided not to renew with Amino and instead he applied for Snickers Marathon and Polar. He heard back from Polar a couple weeks ago and was in the final round. He did a phone interview and it really looked promising. They were supposed to have the decision made by now, but sent out a notice that they needed more time and it would be later in April before Tim would know for sure. He never heard back from Snickers so we just assumed that they had gone with someone else. Anyway, when he got back to work from the doctor’s office he had word that he had been accepted by Snickers. Very exciting! Polar was still up in the air as well. How fantastic that he is doing so well in his sport that he could be able to pick between sponsors. He has 10 days to let Snickers know, and Polar was expected to decide in 10-20 days. Tim sent Polar an email explaining his situation and asking them if they could let him know early. They replied back today saying he was accepted. I am so happy for Tim. He gets to choose between Polar & Snickers, both are great sponsors.

I have not been sleeping well lately, I just can’t get comfortable. So I decided to try a pregnant massage. I went yesterday afternoon, and what a great idea! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they basically have you lay on your side instead of your belly and they work out all the tension in your back and neck. They also work on your feet, legs, hands and arms. That was nice; it really helped relieve some of the swelling I have been having lately. The only bad part was that I had to go back to work after it was done :(

At 4:15 Tim and I went to the OB for our regular appointment. We have one more in 2 weeks, and then we go to a weekly schedule. After taking the hospital tour Saturday and reading up on a bunch of stuff he and I had a lot of questions for he doctor. The doctor answered all of our questions and took a look at the baby. I am so SHOCKED at what she told us. I hit 34 weeks yesterday, 6 more to go. As of yesterday the baby is 6 pounds, 9 ounces!!!! I have already hit 162 myself (37 pounds gained!!!). I haven’t measured my waist in a while, I should do that. Our last appointment, just over 2 weeks ago the baby was 4 pounds 15 ounces. So he/she is really growing fast now. They measure the head, femur, and belly. Each of the measurements will project a due date (they don’t change ours). The due date that is projected is based on the current size and average size at birth. Then they average out the dates and say the baby is the average size for a baby due on that date. Last time the baby was average for a baby due on 5/3. Yesterday the baby was average for a baby due on 4/20 or 4/27 (I don’t remember which was the average). So, long story short, I am having a BIG baby. The doctor isn’t worried though, she said we just keep going as we are, and when it gets closer she will determine if it is too big to deliver naturally or not. Either way, I trust her. She is a good doctor and I am sure she will decide to go with the safest delivery method for both the baby and me.

After our doctor appointment we had our first of 2 birthing classes. Each on is 3 hours long. It was good though, I am glad we are taking them. The class was set up for 7 couples, but only 4 made it. Weather here is horrible this week so the other 3 must have gotten stuck in the weather/traffic. Out of the 4 couples that were there, 3 of us are delivering at St. Johns. There were 2 due on 5/15, 1 on 5/20 and then us on 5/17. 2 couples knew they were having a boy, but us and 1 other couple were waiting to find out. 3 out of the 4 were also first time parents. The instructor is a RN – Labor Nurse at St. John’s. It’s very possible she will be there when we deliver. I really liked her. She has been doing this for 16 years, and she really knows what she is talking about. I guess over 16 years you get to see just about everything. We went over the basics yesterday, what to expect, when to go to the hospital, different stages of labor, etc. Next week we go back for part 2 where we will do some exercises and stretches and stuff to help with labor pains, we will learn more about special deliveries (c-sections and such) and continue to go over what we need to do and what we will be going through. It’s really good for Tim to see and hear all of this too. He knows most of it already, but the instructor told the dad’s what to watch for and how to tell when they should just take us to the hospital if we are being brats about stuff. Not that I would ever be a brat :)

We got home just before 10, had some dinner and watched some TV and then I went to bed. Tim still had to work some; it was a really long day for him. But all in all, it was a good day for both of us. We have a nice quiet weekend coming up. Other than getting my hair trimmed we have nothing planned at all. We have to take advantage of these last few down times while we still have them.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Hospital Tour

Today was a our tour day. Tim and I went to the hospital this morning for a full tour of labor and delivery. The group was really big. Lots of pregos in the area right now. We were able to see the nursery, a birthing room, they showed us recovery, the c-section area, lactation area, everything I think we will need to know about. The tour guide was really good about answering everyone's questions too. There were a lot of first time parents and none of us had a clue what to expect. We were able to see a lot when we went in earlier this week, but I think we got a lot of useful information from the tour today. It's getting so close. As of Tuesday we have only 6 weeks left. Tuesday we start our birthing classes too. I am sure we will get a lot more information there as well. Also on Tuesday we have out next appointment. We will get to see how big the little one has gotten over the past couple of weeks. He/she was right around 5 pounds last time, so I am guessing it will be well beyond 5 by now.

That's about all I have to report for now. I will post later this week the latest size, and details on the class. Hope everyone is doing well. Have a great weekend :)