Our First Two Weeks at Home

Jenna was released from the hospital the morning after I posted the news of her arrival...Sunday, September 19th.  The first two weeks at home have gone pretty well.  Of course, there have been a few exceptions, but for the most part Jenna sleeps for 3-5 hour increments, and is generally only up once during the night and then again in the early morning hours.  If we could get her to go to bed before 1:30 a.m., things would be even better!!  She hates having her diaper changes...or even opened...and has learned to use her bladder as a weapon every time the diaper is opened.  :-)


She is eating well, and weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz at her 2 week check-up.  Her bilirubin levels are now back down in a normal range and her color is now pink instead of orange.  Initially, we had to go for daily heel sticks, and we had a light blanket to use with her at home to continue to bring her bilirubin down.  We were able to stop heel sticks within a week of coming home and we are no longer using the light blanket. 

The dogs and cats have adjusted very well, and she doesn't seem to mind them, either.  She has had lots of visitors and been out to meet lots of people.  She went with us yesterday to the memorial service for Jeff's sister-in-law, and she was snatched away from us at the first opportunity and basically not returned until it was time to leave. 

Aside from all of this, the last two weeks have been relatively unremarkable.  Below are a few pictures and a video clip.  I wasn't planning to post videos, but they are too big to email to my sister, so I figured that putting them here was the next best option....

Notice the orange raccoon eyes from the mask that she had to wear under the bili-lights.

Still sporting the raccoon look after we got home.

Getting ready for the Share and Remembrance Walk for Gracie on September 25th.  Raccoon look pretty much gone at this point. 

From a Jelly Bean to a Jenna Bean

Although this post is delayed thanks to our hospital's blocking of Fa.cebook, Blogg.er and various other websites critical to my daily survival, I am happy to announce that our rainbow has arrived!!  Instead of a Jelly Bean, we now have a Jenna Bean.  :-D

Jenna Nicole was born on Wednesday, September 15th at 10:20 p.m.  She weighed 6 lbs, 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She even has hair, which I was doubting, since my sister and I didn't have hair and Jeff and his brothers didn't have much either. 

So far, all is well with one exception.  She developed quite a case of jaundice on Thursday, and since yesterday morning has been on a structured feeding schedule and under lights to help bring her bilirubin levels down and resolve her pumpkin coloring.  I was officially discharged last night, and we were hoping that we would be able to take Jenna home today some time, but we just got the word that she will have one more night under the lights.  Fingers crossed that tomorrow's 0600 labs look better and we can have her home bright and early.  And for those who have been following a while and might be afraid to ask, there are no obvious indications of Down Syndrome at this point.

I apologize those of you who have been waiting for additional communication - the browser on my phone has been getting quite a work out over the last few days (again, thanks to the hospital) and it's been slow going.  I still haven't sent out my text message announcements, which were planned as being the first 'wave of announcement.'  I guess at this point, I can abandon that plan.  :-/

Hoping to post more when we get Jenna home and get her settled...

37 Weeks

I had an ultrasound, NST and midwife appointment on Tuesday afternoon. 

Everything with the ultrasound was good; Bean scored 8/8 on that portion.  She was moving all over the place, which was great!  She apparently wore herself out during the ultrasound, because she decided to take a nap during the NST.  The NST was eventually declared non-reactive, and the midwife in the office sent me over to L&D for another NST on a 'better machine.'  It was appropriately reactive within 30-40 minutes, so no concerns.  The midwife appointment was otherwise uneventful.  No physical signs yet that Bean is contemplating making her appearance in the immediate future.

I had a NST this afternoon that was appropriately reactive, so we were in and out pretty quickly.  We are all set to head to L&D, as I did all of my pre-admission paperwork this afternoon, too. 

Ultimately, things continue to be pretty uneventful.  True to Andrews and Houseknecht family style, she is not following the 'rules' of being a fetus.  Generally movement is expected to slow down a bit as babies bet closer to birth, since they have less room to wind up and fire their arms and legs at the uterine wall.  Bean, on the other hand, has started to pound the heck out of my insides over the last two days.  The amount and intensity of her movement has been substantially more in the last two days than it has been during the last 4-6 weeks.  It's wonderful, except between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. 

Bean will make her first trip to Baltimore this weekend for cousin Julia's wedding.  It will be good to get away for a day or two and see family.  Over the next couple of weeks we are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby girl Crane (daughter of cousin Dave and his wife Jen).  She is due 13 days before Bean, so they may end up with birthdays that are very close together.  I am excited for Bean to have a cousin so close in age!! 

Nothing else exciting to report.  We have another NST, ultrasound and midwife appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and a NST next Friday afternoon.  In the meantime, we are just keeping our fingers crossed that she stays put until the new therapist secures his P.T. license!!! 

Registry Update

It has come to my attention that Wal-Mart finally deleted our registry, since I never changed my due date from 2009 to 2010.  I know that a few people are working from this list, so I redid the registry, but now there is a new link to follow.  The Babies-R-Us registry is now also closed, but we have what we need.

Here is the new link to the updated Wal-Mart registry.

  

36 weeks

The last two weeks have been super busy, and consequently I have been a bit of a cyber-slacker.  I have been busy getting ready for back to school (which means trying to get 86  kiddos arranged in a one therapist schedule for the first two months of school) and getting the new physical therapist oriented.  And...then there is the nesting and the list of projects to finish before Bean arrives.  During all of this over the last two weeks I have spent minimal time on Facebook, returned very few emails and phone calls (unless they pertain any of the 86 kids) and not done any blog updates.  So, here is an update for the last two weeks......

Tuesday, August 17th was a three-appointment day....non-stress test, ultrasound and midwife appointment.  The NST was again reactive within 20 minutes.  The biophysical profile ultrasound was good, scoring 8/8.  The ultrasound tech gave the very distinct impression that he was in quite a hurry to get us in and out; I was only on the table for about 3 minutes.  I have confidence in his scoring/evaluation of everything except the amount of amniotic fluid, which he rated as normal (it had been high during the two preceding ultrasounds).  After the ultrasound done yesterday (8/26) I am pretty sure that my assessment was correct in not trusting his 'normal' rating on the 17th.  The midwife appointment on the 17th was uneventful.  She reviewed the rest of my labs that were not back by the last time I was in to see her.  There was very little protein (which is normal) in my 24  hour urine sample, which is what anyone with chronic hypertension wants to hear.  The 1-hour glucose test that I did on Wednesday the 11th was also well within the normal range, so it means that the extra amniotic fluid that was seen was not the result of new onset gestational diabetes. 


35 WEEKS
Friday, August 20th was another NST...again reactive within 20 minutes.

Monday, August 23rd was another NST...again reactive within 20 minutes.  I am starting to love the quick reactivity that Jellybean is showing at this point, as Gracie was never this reactive.


36 WEEKS
Thursday, August 26th was a NST, a Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment (which included a level II ultrasound) and a midwife appointment.   Bean was quite active during the NST, so I was again done within the 20 minute window.

The level II ultrasound was good.  We didn't get any good pictures because she continued to be quite active right through the ultrasound.  She was estimated to be 6 lbs, 4 oz, which puts her in the 50th percentile for size.  Keep in mind that this is an estimate, and can be +/- one pound of the baby's actual weight, but it is encouraging.  At 35 weeks Gracie was estimated to be 5 lbs on the nose, which put her in the 19th percentile; a week later she was born at 4 lbs, 3 oz, which put her in the 7th percentile...which is way to small for a fetus.  So...at this point, Bean's estimated weight is about 50% more than Gracie's actual birth weight at 36 weeks.  The ultrasound technician seems to think that Bean is going to have quite a bit of hair.  She pointed out white spots around Bean's head on the ultrasound and said that it was hair (from her head) floating in the amniotic fluid.  Given the hair history of Bean's parents, aunt and uncles, I won't really put too much faith into that prediction until she is born with a full head of hair!!  :-)  

I met with a MFM doc that has not been to my OB's office before...the assumption is that she usually doesn't travel and was just filling in for one of the regulars.  Too bad if that is the case, because I liked her quite a bit more than the regulars.  She had no concerns other than my amniotic fluid level, which is, in fact, still pretty high.  Right now, there are two realistic explanations for the high fluid levels (there are many other things that can cause high fluid levels, but most of those have already been ruled out).  It could be absolutely nothing - completely benign and insidious.  It could also be the result of a chromosomal abnormality (i.e. Down Syndrome).  If it is benign without substantial cause, it may go down between now and the end of the pregnancy, or it may not.  If it is due to Down Syndrome, it will likely persist for the remainder of pregnancy with the possibility of increasing further.

The MFM doc offered me induction any time after 37 weeks (this coming Thursday).  She offered this for two reasons, first and foremost being our emotional well-being in light of our history.  The other reason was the fluid and the potential impact that it might have on my breathing.  Luckily Bean has been very low during the entire pregnancy, and she's not yet dancing around under my ribs, so I am not having any breathing issues yet.  At this point, we are not considering early induction, however she left the option open and on the table in the event that we change our minds.  If I start having a hard time breathing, we will probably consider it, otherwise we are just going to wait things out and let her come on her own terms.

Thursday's midwife appointment was relatively uneventful.  We did and discussed some end-of-pregnancy stuff.  We discussed the fluid issue a little more and that was it.

Next appointments are Tuesday the 31st (NST, BPP and midwife) and Friday, September 3rd (NST and hospital pre-admission visit).  Bean and I have a busy weekend ahead.  We need to finish packing the hospital bag (Yep...really....it's not packed yet; it was packed at 30 weeks with Gracie).  We are going to put the car seat in the car.  We are going to coerce Jeff into helping with our belly cast, and we are going to try to cross lots of other household projects off of the list.

On a different note, Bean had a busy night last Friday/Saturday morning.  She went to two fires in a period of about 5 hours.  The first fire was relatively uneventful, but the early morning fire was pretty substantial.  Here is a picture of Jeff and one of our other members (Jeff is on the left) during the initial hit.  Jeff has a funny story to tell about how they ended up in the middle of the highway with the hose line. 

Nothing else to report at this point.  Check back next week for additional updates. 

34 weeks

On Tuesday this week we had our weekly appointment marathon - non-stress test, biophysical profile ultrasound and midwife appointment. 

For those who are not overly familiar, the biophysical profile (BPP) is comprised of an ultrasound and a non-stress test (NST).  Overall it is rated on a scale of 10.  The ultrasound portion is worth 8 points - up to 2 points each for baby's practice breathing, movement, muscle tone and amniotic fluid levels.  The NST is worth 2 points, and it looks for elevations in heart rate of at least 15 beats per minute that are sustained for at least 15 seconds.  Generally, if a baby is cooperative, a NST should be done in 20-30 minutes. 

We scored 10/10 on Tuesday, so all was well.  We were done with the NST in 20 minutes, which is something that never happened with Gracie.  Beana's size was not measured, as it was too soon following the last measurements, but she will be measured on Tuesday the 17th.  My amniotic fluid measurements were actually a little high, which can be indicative of many things - including new onset of Gestational Diabetes, so they ordered another 1 hour glucose test.

I did the glucose test and a smattering of other blood work on Wednesday morning.  Since it is also time for my third trimester pre-eclampsia screen, I did a third (and hopefully final) 24 hour urine collection yesterday into today and dropped that off this afternoon when I went for my second NST of the week.

Today's NST was the third in a row to be appropriately reactive within 20 minutes!  The midwife went over all of the labs from Wednesday, and everything looks 'wonderful' and 'fantstic'.  As I was expecting, no new onset of Gestational Diabetes, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that the extra amniotic fluid is just a fluke.  We have another BPP ultrasound on Tuesday, so we will see what everything looks like then. 

Here is a 4-D picture from Tuesday's ultrasound.  Hopefully we get to meet this little face with open eyes some time within the next six weeks!!

33 Weeks

Had a NST today - that was the only appointment.  It was far and away the best NST that I have had.  Period.  With either baby.  I was hooked up for the minimum of 20 minutes, not a moment longer!  No weight gain since Tuesday, so no further accumulation of fluid in my hands or legs.  :-)   Back to the office on Tuesday for NST, BPP and midwife check.  Nothing else to report!

32 Week Appointments

Our big 32 week appointment was on Thursday, July 29.  We had a non-stress test, an appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine doc - which included another level 2 ultrasound, and we met the new midwife in our OB practice.  Highlights from the appointment as follows:

• Non-stress test was considered to be 'reactive', which is what they are looking for.  That is a good thing. 
• Everything looked good in the ultrasound, including size and condition of the placenta, blood flow through the umbilical cord, level of amniotic fluid, Bean's movement and practice breathing.  She was estimated to be 4 lbs, 3 oz. (which is exactly how much Gracie weighed 363 days earlier), which put her in the 51st percentile for overall growth.  The girl that did this ultrasound is the one who did the one with the measurements that put her estimated size in the 39th percentile 8 weeks ago; a different person did the scan 4 weeks ago that had Bean's estimated size in the 61st percentile.  I am inclined to think that she is probably somewhere around the 50th percentile right now.  
• We will continued to have biophysical profile ultrasounds once a week and non-stress tests twice a week.  
• We will see the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor one more time, at 36 weeks, and that will be it unless a problem creeps up.  

We went yesterday for this week's BPP ultrasound, another non-stress test and a midwife appointment. 

• This particular ultrasound did not measure growth, but looked at Bean's muscle tone, movement, practice breathing and the amount of amniotic fluid.  It also looked at the health (not size) of the placenta.  
• The non-stress test was again considered to be reactive, which means that Bean demonstrated heart rate elevations of at least 15 beats per minute that were sustained for at least 15 seconds.   
• All was well with the midwife appointment - at this point everything is as it should be.

We will go again on Friday 8/6 for another non-stress test.  

30 Week Appointment and Beana's First Trip to NYC

Last Friday morning (Jul 16th) was our 30 week midwife appointment.  For a simple appointment, with no other 'procedures' scheduled, it took a long time.  Just over 90 minutes...but we got a lot accomplished.

In short, all is well with the Bean.  My blood pressure is still really low, which is fantastic news for someone with chronic hypertension!  Beana's heart rate was in the high 130s, and several times during counting, Jellybean had very noticeable heart rate accelerations.  Again, a very good thing.  Belly measurement was right on target.  We reviewed the report from the last Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment (since I saw MFM after midwifing last time, instead of before), and she confirmed that Bean is measuring in the 61st percentile.  Again...very reassuring.

So, as things stand now, I am scheduled to see MFM again on July 29th, as well as the new midwife.  We have added a non-stress test to the string of appointments for that day.  After that, I will go twice a week for non-stress tests; one of those appointments each week will also include an ultrasound and a midwife check.   These appointments are scheduled out through August 20th, with the anticipation that I will see MFM again on August 26th, unless they decide otherwise next week.

After the appointment, we hit the road for Beana's first trip to NYC.  We visited with friends from college and did some 'touristy' things in the city...we did the Rockefeller Center observation deck, the Brooklyn Bridge, Little Italy, the Bodies Exhibit  (this exhibit is set up in various cities across the country...if you have the chance to catch it anywhere, I highly recommend it!), and a Yankee game on Sunday.  When I was pregnant with Gracie, Jeff and I somehow managed to not have our picture taken together, so we never really had a 'family' photo.  (We also did not do one together after she was born, either.)  So I made sure that we got a 'family' photo of the two of us with Beana while we were being touristy.

Each day we get a little closer to Beana's anticipated arrival.  Each day a little more anxiety and angst starts to creep back into the picture.  Balancing preparations for Beana with our emotions is turning out to be kind of  difficult some days.  Based on everything from our multitude of appointments thus far, we have no reason to suspect that there are any problems...but it goes way beyond that at this point...especially because we had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss with Gracie until the very end.  So please bear with us from this point forward.  If you get the sense that we might not want to talk about something baby or pregnancy related, you are probably correct...but that is not to say that we will feel the same way the next day or even the next week. 

There are several questions that I/we are getting on a regular basis at this point, so I will throw those up here with the answers to save the rest of you the trouble of asking.  :-)

• Should you be doing that?  I really do appreciate the concern that everyone is showing with regard to me 'overdoing' things, but please remember that I am not broken...just pregnant.  Please also remember that overdoing things had nothing to do with Gracie's outcome.  I have been very good about asking for and taking help when necessary and setting limits for myself.  It's all good.  Really.  :-)
• How are you feeling?   I am tired, but otherwise feeling fine.  I have been working too hard since October, which has a lot to do with being tired.  I am pretty sure that I would still be tired even if I wasn't pregnant.  I am carrying a little bit of extra fluid in my hands, feet and face, but nothing to get excited about.  Otherwise, things are great.
• Are you still running ambulance calls?  I am cutting back on ambulance calls for now - primarily because we usually run with a crew of two people and I am not really any good for lifting.  I am still running occasional ambulance calls, and I am running fire and rescue calls, as well.  I am able to be productive without having to physically exert myself too much on most fire and rescue calls.  Sometimes I just need to do something other than work and try to clean the house...
• Have you picked a name?   Nope.  Beana is just Beana for now.  We have a short list of about 10 names right now, but that's as good as it gets, and there is no guarantee that our final choice will even come from those 10.  Once we have finally decided, we will not be sharing the name until she is born (unless, of course, we don't decide until after she arrives).  Sorry.  
• Do you know anything else about whether or not she has Down Syndrome?  Nope.  We elected to not do any invasive testing to find out, so that will be a surprise for all of us when she is born.  
• How are you guys really doing?  We are okay.  Good days and bad days, which will continue for a long time.  If you want to know more than that, check out this post from earlier in Jellybean's blog.  
• This is not really a question, as much as it is a statement....Please don't rub or pat my belly without asking or warning me first.  For some reason, I did not deal with much of this when I was pregnant with Gracie, however it has become an issue over the last couple of weeks of this pregnancy.  Several strangers have patted or rubbed my belly during chance conversation, and a few people that I know have done the same thing.  I am not opposed to letting someone feel Beana moving if the timing is right, but I would really appreciate if you not just arbitrarily rub or pat my belly without permission.  It may not bother some, but I'm not a fan.  Sorry.

As always, thanks to those who are following along.  Thanks to those who leave us little messages and comments.  Thanks to those who are still praying for us.  More updates as they are available.

28 Week Update

Thursday was our 28 week appointment for Beana.  Everything is looking great as this point.  Here are some details:

• Fasting blood glucose was perfect; 1 hour glucose results not in before I left, but not expected to show anything surprising.
• Iron levels are fantastic
• No protein detected in my urine
• Remainder of the blood work looked good - this included kidney panels, liver panels and some other random stuff that they look at a little later in pregnancy.
• Blood pressure is still good
• Belly measurements were exactly where they should be for 28 weeks
• Beana's heart rate was measured at 140 in the morning and 138 in the afternoon.
• Estimated weight of the Bean was 2 lbs, 11 oz.  This means she has doubled in size from her last estimate 4 weeks ago (1 lb, 5 oz.).  This estimated weight puts her in the 61st percentile for growth/weight.  Although it's just an estimate, it's very exciting stuff for us since she was in the 39th percentile a month ago!!!!
• Blood flow through the umbilical cord was "excellent", size and health of the placenta appeared to be "excellent" and the volume of amniotic fluid was "excellent".  Cord flow and placental size/health are again big things for us at this point.

We have been going back and forth between two due dates; it was decided that 9/23 will be our official estimated due date.  We will have another midwife appointment on Friday morning, July 16th, at which point we will finalize the plan for non-stress testing and ultrasounds beginning at 32 weeks.  We will be taking Bean on her first trip to NYC after this appointment.  :-)    Our next appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine docs is Thursday, July 29th.

Bean was a very busy girl during the ultrasound and did not cooperate much in holding still for measurements and pictures, but we did get this picture to share...for those who cannot figure it out, both of her hands are up to the bottom of her chin.