Thursday, June 26, 2008

28 weeks

We have reached another milestone in this pregnancy--28 weeks!! This is a crucial time in pregnancy as 28 weeks marks brain development. I feel so fortunate to have made it this far and hope to keep our baby girl growing with my assistance for at least another six weeks.

At our appointment on June 24 she weighed in at 2 lbs. 5 oz. One might think you would be likely to gain a lot of weight on bedrest, turns out you gain more when you leave your bed and go to Hilton Head for a week. Must be all that She Crab Soup! What I wouldn't give for a bowl of that right now.


Our ultrasounds are showing some discrepancies in our due date. We have been told for awhile that it's September 15, yet the ultrasound at this appointment showed our due date at October 3. Dr. McDaniel explained that with TTTS and twins it's hard for an ultrasound to actually pick up exactly what week the baby is at. He is not concerned, however, especially since we saw good growth in all her measurements from our last ultrasound to this one.


I'll go back to Aultman on July 8 for my 30 week appointment. After that I will start going two times a week from 32 weeks on. I was shocked to hear how often we would be making the trip to Canton, between now and my due date of September 15 I have 25 appointments scheduled! At these visits they will constantly be running tests to make sure our little girl is staying strong. It seems that there will be a series of tests during each appointment. I'm very happy to hear our doctors are being proactive. I can't say enough about the MFM's at Aultman.

A much needed vacation



It's about time I get on here to update my blog...so much to fill you all in on. Let me first say that our survivor, Baby B is doing wonderful. At our June 4 appointment she weighed in at 1 lb. 13 oz. She is gaining weight and growing stronger each day. I asked the doctor about bedrest and he felt that my pregnancy has been going much better, and sadly enough stated that we would treat it as a singleton pregnancy. Hard words to hear.

Since our baby girl is doing well and her guardian angel sister is cooperating the doctor felt that he could take me off bedrest. It just so happened that our family was leaving for Hilton Head in 2 days, June 6. I explained to Dr. Gill that our family really wanted us to go along on vacation, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I was leaving it up to him. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause any further problems with this pregnancy. He read right through my explanation and told me that he thought a vacation would be just what we needed. Dr. Gill is one of those people that just always knows what to say and the manner to say it in. He told us that we have had such a difficult time with this pregnancy, that he knows how sad I've been. He thought that maybe a vacation would provide a fresh start, where I could come back with a cleared head and realize that I still have a baby to be strong for. Dr. Gill asked that I stop taking the Procardia and return to Aultman the following day to do another full evaluation. If everything looked good, bedrest would be a thing of the past and Hilton Head Island was a go.

Needless to say, I went home and started packing. Our appointment the next day went well. I didn't show any signs of contractions and our little girl checked out great. I was told to drink plenty of water, stop driving often for breaks and enjoy myself. We had the rest of the night to pack for our departure the next day.

Our vacation was just as Dr. Gill prescribed. It allowed me to escape my room, my home and my otherwise house arrest for a week. It was refreshing. We drove to Charlotte and stayed at Kendra's.

Dawson absolutely loves going to Aunt Keka's. For one thing he's spoiled rotten while he is there and the other reason is for the fountains at Burkdale Village that kids run though. It was so nice to spend time with my sister--there's not a relationship stronger than that of sisters.

We left for Hilton Head the next day. Our first trip to the beach wasn't too promising as Lane cried for an hour. He didn't like the sand or the water! By the next day he loved them both, so much so that he even enjoyed tasting the sand on a regular basis. My how different we are with our second child!

Dawson had an absolute blast no matter where we went. He loves The Salty Dog and looks forward to Cappy the Clown painting a picture on his arm (most kids get their face painted, Dawson is a bit of a perfectionist and wouldn't dare let that paint get on his face). This year we were at The Salty Dog on his birthday. Cappy the Clown painted a dinosaur and fireworks on his arm as Dawson requested, then she had all the kids sing "Happy Birthday" to him and gave him a gift of a red clown nose. He felt very special and quite embarrassed.

I really enjoyed the break away from home. The beach was absolutely beautiful, there's just something about looking out into that mass of water. You realize how small you are and how great God is.