WEEK 27 HIGHLIGHTS

Wednesday (6/18/14)

Another surprising week! I thought this past week was gonna be it for sure with contractions and bleeding and other changes. I guess it just wasn't time yet. I've been praying that our baby will stay in until he is ready to make it in this world so until that time I will try to relax. I've gone back to leaking off and on, but that doesn't worry me anymore. I know baby is making fluid and I know he is swallowing fluid too! He is constantly getting hiccups and let's just say whenever I hear or feel them I can't help but smile. His monitoring continues to look great. The doc came in and was going over everything, he said that 28 weeks probably doesn't seem so far away now...and he certainly is right!

I got a DVD player put in my room today! I told Dave to bring a movie when they came so we could do a movie night. When they came over the boys gave me a beautiful surprise...an orchid! I love it, hopefully I can keep it alive. Dave also brought me a surprise from Nativa, the book dressing your truth. We talked about it on the phone and she got the address from Dave and surprised me with it. It was very thoughtful. Once they got settled and had some fruit and cheesecake we watched a movie and had popcorn. The boys enjoyed it for a while, but then just wanted to play. Oliver was pushing the stroller around and Lincoln was playing catch with Dave, he was doing a good job catching with one hand. After a while Oliver wanted to get in his stroller and then he wanted Lincoln to get in. Oliver would say "Lincoln (and point to Linc's seat) sit". Of course because Linc is such a great big brother he sat with Oliver until the movie finished, which was about 15 min. After the movie they went home.

Thursday (6/19/14)

This morning when my doc came in he told me he was proud of me and to keep up the good work. I take no credit, our little guy is a fighter, he is determined to make it. I'm so grateful for his strong-willed little spirit and am excited to meet him when the time is right.

Today was a pretty boring day. I crocheted a little and watched Rocky II, which I did enjoy. Dave went to a WIC appointment for me and got me all signed up. I wanted to make sure I was all ready to go because they are the ones that will be getting me a pump after the baby is born. Dave was a really good sport about it and is willing to do anything for our family.

Dave came over at night and we watched veronica mars. We talked about our days and a few other things, but mostly we just relaxed. Dave told me that coming to see me and relaxing with me is his favorite part of his week. He's pretty tired all the time because of all he does and all he has to keep up with. Before he left I asked him to take my laundry, yup just one more thing for him to do. Thanks hun!

Friday (6/20/14)

Today I realized that Oliver's birthday was only about 2 weeks away. I asked Dave if he and his mom could give him a party. As I started coming up with ideas I started wishing I could be there and started realizing there was a high possibility that I wasn't going to be able to. That just led to sadness and tears so I tried to distract myself by watching Rocky III. I guess it worked, because I wasn't sad the rest of the day. Things have settled down for the most part and I leak on occasion, but nothing that I worry about. Baby's heart rates continue to look good and there are no concerns from the doc or nurses. Lately the nurses have been leaving me on for about an hour, sometimes because they get busy with other people or they get distracted and forget. It's not a big deal because it's not like I'm going anywhere anyway. Today I was looking up photographers to get some photos done of our little guy while he is in the NICU. I've heard it's good to take pictures and remember all of the things that have happened and since I love pictures, well why not!

Dave and the boys came over today and joined me for dinner. Dave dropped off Oliver and then he and Lincoln went to Chick-fil-a, which I can see everyday from my window, to grab some food to bring back. They played for a bit and we hung out. After a while it was time for them to go home and go to bed.

Saturday (6/21/14)

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I watched my new TV show, Scandal, and crocheted pretty much the entire day. Dave went to play frisbee golf early this morning and then is going to play golf late afternoon. The boys took an extra long nap today so they didn't have time to come see me. It's okay because Dave needs the break. Dave tells me that Lincoln always asks him if they can got to the hospital to see me. He's a sweet little boy, but I know he has fun at home on the days he doesn't get to come. I was able to face time with them before they went to bed, so that was nice.

Sunday (6/22/14)

Dave and the boys went to Theo's blessing and then after hanging out at Tim and Tam's for a bit they came to the hospital. After a while my in-laws came with Krystal and Andrew. We ended up going outside after a while of talking so the boys could run around and play. It was nice to see everyone. I found out that they were going to go camping on July 5-6 so Dave wouldn't be able to have Oliver's birthday party on the 5th like he thought. His mom suggested having cake on his actual birthday at the hospital outside. We finished our visit and when my time was up we went back inside to get the boys ready to go and everyone else took off. They stayed for about 10 more minutes and then we said good-bye for the day.

I talked with Dave later and we decided to just do the "cake party" on the 6th here at the hospital. I let him know I would just ask the doc and nurses if I could stay outside for an hour that day instead of 30 minutes. I guess it's okay because Lincoln hasn't had a "real" birthday party yet, so a family cake thing for Oliver will be the usual. I'm sure he will have fun either way. Dave and the boys were able to face time me in the evening as they were hanging out outside. Oliver wanted to show me his strawberries and then how he could go down his big slide all by himself. They also wanted to show me how they could be spun around and get dizzy. They had to go when dinner was ready and it was already past their bedtime so they had to hurry and eat. Oh how I miss my happy and silly family!

Monday (6/23/14)

I knew the boys were coming tonight so I was definitely looking forward to that! I made progress on Misty's baby blanket and watched my show. I haven't had bleeding or much leaking so I'm happy about that. Baby is still looking good and the doc still has no concerns. I sent Dave a text telling him I was excited to see him and the boys, he told me that Lincoln always asks about me and says, "soon mama will come visit us at our house".

Tim and Tam came by with the kids and we got to visit for a bit. Dave and the boys got here about 10 minutes after they did. They boys all got to play together and Lincoln got to admire Theo. He loves babies! He wanted to share a pretzel with Theo, but we explained that he doesn't eat food yet, just milk. After they left we went on a wheelchair ride outside. It was a really nice day.  The boys ran around. Lincoln at one point looks over into the water fountain and says, "I miss the water towers" and then sadly sits on the grass. I let him know that maybe he could see them another day and that there is a park that they can go to where they can actually play in the water towers. He was fine after that. Oliver was running at one point and carrying a large rock and he tripped and fell. Dave picked him up and he must have had the wind knocked out of him. Dave brought him to me after calming him down a bit and I asked him what happened and if he got hurt. Poor little guy was sad, but he quickly climbed down and began saying, "rock". Apparently, he just wanted his rock again. The boys were getting tired so we went upstairs and as Dave cleaned up I gave the boys the strawberry cheesecake I saved them and then we did some scripture stories and prayers before they left.

Tuesday (6/24/14)

Today I got a shot, it was the tDAP vaccine. I was going to get the flu shot too, but they don't carry them in the hospital so I only had to get one shot. Dave was worried when I told him I was getting the flu shot because the doc keeps saying that fever means time for baby to come out. I clarified with the nurse and she said it would be fine to get a fever after the flu shot, but that I didn't have to worry about it because I wasn't getting it for the above reason. I watched Rocky IV today...it was a good one! While I was watching I was on the monitor and at one point baby's heart rate was up to 175-190 and stayed there for a few minutes. Maybe he was watching/listening too, I don't know I was a little nervous to see it that high, but thankfully it came back down to 150-160 where it normally is. I started looking into creating a family yearbook and I think I will start doing that while I am here (if Dave can find our external hard drive with all of our pics) or after we move into our own place and we can find all of our stuff.

The nurse came in to check on me before shift change and as usual she asks if there is anything she can do or anything I need and as usual I say no I'm good. She then tells me that I'm such an easy patient, which I have heard often from all of the nurses. It makes me wonder what the other girls ask for or have them do. They have mentioned other patients being, well let's just say high maintenance, so I'm glad I can make their jobs easy. I don't know if I wrote this when it happened, but one night the nurse came in asking if I could hear the girl next door kind of yelling because she was in pain. I let her know that I couldn't and she replies, "Oh good, I just kept thinking poor Melissa has to listen to that".

I've just been working on Misty's baby blanket and well updating my blog. I talked with Dave and he said he might come over tonight. I told him he didn't have to because I'm sure he has things to do and with as little free time as he has I know he could use the break from driving down here everyday.

Later in the evening I had a visitor stop by. It was a girl from my floor, she's two doors down in room 3. She was with a friend and her husband. They put together some little gift bags from the community because she said she know it's rough being in this situation. She pPROMed just over a week ago so she was new to the game...so to speak. I told her my story and she was very surprised that I've made it almost 9 weeks after my water breaking. It gave her hope that she could make it longer. They really liked my room, they said it was really big and a perfect view for the fireworks. I invited her to watch them with me. It was nice to talk with them, although it was a bit weird to see another person from my floor. I feel like we are always behind closed doors. A little bit later the ladies from the parent support group stopped by to check in on me. They brought me a little charm necklace that says I can, to add some encouragement. When they leave they always say stay pregnant and we hope to see you next week, so far it's worked.

Dave ended up coming over and I told him all about my visitors. He could tell I enjoyed it and he was glad that I did. He brought me some sweets, which we enjoyed while watching veronica mars.