Today's the Big Day

Eek! Today is the Big Day for our Baby Girl! The C-Section is scheduled for 2:30 today. We will start "prep" around noon which includes a shower, some topical antimicrobial solution, and a "drink" that will help with acid reflux, etc during the surgery. Then they will take me to the "Holding Room" until the Operating Room is ready for me at which point the anesthesiologist will come in and give me the epidural (or the spinal, I'm not really sure) and they will get me all draped up for surgery. In the mean time, Shane will get scrubbed up so that he will be as germ-free as possible as well. We will have a bunch of people in the Operating Room - the normal staff (my doctor, another doctor that assists with the surgery, the anesthesiologist, an attending nurse) and also some extra hands for the baby. The baby will have about 4-5 people just for her including a respiratory therapist and a neo-natologist because of the risks that come with delivering a pre-term baby. She is 35 weeks. Any baby born before 35 weeks is an automatic patient into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) but at 35 weeks there is a chance that she will go to the Transition Nursery or an even smaller chance that she will go to the regular Newborn Nursery. The most common problems with babies at this age are that their lungs are not quite developed completely, they don't really know how to eat, and they can't regulate their own body temperature because they don't have a lot of fat on them. There's no way to know how our baby will do outside of the womb until she is actually born so we will just be praying all day that she is as healthy and mature as she can be. Something interesting, girls' lungs tend to develop earlier than boys' but Caucasian babies statistically are among the last to mature. We'll just have to wait and see.

If the baby has to go into the NICU, I will stay in the room that I am in now (it is SO close to the NICU and they want me as close as possible) but if she doesn't go into the NICU I will be transferred to a Postpartum room upstairs, closer to the Newborn Nursery.

I was supposed to have breakfast before 6 this morning but Food Services "was not staffed properly today" so I didn't get my breakfast until 6:30. My doctor told me not to eat anything after 6 because of the risk of asphyxiation (sp?) if there is an emergency and we have to do a general anesthetic. So I declined breakfast. I can have nothing to eat or drink until after the baby is born and I'm sure that sounds worse to me than it does to you! :) You know, I'm sure I'm going to be SO hungry and SO thirsty only because I can't have anything to eat or drink! Ha! Oh well. I did have some juice and crackers early this morning because I was getting worried that my breakfast wasn't here. I'll survive.

Update on my nurse friend, Paula. She was in surgery for 8 hours yesterday and is recovering well from what I understand. I can't imagine being in surgery for that long. Paula elected to do the double masectomy. She previously had Ovarian Cancer and received chemo and radiation and learned that she was at high-risk for Breast Cancer. Instead of waiting for the breast cancer to develop, she chose to have the masectomy. How brave. I keep telling myself that if she can do that, I can do this life-giving C-Section today. I'm sure her recovery will not be easy, she will continue to be on my mind and in my prayers.

Ryan will go to daycare today so Shane can be here at the hospital with me. Sarah will take Ryan after work today and the next time we see him he will be a big brother. YAY!

That's all I know for now. We will update the blog as soon as we can (no promises) and I'm sure we will post her name, if nothing else. :)

Love to you all. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes.

Love, Becca (and family)

Prayer for Strength:
Dear heavenly Father, Your Word tells me: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phillippians 4:13) and "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).

I need Your strength today, O Lord. I ask You to fill me now with Your presence and power, to strengthen and sustain me for the work I have to do and for all that lies before me.

I love my husband and my children very much and I beg your help to do all that I need to do as wife and mother. Some days I feel overly tired and worn down, and it is then that I need Your powerful help, O Lord.

O Blessed Mother Mary, Morning Star, your intercession with God is powerful, for you are His Mother. Your love for us is tender and true, for you are our Mother as well.

Confidently then I come to you to seek your aid and protection today. In every trial of motherhood, I beg your help, dear Mother. For your special help in guarding and directing each soul that God has given me, I call on you. In every sorrow, I confide in you. Please pray I will have strength to bear cheerfully all the hardships I may have to face.

Through your intercession, O Mary, I pray that I will do my best to live the present with joy and the future without regrets. May God's Will always be done in me through each act of motherhood, great or small.

O never forsake me, dear Mary, my life, my sweetness, and my hope. Amen.

Mary, Mother of mothers, pray for us!

Prayers for Paula

I mentioned before my favorite nurse, Paula. Paula is having a double masectomy on Wednesday, please keep her in your prayers. She is AMAZING and I'm very sad that I won't be having her as my nurse anymore. I hope to send a note up to her room and maybe I'll figure out a way to keep in touch with her after the baby is born. Please say an extra prayer for her.

The "Plan"

Well, my Doctor came back in town and was pretty upset that the on-call doctors didn't deliver me on Friday when we had such a scare. As such, she doesn't want to risk a bleed that could indeed be catastrophic so we are going to deliver this baby girl at 35 weeks - this Thursday at 2:30 pm unless there is reason to do so beforehand. We will not do the Amnio to test the baby's lungs and there is definitely a chance that her lungs are not fully mature. She might have to spend some time in the NICU or in the Transition nursery. Transition is for babies that can't quite be left alone with the mommy yet (maybe because they can't regulate their own temperature or haven't quite figured out the eating thing or maybe need a little help with breathing). Dr. Largoza is quite confident that this is the best plan of care and I completely trust her judgement.

I got my second IV last night to be prepared in case of an emergency (you need two IV sites during a c-section). I'm not a happy camper about it - I am a big baby when it comes to needles and IVs and such. Oh well. I pray that they won't have to redo either of them before Thursday - I will really raise heck if that's the case.

Today is Ryan's Birthday - we will have a small cake and I will be sure to post a picture of him as soon as I can.

Grandfather, Sir is doing okay in Houston. Apparently it has been flooding there and many of the highways are closed. Their apartment is just down the street from the hospital so they haven't had any trouble keeping their appointments.

We'll let you know if anything changes for any of us... Lots of love to you all.

34 weeks today - not quite done yet!

Well, I started out the day with a pretty good scare. We had a serious bleed this morning and I was convinced that meant that I would be delivered today. As usual, I had no idea what I was talking about and worried all morning for nothing. :) Oh well. We saw the High-Risk Doctor this evening and he did an ultrasound on the baby. She is doing fantastic and is much larger than I expected. She actually weighs about 5 lbs, 10 oz. Incredible. You might think that makes her big enough to go home if we delivered today but it doesn't really work like that. The nurse said she's like a really good chocolate chip cookie in the oven. From the outside it looks big and perfect but on the inside (her lungs) it's not quite done and it needs a little more time to bake. Fair enough. I'll do what I can to stay as sane as possible (no promises) and try not to get kicked out of this place for being too ornery. Ha! I am on the "schedule" to have the Amnio on May 6th - forget about any other date I've said before - to test her lung maturity. If they are okay, we will deliver the next day. If not, we will wait one week and deliver then, provided there are no other complications between now and then.

Yesterday, I had a great day. Aunt Phyllis (Shane's aunt) came by and took me for a ride in a wheelchair in the hospital. We went up to visit the newborn nursery and saw the beautiful babies. We marveled at the different sizes and shades of red and really enjoyed pointing out our "favorites." Then, we went to the gift shop. I have not been in a shop since January and I love to shop. Good thing we didn't take any money. We had so much fun setting off all of the musical stuffed animals - yes, we totally annoyed the gift shop staff! And we picked up just about every knick-knack and purse in the place. We still couldn't find a "I'm the Big Brother" shirt small enough for Ryan. I guess normal people have babies a little further apart! :) Ryan will be 1 year old on Tuesday! Yay! I hope this baby girl waits long enough for her brother to turn 1!

Thanks to all my visitors today, Tia and Becky from The Container Store, Grandma Ruth and Aunt Marianne, Phyllis and my new parrot friend that sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Shane's coworker Flavia and her mom, and my friend Monica. Flavia's Mom is visiting from Venezuela, and made a beautiful little outfit for our baby girl with a matching hat and bloomers. How sweet! She and Flavia were able to stay for the ultrasound to see our little one - it was very special. I'm quite sure I would not have made it through the day without my new favorite nurse, Paula. Everybody should stop and give Paula a mental hug - she deserves it for putting up with me today. :)

About my Dad, he has completed 4 weeks of radiation and has 2 more to go then one week of recovery. Boy, time flies! Physically he's feeling okay, just tired. They have had many visitors this week, I'm sure that helps the time pass. Thanks to everyone that has asked about them... it means a lot to all of us.

Here is a picture of Ryan playing with his Easter Basket from Uncle Scott and soon-to-be Aunt Sarah. He particularly liked all of the snacks! (Wonder where he gets that from!)


Here is Ryan after a nap - Uncle Scott calls that "weekend hair!"


And here's Ryan with one of his favorite toys - anything he can find in the recycle bin! In this case, it's a water jug! You can see he's walking in this picture! He's doing so great!

Back in the hospital

Well, our "emergency" run to the hospital happened this weekend. We had been taking it for granted that I had been at home for so long I guess it was time for a change. Sunday afternoon I was admitted back in to Methodist Hospital because of bleeding and will be here until the baby is born - at this point we're not exactly sure when that will be.

My OB came in this morning and said if there is another heavy bleed then we might "bail out of the pregnancy" and deliver the baby and if there is not another heavy bleed then we will just wait as long as possible and probably deliver at 36 weeks. I had the "rescue dose" of the steroid shot today to help the baby's lungs be as mature as possible for delivery so all we can pray for now is time, time, time. (Although that means I will be bored, bored, bored.) We want the baby to stay put as long as possible.

I should be getting a visit from the High Risk Doctor either today or tomorrow and we will do an ultrasound to see how the baby is growing, etc. She has been looking great on the heartrate monitor but it would be good to get a "visual" as well.

Ryan and Shane are doing great - they are pretty much the only people I know that are not sick. I am still having problems with my ears but most of the pain is gone, so that's good. Here is a picture of Ryan that we had taken a few weeks ago. He was not in the best mood - he had a little fever and 3 days after we had this taken Tooth #2 popped out! Yay! He is walking more than ever but still loses his balance when he gets too excited. It's so fun to watch - I wish we could turn him loose here in the hospital but he'd probably just crawl everywhere and pick up all kinds of nasty germs. Yuck.



Oh, speak of the devils... Shane and Ryan just got here to visit. Shane took one look at my dinner and is off to the Food Court to get us both something to eat. :) I'm already tired of hospital food... This could be a llllllooooooonnnnnnngggggggg couple of weeks. :)

33 weeks and halfway done with radiation!

Well, it has been a challenging week in the Siebenaler House. First, my horrible cough came back - something that makes us very nervous because a strenuous cough can easily cause a bleed. We've been doing so well without bleeding, I'd hate for something to happen now. Then, to top it all off, Wednesday night I perforated one eardrum. I have not done that as an adult, I'm sure I did as a baby, but it is EXTREMELY painful. I'd much rather be in labor than go through that kind of pain. It also produces a sticky discharge and a buzzing/ringing in your ear. All of it is just horrible. I thought I'd seen the worst of it. Then, 24 hours later, I perforated the other eardrum. If one is painful, two is nearly unbearable. There is no postion, sitting, standing, lying down, crawling, nothing makes the pain lessen. It just plain hurts. Although most people think that there's no medication I can take because of the pregnancy, that's not really true. There are a few medications that are safe, especially because I'm so far along and the baby is mostly developed. So fortunately I do have some medication. I saw the ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) Doctor today and he tested my hearing because I am suffering from hearing loss. Everything should return to normal once the ear infections (and my sinus infection - to add insult to injury) have cleared up. Unfortunately, because I am pregnant, we have no idea how my body will react to the antibiotic so we're not exactly sure when the pain will start to subside on its own. Right now, it hurts a lot, particularly once the pain medicine wears off and it's time for another dose. I hope the antibiotic kicks in soon. You're probably wondering how on earth I could bust both eardrums just lying around on bed rest. I guess it's just all the pressure that has built up in my ears because of allergies and sinus infection and finally my ears just had enough. And now they are showing their disapproval. :)

On a side note, Grandma Belle flew home last Saturday and prior to leaving was experiencing some of the same allergy/cold symptoms that I was having and she also perforated one of her eardrums on the airplane flying back. What are the odds? At least we can commiserate together. Poor thing. And she is still going to work with the pain. I can barely concentrate on a TV show.

I also saw my OB doctor today for a checkup. Everything looks good there. I had her check and double check my medications and any drug interactions and everything that I'm taking is fine. The baby's heartbeat is fine and the height of the fundus is right on track. (The height of the fundus is measured in centimeters from the top of the pubic bone to the top of the uterus with a tape measure. The number of centimeters should be the same number of weeks that you are pregnant. This tells the doctor that the baby is growing fine and everything is on track - isn't that incredible? I wonder who figured that out... It's almost like the thing where you can measure the length of your foot on your forearm. Just crazy!) On Monday I will see the High Risk Doctor and pending his schedule we will be able to tentatively decide on a c-section date. Stay tuned and I'll let you know. I think we'll have the baby just in time for Mother's Day - a perfect Mother's Day gift.

Dad has completed exactly 15 treatments of radiation and has 15 more to go! That's the most exciting news of the day... he sounds good. According to the doctors the half way mark can really be a turning point for patients, it might really start getting more difficult and painful so I'm praying that everything stays as smooth as it has been. Only 3 more weeks for both of us!!!

Thanks to everyone that helped out this week. Especially Mishial. I think she was over every day for a shift or part of a shift or something. So nice. I can't begin to convey how appreciative we are. And it's nice seeing her so much.

32 weeks pregnant and 2 weeks of radiation complete!

Happy Easter! It was Ryan's first Easter! Yesterday Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisette (and family), and Grandma Margaret and Grandfather, Sir (George), and cousin Mishial came over for dinner. We hid Easter eggs in the backyard (Ryan just watched - he really had no idea what was going on) and each of the kids (and the adult kids) got an Easter basket filled with bunnies and chocolate - and in some cases - chocolate bunnies! Thank you Grandma and Grandfather, Sir for staying overnight so Daddy could go to Easter Mass early today. Hope you had fun with all of the other family you saw today!

Then, today, Ryan's Uncle Scott and soon-to-be Aunt Sarah came over and made a wonderful lunch. It was so yummy you'd think we hadn't eaten in a month which I assure you is not the case! Ryan got another Easter Basket filled with goodies, including Gerber Graduate snacks - his favorites!! We had such a nice afternoon (even though we watched golf most of the day). It was a great holiday - thanks to everyone that came to us since we can't go out anywhere.

Also, thanks to Grandpa John and Grandma Belle from Georgia who each spent a week here taking care of us. They came separately to "spread the wealth" and cooked and cleaned and waited on me as much as I would let them. :) Thanks for taking time out of your schedules to be with us. Grandpa John left last Saturday and Grandma Belle left yesterday. It was great to visit with you both!

As of last Friday, we are 32 weeks pregnant! YAY! In 4 weeks we will have the amnio done to check the baby's lung maturity and if they are mature we will deliver (via c-section) the next day! It's getting close and we are getting so excited! It's nice to have a couple of weeks with just Ryan, Mommy, and Daddy - before the baby gets here - but we are still excited to meet our new baby!

Thank you to all of the people that are helping out this week - cousin Teri, cousin Mishial, a friend-of-a-friend named Anna (I know, I think it's incredible that STRANGERS are so willing to give up their free time for us... just amazing), and my friend/coworker Michelle. We are SO lucky to be surrounded by such sweet people... Thank you in advance.

My Dad (aka Grandfather, Sir) has completed 2 weeks of radiation - that means he is one-third of the way done. He has started to feel some of the effects of the treatment. To put it in his words he said that it felt like he had a dead possom in his mouth. HUH!?!? I guess the radiation has started to change his tastebuds - nothing tastes good and he has dry mouth and his throat just feels yucky. I wish I could say that it will get easier but that is just not the case. I know a lot of people are praying for him... thank you for that.

As for me I am feeling a bit under the weather... I'm sure it's just allergies or something - I've had a sore throat since Friday night... Just feeling crummy. Hopefully it passes soon...

Much love to you all,
Becca

We need help

Hey you guys - we really need help from April 13 - May 7, Monday through Friday (except for Friday, May 8) while Shane is at work. I can't stay home by myself or the doctor will want to put me in the hospital for those 4 weeks. If you can help (or if you know of a kind soul that might be willing to help) please please let us know. Right now we have only 2 days covered so ANYTHING will help us. You can even do just a few hours and we can figure something out for the rest of the day. It was SO hard on all of us (Shane, Ryan, and myself) when I had to be in the hospital before so we don't want to have to do 4 weeks there if we can avoid it.

On another note, my Dad has had his first 4 radiation treatments this week. Day 1 was "torture" but it seems like it has gotten a little easier. Only 26 more treatments - hopefully it will go quickly.

Love to you all,
Becca, Shane, Ryan, and Baby