The Power of a Good Fly

You know your bored when a fly that some how got into your hospital room can keep you captivated for at least an hour. We hunted that fly with our eye balls commenting on how he was flying around the light fixture with Padon's little "see-um!?" and wiggling his fingers jabbering on about how it had many legs wiggling all over the place because it couldn't roll itself back over. Surprisingly to both Padon and the fly the flash of the camera was enough the get the fly up and moving again. Can you see the black dot on the floor about 8 inches from Padon's hands?

The Bestest Husband Ever!

Walter is the best husband ever for making sure to come and spend time with me everyday if not almost every night; for taking Padon on fulltime with no gripes even though Padon's schedule was totally out of wack; for making sure I had anything and everything I needed, for driving back and forth betweeen Bellevue and Stanwood everyday making sure the cats didn't poop all over the house; for bringing to me and letting me open all the Christmas cards first cause he knows I love opening them; for cleaning the house top to bottom (including mopping all the floors) so that Sophia and I would come home to a clean house; and for having my back as I deal with a bunch of nurses and communicate my wants with Dr. Graham; among so many, many, many other things.

Still a Good Christmas

Granted my Christmas was spent in the hospital but it was still a good Christmas. Because Padon was staying with us in the hospital I was able to see him in his Christmas PJs (something I make for him every year and this year he chose the fabric) and that was awesome. My family came to the Hospital in the morning and brought my stocking, cinnamon rolls, orange juice, chocolate moose, and my Christmas presents. I was able to see Padon open up his Buzz Lightyear and Woody figures, and give Greg and Billy their presents. That was what I really wanted for Christmas and what originally made me want to cry when I first learned I was here through the holiday and thought I might not get the chance to be a part of those activities. I was also really glad for Walter to have the opportunity to go back to my parents house to a really wonderful meal, festivities and good drinks. I didn't get the same magnitude of "wow" out of Padon over Buzz Lightyear and Woody as I did from his Spiderman winter boots which light up when he walks. But he was excited to get them and I watched him hug Buzz and ask Walter for Woody because he needed both, and that was what I wanted to see. It totally fulfilled my months of fantasizing about whether Padon would think this was a great gift. This was the first opportunity to buy Padon something that he wanted, not what I thought he might want, and that just tickled me!

The rest of the day I spent watching Angel, reading one of the People magazines that my Mom brought, napping, and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I guess the way to approach it is what Mom wouldn't relish a day of silence and solitude with a pint of ice cream? Ha!

Group Health Rocks!

Oh, have to mention that Group Health rocks! I had been lead to believe that after the 1st of the year I would have to get another OB-GYN but found out this morning in talking to one of the benefits customer service reps that Group Health has a Transfer of Care Request Form where you make note of your immediate, and not Group Health Doctor, and have him fill out what your treatment and diagnosis is and you can continue to see your immediate Dr. for your immediate needs and care. So cool! I can still have Dr. Graham deliver Sophia after the 1st of the year, well if that was the route we were going to go. I have been so impressed with Group Health's customer service. They have been nothing but overly helpful to me and have never treated me like a number or a system. I love that!

Trying to Make it to Dec 30th

So it looks like we might have Sophia on Dec 30th, one day after the hoped for 36 week date. Now I think I feel a little more paranoid we won't make it. It both seems much closer and still too far away. I can feel Sophia a little more clearly and I'm afraid that my water will break before the 30th. We also have Padon with us in the Hospital now and not only is that a little more stressful but makes Walter's flexibility go down. It's really tough to throw a major holiday into a thrown up in the air birth. I think it might be a little more relaxed after Christmas. It's been interesting trying to grab and wrap gifts and my hospital room is filling up with more and more odds and ends. It's going to make going home a little more difficult. I'm sure we'll figure something out. Sigh, why can't I have my babies like an average person. :) Can't wait to hold little Sophia.

Tributaline and movies, movies, movies...

Moving into week two of the hospital stay I'm still going strong but gradually getting bummed. It's hard to have your food messed up on a regular basis (foods tasty, service not so much) have the same questions asked of you again and again, be woken up late at night to fix the baby monitor and sometimes administer more Tributaline (stops the contractions), and to know that not only will we miss Christmas and Padon but that Dr. Graham keeps inferring we will induce Sophia on or close to Christmas. I'm just really not ok with that. It's pretty freak'n awesome to have your own holiday and you just can't mix it with Christmas. We're going to sit down with Dr. Graham, hopefully tomorrow, and a get an actual confirmation on an induction date. As much as he jokes about having Sophia on Christmas he can't really think that that would be a great thing for her. It's a romantic idea, but no.

True Family Spirit

Man it's great to be near family and to have great friends! When Walter and I realized we were stuck at the hospital we started to scramble but our family and friends hopped to with no gripes and huge hearts to help us in everyway they could think of. Leo, Walter's Dad, took Roadie, Sarah and Wayne took Padon and bring him to us everyday to visit, Barb took over my desk at work where my position had yet to be backed up, Chris and Heidi brought movies and icecream, and our friends Dan and Lara loaned us their families laptop. We had offers from friends all over the place to bring us anything we needed and we were at a loss at how to express the huge gratitude and love we felt. All the help took an extreme load off Walter and I. We really didn't want to put anyone out but what were we to do? We are so priviledged to know so many wonderful people.

Through Christmas!

We made it to Thursday with almost no contractions, exactly what everyone was excited to see. So they extended their hopeful deadline; make it to 36 weeks and we'll have the baby then. Well 36 weeks is through Christmas. Walter and I blanched inside. It was totally doable but in the extremely traditional nature of the Christmas Holiday it was shocking to think I would be confined to a hospital bed and Walter lovingly next to me on a cot. Sarah sweetly said they could come in the morning and bring me my stocking and a cinnamon roll. I still cried silently about it. I had been looking forward to Padon opening his Toy Story toys in my parent's living room with an extreme anticipation. I was trying really hard to not be selfish but the tears kept coming.

Squared Away and Holding Steady

Thank you to Sarah and Jane for the pictures! I took them off their Facebook pages, but I love to blog with pictures.
Walter's handi-work. What's a Dad to do when a nurse sits there for a long time asking the Mom about her thyroid medication and the last time she went to the bathroom and on and on for 15 minutes straight?

They notified Walter and I that we were at Overlake to stay through the end of the week of not longer, assuming Sophia didn't jump the gun. When Walter arrived with Padon, Padon came into the room wide eyed and cautious. I would have thought he would be excited but he seemed more worrried to see me in bed. We positively and excitedly told him we were here for the baby and pointed out how we could hear her heartbeat and wasn't that cool?, and that made us happy! To which he replied "Scared! Scared!" shaking his head. I reassured him that it wasn't scary and that I wasn't scared so it was ok. It seemed to make sense because soon he was asking to watch the baby on the heart monitor and making his place in our room. My parents came quickly to check on us and took Padon home with them. In a super cute way Padon stopped to say goodbye to the baby as he went out the door, waving goodbye to the heart monitor and saying "bye baby!, bye baby!" Man I love him!

34 Weeks, 4cm Dilated, and Fully Effaced

So on Saturday I was standing in the kitchen making dinner and was wowed by the amount of pressure Sophia could put on my hip bones with her head. As the minutes went by my abdomen and back were killing me but at just about 34 weeks and 7 weeks from the due date I thought this must be Braxton Hicks contractions. I ended up on the couch breathing through the contractions, thinking if this was what the next 7 weeks were going to be like I was going to be miserable. Gradually the contractions petered away and I didn't think any more about it.

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On Sunday I went online to look up preterm labor and low and behold of the 7 things they had to say look out for I had a yes for 5 of them, but I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I just held out until then.

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Tuesday at 12 I went to my 34 week appointment and told them how I had felt on Saturday and they decided maybe it would be wise to take a look and see what was going on. Well what was going on was I was 4cm dilated and was fully effaced (meaning there wasn't much holding this baby back). Dr. Graham was surprised and he is a hard man to surprise. He was really concerned and sent me, pronto, over to Overlake Hospital to get a shot to jump start Sophia's lung development and to strengthen her blood vessels in the event she was born prematurely. Dr. Graham and the nurses made me promise if I had the slightest contraction I would come back to the office and that I would go back to Overlake at noon on Wednesday to get the second preemie shot. I went back to work, gave a few people a heads up, including my boss, and two hours later was feeling the back contractions again. A wonderful friend and co-worker, Barbara, drove me back to Dr. Graham and I was admitted to Overlake Hospital.

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This whole time I had been having conversations with Walter about what was going on and what my current status was. Worried, nerves frazzled, and probably a little scared Walter was a model of efficiency as he packed clothes for me, Padon, and grabbed necessary numbers to call family and friends.

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In the hospital they gave me Terbutaline to slow if not stop the contractions while the nursery prepared itself and our room for a preemie. I continued to contract every 3-6 minutes through the night but we made it to midnight when they could give me the second preemie shot, and I swear the whole staff sighed with relief. The hope became I would make it three more days.

Padon Gets There is a Baby!

Ok, maybe he always got there was a "baby in there" but he hadn't ever shown he cared until about two weeks ago. Now if you ask him if he can hear the baby he will get his blanket and rest on me and listen and pat my stomach. Don't think by any means this happens often but when it does it sure is cute.

Annual Calendar Pictures

Last year I discovered that Vistaprint.com has the best priced personal calendars and they do a pretty nice job of it too. You upload your images to one of the many templates available and they ship you the calendars to then, as we do, mail off as stocking stuffers to grandparents. I usually end up waiting until after Thanksgiving to finish compiling the calendar so I have a nice chronological image gallery of Padon for the previous year presented. I didn't do half bad this year in getting a nice harvest picture of Padon in our backyard, but getting the "Christmas/ Season's Greetings" picture has been painful. Padon won't smile for the camera anymore like he used to and thinks it is funny to say "Noooooooo..." (shaking head and looking at you out of the corner of his eye smiling in a crooked evil grin), when you ask. I think I will see if I can't get a free picture out of Picture People or Sears, I think he would smile for them. It's too late for the calendar, but not for the Christmas cards...

The Harvest pictures came out great:

This picture, above, is the one I used for the Calendar for November.


This was a good picture, albeit blurry. The smiles come from the fact that the Santa in his lap is a dancing Santa, is dancing, and has been crammed between Padon's legs. So, dancing, Santa is forced to stand up as his arms pump up and down. Padon found it hysterical that Santa would right himself, only so Padon could cram him back down in his lap.

So after taking Santa away in an attempt to get a clear picture the blanket had to be introduced or tears were going to ensue. Sigh...
And in my last ditch effort, before I started to cry out of frustration, I got this picture as Padon laughed hard saying "I bonka my head in da tree!!!" This is the picture for December in the Calendar.

Sigh, I miss the days of easy smiles and camera friendly moments...

Great Thanksgiving!

It was a great Thanksgiving this year! The food was fantastic and I couldn't stop eatting it. I was sorry to see the holiday come and go so quickly. It's amazing it's only 3 weeks until Christmas!