33weeks

Well let the countdown begin. We have our official delivery/surgery date: Wednesday December 11th.

. I hope and pray that we are going to make it to that day. I have been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions in the last couple of days but so far no bleeding. 

They took me off the Magnesium drip on Monday which was great. That stuff definately works to stop preterm labor but it just made me feel so sleepy and drowsy. 

My parents finally got here from Germany and it was great seeing them again today (for the first time in a year). 

 I'm glad that Micah will finally have some help at home too.

Mom made me (and my two girls) an awesome strawberry hat 

Birthday

Well despite everything that has gone on in the last 24 hours or so I had a great birthday thanks to my husband. 

I started bleeding quite a bit on Friday morning and it continued throughout the day and night. 

Since on Saturday morning I was also having contractions they put me on a magnesium sulfate drip. The good news is that the contractions and bleeding have stopped the bad news is that the magnesium sulfate makes me very foggy and tired. 

Hopefully I will only need to be on it for tel days but I better prefer myself in case my doctors decide to keep me on it until 34 weeks. 

So the good part of the day was my kids bursting into my room early morning yelling "Happy Birthday Mama".

Of course since I was a bit emotional I just started crying. 

But seeing how excited my kids were made me feel a lot better. We unpacked my presents together and my awesome husband made me a great breakfast. I really have the best husbsnd. He has just been so fantastic trough this. 

The rest of the morning and early afternoon we spent relaxing in my room. 

Feeling good tonight. It was a really nice birthday 

32weeks

We are really getting close. Delivery will be around 35 weeks. I had an ultrasound today and everything looks great. The baby weighs about 4.7 lbs which is great. 

I am so ready to meet this baby girl. Trying to keep my self occupied over the next few weeks but I am starting to run out of patients.

Got two great ultrasound pictures. In one of them you can see her profile with the tongue sticking out and in the other one she is trying to put her foot into her mouth 

31 weeks

Day 53 in the hospital!

I can't believe how long I have been here already. But we are finally on the other end of the mountain. 3-4 weeks from now we will get to meet our little baby girl and I just can't wait for that. 

Hopefully everything will go well during my surgery and I won't have to be sedated and intubated for to long. 

I've had a pretty quiet week. Completed my first throw blanket and it turned out pretty well. Thanks to my mother-in-law for sending me awesome yarn. 

I've just ordered a ton of yarn so I can make a huge blanket for my husband.

The only excitement I had this week was loosing my crown from my tooth. Since there is no dentist here in the hospital I thought my husband could just drive me to the dentist to take care of it. 

Well that wasn't the case. The insurance insisted on an ambulance so I got my first ambulance ride ever. I thought it was quite embarrassing but a experience for sure. 

Everything outside looked so pretty. The sunshine, the trees with the yellow leaves, the hills in the background even people and their cars. LOL

I was so tempted to run away and go home since I was so close. 

Being outside made me realize that I miss being home more than I thought. 

I'm trying not to dwell on that to much for now though. Time will go by and soon me and my baby girl will be home and it will be my favorite holiday of them all: Christmas

30 weeks

We have finally made it to 30 weeks. I am so excited and happy about that. 

I am now counting down the weeks till I will meet my little girl. I can not wait to wake up from the surgery and see and hold her. 

My doctor will schedule the surgery next week so then we will have an actual date to look forward to. It will be sometime between week 34-35. 

Obviously that's still quite a ways off but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I've had a few quiet days again with no events. 

Halloween threw a curve ball at me I didn't want. I was waiting all day for my kids to get here so that we could go trick or treating across the unit but of course I started bleeding an hour before they came. So much for that plan. Of course I was confined to bed for the rest of the day. 

For some reason that just really brought me down. 

But the kids were adorable as Dracula and a bat and they didn't care where the candy came from ( daddy ran into the Candy fairy in the hallway)

So it turned out to be a nice afternoon with me and und kids cuddling in my bed, eating candy and watching movies.

There's always next year to be out and about.

My husband did great dressing the kids up. He's been so amazing throughout this journey and I have to say I really believe it has strengthend us and our family. 

Can't wait to get out if here though and continue this journey with him 

Btw I found the time to color my hair :)

Ultrasound

Just had an ultrasound for the first time in a month. 

The baby looks great!! She weighs about 2lbs 10 ounces which the doctor is very happy with. 

That's a very good weight especially if she would be born now.

Yeah for big Viking babies- thanks to my husbands genes :)

28 Weeks!!

Yeah big milestone reached. We are 28 Weeks today 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I am so excited. Means this little baby girl has a really really good chance of survival now. I also got my second round of steroids so her lungs should have the best chance of maturity.

I have been having a little bit of a rough couple of days though.

I started bleeding on Sunday and it scared me. Makes me realize why people say everyday matters and I can see now why everyday this girl gets to stay in my belly is a gift to be thankful for. 

So today is the first morning since Sunday with no bleeding. Makes me feel good. Hopefully things have calmed down in my uterus. 

Baby girl is doing real good though. She's moving and kicking a lot. 

My two other ones have started all day preschool which I think is good for them. Our little Aedan is still adjusting to it though. Apparently he cries when daddy drops him off and that just breaks my heart. I wish I could be there for both of them right now and I really hope my being in here won't somehow scar them to much.

I am grateful for the fact that my husband is such a great dad but they need their mommy too. If things will go well I am not coming home for another 2 month and I've been here 1 month already. But 

there is nothing I can do about it. I have to trust that all will be well in the end and this is the path my family has to go at this time.

See I am trying to be trusting and faithful :)

26 weeks

Well we have made it to 26 weeks. The last couple of days have been quite uneventful. 

Nothing going on physically but emotionally it was a bit of a rough day. 

I prepared financial papers for my husband just in case. Should the worst happen my husband will have enough on his hands without having to worry about finding financial papers. 

Along with the papers I wrote a just-in-case letter to my husband. That was quite tough. 

But it has shown me again that when this is all over I want us to simplify our lives. 

Spend more quality time together, worry less about bills etc. 

Finally move out to the country. Get a house with some land, let my husband do all the gardening and have me learn the canning and preserving of all the goodies. 

Aedans 2nd birthday

I had a nice day today. We celebrated my little mans second birthday today. My husband brought the cake, balloons and presents to my room and then he went and picked up the kids from preschool and brought them to the hospital. 

Aedan was excited about the balloons and presents. 

So not only did he turn two today he also  had his first preschool day today. He did very well. No crying and apparently he was very polite. 

His big sister was by his side right away when another kid pushed him. So adorable that she watches out for him.

So a great today for all of us. 

Special thanks to my wonderful husband Micah who has been so amazing throughout this entire journey. Love him so much

25 weeks 2days

We are still sitting in the hospital. The exciting update for this week is that I get to ambulate three times per day on the unit. I am excited about that. Baby and I had a really good quiet week. No bleeding, no contractions. Just happily sitting here and growing a baby. 

9 more weeks to go. 

Overall I have been feeling pretty well. Now and then I have a little breakdown when I envision the day of the surgery. I am scared that I won't wake up postoperative. But I am trying to be positive and quite frankly I am trying to find my faith that I lost somewhere after my teenage years.

It's a slow process. Overall I believe that this is my road to walk. What the outcome will be I don't know. I try to trust that I am meant to be around longer. To be a good mother and to be there toraise my beautiful children, to be there for my husband so him and I can raise this family together and follow our dreams.

Oh how I hope that that is what is meant for me. 

I am distracting myself by working on my crotchet projects. That is another hospital goal. To get better at crocheting. 

Here's what I have done this week.

24weeks2days

Yeah-I reached my first goal a couple of days ago. We made it to 24 weeks. I am so happy about that. I have also completed my first cycle of steroid shots to help my baby girls lung develop. 

I have been in the hospital since Saturday and it looks like they will keep me for a while. I haven't had any more bleeding since I came in but my doctors want to make sure it stays that way. I am totally okay with that. I can definately rest a lot better here then at home even though I miss my babies and husband a lot. 

We had a good talk with the neonatologist this week as well and he was letting us know what we can expect if she comes early. It was interesting and scary and we want to avoid early labor as much as possible.

So I am being patient and trying to get better at my crochet projects. 

Here are some of the things I have done this week:

Back to the hospital

Well we had a small scare last night again. I started to bleed again- so here I am back in the hospital,
Thankfully at this point the bleeding has stopped and me and my little girl are doing okay. We are almost to 24 weeks and that's all I want to focus on right now. Tomorrow I will do some blood test to check for diabetes in preparation of getting my steroid shots on Tuesday and Wednesday which most likely will be done here in the hospital.
I am staying positive and to be completely honest I don't mind being in the hospital. The food is great and everyone is super nice.
It is a little less stress and worry for my husband as well since he knows that I am well taken care of. I do miss everyone of course though.
We will see how long I have to stay this time.

23weeks 3days

Another couple of quiet days have gone by. More or less quiet that is. My 2 and 3 year old are going nuts quite a bit right now. They don't understand why I just lie in bed all day. So it is quiet when their daddy distracts them 😃

My little baby girl is kicking quite a lot and I can't say how happy it makes me to feel her that strong. Means she is growing and getting bigger. Almost reached one of my goals which will be my first steroid injection on Tuesday. We want to give her the best possible chances in case she comes early. So far things look good though. My cervix is short but closed and not effaced. I haven't had any bleeding in almost 3 weeks.
Wednesday's ultrasound will show weather or not the placenta has grown again and we will discuss my surgery plan with the team.

I had a bit of a meltdown earlier. Good old crying session. Sometimes I get really scared thinking about the surgery. Even with preparation things can go wrong and plenty of mothers die from this. Can't even describe how scared I get imaging loosing my life now.
All the things I would miss in my kids life. But I am trying to grow with this and find my faith again. Just not quite sure how. If this is what is meant for me then I need to learn to
accept that. I've had a great life so far.
I married the love of my life and we've been together for almost 15 years now. We have built a beautiful family. It's been tough at times but I wouldn't change any of it.
I have traveled and seen places.
But there is still so much more I want to see and do.
If I make it trough this alive I am definitely ready for some changes in our lives.
Life is to short to just trudge along...

9/10/13- scary

Well the last 8 days have been quite eventful. I started bleeding on 9/2/13 and my husband Micah as well as our two little kids had to rush me to the hospital.
I ended up being admitted and stayed in the hospital for 8 days for observation.
Thankfully the bleeding stopped and I had no contractions. My little girls heartrate was perfect throughout.
I was discharged home on strict bedrest and I have been sitting in my bed for the last week.
Quite boring at times but it has given me the time to get better at my new passion crocheting. I a
m thankful that everything continues to be okay with my little one.
23 weeks today -yeah- everyday counts.
It is definately hard to be compliant with the strict bedrest since I have a 3 and a 2 year old at home. It's hard for me to not being able to help my husband with any of the chores. Unfortunately we have no family close by to help us.
My mother in law was able to fly out and help us for one week which was a great relieve.
Unfortunately my parents are in Germany and the earliest they can fly out will be November,

Next week I am scheduled for the steroids shots to help the babies lung develop in case she is born early. Still praying that I will be able to keep her inside until 34 weeks.
My little baby girl :)

Newly diagnosed

Well I am totally new to this blogger world and we shall see if I will stick with this.
I am writing this as much for myself as well as for anyone out there who is interested in reading this.

I am mother to a 3 year old girl and an almost 2 year old boy. I am currently 20 weeks pregnant with our 3rd child ( its a girl!!) and just got diagnosed with placenta percreta that so far has grown into my bladder.
Scary!
I had never even heard of this condition and this is not what my husband Micah and I were expecting when we went in for our ultrasound.
Needless to say we are both pretty scared.
I have been taken off  work already since I am a Registered Nurse in a ICU and the last thing my doctor wants me to do is run around for 12 hours.

I am having good days and bad days as I am trying to come to terms with what this means for me and my family. Hysterectomy, bladder repair and possible loss of life.
I am anxious for our appointment two weeks from now where we will find out the exact treatment plan.
I am grateful to be in good care and thankful that my doctor was able to diagnose this early.

More to come...