February 26, 2011 - 29 Weeks, 4 Days

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to update the blog as much as I would have liked to this week. I had three mid-term exams and didn't have a lot of time to do anything else. Luckily, Amaraa has done well this week. On Wednesday, Dr. Anderson came in and told Amaraa that her blood transfusion and the iron supplements they have been giving her had finally paid off. Her blood count was at 35. He said that for most people, that would be normal, but it is probably a world record for her. We were worried that the transfusion hadn't been worth having since it had only raised her count to 29 when they checked it two days later. But, it just took a little while for her bone marrow to wake up. Now, she's doing much better. She had another bleeding episode on Wednesday. They seem to be happening more often now. She passes huge blood clots that look like her liver fell out. It was scary at first, but now that she knows she's not losing babies or vital organs, she doesn't get as nervous.

She has been having regular contractions over the last week. At first, they weren't very strong, but they have been increasing in intensity throughout the week and now they have started to hurt. The doctor came in yesterday and told her that he thinks the contractions will continue getting stronger and hurting more and more. Eventually, he said, they will strong enough to rip the remaining part of the placenta away from her uterus and they will have to deliver the baby.

Amaraa still enjoys all the visitors who come to see her. The hospital is quite far away from most of them, but they still take time out of their day to drive down and see her. Thank you all for being so thoughtful. We also appreciate Tonya Worsley and the Primary Activity Days girls from our ward's Primary who have been coming to help Skylar with his reading every day. It may seem like a simple thing, but it makes a huge difference to us right now.

Amaraa's hospital neighbor went home yesterday. Amaraa was always jealous of her because she could hear her showering twice a day. Amaraa is only allowed out of bed for a short shower every other day. Now she misses her because it's so quiet. Luckily another neighbor moved in today. It's funny how you get to know your neighbors when you can't see or talk to them. I was at the hospital last night when the neighbor left and the nurse offered me her food. She said the lady had told her she didn't want it because she was going to make her husband take her out for dinner. Now Amaraa expects me to take her out to dinner when she gets out of here. Fat chance! Just kidding. She probably deserves that much.

This post's picture is the baby monitor screen. The red line is the baby's heart monitor and the blue line is monitoring Amaraa's contractions. The hump in the blue line shows that she had just had a doosie.

President's Day - 28 Weeks, 6 Days

It's President's Day today and Amaraa had her appointment with the perinatologist. We were excited about this one because they said they would give us a measurement on the baby. He measured just over two pounds a couple of weeks ago, so we were hoping for three pounds or more this time around. The nurse said that they usually only measure the baby every three weeks or so, but Amaraa said "pretty please" and they measured him for her. 3.3 POUNDS!!! Another milestone reached!  Dr. Feltovich, the perinatologist, said that she was really encouraged by the progress Amaraa is making. She said that she never thought Amaraa would make it this far when she was admitted to the hospital a month ago. She was sure the baby would be sitting at an incubator in the NICU at this point. Amaraa has been bleeding into her amniotic fluid which can sometimes cause babies to not grow as well (drinking more blood than amniotic fluid = fewer nutrients), but today, he measured 6 days larger than our dates suggest!  He's doing great! We feel so blessed. Every time Amaraa has an ultrasound, the baby puts his hands over his face, so we always get pictures of his hands and feet. Since I posted pictures of his hand last time, I won't post the one from this appointment. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures of his face at the next exam.
Today, Amaraa had a lot of visitors. My mom and dad came and several of our Mongolian friends visited. They had Mongolian food in tow, so Amaraa was very happy.
Yesterday, Amaraa didn't have much bleeding, so she was joking that she was going to start packing her bags to go home. She told the perinatologist and they all had a good laugh. The doctor said "No packing bags for you!  You're here for the long haul!"

February 20, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 5 days

This week has been fun. A lot of good friends have been to visit Amaraa -- some of which we hardly get to see anymore. We have been blessed with so many good friends. People seem to come out of the woodwork to give us their support during our times of need. We have amazing ward members and amazing friends. Thank you all.

Amaraa is doing well. They finally took out her IV this week and she and the baby have been doing so well that they didn't make her wear the baby monitor last night. She was finally able to get a good night's sleep. The baby's heart rate has been pretty consistent, but they said that he still sometimes has some irregularity. Tomorrow she goes in for another appointment with the perinatalogist at Maternal Fetal Medicine. They'll measure her fluid levels and also measure the baby. They don't like to measure the baby every week, so they only measure every couple of weeks. They say it gives them a better idea of actual growth that way. Two weeks ago, he weighed just over two pounds, so we are hoping for three this week.

The nurse weighed Amaraa today. She lost two pounds this week!  Yay!  Without the IV in, she isn't gaining so much water weight. She is definitely eating for two lately. They'll bring her meals in and she'll eat those, and then her Mongolian friends will bring Mongolian food and she'll eat that too, and then she'll ask me to stop at the store and get her a pint of Haagen Dazs! They let her order the food she wants at the hospital now and yesterday she ordered so much they had to bring it in on two trays! So, she feels pretty good about losing two pounds. I think it's hilarious.

I brought the kids in on Friday. Amaraa misses them so much, so it was good for her to see them. We spent quite a while at the hospital and the kids had fun spending time with their mom. They danced for Amaraa, and Jasmine cuddled up with her mom in the bed and had some mommy-daughter bonding time. They had a great time.

February 17th, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 2 Days

Today has been relatively uneventful, which is not a bad thing in our situation. Amaraa has been bleeding a little more than usual, but so far it hasn't been enough to cause concern. We had a visit the other day from a lady who is part of a group called "Parent to Parent." It is a group of mothers who were on bed rest in the hospital with their pregnancies. She gave Amaraa a bag of things to keep her entertained. It included some scrapbook pages, construction paper, and scissors for scrapbooking, notepads and pens, a puzzle, a word-search book, a sudoku book, colored pencils, and the book "Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul". The group brings pizza in for the patients and their families on Tuesdays and they have a scrapbooking night every Thursday for patients with wheelchair privileges (unfortunately, Amaraa is only allowed up to the bathroom and for a quick shower, so she can't go). Anyway, it is a really cool group who obviously understands what it's like to be stuck in the hospital for an extended period of time.
The nurses here have been great. Amaraa has seen most of them multiple times, so she has developed friendships with a lot of them. The doctors have been great too.
Amaraa misses the kids a lot. I bring them to the hospital as much as possible, but since we live so far away from the hospital, it's only possible for me to bring them twice a week or so. It's not a very exciting place to be, but the kids really love hanging out with their mom when I bring them. I don't know what we would do without Amaraa's mom staying with us. She has really helped out with the kids -- cooking and cleaning and babysitting. I probably would have had to drop out of school this semester if it weren't for her. My parents help out on the weekends when I travel to Price to work also. That gives Amaraa's mom a rest and is a lot of fun for the kids. They love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Well, one more day behind us. We appreciate the outpouring of support and love from our friends and family. We love you all. Thank you!

February 16th, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 1 Day

Yay! We made it past the 28 week point and into the third trimester! We took a tour of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit last week and several of the babies in there weren't that far along, so we feel fortunate for every day this baby stays put.

Amaraa has been uncomfortable ever since she had her blood transfusion. Her face, hands, and feet have been puffy and she has had some chest pain and body aches. Her nurses said that it is pretty common to have some discomfort for the first day or two after the transfusion, but they said that ultimately, the new blood should make her feel better. With the discomfort, she has had a hard time sleeping, so the lack of sleep doesn't help either.

During our ultrasound on Monday, they printed two pictures for us. One is a hand and the other is a foot. I'm posting them here. It's fun to see the little dude's little fingers and toes.

Amaraa has been dismayed at the fact that she gained 9 pounds in one week. She's worried that if she stays here for eight weeks, they might have to knock a hole in the wall and lift her out with a crane. Her nurses think she's funny to worry about the weight because most of that was the IV fluids they have been pumping into her. They didn't weigh her after the blood transfusion, but I'll bet she has gained a couple more pounds from that. The blood they gave her had all the plasma spun out of it, so it was all bulk!

Amaraa's poor arms are all bruised and battered from all the needles they have been sticking into her. Every time she has an episode of bleeding, they stick the IV in again for a couple of days and they take blood from her to do blood work every morning. She looks like she has been through a battle. She jokes that the only reason her blood count was low enough to need a blood transfusion was that they are taking all of her blood for tests! Ha! Ha!

Amaraa says the only enjoyment she has in the hospital is the shower. She also enjoys a few steps when she goes to the bathroom. Since the doctor only allows her out of the bed for those two reasons, she feels like a free woman every time she has an excuse to get up.

Thanks for the prayers, and for the comments and emails so far on the blog. Keep 'em coming!

Valentines Day - 27 weeks, 6 days

Today is Valentine's Day. After my morning class and running a few errands, I came to the hospital to await a scheduled appointment with the perinatalogist in the Maternal Fetal Medicine department. Amaraa has been bleeding more than usual lately, so we had to make sure everything was still OK. The good news was that after the ultrasound, the doctor said everything looked good with the baby. Unfortunately, Amaraa's blood count was low and the doctor wanted her to have a blood transfusion. So, as soon as we got back to her room, they put her on tap. The blood had been on ice, so it was cold as it went into her arm. She asked me to hold her arm to warm it up and I couldn't believe how cold her arm was. The transfusion took about 45 minutes and afterwards, her feet and hands looked a lot...well...fuller.

Valentine's Day is the anniversary of the day I proposed to her. We usually go to the Roof Restaurant and have a nice dinner to celebrate on Valentine's Day, but this time we had to settle for hospital cafeteria food. It was a little bit...less...good. We watched "The Bachelor" together and were thrilled to see that the crazy Utah woman was sent home. So, our Valentine's Day wasn't exactly the height of romanticism, but we're glad Amaraa is where she is and that she and the baby have the care they need.

Whoa There, Baby!

Welcome to our blog! We decided to start this blog to keep everyone informed about what is going on with what has become a crazy pregnancy.
Here is a bit of background to get started:
We found out we were expecting in late September. We had thought we were done having kids, so it was a big surprise. We were so excited. We were both enrolled in a crazy Geology class that required us to hike up Rock Canyon at 8:00 AM every Tuesday morning. On one of our brisk morning hikes, Amaraa started having some pain. She powered through and endured the class. I took her back to the University for her next class and she called me crying about 45 minutes later, saying she was in the bathroom and she was bleeding. I had gone to American Fork after I dropped her off at school, but told her I would get back to her as soon as possible. In the meantime, some unknown angel heard her crying in the bathroom stall and offered to help. She went and bought Amaraa some needed supplies and brought them to her. We will forever be grateful to this girl, who got away without Amaraa seeing her or asking her name. Anyway, I picked Amaraa up from school and we rushed to the OB/GYN. The doctor did an ultrasound and found that the baby was OK, but that Amaraa had a "low-lying" placenta. They said that they would just watch it carefully but that they would just have to wait and see what would happen.
They said that there wasn't anything they could do until the pregnancy was 24 weeks along.
About every week from then on, Amaraa woud have blood gushes. These would mostly occur on weekends when I was out of town working. And invariably they would happen at 2 or 3 in the morning which meant middle-of-the-night, two-hour drives for me to meet her at the hospital. One time she was rushed to the hospital in the ambulance and another time, a good friend made the late night run. If I remember correctly, we made a total of 6 runs to the hospital between 10 and 24 weeks. At first, we were seen in the Emergency Room of the hospital, but they said that at 19 weeks they had to start sending us up to the Labor and Delivery department. Every time, it was the same story -- they would monitor the baby until the night was over and then send us home. Three weeks ago today, Amaraa had another gush of blood during the night. We didn't go to the hospital because the bleeding decreased and we had an appointment with the doctor the next day anyway.
We had had an appointment with the perinatalogist from the Maternal Fetal Medicine department a week earlier and she had said that if Amaraa had any more bleeding, they might have to admit her into the hospital. At our appointment, everything looked good, but our doctor reminded us that we needed to get to the hospital if Amaraa bled more than usual. Well, no sooner did we get her home from the doctor's office than Amaraa started to bleed again. And this time she was bleeding a lot.
We rushed to the hospital for lucky visit #7 and they decided to transfer her to the regional hospital and admit her. It has now been three weeks. Amaraa is still in the hospital and is still bleeding periodically, but so far, the baby is still right where he should be, growing on target and seemingly blissfully unaware of what is going on. The doctors are going to keep Amaraa in the hospital until she has the baby. We are perfectly content to have our baby stay where he is for awhile. So in that spirit, we have launched our blog to tell our little one, "whoa there, baby!" and document our experiences here. We welcome your feedback and comments.