Update

We are very happy with the current plan that has been put into place by Dr. Dowling.  He came in and said that we basically have 3 options:

1.  Delivery - he was a bit tentative doing this because we do not yet know about the lungs and we definitely don't want another issue for Karsie to deal with other than the omphalocele.  If she was in active/stressful labor then this is the only option, but since she has calmed down then he said we might want to find out a few more things.

2.  Amniocentesis - This is the option that he prefers and so do we.  He is going to take some fluid out of the sac and test the lung maturity.  If she has mature lungs we will deliver today.  If she does not, then we will probably wait until we can't wait any more.  If they are not we will then wait until next week if we can (because that's when they can do another amnio) and they may be mature then (which will signal delivery).

3.  Wait - This is not anyone's optimal choice, but this was an option.  Not going to happen.

We are now going to have an amnio and will probably find out the results in 3-4 hours.  Sorry for the continued delay, but this will be so much less stressful to know that she has full maturity if we have to deliver today....we'll keep you posted.

Waiting.....

So the plan at this point was to give you some information a few hours ago.  Not so.  The doctor has not come in to talk to us yet and at this point we have a new doctor, but still aware of our situation.

Michelle's contractions slowed down considerably last night which makes us wonder if they will try to push it.  However, the medicine that is keeping Michelle's uterus happy is making Michelle not so happy.  We are fairly certain (without any console yet) that even if they decide to push it, it won't be too terribly long.  Michelle has moved from about a 3cm cervix on Wed. to being 1 cm dilated this morning.  While this can be a very slow process for most pregnancies, we are not wanting to get to that point.  We'll keep you posted when we find things out.

(While I was typing this the nurse came in and said our doc is on his way, and he wanted to make sure Michelle was not having any liquids, so it sounds like he's planning on a c-section to us...but we'll find out for sure soon).

Here We Go

Well, Karsie seems to be ready to go.  Our doctor has been ordering pretty heavy drugs to stop contractions and while they have slowed down a bit, they have definitely not stopped.  He came in on his rounds and told us that Karsie is trying to tell us that she's ready.  With the heavy dose of drugs Michelle is getting there should not be many contractions if at all, but Michelle is still regularly having them.  So here's the plan:

They will continue to monitor Michelle throughout the night.  The doctor will come in tomorrow to evaluate.  If she continues contracting, they will deliver Karsie tomorrow.  He said he is pretty sure that will be the case.  The other good part about doing this tomorrow is that we have a higher likelyhood of having our surgeon whereas if they wait and she comes during the weekend, the rush is much worse than having a planned date with planned teams ready to go.  

Therefore, unless something drastic happens tonight, we will have a daughter tomorrow. There's still a real outside shot that Michelle stops contracting and they push it a bit, but until that happens, we're making our plans now.  Thank you all for the continuous prayers sent our way.  It got us to about 35 weeks!  Now comes the scarier part!  Please continue to pray for good outcomes and recoveries during surgery and everything else.  We are being spoiled already, but that's what we do with prayer.

Finally, this will most likely be the last big information blog for a while.  Michelle will be recovering from surgery and Kevin will be following Karsie around until after surgery.  Kevin will have his blackberry with him, so we will be posting (hopefully) many shorter status updates right here as things unfold.  Much like twitter, but much better since it's a play-by-play birth.  Obviously Kevin can't do his fatherly duties while typing on the blackberry, so whenever the blackberry gets in the way of that, you may have to wait.  We will do our best to keep you up to date.  

_______________________________________________

A special note to the love of my life - I have been so blessed to be your partner for 6 wonderful years.  I continue to be amazed at how much of a wonderful woman and a mother you have been are are now.  As we spend our last night together as a couple without children, I want to let you know how much I love you.  I know we are going to be great parents because of how great we are together.  I cannot wait to meet our little Karsie and start a new adventure with you.  You always have been and always will be the love of my life.      -Kevin 

Trying to Prolong Pregnancy

There's a reason we have not posted in a while.  Short story is that we're in the hospital again....most likely to stay this time.  

Long story:  Michelle started to show some signs of real labor a day or two ago.  We'll spare some of the gory details.  She also started to have contractions move from just tightening to mildly uncomfortable to fairly painful in a very short amount of time.  We waited it our for a while to see if they went away, and they did not.  

At 3:30 this morning we called it and came into the hospital.  Michelle was in actual labor and so they gave her a sonogram, upped her dose of medicine, and did some other invasive tests.  We found out that her cervix is still closed but much thinner than she was just a short while ago.  We want that to stay the same because Karsie is doing just fine.  She has an excellent heart rate, her movements are still plentiful, and she responds well to all the contractions.  It's Michelle's uterus that's causing all the problems.  

The on call doctor put her on a blitz of medicine to stop the contractions, but they don't seem to be stopping completely.  They still have somewhere to go as far as increasing her medicine and giving her multiple kinds of medicines, but while they haven't stopped they have slowed down greatly and she is contracting within the minimum guidelines.  

We have an ultimate goal of 38 weeks (which may be a small miracle at this point), a closer goal of 36 weeks, but our first goal is to get to Monday.  First of all that would make her 35 weeks, but that's also when our doctor comes back from vacation.  He should have been more considerate of our situation.  He can take his vacation any time after we give birth.  Also, we're pretty sure that our surgeon is mostly available at the beginning of the week.  

While we are at a good place now at almost 35 weeks, we still ask for prayer that Karsie stays put for a while longer.  We really want to get to 38 weeks now because we just heard back from an acquaintance in New York also w/ an omphalocele, and they just had their little baby at 38 weeks, and she got to go home in just over a week.  While we don't expect that to be our case, we are sure, and they are sure, that her being born at 38 weeks had a lot to do with her recovery.  News will follow when we know more...

7-13 Update

We're back!  Start the countdown...28 days left until we meet our daughter.  

Yesterday was a good day for us.  We were able to take a timeout from all of the stress and just enjoy each other for a whole day.  There was a drive, a nap, a foot massage, gift exchanges, dinner on the back porch with the puppies, and lots of loving stares to make the mushiest person sick to their stomach.  

Today we started our week 34 appointments.  We went in for our sonogram and everything still looks great!  Karsie wiggled a ton and showed off some good breathing, which makes us very happy.  Something new:  She smiled!  And stuck her tongue out, but the smile was in 4-D, so it was absolutely adorable.  Unfortunately we didn't get a good picture of that, but we did get some great shots in 4-D of her face.  We are convinced at this point that she has Michelle's lips and Kevin's nose.  

We are looking forward to next week when Dr. Cousins returns because he is here for the remainder of our pregnancy.  How dare he take a vacation now! 

34!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin here.  Since I am up at this late hour I thought I would post right away the exciting news. For those of you that have been following along daily know that today is an extremely good day! Karsie turns 34 weeks gestationally today.  This is just the first goal of many from now on, but we can breath our first sigh of relief.  A while ago while I was in the hospital and had tons of time I decided to read all of our blogs from the beginning to the end.  While I don't think this is something a normal person would do on their own, if you do happen to do this it's so amazing to see everything that has happened for us and all the answered prayer that has followed us.  We have definitely been through a lot so far, but we have basically fought through every struggle so far.  If you feel like reading a quick post, read "Further Update" on May 22.  This will explain the importance of week 34.

Basically, this is the week that all of us have been shooting for.  Personally, I am still greedy and want to make it to at least 36 weeks, and ultimately 38, but 34 is awesome!  Happy gestational 34 Karsie!  I love you very much!

Update (7-10)

The great news for today is that there really isn't a whole lot of news!  News tends to be not in our favor lately, so not having any is a welcome treat.  Michelle and Karsie have been going to a monitoring station at our doctor's office 3 times a week, and each time Karsie has looked fantastic.  

Kevin dropped Michelle's insulin bottle the other day and because insulin is so unstable, it mixed and reacted with itself and ultimately made it unusable.  So, another trip to the Costco pharmacy was in order.

Our last post named a date for possible delivery for Karsie.  While we do not know for certain, it is very possible (and probably likely) that her delivery date will be pushed up a day (to the 10th) to accommodate both surgeon and perinatologist.  So, exactly one month from today Kevin and Michelle will have a little one (with a little extra).  We are very excited.  

In lieu of our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday we will not post any updates.  We will be spending the day with each other as our last anniversary alone.  It has been such a wonderful 6 years!  Until next time.....  

August 11

We met with Dr. Saenz, our surgeon, today and he took us into his office to show us some pictures of omphaloceles that he has done. Based on our situation he showed us pictures and cases that would be close to what ours was like. It's not a pretty defect.

For the time being, our delivery date is August 11. We will double check with our perinatologist, Dr. Cousins, tomorrow and make sure he is available, but until things change or if Karsie comes early she will be born Tuesday, August 11.

Everything sounds very promising. He showed us a siloh, which is something that we may have to use if he can't get everything inside in one day. (although it sounds like if we can go a few more weeks he can get it in). The siloh looks like a big plastic bottle lining that covers the omphalocele until he can push more in.

The other outstanding news is that it doesn't sound like a very long time that Karsie will be at the Children's hospital NICU. It may be a shorter time she stays there until she is moved to Mary Birch's NICU, which is the unit that is open door and anyone can see her with our accompaniment.

Appointment Today (7-6)

Today was the first day that Karsie's movement got annoying.  We had an appointment at the Doctors' office to do a biophysical profile and a Non Stress Test.  Karsie's profile was good.  She measured pretty close to her gestational age (a little lower) and there is still no movement of fluid, so everything is still the same.

This time, Michelle was monitored to look at Karsie's reactions and heart rate.  While moving is always good, Karsie moved so much today that she didn't stay on the monitor long enough to get a good reading.  So what usually would take 10-15 minutes took over an hour.  But the overall news is that she looked great on the monitor.  

We came home after our appointment to take a quick nap and ended up sleeping for about 3 hours.  We were a little more tired than we thought.  Tomorrow we meet with our surgeon. Exciting stuff!

Done for Today!

Michelle went in to check her crazy uterus and we were out in an hour.  Karsie looked great and Michelle only had 2 contractions, so we are home for the day.  We have another appointment tomorrow at Dr. Cousins's office.  

Hospital Visit and Schedule for the Week

Today was interesting!  We went into the hospital at 9:00 to monitor Karsie and Michelle started to contract again.  We're pretty sure at this point that she contracts with anxiety.  After a short time of monitoring they stopped it and put us into a room so they could monitor easier. Dr. Dowling, our more conservative doctor in the group, ordered a vaginal ultrasound along with an abdominal ultrasound.  Karsie still looked good and nothing had really changed since he admitted us almost 2 weeks ago.  Then he looked to check Michelle's cervix to make sure that hadn't shortened.  It still measures 5 1/2 cm, which if you know anything about cervixes is huge.  That's great news!  He said she's still in the 90th percentile as far as length of cervix goes. Therefore, Michelle's contractions were the only thing concerning at the time.  Dowling also ordered a FFN, which is the test we had a month ago if you have been following our blog.  We were concerned that Karsie was not going to go into labor this week.  That came back negative, so Karsie will pretty much make it at least one to two more weeks (providing nothing is concerning enough for them to take her early).  Dowling finally ordered monitoring of Karsie and the contractions and made sure Michelle didn't have more than 6 an hour.  Michelle did have more than 6, so he let her do another to make sure everything was a fluke.  Thankfully it was!  We were able to get through the hour with 1 contraction, maybe 2.  

This week's schedule:

Sunday:  Go back in to get monitored at the hospital

Monday:  Monitoring at Dr. Cousins

Tuesday:  Meet with Dr. Saenz (surgeon)

Wednesday:  Monitoring at Dr. Cousins

Thursday:  Day off

Friday:  Monitoring at Dr. Cousins

33!!!

Karsie turns 33 weeks today.  One more week to go before a little bit of stress leaves us. Remember, our goal is 38, but 34 weeks is a week that all the doctors want to get to.  Karsie should be over 17 inches long and weigh over 4 pounds about now.  In a week she will be close to 5 pounds!!!  Her immune system is starting to develop now, so stay put Karsie!  Being sick is no fun.  

If you have been following Karsie's weekly age you may notice that she turns the week on a Friday.  Since our due date is on a Saturday we're going to extend this week until next Saturday.  

Home Bedrest Day 1

Complete.  We have successfully completed a day at "home" while doing pretty much nothing, but loving every bit of it.  Kevin has been doing the nurses' jobs by getting all the food, moving things around, etc.  It is worth it to have Michelle happy and more rested.  Everything seemed good today.  Michelle's blood sugar was within the range each time she tested.  She is feeling very minimal contractions, and Karsie made her kick count on time.  Today was a bit funny.  It took a little while longer for her to get to 10 (maybe about 20 min.) but as soon as she got to 10 kicks she seemed to get on a drumset and went to town on the double bass drum.  If she only would have done that to begin with so Michelle didn't have to focus for that long.  Stubborn little girl. 

Home Sweet Home

We're here! After spending a couple hours at Costco to get drugs we have finally arrived. Michelle and Kevin are very excited to be in the comfort of their own home with family and friends around.

Dr. Cousins discharged Michelle early this morning and said he feels comfortable with the decision to let her go home. While he explained that this doesn't mean a promise that everything will be okay, he said that she and Karsie are looking as good as any other mom and baby would at this point. However, with the recent findings she will be put pretty much on bedrest.

We will need to go in three times a week to be monitored and have sonograms taken until the end of the pregnancy. Michelle is still going to be on insulin and anticontraction medicine until delivery. It was again explained to us that we will have an amnio around 37 weeks and if everything looks good we will deliver at the end of week 37 or beginning of week 38. That is beginning of August (assuming nothing else goes wrong).

Michelle has been instructed to monitor kicks and that will be her way of deciding if something is wrong. If Karsie doesn't kick 10 times in an hour, then we go in immediately. Given our track record that should be no problem. Last night during monitoring Michelle said she could have sworn Karsie was riding a bicycle inside her womb. We think she is gearing up for the Tour de France.

Come see us if you get a chance. We love you all....

FREEEEEDOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

It only took step #1.  We're out after tonight!  Praise the Lord and Dr. Cousins!  First on Michelle's list...cake.

Jailbreak Planned for Later in the Week...

So Dr. Cousins came in today real early in the morning and said that everything is looking excellent.  Karsie looks good, Michelle looks good, and the situation is strong.  At this point in the morning we were barely awake to make any kind of sense of this, but we knew it was good news.  He then said that the only reason at this point that we are in is to monitor the two times a day.  

Well, that woke us up.  We are now wondering if we can possibly use some of our charm and P.R. skills to coax the doctors to let us out and come in once a day to monitor, or maybe have us monitor at home.  We will be using our developed skills in phases to let us out:

1.  Logic and reason - explain why it is more beneficial to let us out rather than keep us in

2.  Flattery - explain that we have so much confidence in their ability that we can leave and still get the best care

3.  Whining - talk about why we are tired and uncomfortable and how we are stressed and that's not good for the baby...and if all else fails

4.  All out complainfest - make it so annoying for them to keep us in that they let us out to get rid of us

"Freeeeeeeeedooooooooooom!!!!" (Braveheart style)

Thank You Kings!!

While today was medically boring we had friends come down and make the past two days go by much more quickly.  (In fact, they snuck Michelle in a donut...don't tell the nurses).  We enjoyed their company greatly as they sat with us and helped us pass the time.  

Thank you!

Boring Day!!

It has been a while since we have had a medically boring day, but alas, today was one.  Thankfully there is no news to report.  We are looking for many more medically boring days during the next 6 weeks (hopefully).  If all goes well and we have more boring days ahead, it looks like Karsie will be delivered somewhere between August 10-14.  Dr. Cousins has said that the 38th week will be the delivery goal so those are most of the days in that 38th week.  We're getting close! 

Michelle's Outing with Kevin and the Kings

This is Michelle's big 1 hour trip for the day

We apparently love taking reflection pictures in elevators.  We have one on a cruise ship looking up at the ceiling reflection.  
Parked by the coffee cart so Michelle can at least enjoy the aroma.  This is right outside the front entrance of the hospital.
Michelle and Allison and Matt in the rehab garden that we discovered next to the hospital.

Parking by the bench next to a grassy area to enjoy the warm weather.  
Today her snack coincided with the trip, so we had a little picnic...sugar free pudding with almonds and strawberries.
It got a little cold (sorry Bakersfield) so Michelle had to put on her maternity sweatshirt...also known as Kevin's clothes.  

:(

We have a new address until delivery.  Here.  For good.  Very sad for Michelle.

Dr. Cousins came in today and talked to us about our situation.  The weight loss that occurred was not quite concerning to him as it was to us.  But we'll be keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't continue to drop.

He said that everything is status quo thus far, which is good, and we will be continuing to monitor the progress of Karsie.  At this point it looks like he was saying that around 38 weeks is our cutoff.  We are going to try to keep her in until then, but if we get there we will do an amniocentesis.  The amnio will measure how Karsie's lung development is.  If she looks good, then she comes out.  Until then the reasons for taking her out early are as follows:

-water breaks followed by labor (and lungs look good)

-labor starts and cannot be stopped

-fluid starting to move into the heart

Other than that, we keep her in until 38 weeks.

Morning Update (6-29)

Well....it has been a week, and we're still here.  Our doctor, Dr. Cousins, is here today and we are very excited about when he comes in to do his rounds today.  Whenever that is.  

We are slightly concerned with Michelle's diet.  The nurse came in early this morning and had Michelle weigh herself.  According to the numbers Michelle has lost 7 lbs. in a week.  This might have to do with the scale itself, the fact that she weighed in the morning (which if you've ever dieted you know that the morning is the most friendly), or it could be accurate.  Given the diabetes diet they have her on, gaining weight will be hard other than the natural weigh gain, so we're going to ask about that and see what's going on.  

Michelle has been assigned a "movement therapist" for help with bed rest (which is not a good sign that we will be able to go home).  She is currently teaching Michelle some exercises to do so she can keep aches and pains away that are associated with bed rest. 

We did get some good news that there is a message therapist that comes in every so often to do prenatal messages.  Michelle's eyes got huge when she learned that.  Here we come week 2!

Mad at the Monitor

Around 34 seconds look at the bottom left of Michelle's stomach.  Before 34 seconds Karsie periodically kicks right on the monitor.

Afternoon Update (6-28)

We're here and all moved in.  So far, Michelle has been testing right in the desired area for her blood sugar.  She is only having to take insulin two times a day just to keep her down.  

We have to only test Michelle's contractions two times a day.  Last night Michelle did fine with only a few contractions in the hour.  This afternoon Michelle felt four during her test and for the first time the machine read the same number she felt.  Hopefully this will keep Michelle from stressing since they were usually telling her she had 6 contractions when she felt 1 or 2.  

Getting ready for our daily sonogram......

Moving Day!

We are moving....to the other side of the floor.  The floor is divided into two sides, women's surgery and long-term pregnancy bed rest.  Since bed rest was so full they started to file us into the surgery unit (that's where we were).  They have since had some vacancies and have moved us to the correct side.  As far as our room is concerned it's exactly the same with a worse view.  But our window opens.  

Contractions

Michelle's contractions picked up again this afternoon.  She has been being monitored every 12 hours for one hour each.  If she has more than 8 contractions in that time frame, they measure another hour.  If it continues their instructions are to up the dose of anti-contraction medicine (I'm not about to try to spell that out).

She had to have the shot of the anti-contraction medicine in conjunction with the oral medication she is taking regularly.  We are currently on the tail end of the third hour to make sure the shot is working. 

However, the doctor came in and said everything looked normal.  We asked him to check Michelle's cervix and it was still long and thick, so the contractions, although a little concerning, are not changing that.