San Diego Lifestyle Photographer | maternity, newborn, baby, child & family photography

I haven’t been around much bc things have been drama filled for Marlowe lately.  I went in for my NST on New Years day to L&D bc the office was closed that day and she did not perform well, as usual.  But the big shocker was that my amniotic fluid had dropped from 9.7cm (which is high for me) at perinatal on Tuesday to 4cm at my NST on Friday.  The dr was shocked to say the least and I was immediately admitted, once again.  The worst part was that I drove myself bc we have no help right now and DH needed to stay home with Olivia.  They started prepping my charts for c-section the next morning and started my IV to hydrate me, with hopes that it would replenish my fluid…and my biggest fear was not having my husband there with me if they decided to take her.  If it worked, I could go home the next morning and see what happens at my next appt, if it didn’t, 1/2/10 would have been her birthday.

Well, as you see…I am still here pregnant! So after 4 bags of IV fluids and drinking GALLONS of liquid while I was there, my fluid went up to 9cm again and I dodged the c-section that morning.  She still wasn’t monitoring well but I hadn’t been able to eat when I woke up in preparation for my c-section, so she was lazy.  She had done OK on the bio-physical profile…so they monitored me another couple hours after eating some breakfast and she managed to pull out some acceptable accelerations.

Soooooo…here we are until my next appt on Tuesday, at least.  I asked the dr in the hospital yesterday if we would make to 1/11 and he said it was not likely.  But they also pretty much guaranteed me that I would have had my c-section yesterday…we like to prove them wrong all the time.

On a CRAZY note…I had been struggling with a planned c-section or induction, knowing the induction held a lot of risks to both Marlowe and myself.  I had decided on the c-section but felt very unsure of myself in many way…but knew I couldn’t do the induction for her safety.  Well, we found out that she had suddenly turned TRANSVERSE and I no longer have the induction option at all…so she gave me a sign that I had made the right decision and I feel soooooooo much better about the c-section.

Thanks again to everyone following my pregnancy journey…you have all been so awesome and supportive!  And a HUGE shout out to my friend Kelly who spent the entire day and night in the hospital with me bc my husband couldn’t be there.  When times get tough, true friends really come through…so thank you Kelly!  And sorry about the Ambien loopiness that night, LOL!

And another shoutout to my iPhone camera for capturing more of my drama-filled pregnancy while admitted in the hospital.  If it wasn’t for my phone, I might not remember this crazy time in my life!

We had our growth scan today at 3pm and we actually got some good news!  We found out she has moved up from the 1st percentile to the 3rd percentile and is now an estimated 3lbs 6oz.  She was only 2lbs 9oz just 2 weeks ago, so this is awesome, as they didn’t expect much growth at all!  She past all of her requirements during her growth scan to remain in my belly and continue to grow “at her own pace”.   She is still a VERY tiny baby, but despite having some pretty unimpressive NST while hospitalized, she looked great on her scan.  We have to keep in mind that she looks great for her condition and things are still far from ideal, but this is much better than what we were expecting.  Prior to my ultrasound, my nurse predicted I would deliver in the next 2 days…so I was feeling very down and very scared.  It came as a HUGE relief to find out she could stay put for a bit longer.  It was a bit scary during the scan bc I could see what each measurement was equal to.  For example, her legs and arms measure only 28 weeks 6 days!  And her belly is only 29 weeks…while her head is closer to 31 weeks.  This gives us an overall estimation of 30 weeks even, when she should be 32 weeks 1 day.

And for the very BEST news…I was sent home this afternoon, as they feel the hospital bedrest has helped immensely.  I will continue the 3x weekly NST/AFI and I am on strict & constant kick count watch.  Of course I am to call L&D for any decreased movement (more decreased than we are already experiencing) or if I just feel unsure of anything.  I want to thank everyone for all their prayers and thoughts during this time….I truly believe that she has stayed inside me bc of all the positive thoughts, support and prayers from everyone in our lives.  You guys are all the best!  I will continue to update now from home…with my girl sitting on the couch by my side.  I am so unbelievably happy to see her and listen to her.  She says the funniest, most awesome things all the time!  I am so happy to be home!

And our perinatal ultrasound tech is soooooooo sweet…she gave us a couple 3D pictures and a profile of her, so here they are!

Well, today started off on a pretty crappy note and I ended up spending about 3 hours on monitoring and feeling really ignored by my nurse.  But in that 3 hours I made it my goal to ask the nurse to see Olivia again when she finally came in my room again.  And to my amazement, she said yes without hesitation.  So I immediately called my mom, told her to get here ASAP with Olivia and the day started feeling better already.  I did see the dr before they got here and this was the first time I had met this particular dr…she, like everyone else, confirmed that Marlowe was not all the impressive on monitoring and we were just taking each day one at a time til this coming Tuesday.  That day can NOT come fast enough.  It seriously feels like months have gone by since my last growth scan.  But she did tell me that my most recent bloodwork once again came back just fine and they are now just waiting on the results of my 24 hour urine collection.  Then the dr left my room and the nurse arrived with my wheelchair…wooooooo hooooooo!

And as soon as I got outside, my best friend came running to me and jumped on my lap!  She refused to take a real picture and only agreed to a silly face….I will take anything I can get at this point.

After our initial snuggle, she was way more interested in everything but me.  She had a severe desire to go behind the glass block wall…which of course is not allowed, so instead I begged to take a picture of her in front of it, but she refused to look at me.  This was the best I could get.  And for sure, this is when my “real” camera would come in handy and my iphone sucks.  She only gives me about 1 second to actually take her picture and then she’s done.  So I am missing my camera and thinking maybe I should it bring here, LOL!

After that picture, I was not allowed to even aim my phone in her direction or she got angry…so to keep her happy, I took a picture of our hangout spot instead.  As you can see, it is rainy and ugly out…luckily, Olivia and I LOVE the rain, so this is awesome!  I wish I wasn’t stuck in a hospital room all day or her and I could sit and enjoy it together.

My nurse today is a bit stricter and was waiting on me to return to eat her lunch, so I couldn’t push my 30 minute visit like I did yesterday.  Sooooooo, it was time to say “goodbye” and I got my hugs & smooches.  Her daddy came and picked her up so that my mom could come up to my room and visit for a while.  This was a nice change bc I feel like I never get a visitor before 7pm.  I shared my yummy hospital lunch with her, lucky lady and it wasn’t half bad.  I have learned now to stick with salads and breads.  That is always the safe way to go.

And if I have time…I will update with my evening post.  If not…see you all tomorrow!

Ok, here I am again….and YES, I got to see Olivia!!!  It was the best 45 mins I have had in a looooooooooooong time.  The only semi-embarassing thing was running into our pediatrician who was here doing rounds for newborns, as I look like complete crap.  But it was great seeing her to share our present situation and Olivia got to see her again, since she just saw her for her ear infection yesterday.  It was also kinda humiliating to sit outside in public, where the world could see me in my jammies, hair tied up and NO make up on.  But it was all worth it for this face…

And then my mom took this picture of the 2 of us….and I pre-warned you about my appearance, so you can look away now if necessary, haha!

It was pure awesomeness having her here and I hope I get another nice nurse during my stay to allow me to see her again.  She brought me 2 more art projects to hang in my hospital room and when I was leaving she asked if I had to go back to my “station”….I cracked up.  Where does she come up with this stuff?!  Oh yeah, she is funny and awesome like her mama…just sayin’. 

And then I returned to this not-so-yummy lunch today.

And finally I wanted to give a shout out to my iphone…being able to take pictures and document my stay has been really therapeutic for me.  Hopefully someone is reading this all but me.