It has been some time...

It has been sometime since I posted last, my laptop has had some issues which means that I need to use Vince's computer which is located in our office.

well on July 19 I went in and had a follow up CT, the following Wednesday we meet with Dr. M (oncologist) to review the CT, well everything still looks good.

I saw Dr. C (pulmonologist) Tuesday August 3rd we discussed what the next steps are:
*try and figure out what cases my lung to flare up
*decrease my prednisone 10 mg every other day and alternate with 12.5 mg.
*up my omeprazole to 40 mg
*try and increase my lung stamina
I don't go back for 2 months.

Sophie is doing well she has finally hit 7pounds! She goes back on Wednesday for another weight check.

I attempted to take the girls pictures on my own and I think this is the only decent one…. We are planning to go and get family pictures done this coming weekend.



So what is new?
well today is mine and Vince's 6 year anniversary. It is also the 2nd anniversary of my diagnosis. I am starting a cake decorating class tomorrow that I am so excited to take!

Many mixed emotions.....

I am having some mixed emotions about going back to work. I wish I could stay home but then I love working and I love my job. I guess there are no right answers.

I have my follow up CT on 7/19 and then we meet with Dr. M (oncologist) on 7/21, it was originally scheduled for the 26th for my CT and then to see Dr M on the 28th but since that is my first week back at work I didn't want to have to try and figure out my PTO for that Monday, I don't like having CTs and having to go back to work that same day. I am really nervous about the CT. Vince says that I don't need to worry but it is hard not to. So I think I am just full of many mixed emotions.

Sophie has been doing well. She just needs to gain weight. At her 1 month appointment she was almost 6 pounds, she was 5 pounds 15 ounces. Dr. C (PCP) wants to see her gaining about an ounce a day and she has been averaging about a half an ounce, so we are going in for weekly weight checks.

My mom and I finally got our tattoos! I got 3 more and she got 4 and hers touched up.

This one is on my left ankle
And these ones are my back
Once they are all healed I will post new pictures.

Upcoming appointments:
7/14 @ 11:00 am Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
7/19 @ 11:00 am Monday – CT
7/21 @ 4:00 pm Wednesday – Dr. M (oncologist)

Sophie Suzanne

Sophie arrived on June 4th at 4:34pm she weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces. That morning about 7:30 am I was laying in bed with the girls trying to decide what to do with the girls that morning. It was the first day that I had kept them home and we were going to see what some of our friends were up to and see if they wanted to come over and play, when I realized that something was going on and so I jumped out of bed when I realized that it was mostlikly my water breaking. I told the girls to go in and back their suitcases because they were going to grandma and grandpas because baby Sophie was coming, they were so excited! I texted Vince to tell him to call me I remembered that he said that he had a very busy day at work and I didn't want to interrupt him and I wanted to get in the shower before Vince and Dr. C (PCP) called back.... I know it was not the plan.... luckily Vince hadn't made it to work yet when he got my text and he turned around and came home to get us. About 35 mins later we headed to the hospital. We had to make one stop our way to my parents... I needed my coffee I knew once we got there I wouldn't be allowed anymore food. We got to the hospital and they confirmed that my water broke and called Dr. C at that point I was 4 cm dilated. They started my cortisone and antibiotics. At 1230 I was still only 4 cm I got my epidural. At about 3:45pm (I think) I was starting to have a lot of pain in my left hip. The nurse called the Dr. C and he came in and checked me and it was time to have a baby! this delivery was very different from my other deliveries this time due to my lungs there was to be limited pushing when the high risk doctors told me that I thought they were crazy, but the delivery went smooth like they wanted. We let my body do most of the work. I did 2 pushes and her head was out and then 2 more and the rest of her was out.

When Sophie was born they needed to look her over more closely, since she was so early. She was stable so I got to hold her for a moment before they took her away to the nursery.

She was 5 pound 7 ounces and was 19 inches long


She had to spend almost a week in the special care nursery since she was born at 34 weeks 6 days.

Here are some pictures.
June 4th - later in the evening after Vince went to get dinner

Daddy holding Sophie for the first time.

June 5th - the girls meet their sister for the first time. They were only allowed to look and not touch they didn't understand why she had to stay and why she couldn't come home.






June 6 - She was put under the lovely blue lights to help with her jaundice levels. She did have one other visitor, Grandpa H. came to see her and the nurses let him hold her. I need to see if Vince has the picture on his phone.






June 8 - she was able to come out of the lights and be held by some visitors.
Grandma

Auntie Elisabeth

Uncle Nick

June 9 - she needed to be able to sit in her car seat for an hour to make sure that the car seat would be safe for her and she passed!


June 10 - Vince called the hospital early in the morning to check in and they said that she could go home! We got the girls ready and all headed to the hospital. They were so excited to go and get her! When we pulled into the parking lot Allison yelled "MOMMY we're happy!" and I asked "why?" and both girls said "because we get to get Sophie!" it was so cute! One of those moments that you wish you had a video camera.
Can you tell that they are excited?

They both wanted to help daddy carry her out to the car.

All loaded in the car!

WE'RE HOME!

The answer is 21

When I posted the poll I was taking 21 pills a day.

Happy 4th Birthday Melanie!

Happy Birthday My Little Princess!


Vince and I took Melanie out to Red Robin on Sunday June 6th to celebrate her birthday which was June 7th.





she had been asking for her ice cream the whole time.

The most that I have been out in over 2 weeks!

Well today was a busy day for me full of doctor’s appointments, the most that I have been out of the house since I was put on bedrest.

Dr. C (PCP)

My urine test showed some glucose (sugars) so we tested my blood sugars and they came back ok. I am now 2 cm dilated. Next week we will be talking about when to stop the terbutalin. We got our pre admit paper work, normally you get that at your first appointment but since I had been being seen at 2 different hospitals it slipped through the cracks.

Dr. M (oncologist)

Everything is going well. No swollen lymph nodes. We have my next CT scheduled, it is scheduled for 7/26 and my next appointment to go over the results is on 7/28.

Upcoming appointments:
6/9 @ 3:50 pm Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
7/26 @11:00 am Monday – CT
7/28 @ 10:00 am Wednesday – Dr. M (oncologist)

It is finished!

34 weeks

We finally got Sophie's room completed!





I posted a new poll on the right side.

The Shingles seemed to be healing pretty quickly, thank god. It was really painful. I am so glad that I don't remember having the chicken pox since I was only 6 months old.

Seriously?!?!? One more thing to deal with!!!!

My appointment with Dr. C (PCP) went well today, good thing too because Dr. C is getting on a red eye flight tonight and not returning until Tuesday afternoon. As far as the preterm labor goes there has been no change, which is great means that Sophie should be staying put for a little longer!

We found out that Northwest has a level 2 nursery incase Sophie needs it when she is born if she comes too early. We are going to try and continue the terbutalin until about 36-37 weeks. Unless we get to the point where we need to up the terbutalin to 5 mg and take it every 4 hours. If we get to the point that the contractions are breaking through the 2.5 mg every 4 hours, which is the dose that I am currently taking then we are to up it to 5 mg every 6 hours and adjust the hours down as needed.

So it turns out that I am not having a reaction to the terbutalin but indeed a side effect that we were warned might happen on the prednisone. Turns out that it is Shingles! Starting tomorrow I am on acyclovir 3 times a day for a week.

Here is a little information about Shingles.

What is Shingles?
Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a viral infection caused by the chickenpox virus. Symptoms include pain and a rash on one side of the body. Shingles most commonly affects older adults and people with weak immune systems.

Shingles Prevention: Reduce Your Risk
The varicella-zoster virus is highly contagious. If you have not had chickenpox, it's important that you avoid exposure to anyone known to have the infection -- or even crowds where you may come in contact with the infection, particularly if you are pregnant. If you already had chickenpox, you cannot catch shingles from someone with chickenpox or shingles.

Well I think that is all I have for tonight.

One less specialist!

33 week cartoon

Yesterday I met with Dr. R. (High risk OB) the appointment went well. Given my PFT and my last appointment with Dr. C (pulmonologist) she said that I no longer need to be followed by them! Dr. R only recommends that I take the terbutalin for another 2 weeks. However we may need to change medications because I developed a rash under my arm and I may be reacting to it.

I see Dr. C (PCP) tomorrow around 4, so then we will know if things are progressing more.

Vince thinks that she will be here this weekend but I think that I still have some time to go. We did over the weekend have to change my terbutalin from 2.5 every 6 hours to 2.5 every 4 hours.

Upcoming appointments:
5/26 @ 3:45 Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
6/2 @ 3:40 Monday – Dr. M (oncologist)

the next 4-6 weeks

32 week Cartoon

Ok since my last post was very short I will finish posting what I had intended to post.

Updates from last appointments:
4/27 @ 130 Tuesday - Ultrasound and Dr. G (High risk ob) - everything looked good and my next appointment with the high risk doctors may be the last one. It depended on how my appointment with Dr. C (pulmonologist) and my PFT looks.

4/28 @ 3:45 Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP) - everything still looking good as far as the pregnancy goes. Baby Sophie has a nice strong heart beat and growing. I move to appointments every 2 weeks.

5/10 @ 3:15 Monday – PFT and Dr. C (pulmonologist)- PFT showed a small decrease but nothing alarming since it most likely is Sophie pressing against the lung. Saw Dr. C (pulmonologist) my lung sounds good and clear. Since I am not using the inhalers I can go ahead and not worry about using them. I am now to take 10mg prednisone every other day and on the other days I can take 15mg prednisone. Dr. C still wants me to get a couple doses of high steroids when I get admitted to have the baby and then one the following day.

5/11 @ 3:45 Tuesday - Dr. C (PCP) - everything is still going well. We talked about my past history with the girls and how my next appointment in 2 weeks will be the last 2 week appointment and then I will be on weekly appointments because of my history with the girls.

Yesterday morning I started to have contractions, I was having them every 15-20 mins. I watched them for a little while had some juice and tried to stay in my office for awhile to see if they would let up. About 11am I call Dr. C (PCP) to see if they would want to see me since they were not slowing down or stopping. Dr. C (PCP) wanted me to come to see if they were productive contractions or just Braxton hicks. Vince came and picked me up from work and we went in to see Dr. C (PCP) he checked my cervix and they were productive contractions which were causing my cervix to change. Luckily they haven't made too much progress but I am 1cm dilated. I am now on bed rest until Sophie comes and hopefully she will stay put for at least 4 weeks. I am now taking terbutalin 2.5 mg every 6 hours. I have had a couple of contractions still taking it but not like they were yesterday which is a good sign.

Upcoming appointments:
5/24 @ 130 Tuesday - Ultrasound and Dr. R (High risk ob)
5/26 @ 3:45 Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
6/2 @ 3:40 Monday – Dr. M (oncologist)

I am so sorry!

29 week cartoon


30 week cartoon


31 week cartoon

I really have been bad about keeping my blog updated.

Yesterday i saw Dr. C (Pulmonolgist) lungs sound good

Busy week

Well this week has been very busy! At work we are trying to prepare for me not to be back at work on Wednesday just in case. I do have a feeling that there is a good chance that I will be on bed rest very soon. My hips have been sore and there seems to be some pressure nothing to serious just uncomfortable.

Taking stairs have become more difficult not because of my breathing but because of some contractions and it is just getting harder.

My breathing is still doing well.

Well that is all that I have for today.

Upcoming appointments:
4/27 @ 130 Tuesday - Ultrasound and Dr. G (High risk ob)
4/28 @ 3:45 Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
5/10 @ 3:15 Monday – PFT and Dr. C (pulmonologist)
6/7 @ 2 Monday – Dr. M (oncologist)

"I want to see you back in 1 week......"

Baby Sophie 27 weeks 5 days!

Well I saw Dr. C (PCP) on Wednesday 4/14. Sophie is growing big! Everything looks good. Vince brought up a wedding that I am supposed to be in in May. Dr. C says that Vince makes a good point that it is a long ways away and things can change really fast.

The following day Thursday 4/15 I had my ultrasound on the baby and my cervix. Sophie is measuring to the day on track 27 weeks 5 days and weighs about 2lbs 11oz. she is head down with her bottom on the left side of my belly and her feet towards the left. After checking out Sophie it was time to check my cervix. I had a feeling that something was going on because the tech kept re-measuring and re-measuring it. Finally she was done she went and gave everything to the ultrasound dr to review. She was gone for sometime so than I really knew something was going on. We met with Dr. R (high risk OB) and said baby size is good but they were concerned because my cervix made a drastic change it went from 3.25 to 2.23 (I believe those are the correct numbers) since they made such a change she wanted to check and make sure that I wasn't dilating. Good news is that it hasn't started yet. She says that I am not on bed rest YET but that could change by the next time that I see you. I go back to her in about 1 week to get checked again. I am not allowed to lift the girls and I need to take it easier at work or the best that I can.

We also talked about how Vince and I have been trying to decide what hospital we will be going to when the time comes. She stated that I would call Dr. C (PCP) since he is still my primary doctor. If he feels that he isn't he can always send us to Swedish. That was really great to hear since I was really struggling with this.

As for the wedding in May that I am in it really doesn’t look like it is a good idea to go. None of my doctors think it is a good idea and Vince doesn’t think we should risk it. It would be different if the wedding was local but it is in Portland.

Upcoming appointments:
4/27 @ 130 Tuesday - Ultrasound and Dr. R (High risk ob)
4/28 @ 3:45 Wednesday – Dr. C (PCP)
5/10 @ 3:15 Monday – PFT
6/7 @ 2 Monday – Dr. M (oncologist)

Man I have been so bad about posting!

I know I know I have been so bad about the updates!


26 week cartoon


27 week cartoon

Last I posted I was battling the nasty cold. Well I have been over that and to my surprise my lung has been somewhat behaving itself!

My sugar levels are still under what they want to see but they have started to increase some. Dr. G (high risk ob) said that they would expect them to go up the further I get. So we will just continue to keep an eye on them and see what they say on Thursday.

I have a couple of appointments this week
Wednesday 14 – Dr. C (PCP)
Thursday 15 – Dr. R (another high risk OB)

I promise to post for sure after the appointments this week.

Tomorrow is the opening home game for the mariners, the girls are so excited!

Going to get to bed because I know the girls will be up before I know it!

Nothing going on here

24 week cartoon -- I don't understand this one.....



25 week cartoon

I met a new Dr at Dr. G office (high risk OB) she seems nice and I will see her next time I go, on April 15. Nothing really to report from the appointment. They would like me to have another PFT at about 32 weeks.

My contractions have been only a few a day which is from what Dr. R said normal at this stage of pregnancy. If they become 4-6 an hour than I need to call.

Well that is it.

Upcoming appointments
Dr. C. (PCP) April 14
Dr. R. (High risk ob) April 15
Dr. M. (oncologist) June 7

23 weeks 4 days!

23 week cartoon


23 week 4 days belly picture. Not the greatest of pictures of me but I am still sick but it is the best that I have looked the last few days....

Dr. M (oncologist) March 10 3:40pm
*My appointment went well with Dr. M (oncologist) not too much to report on. Had some blood work done since I haven't had any for him done since July 2009. I am to go back and see him in June. Right now it is scheduled for June 7th which is Melanie's 4th birthday so I am going to try and reschedule.

Dr. C (PCP) March 11
*Last week I needed to go to see Dr. C because I was having contractions. They were not productive contractions, Dr. C. checked my cervix and all is well there, thank god! Luckily they have slowed down, I think partly because I have not done anything the last few days.

Dr. G (High risk OB) March 12 9am
*My numbers are still good and I only need to test my sugars a couple times a week. He feels that the further along that I get I will need to start to watch them closer. Talked to him about the contractions that I was having the previous day and starting at my next appointment tomorrow they will really be monitoring my cervix by ultrasound.

Dr. C (PCP) March 17
*this appointment was supposed to be tomorrow but since I have been out all week this cold that is not getting any better I thought I should move it up 1 day to get the cold checked out and a doctor’s note for missing work. I have bronchitis and I am now on antibiotics for 5 days and continue with the inhalers. Hopefully I will be back at work on Monday

Tomorrow I see Dr. G (high risk ob) and will be having an ultrasound.

3 weeks...

Sorry it has been about 3 weeks since my last post. Where has this time gone?

So I will update all my cartoon pictures...


Week 22 - this totally how I feel, not towards everyone but just some.


Week 21


Week 20

Over the last few weeks I went to my class to learn how to monitor my sugar levels. I watched my levels everyday for about a week, 4 times a day. After the week I had to go back to my class to review my numbers and determine what the next steps were. They determined that since my levels were good that I would only have to test my sugars 2 days 4 times a day. It is up to me to decide when I want to test them. However since we did test for gestational diabetes early things may change the further along that I get.

My next appointments are:
Dr. M (oncologist) March 10 3:40pm
Dr. G (High risk OB) March 12 9am (I believe that is when this appointment is) – this appointment is to look at my numbers with the Dr.
Dr. G (High risk OB) March 18 1:45pm Ultrasound and appointment with the dr.
Dr. C (PCP) March 18 4pm regular monthly appointment with Dr. C

Other than that I don’t think that there is anything else to report on.