Hospital Bedrest Update

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I ate breakfast, then they moved my room, then I got settled in & took a nap. My mom & stepdad came up for a while & then I ate dinner & took a shower. I am finally settled into bed & I am finally getting around to updating. 

***I am posting the same note I posted on my pregnancy board, so some of it might not make sense. I will be more than happy to answer any questions that you have! 

Wednesday afternoon, my laptop wasn't working. Ultimately we found out that my hard drive was bad & Derrick had to change it out last night. That's why I couldn't get on & update earlier.

At the dr. on Wednesday I was told that despite the BP meds, my BP had not gone down & the protein in my 24 hr. urine was up. I was sent back to the hospital for more monitoring & another 24 hr. urine. Thursday night I was informed that my protein was almost twice what it had been when I had just done the previous collection 48 hrs. before. My BP was really high (180/110 range) & I had a migraine that kept coming back, even with medicine – all signs of pre-elampcia. The dr. thought I was going to have to deliver within a few days, so she got me set up to go to the OB floor at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City (about 1 hr. from our house). If you have to deliver early, this is the place to do it. The hospital in Davenport won't even deliver until 30 or 32 weeks. So I got the steroids shots for the baby's lungs. I was taken by ambulance (not in a rush, but apparently that it how they transport from one hospital to another) & I am now at the hospital in Iowa City. I've been here since late Thursday night.

Since getting here, I have been doing really well. My BP is right around normal range now & I haven't had any more headaches or anything. The drs. seem optimistic that I can carry the little guy for a while still. They upped my BP meds & I am on a modified bed rest at the hospital. So I will probably have lots of time to get on & chat! They say that I won't go home until the baby comes & they are hoping to hold things off until 34 weeks (but we'll see). I am only at 26weeks 4days right now, so I have a long road ahead of me. I found out that they do have activities for moms like me who are stuck at the hospital, so that is going to be exciting & fun. I am also planning on finishing some crafts & working on little guy's scrapbook. So I have a lot of things that I can be doing. 

I will try to get on with more updates soon - it is just kind of a waiting game at this point. So keep praying for me & the little guy. He needs to stay in a while longer! 

Love you guys! I'll be talking to you later!!!

Blood Pressure Update

Just an update about what's going on.

My high BP landed me in the hospital & they are diagnosing me with pre-eclampsia. I am doing fine, baby is fine - but if the pre-eclampsia gets worse, I will have to deliver the baby. 

I'll update again later - my laptop is broken & Derrick is fixing it tonight. I'm using a friend's computer, so I'll check back after mine is fixed.

Love you all - talk to you all later!

Pregnancy Testing

I guess I'll start at the beginning. Last Sunday I was at my in-laws & I was sitting in a chair that decided to break out from under me. I was a little worried about it because of the pregnancy, but I didn't have any bleeding or pain & the little one was still moving around, so I didn't think too much about it. On Wednesday I noticed that the baby hadn't been moving that much, so I started to get a little concerned. Thursday I still had only felt him move a couple of times (which is very odd for him), so I called my doctor. We went in Thursday afternoon to make sure everything was okay with the baby. Everything was fine - apparently he was just having a quiet couple of days because he is back to normal now. 

When I went it they took my blood pressure & my urine sample. My blood pressure has been high for a couple of months & no one seemed that concerned, but at this last appointment I also had protein in my urine. High blood pressure + protein can often equal toxemia (also called pre-eclampsia). So the dr. sent me to the hospital for a 24 hr. admittance to collect my urine (so exciting!) They released me after 4 hrs. & I did the rest of the collection at home. I returned the "sample" on Friday afternoon.

Today I go back to see the results of the tests. Hopefully it's okay, but if not, I'll end up with diet restrictions, bedrest at home, or if it's really bad bedrest in the hospital. So pray for me today. My appointment is at 1:15 & hopefully everything is okay. I'll keep you all up to date!!!

Pregnancy Testing Results

I went to the dr. today & he told me that while my blood pressure is still high, all of my other labs looked good, so I am still okay, even though they will me monitoring me more now. He did prescribe me a blood pressure medicine to take for a while. I head back next Monday to have my blood pressure checked again to see if the medicine is working. I don't know what happens if it's not, but right now I am just thrilled that I am not on bedrest or anything like that. Praise God!!!

Baby Boy Sindt Update

I finally uploaded our newest ultrasound pics of our little boy. I realized that I didn't really share much information about the appointment in the last note. 

I was 22 weeks & 3 days at the last appointment. Our little guy's heartbeat was 154, so that was really good. He is quite the mover & was giving the ultrasound tech a hard time. She was able to get most of the pictures she needed, but I have to have another ultrasound at my next appointment because she needs to get a better shot of his spine. She was having me move from side to side to see if we could get him in a better position, but he was just too stubborn. I would roll from my side to my back & he would curl right back up. Apparently he's not a morning person either! 

The little guy is doing very well & we have had no problems throughout the pregnancy. I feel very blessed that that is the case. I haven't even had any real morning sickness! Praise God!

I have also been taking some time to work through the fact that this baby is not my little girl & I am still sad about that, but I know that this little boy will be a blessing to our family. I think God knew that I could handle a boy because of all the experience I have with boys. I realized the other day that I have primarily babysat for boys ever since I was a teenager & that I have 4 nephews & only 1 niece. Out of all those kids (14 of them!), only 2 of them are girls. I still hope that I get my little girl some day, but right now I am trying very hard to be thankful for the blessing God has given me. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new pictures of our baby boy!!!

Baby Boy Sindt

Just a quick note to let everyone know how our appointment went this morning. We went for an ultrasound & a meeting with the doctor. The ultrasound was also a gender check. Everything on the ultrasound looked good, so we are very thankful for that. We found out that we are having a BOY. While I am a little disappointed, I know that the gender of this baby was determined at conception & there wasn't anything we could do about it. I still want my little girl & it will take me a while to adjust to the idea of having a boy, but I know God will help me. He is the one who gave us this little one after 2 years of trying & we are so very thankful for it! 

Please bear with me if I am a little down about the situation for a few days. I very much wanted this baby to be a girl & am still dealing with that. I will get through it, but it may take me a little time. 

I'll be posting the ultrasound pics later so everyone can see the most recent picture of our little guy!! Thanks to everyone for all the love & support!!!

Baby Movement!

I just wanted to share some exciting news with everyone! I am finally starting to feel the baby move! This is very exciting for both Derrick & me. I have been feeling our little one move for a couple of days now, but I wasn't sure that that was really what it was. After having the same feeling sporadically over the last few days & after talking to a few other people, I have decided that that is what it is. 

Most of the time the baby is pretty quiet, but when it does move, it is a kicker! The baby tends to kick me right below my belly button. Today the little one is kind of kicking me in the belly button. It feels weird!

I am very excited to be experiencing this part of the pregnancy. It is a lot better than the weight gain & the nauseousness!

We will find out on September 4th what gender this baby is - then I can finally stop calling it "it"! (: