24 weeks

So, I haven’t updated in awhile because it’s been a crazy few weeks here. I had stress hives for about 3 days that almost did me in. I broke out from head to toe and was one swollen, red and ITCHY mess. Then we had our big move that I have been stressing over for the past 4 months. I thought I was going to lose my mind laying on the couch and leaving it all up to David. I am used to being the one in charge (after all, David is always gone!) so to lay on the couch and just watch was next to impossible. And as it turns out, he didn’t really appreciate my attempts to micromanage from the sofa where I lounged with my feet up sipping Aquafina while he worked his butt off. But hey, this is going to be an adjustment for all of us! Lol.

But, we are now (almost) settled in to our new apartment. A change of scenery is doing me some good. Not to mention that the AC here is SOOO much better than our window unit at the last place so the summer heat isn’t killing me as much as it was.

So- now for a baby update. I had another ultrasound last Friday and the doctor confirmed that my water did actually break at 20 weeks and 2 days. It’s a condition called pProm (preterm premature rupture of membranes). Depending on when it happens there are all sorts of outcomes. Typically anything before 23-24 weeks though has pretty slim chances. I was given a 27% chance of survival. However, the majority of women who have pProm go into labor within 72 hours of their rupture so the fact that I have made it 4 whole weeks since then is very good news. My amniotic fluid level had increased from 1 cm to 2.7 cm. It is still horribly low, they want to see it at 15+ cm. But more is obviously better so I am just going to be grateful that it didn’t get worse. My perinatologist told me that all I can do is wait and pray and that it was in God’s hands now. He put me on 2 major antibiotics to help ward off infection which is a very serious risk right now. If I get an infection that will put an end to the whole pregnancy right there. I also have to drink at least a gallon of water a day. The more I drink, the more the baby pees and the more fluid he produces to practice breathing with. The past few days I have been leaking a lot more than normal but I am hoping that Noah just moved and that he will move back and "plug" his hole soon.

When I saw my OB on Monday he was very surprised to hear my diagnoses. Apparently pProm with the presence of a complete placenta previa is virtually impossible. He said that not only has his practice never seen anything like it, but that none of his partners have ever even heard of such a thing happening. Figures I would have to be the freak! Lol. Where are those odds when I play the Powerball? So, as I stand I am still on strict bedrest until 28 weeks. Typically a baby is viable at 24 weeks but in Noah’s case he won’t be viable until 28 weeks so they are letting me stay home until then. However at 28 weeks I am in the hospital until he makes his big debut. That is going to be just miserable. I will be almost 3 hours from home, round-trip and I can’t stand the thought of being away from Nathan that long. Obviously I will miss David too but he just got back from a 14 month deployment so missing him is an old hat. Leaving my little baby for that long though will just be torture on me. I have a hard time letting him even sleep in his own room at night without crawling in his bed or putting him in bed with me. Maybe this is just God’s way of forcing me to cut the cord before baby number 2 gets here.

So, for now I just hang out and try to stay sane. In 36 hours I will officially be one month into my bedrest diagnoses. I have had such conflicting emotions lately. One second I am miserable and convinced that this pregnancy is doomed , and ten minutes later I am positive as can be and just convinced that we will have a healthy baby boy at the end of all this. I am so ready to have this all over with. But I just need to remember that God is good and he has a master plan for all of us. And that Noah was his kid first and just on loan to me. It will all work out the way it is supposed to. Now I am going to crawl into bed with Nathan while I still can and watch Dora until we fall asleep. Goodnight everyone!