She's a fighter

Day 7, November 28, 2008: My parents got into town today and will be staying until Monday night. I took them to see Sophia and they were amazed. They said she looks so much bigger in the pictures. They both got to hold her for a bit. When we got to the hospital she was being pretty fussy. The nurse said she's probably starting to get hungry. They gave her some Ativan (anti-anxiety) medicine to help calm her down because she was getting so upset.

Day 8, November 29, 2008: Sam, my parents, and I went to see Sophia again this morning. The nurse said she was still pretty fussy, but she slept almost the entire time we were there with her. They took the vacuum off her sump and it's just run by gravity now. She will probably get the sump taken out tomorrow and then they'll start her on breast milk shortly after. I'm excited to see her face without any tubes all over it! Her belly needs to get measured every 4 hours or so just to make sure that she doesn't get a lot of stuff building up in her belly now that the vacuum is off the sump. They also inject a little water into her sump to make sure it doesn't get plugged up.
My dad got to see her open her eyes today - she was too sleepy yesterday from the Ativan. I think he was pretty excited about that. He wanted to know if she got my eyes. Her eyes are still blue, but they almond shaped like mine :) Sam's mom went earlier this morning to visit Sophia and brought her a little sleeper to wear since she wet through her diaper onto her onesie. She also went on a mission to find some type of toy to hang on her crib to stimulate Sophia. Sam and I are going to get a little bouncer to bring so the nurses can put her in that when she gets agitated.
Sam and I will go back again tonight by ourselves and we'll get to give her a bath. We tend to go late at night because it's not so crazy then. We love just sitting in the chair and rocking her to sleep. It's so relaxing I could fall right asleep too!

Sophia Ellen Barrett has arrived!

"Our Little Miracle..."

Day 1, November 22, 2008: Saturday morning at 12:30 am, my water broke while I was sleeping. Sam and I called the doctor, packed a bag, and went to the ER at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Sam of course was much more frantic than I. I kind of just stood in the bedroom thinking about what I would need to pack. Lol. So we got to the ER and then they took us up to the Labor and Delivery. It took the doctors forever to actually put me in a delivery room because they "weren't sure I was in labor." I was having contractions that lasted about 45 seconds and were 3-3 1/2 minutes apart, and my water broke....and yet they weren't sure I was in labor because one test came back positive, and one came back negative, to say if my water ruptured or not. I was like, are you kidding me? Of course I'm in fricken labor! So the contractions were getting pretty strong and they took us took a delivery room at about 5 am. They said it could take about an hour to get someone up there to give me the epidural. The contractions were so strong and painful that I was throwing up and just very, very uncomfortable. The anestesthiologist got to my room at about 6 and was done with his job around 6:15. I was in heaven. I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced when they gave me the epidural. I think the next time they checked me was around 8:50 or so and I was 8 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Two minutes later they came in to check again and they said I was complete. Sooo, they got the whole team in the room and started pushing. I pushed through 2 contractions - 3 pushes in each, and there she was! I had to stop pushing at one point so they could unwrap the cord around her neck, but I could not believe how quickly it was over. There were probably 15 doctors in the room. Some were taking care of me, some took care of Sophia, etc. I got to hold our little girl for a couple minutes before they whisked her away to the CHKD NICU.

I spent 4 hours in bed after she arrived because I wasn't able to get up from the epidural. We went to go see Sophia at about 3:30 or so. She was very sleepy from the Fentanyl pain medication and she was on a ventilator. The doctors had to cut the hole larger in order to fit the intestines back in. They had fit almost all of it back inside the first day.

Day 2, November 23, 2008: They put the rest of the intestine back in and said she'd be ready for primary closure surgery on Monday or Tuesday. It would depend on how she was doing and when they had an opening in the OR. Her calcium levels were low and they started her on TPN and lipids. This is her form of nutrition for the time being. The nurses tried to put a PICC line in, but didn't get it on the first try. Later that night they were successful. We got to touch Sophia today and she moved her arms and toes when we would run our fingers over her. Later that evening she was too sedated to move because of the pain medication they gave her when they did the PICC line. We filled out Sophia's birth certificate information today too :)

Day 3, November 24, 2008: I was discharged and Sophia underwent surgery. The surgery took Dr. Kelly less than an hour. She did well and he was able to preserve the umbilical cord so that she can have a more normal looking belly button. That night they attempted to take her off the ventilator and see if she would breathe on her own. I was really surprised they tried this so early after the surgery because she was so drugged up on the fentanyl (pain killer). That drug suppresses your breathing capabilities. She would not breathe on her own for a while and it was a very scary experience for Sam and I. Eventually they asked us to go to the waiting room while they worked on her. We came back in shortly after and they had given her Narcam (like caffeine) to reverse the effects of the fentanyl. She was on the C Pap machine to help her breathe. It's a little mask over her nose that helps keep her airways open. She's very puffy from all the fluids and surgery. She just doesn't look like herself. I feel bad everytime I look at her.

Day 4, November 25, 2008: Sophia was taken off the C Pap machine and now has just a nasal canula. She is looking much better and less puffy. The doctors heard a murmur this morning when they were listening to her heart. They did an echocardiogram to take a closer look. She has this valve, the PDA, that hasn't closed up yet. It usually closes shortly after birth. Since she didn't use her lungs in utero, she needed this valve open. Now that she's born though, it needs to close up so that food doesn't get into her lungs and into her bloodstream. The easiest way to close the PDA if it doesn't on its own, is to give her ibuprofen. She also has a little whole in her heart called the PFO. This one can take months to close - even in full term babies. The doctors are not concerned by either of these findings. We got to see her open her eyes tonight! We also got to hold her for the first time! We took our first family picture tonight too!

Day 5, November 26, 2008: Sophia no longer has a canula! They took the bandages off her belly! She is wearing clothes and sleeps in a crib! She has the most adorable little purple bow in her hair....glued in her hair. Lol. The only clothes that the nurses could find to fit her was a blue onesie, so they insisted on putting a bow in her hair. Today will be her last day of antibiotics (gentomycin). I got to change her wet diaper and held her for about an hour and a half before Auntie Kristin and Aunt Jaclyn came to visit. They both go to hold her for a few minutes. I wish they could have visited with her longer. It's impossible not to fall in love with our little girl. She's just precious. Every little noise she makes and even her cry makes my heart melt. They took her sump out of her mouth and put a smaller one in through her nose.

When Sam and I went back later at night, we got to weigh her on the scale, change her POOPY diaper! Yay! We also got to give her a bath. She wasn't real fond of this idea. We put her in a little polka dot onesie, which was huge on her even though it's newborn size. She looks absolutely gorgeous. The swelling has gone down almost entirely.

Day 6, November 27, 2008: Happy Thanksgiving! We went to go see Sophia this morning and she's doing great. I changed another poopy diaper. Hurrah! We should be giving her another bath tonight...this time I'll make Daddy do most of the washing. I love the little squaks she makes. She sounds like a baby bird. It looks like she's getting less and less stuff out of her sump and it seems to be getting lighter colored - which is the goal. Hopefully they'll start feeding her breast milk soon.

It COULD be any day now...

Baby News...

Yesterday we hit the 34 week marker! If need be, the baby could be delivered at any point now. We've been told that it's realistic to expect the baby no later than 38 weeks. Sooo if we can make it two or three more weeks, that'd be awesome for the baby. I'm of course ready for the baby to come. I am soooo excited! I can't wait to see my lil one for the first time. I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous about actually having the baby. I think I'm more scared of having a c-section than going through a regular delivery. I don't want surgery and I don't want to stay in the hospital any longer than absolutely necessary. This week's fetal monitoring went well. Monday the baby was sleepy and didn't feel like doing jack squat, but today the baby was moving around a lot and having heart rate accelerations like they want to see. I'm still having tons of braxton hicks contractions. Monday they measured my amniotic fluid levels and it has dropped to 13 - still in the normal range, but getting on the lower end. As you can see, my belly is still growing and I think it looks like it grew a lot since last week. On Monday, the 24th, I go in for an in depth ultrasound where they'll do a "growth scan" aka check the baby's growth, do some blood flow studies of the intestines to see how they're doing, and hopefully give us a better idea of when we can expect the baby to be here. I need to know when I will have to stop working so I can try to tie up loose ends with customers and figure out who will handle my customers while I'm on leave.

"Making it OUR
place...."

On Monday I had the day off and began to paint our living room. I painted all the walls a light blue/green and tomorrow I'll finish it off by doing horizontal stripes in just a shade darker than the color it is now. You gotta love my belly hanging out the bottom of my shirt. How attractive. So hopefully I'll be able to finish the painting tomorrow. On Saturday, a guy in Sam's academy is coming to pick up our sectional for his apartment that he's moving into. Our new sofa, chair, and ottoman will be delivered on Monday. Woo Hoo!!! I'm so flippin excited. I haven't seen it yet, but I should get to see it on Sunday when they get everything out that's being delivered on Monday. Next on our list of home furnishings is a rug for the living room and then probably a TV console. Right now we're using a dresser that Kristin found on the curb when I moved here in September of last year. It's not a bad piece, but I'd like something that has better storage options. Dresser drawers aren't exactly made to store DVD players and videogame systems. We'll make do for now. If we continue to order stuff from Willis while I'm working here, we can get it for cost plus 15%...so it's quite the deal for how awesome the quality is. The rugs I've been looking at will cost us about $500 for an 8x11 and that's about what the TV console would cost too. After all that....we'd really like to get a TV. We have Kristin and Mark's old TV and it fulfills its purpose, but sometimes it just starts doing this high pitch ringing sound. It's unbearable. Lol.

Family Ties...

Last Sunday we celebrated Tyler's 10th bday...which was really on Saturday. We had wonderfully yummy cake that Kristin made. MMM!!! We gave Tyler the 4th Harry Potter book and he can't wait to start reading it. Seriously though...look at that cake. It was the funfetti with chocolate frosting. I'm about to start drooling just by looking at the picture. Oh man. I wonder what kind of cake we'll be having for Connor's bday. Muahahahah!

I'm getting pretty darn excited. Jac and Andy come this Saturday and get to stay til the day after Thanksgiving. I'll actually have 3 days off work completely while they're here...and that never happens. What's more? Jac will be able to come to my Monday doctor appointment. Super duper.

Well folks, I think that's about all I've got for now. I'll update again after Monday's big doctor appointment. If they put me on bed rest, Lord knows I'll have plenty of time to blog! :)

Busy little worker bees...

Greetings everyone! This is our first blog on here. I was inspired by how awesome Chelsea's blogspot is, and thought this would be a great way to reach all you non-facebookers and non-myspacers.

In case you weren't aware - I'm pregnant...not just getting fat, but getting fat for a reason! Haha. I'm 32 and a half weeks now. I love going back and looking at the pictures of my belly, week by week. It's amazing how much it's grown and changed, and how skinny I used to be...even though I never thought I was. I've gained weight in my face, my arms, my legs, and my butt - all places I wish I wouldn't have, but hey, not like I can channel it all towards my belly. It'll be nice to be able to start working out again after the baby is here. I miss feeling "fit." I miss being able to put my shoes on without grunting. I miss being able to lay around however I wanted. I miss a lot of pre-pregnancy things, but I do love so many things about being pregnant. I love that I can feel every little kick, movement, and even the annoying hiccups. I love being able to hear the baby's heart beat when I go in twice a week for fetal monitoring. I love seeing the baby when we have ultrasounds. I love how protective Sam has become of me, and of our baby. I love the excitement that pregnancy brings, all the anticipation. I cannot wait to see our little one!

In the meantime, I go to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital twice a week to the Fetal Diagnostics Unit. During the non-stress tests, two monitors are placed on my belly. One monitors the baby's heart rate and the other contractions. The baby's heart rate needs to accelerate 15 beats per minute everytime the baby moves. The baby's heart rate also needs to stay put when I have a contraction. If the heart rate were to speed up during a contraction, that means the baby isn't handling the stress of the contraction very well. So far, everything has been going great. Once a week they do an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels to make sure they stay between 10 and 22. It was 15 last time, so we're good to go on that. Along with these twice weekly appointments, I go to EVMS' division of maternal and fetal medicine to have thorough ultrasounds done. There they look at the baby's growth and the blood flow to the bowels and brain. They will do this again on November 24th. After that, I'll need to have the ultrasound done every week.

Since finding out the baby has gastroschisis, it's been quite a journey. Initially we were scared because we didn't know anything about the condition. Then we were concerned with the process of treating the gastroschisis. We wanted to know the timeline of how long it would take for the baby to recover, how the baby would be delivered, how surgery would go, if we'd be able to breastfeed when the baby was well, etc. Now I think we just want to know WHEN this baby will be getting here.

I've been busy at work with projects and it's so hard not knowing when I will have to stop working here. It's difficult to work on projects when I don't know if I'll be around to help the customers complete them. I think the plan right now is to try to work part time while the baby is still in the hospital and then start my maternity leave when the baby can come home....provided that my boss approves that plan.

Sam, being the awesome husband he is, has been working his patoot off in the academy. I give him a lot of credit for what he does. He gets up each morning, usually before 6 and doesn't get home til about 5 or 6. The academy is physically demanding - and mentally. He has been doing well with all his physical tests and academic tests too. This past week was "hell" week. It was a lot of military style discipline and they worked on their shooting skills at the gun range. This was also Sam's final week of having the music minister responsibilities. Sunday will be his last service to lead. It'll be nice for him to have a break from it because we'll be able to spend more time with each other on weeknights. We currently have no days off that coincide, and we won't until after the baby is here - or they put me on bed rest.