33 weeks and counting down

I am finally getting around to updating the blog on the latest happenings around our house (which are mostly pregnancy related since that has consumed me). First though I want to thank all our friends and family that have been so supportive through all of this and continue to be still. I know many people have called, emailed or sent cards and I appreciate all of it and am sorry that I am not very good at getting back to people. It has been a long journey and luckily we are getting to the end of it and are ready to meet this little person that for some reason or another has already made a big announcement in our lives. We have decided that there must be something special about this baby and that this new little addition was meant to be a part of our family.

I will apologize now for what I am sure will turn into a long post since it has been months since our last one.

I am currently 33 weeks pregnant and yes I am counting every day that goes by and 7 weeks seems still like a very long time to go. Currently I am on 3 liters of fluid a day through an IV at home (we refer to it as my leash since it basically needs to go all day and so therefore even if I had the energy to leave the house it is a lot more difficult). I also do Zofran through my IV and a multivitamin to help replenish everything that I have lost over the last few months. The IVs are really getting old. I have a nurse come out to our house about twice a week to change the IV. So I am getting my fair share of needles. And lately it seems my veins are really tired of all the abuse and spasm and so it usually doesn't take the first try, so I get an IV 2 or 3 times usually before we get one in right. It is sad to say that this treatment did not start until I was 30 weeks pregnant and finally switched doctors due to the fact that the previous practice of OBs were not giving me any further treatments than the "prescription cocktail" as they called it. I was taking Zofran, Phenergan, Reglan, B6, and Unisom around the clock and they were dumbfounded that I was not only not getting better but getting worse. But it doesn't take a medical degree to know that I was throwing everything that went in to my body out and so therefore there was no way a pill was going to work.

It was a difficult battle to work with these doctors. Every visit I felt like I was treated like I had some weird unheard of disease. They just didn't know how to deal with it. I ended up in the hospital a few times from the dehydration and was pumped full of fluids and IV meds and sent home. This helped for a couple of hours then I would sleep it all of and the next day it was like I had never even gone in to the hospital.

I also tried a Zofran pump that was just miserable to deal with. Instead of taking Zofran orally I had a catheter in my leg attached to a pump that I wore around my waist and had a continuous flow of medication going into my leg. The most common complaint about the pump is the irritation caused to the leg tissue. Well, mine got so bad that the entire tops of both of my legs were covered in huge welts and were red and extremely sore. The pain was so bad that I could barely walk and my poor kids could go nowhere near my lap. Brian got to participate in this treatment in that he was the one who had to stab a needle in my leg every night to switch the site. It was so miserable and was not being effective so we decided to end it.

I finally decided to switch doctors after a emotional week. They kept switching treatment plans and then finally settled on a steroid treatment. However, the doctors in the practice could not explain to me what or how this was supposed to do for me. They had just seen in some cases it was effective for extreme hyperemesis. At this point I was desperate so I started to take them anyway and it made me so sick. My heart was racing, I was hot and sweating, I felt more nauseated than before. So Brian and I decided that without knowing what it was even supposed to do that this was probably not the best option at this time. This is when one of the doctors told me that they as a practice would do nothing else for me and that if I want another treatment I would have to switch practices. So we decided that I should probably look into switching.

It was an extremely stressful and emotional week dealing with switching doctors. Brian was out of town and so luckily my mom flew in to help me deal with it all. I was so mentally and emotionally drained that I could not even think or say what needed to be said. I found a doctor that would accept me at 30 weeks and had my mom go with me to my appointment. Within days I was given the Zofran through my IV at home so that I could have it daily, a multivitamin to replenish everything that I had lost in my body, and was referred to a high risk specialist. It was a world of difference.

At the specialist we were told that it was a miracle that this baby is continuing to grow and develop normally due to the condition I had been in for as long as I had been. I was completely dehydrated and malnourished for months and so there is no way that our baby should be doing as well as it is. We are so grateful for that despite the treatment I was not receiving for so long. We know that this baby is going to join our family shortly and will be healthy despite everything.

We still have not found out the gender which has been difficult considering the number of ultrasounds I have had. At this point though we are going to continue waiting and listening to the heated debates between Maddy and Camden as to whether it is a boy or a girl. They have however reached a compromise. That is we will just have twins one of each. Despite my best efforts they do not believe me that there will be only one baby and it will be either a boy or a girl not one of each.

Unfortunately this has not only been difficult for me but for our entire family. Brian has really had to do a lot around the house when he gets home from work. The kids I think are struggling the hardest. It is hard for them to understand whey their mom is so sick and for so long. I really only leave the house to go to the doctor and at home I really have no energy to do anything. Luckily we live in a great ward who has helped us enormously. Someone comes a picks them up and takes them for a few hours every day during the week to give not only me time to rest and sleep, but for them to get out and have some fun. At first it was really hard on Camden to leave me and he cried everyday, but now I think he has realized that it is a lot more fun than sitting at home. It is hard to watch others take care of my kids everyday, but at this point I can't do it alone.

With all the ultrasounds we have gotten a lot of pictures of this baby. I can't get them to scan for some reason so I will have to try again later. I will also have to save other updates about the kids for another time!