January 02, 2009

Here is our little man! We finally got a decent profile today although if you look closely he does have his hand up by his head - he also had both feet up there too - he loves to be all curled up. So here's a little update on the Cookie Monster :) He was very active which is good news and kept kicking the ultrasound head because we were disturbing him! He continues to show his stubborn and feisty side which we know is going to bide well for him!
We found out that he continues on his growth slide and is now 2 weeks behind in growth. They are estimating that he is about 15 oz. at this time. The blood flow in his cord is still *absent* which is the lesser of two evils - still not great, but good that it hasn't progressed yet. In essence there is nothing they can do about the blood flow - it's my placenta being resistant, and with all the medical technology they just really can't do anything but watch and wait for him to show us it's time to get him out. Today we got an estimate - our doctor said that after *absent* flow is found, delivery usually occurs between 3 and 35 days. He has never had anyone go the 35 days - but would like Cookie to prove him wrong :) If we could make it to the 35 day mark - that would give him 3 more weeks to mature - and get us to 27 weeks gestation. Although this is somewhat what we were expecting today - it hit us hard to be given those numbers. I am now on modified bedrest at home - his exact words were "eat bonbons and watch tv!" I can still get up for the little things...but need to stay down as much as possible. They want all the calories to go to Cookie. Chris says he is up for the challenge and we have such a big support system now here in town and beyond that we know we can do it. Unlike when we had Braden 4 1/2 years ago and we knew 1 person in Des Moines (love ya Linds!) :) Already tonight a good friend showed up with dinner for 3 nights and lots of snacks! (Chris thinks it might be a good time to learn to cook :) - I won't stop him!!!)
If there is any change in Cookie's activity or I start to just not feel right, I will be admitted to the hospital no questions asked. That way we can monitor him more closely. With his heart still being very strong and him being so active - we are in a waiting game. We get another scan on Friday and will go from there. We did go to the hospital today and got the first of 2 steroid shots to help speed up the maturation of his lungs - we go back in tomorrow for the 2nd.
We are doing ok. This weekend will be full of discussions and trying to figure out everything that needs to get done, but I know we will be ok. We are in trouble though because they put a Starbucks in the new tower of the hospital - so now we can go broke on Starbucks and McDonalds without ever leaving the hospital :) I did get the ok to attend the MONSTER TRUCK show tomorrow with Braden and Chris - I need it - to spend that time with him, to see the smile on his face and his excited "WHAT?" (he still doesn't know he's going!!!) So we will have fun tomorrow as a family and hopefully Cookie will be rocking out to all the noise! I'm sure knowing me, a million pictures will be taken - so I'll be sure to share!!
You all are our family and friends - and so important to us. We are asking for your prayers (even though we know you all have been hard at work!!), pray for Cookie (guess we better come up with a name soon!) - for his strength, for God to wrap his arms around him and keep him safe. Please pray for my doctors that they have the wisdom (and we trust them whole heartedly) to make the right decisions in our care. Pray for Chris and I that we can remain strong through this new journey - that we can stay mentally, emotionally and physically strong for each other and our boys. And pray for Braden - this is going to be really tough on him too - he wants to be the best big brother and doesn't understand why he won't be able to see Cookie when he is born. We still don't have the right answers and it breaks our hearts. He gets very sad when we talk about it, he truly loves his little brother so much already!