We are home!

We were able to come home from the hospital today! Yay!! Lucas is still a little bit jaundice, but the pediatrician said that it would hopefully be out of his system by the end of the weekend and he could come home today! We are soaking up every second! It is the most wonderful feeling in the whole world to cuddle with him... He loves all of his new surroundings and has been bright eyed since he discovered the Christmas tree. lol I am doing good, too. My blood pressure looked a little better today and we are still having to watch my blood sugar, but I am optimistic things will improve as my body heals.

I will post some new pictures soon!

Lucas Cameron Fitch

Here he is, our sweet boy! Ten fingers, and ten toes... he's as perfect as can be!

As I told everyone in the previous post, he was delivered by Dr. Bowie early Wednesday morning at 12:05a.m. I was able to have him vaginally which was quite the experience! lol In total, I pushed for a little over an hour and a half. At the very end, Dr. Bowie gave me a little help with the "kiwi vacuum." I pushed, he pulled and out Lucas came! It was such a surreal moment... The nurses whisked Lucas away to their table and began to access him. He was put on oxygen for less than one minute to help him "pink up," but his lungs were mature and ready to breathe!! I was so relieved to hear those cries!!!

Lucas has been staying in our room with us as much as possible. His billirubin levels were high last night, so they brought him a "glow worm" jacket to wear. He was a bit fussy until around 2 or so, but then he settled down with a full tummy and would sleep for about 2 hours at a time. The pediatrician checked him out this morning and ran more bloodwork. His billirubin levels actually went even higher, despite the jacket.... so sadly they have had to keep him in the nursery today with the jacket on and under the lights. We miss having him with us like crazy... it has been a very emotional day for me. But, I know that we have got to get those numbers down and then he will be all ours again. I ventured down the hall to the nursery earlier today to visit with him... they had him all fixed up and he was content. It was nice for me to get out of the room for a few minutes, but also exhausting! My legs are like jello.... and man are they swollen!... but, it was still good to get out of the room for a few minutes. Hopefully, if his levels come down and my blood pressures and sugars return to normal, we will get to come home tomorrow! Yay!

I hope everyone is having as good of a "Thanks"giving as us! David and I have been blessed beyond comprehension and we are so thankful for a healthy baby boy, the support of each other, a loving family, and wonderful friends. We thank you all so much for your outpouring of thoughts, prayers, cards, and goodies! We count each one of you as a one of our special blessings this thanksgiving! Love to you all!!

Our little angel has arrived!!

We are very relieved and excited to let everyone know that we welcomed our baby boy into the world at 12:05 a.m. on November 26, 2008! He was 7lbs. 3oz. and an even 20 inches long. We have been in our regular room now for about 2 hours and we are going to try to get a little rest.... to say we are exhausted does not even come close to describing it. We will hopefully feel much better as the day goes on... we promise to get a few pics up soon!

Still Here...

We are still waiting it out... we have been having regular contractions since 7:30 this morning, but because we are premature, dilation has been a slow go. However, we did dilate to a 5 in the last 2 1/2 hours... and Lucas' head has moved way down from where it was! Yay! Thank God for epidurals!

Pictures

I forgot to mention that we will be taking the laptop to the hospital tomorrow... so, as soon as David or I feel up to it, we will post pictures of our Lucas!

Big News!

Well, as you all know we went for our amnio this morning. The nurse started off by doing an ultrasound and measuring the fluid pockets... she got around 11.. or so we thought. Dr. Matsumoto came in to do the amnio... he found a pocket and inserted the (long!) needle (only a little discomfort). As soon as he got the needle in the pocket, the fluid went away (like the baby moved and redistributed the fluid). So, we had to do it all over again. This time the needle hurt like heck going through the uterus! And again, no fluid. So, yes, we had to then do it a third time... I came very close to passing out this time, and again not enough fluid. At this point, Dr. Matsumoto was apologizing profusely and becoming very frustrated as to why this was happening. He told us that very, very rarely does anyone have to be stuck more than once. In fact, he said I was his first in the past 800 that he has done. At this point, he decides to recheck the nurse's fluid measurements.... bingo..... he only measured a 4.9. Not good.. Anything under 5 is in the "danger zone." He got us all cleaned up and then had us hooked up to the NST for a little while to make sure Lucas and I were both okay. While I was on the machine, he personally called Dr. Miller and explained to him the urgency of our situation. We were instructed to go directly to Dr. Miller's office after leaving Northside. Dr. Miller rescheduled our induction for TOMORROW morning! He also checked my cervix to see if I was dilated any.... I am at a 3! That means we get to skip the whole "ripening" part and go straight for the pitocin and breaking of the water in the morning. One step closer!!! Of course, Dr. Miller explained that the baby may not tolerate labor as well due to the extremely low fluid, and if that is the case he will do a c-section if needed. We are fine with either, but really are hoping for a vaginal delivery so recovery will be easier for me. As for this afternoon, I am going to try to rest some. I slept about 2 hours last night, and I figure tonight and all nights in the near future will be the same. I am very crampy and uncomfortable from the amnios today. It was a rough day. We are nervous about how Lucas' lungs will respond and how things will go tomorrow.... nervous, but very excited!

This Morning's Appointment

This morning's appointment with Dr. Miller went well! Yay! My blood pressure is still running pretty high, but the baby's heartbeat looked good! The NST showed several accelerations so that was a positive sign. It also recorded several of the (stronger) contractions that I have been having, but they are still nothing to be concerned about. Dr. Miller upped my high blood pressure medicine to hopefully keep it lower over the weekend. He also ordered another round of labwork to check for preeclampsia. We discussed next week in hopes that our amniocentesis will show lung maturity on Monday..... if the results show maturity, we will begin our induction EARLY Wednesday morning!! Looks like this will be a Thanksgiving baby indeed!

I can't believe I am posting this...

This is probably the last pregnant picture you will see of me. I am quite sensitive about them, but I know that alot of you have asked for one... here it is!

Whew! What A Day!

Yesterday was quite a day! I started having severe nosebleeds at 6am Tuesday morning and my blood pressure was really high. I was in pretty awful shape. Luckily, Mama could come over and stay with me. She took great care of me. She did everything I needed her to and more! I was in contact with Dr. Miller's office off and on all day, and finally at around 3:30... Lisa told me to come up to Labor and Delivery to be monitored because my blood pressure just refused to come down. They watched us for about an hour and luckily we were able to come back home. My blood pressures were still high, but the baby was not showing any signs of distress. Whew! Dr. Bowie was on call at the hospital and he came in to see us before we were discharged. He said that the nosebleeds are common during pregnancy, even though these were severe and he also told me that I am now on complete and total bedrest until Lucas comes.. with the only exception being the 2 doctor's appointments that we have scheduled. As everyone knows, I have been on partial bedrest since early August and pretty much self-induced complete rest for the last several weeks... so this isn't too much of an adjustment for us. I have learned to really appreciate my quiet time.... :o).... we know that it is the calm before the storm! Just wanted to give everyone a little update!

Thanks for all the PRAYERS sent up!!!

Okay, I will be updating the blog today, Kim is having some issues with a nose bleed so bear with me and we will get thru this just fine....

Our visit with Dr. Matsumoto went very well yesterday, we had to travel a little farther he was at a different office yesterday, he was at the Northside Forsyth Hospital rather than our usual Northside Atlanta it was about an extra 24 mile north up GA 400 but the building was just beautiful.

We had to wait quite a while but it was all worth it to hear the good news from the doctor that everything looked fine, Kim's fluid was at 14.8, Lucas's weigh was estimated at 6' 14 which means that his growth spurt has likely stopped which is good for us and him, if we were to go full term he would probably make it to 10lbs but we think he will be somewhere in the 7 1/2 -8 lb range. Probably our biggest surprise was when the Dr. was measuring the Femur Length he told us that there is a bone in the knee area that starts to ossify (harden and turn white) when the lungs are nearing maturity, well he found that little bone yesterday and it stuck out like a little white star he was very excited and stated that even in a normal (non-diabetic) pregnancy he doesn't see that until the 36-37 week area...

So with all that said we are still on for our Amniocentesis on Monday the 24th, pending the outcome of that test, and Dr. Millers scheduling we could possibly be proud parents next week as early as Tuesday or Wednesday.

Once again thank you all for the prayers that were sent up over the past week, all I can say is keep them coming!!!

Kim reserves the right to change any information in this post because I may or may not have gotten the measurements right....

Saturday Update

Just wanted to give everyone a little update after our scare this week.... we are still very anxious for our Dr. Matsumoto appointment on Monday, but the kick counts are looking good. I tend to get a few more in the mornings (18-20) than the afternoons (9-15). It takes him a few minutes to get moving, which makes me nervous... but once he starts I feel so much relief! We are just so hopeful that the fluid looks better on Monday... I am trying not to focus on it so I can keep my blood pressure down, but keeping it off my mind completely is impossible.

Thank you so much for all of the prayers! We have heard from so many of you and it is indescribable how comforted it makes us feel to know how many people love Lucas and us. Continue to lift Lucas up... Prayer is POWERFUL!

Not the best news today...

First of all, Lucas is okay, but our doctor's appointment didn't go that well this morning.

Everything started out as usual. The NST was considered reactive and I am definitely having stronger and more frequent contractions, but those are still normal and irregular enough to not be actual "labor." No reason for alarm there, but after we got into the ultrasound room... things changed. Our amniotic fluid level has once again fallen. It was a 20.8 last week and it was only an 11.5 today. Dr. Miller was very concerned that it had decreased by half in just a week. We were not scheduled to go back to Atlanta until our amnio on the 24th, but he insisted with Northside that we come back no later than Monday for a level 2 ultrasound and consult. He said that at this point the risk to the baby may be greater in-utero than it would be to go ahead and deliver him. Dr. Matsumoto will make the call on Monday. He will not be at the regular Northside hospital we are used to... we will have to meet him at Forsythe Hospital (still a part of Northside hospital) which is a little further than we are used to traveling.. but, at least we will get to see our doctor and not someone new and unfamilar with our complications. I am also supposed to start doing kick counts twice a day because of decreased fetal movement (could be related to his large size or a product of the low fluid). If I get less than 3-5 movements in a 30 min. segment after eating, I am supposed to report directly to the hospital. Dr. Miller reminded me that even though we have done better than expected up until this point, we are not out of danger yet. Stillbirth is still a major concern with our complications. Needless to say, it was a very difficult morning. Knowing it in the back of my mind is one thing, but "hearing" it again from Dr. Miller is hard.

Please continue to pray for Lucas. He has proven that he is a fighter, but he is still fragile. Please also continue to pray for David and I. Days like this really take a toll on us. It is so painful to know that our baby is in danger and we can't really do anything to fix it (except keep doing what we've been doing all along). We know that God's plan will prevail, but it is difficult to accept that God's plan doesn't always promise a "happy" ending. For now, we will trust the path He is leading us down and wait to see what unfolds on Monday.

Another Day Closer...

Our NST and AFI both looked good this morning. Dr. Miller actually measured 20.8 mL of fluid! That's way up! We discussed our amnio scheduled for the 24th, as I have been very curious/worried about his Thanksgiving plans... He is not 100% sure he will be in town, but he said that more than likely he would be. He is still waiting to hear from one of his children about her plans... He did say that if he and his wife could help it, they were staying home. That, and judging by a few other reasons he named, I have a good feeling he will stay in LaGrange. My fingers and toes are crossed anyway. He said that more than likely we should be good to go if we have Lucas on that Tuesday or Wednesday and that Dr. Bakarich would probably assist in the operating room. Sometimes I think, 'Wow! It's finnnnnalllllly here!' and other times I wonder where all the time has gone. I am definitely more emotional and nervous and EXCITED these days...

We also met with our Pediatrician, Dr. Lisa (Allardice), last night. We felt it was important that we open the lines of communication and discuss with her some of the issues Lucas may have when he is born. We were pleased to find out that she encourages the prenatal appointments and was very open and friendly with us. We talked with her for over an hour! She prepared us for some of the tests the hospital would be running after birth, due to the likelihood of him being hypoglycemic (low blood sugar resulting from my diabetes) and she said that even if the amnio comes back positive for lung development there is naturally still a possibility of some breathing problems (since technically 36 week babies are still considered premature). Overall, we liked her alot and most importantly we feel confident she will take good care of Lucas.

We are one day closer to meeting our miracle...

3 More Weeks and Counting! (Maybe!)

David and I went for Childbirth class at the hospital on Saturday. Even though we already knew most of what was discussed, it was still very beneficial and we did learn a few new things. :o) We had a large class.. about 10 couples in all. I ran into a friend from high school/ college that is expecting her second baby. Even though the class was bigger than we thought, there were still plenty of opportunities for asking questions and such. We had several guest speakers throughout the day and we got to see and touch many of the "gadgets" we have been reading so much about. It was a long, but good day!

My feet continue to swell pretty much daily, but they haven't really gotten huge yet.. thank goodness! And, I haven't had any more swelling in my hands.. yay!

The NST went good this morning. I think Lucas has figured out my schedule..... he kicked up a storm all the way to the doctor's office and once we got hooked up to the machine, he fell asleep. He does that every time we have an NST it seems. I would like to blame his stubbornness on his daddy, but that probably wouldn't be true... he might just get that from me. :o)

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween and a good weekend!