28 Weeks ... And Counting Down!

When all our troubles and woes began with James last year a wise friend advised me that due to my prenatal history I "better not think about getting pregnant" at that time. I took those words to heart and after much thought and prayer we decided that these were probably wise words for the time being. I went through a rollercoaster time of accepting the idea, but after spending five weeks of the summer in the hospital I was very thankful for this decision and had come to peace with the concept.

At the end of November the rollercoaster ride began again when we discovered that we are expecting. First I went through a denial stage, but the pregnancy woes quickly kicked in to reassure me that the diagnosis was right. The month of December was challenging, with James back in hospital, and me picking up yet another bad cold from the hospital which took over two weeks to get over, feeling so sick from pregnancy that I just wanted to crawl in bed and stay there ... and working with what the Lord had given us. All things come from the Lord and this too is from His Hand. He also gives us the strength we need to carry us through whatever is placed in front of us. I knew this, yet I still struggled. Feeling the sickest I ever had from a pregnancy did not help matters. After three weeks of enduring with some sort of stomach pain, indigestion/reflux type of symptoms I found an acid reducing medication that helped ... for a week. After a week the symptoms came back, but not as bad. I then stopped the medication to see if it made a difference and found the medication was no longer helping ... short lived relief, but it is not as bad as it was ... at least I can function OK now. By the time January rolled around I had come to better terms with everything ... not to say I still don’t wonder and worry how I’m ever going to manage.

So a bit of history comes in here. Those who do not know our family history might ask: Why such a big struggle? What prenatal history?

Our first child, Marietta, was born at 38 weeks after an emergency c-section, due to placenta insufficiency. At that time we did not realize the seriousness of this as everything turned out well.

Our second child, Rebecca, was born one week early (normal) without any complications that we are aware of. There was concern about size, but no ultrasound was done and she was born before the non-stress test could be done.

Our third child, Justin, was born at 27 weeks gestation, after a very sudden, severe, life threatening case of toxemia, called HELLP Syndrome. Justin was born weighing half of what he should have weighed, tipping the scale at only 1lb 2oz. The Dr's said that Justin too suffered from placenta insufficiency, possibly related to the toxemia, but more likely from malfunction of the placenta. Since this was an issue with the first pregnacy, they suspect that the toxemia is was a separated issue from the placenta deficiency. Justin lived three weeks before he passed away due to bowel complications.

Our fourth child, James, was born at 38.5 weeks after a relatively healthy pregnancy. After Justin we were told that all future pregnancies would be very closely monitored and include at least partial bed rest (no physical work, sit and lie as much as possible), further restrictions would be placed depending on circumstance. I made it through the pregnancy with James by going on partial bed rest at 24 weeks. We saw a slight elevation in blood pressure, but not in a concerning area. I also developed gestational diabetes and was placed on a special diet to keep this under control. I had countless ultrasounds and appointments to keep an eye on things, but things progressed well until the end where there was some signs that the placenta was beginning to give up ... it managed to hold steady until the scheduled c-section date.

So it will be interesting to see how I’ll manage through this pregnancy. James certainly doesn’t allow for much resting time. But he has helped in a different sense. Since we recently received government coverage to assists us in the care of James, we have decided at this time the best assistance would be hiring someone to clean the house for me ... I will get into this further in another blog entry. I have to constantly remind myself that just because things went relatively well with James and I was able to get away with more then I should have ... doesn’t mean it will go the same way this time ... I keep hoping though!! :) At this time I don’t take much comfort in thinking that it’s just the pregnancy I have to get through, as we have had two (one VERY) colicky babies, and I don’t expect any less from future ones. On top of that, there is the possibility that this child too could have LPI. They will test this right away, and so diminish the risk of damage from excessive protein like James has.

This past week I went for my first prenatal appointment, which didn’t really turn into much of an appointment. She listened to my history and then decided it wasn’t worth going through all the initial paperwork and checkup since I needed to be sent to Mac to be monitored under the high risk team and they would just do the same thing over again. I haven’t heard back about an appointment, but I’m assuming it will be soon since I still have not had my proper initial appointment yet. As well she wanted an ultrasound done right away so they have something on record to follow. She did give me a new glucose meter so I can keep an eye on my sugar levels. I borrowed my mom’s for a few days and noticed that my levels were a bit high after fasting, but do okay during the day. She also prescribed some Diclectin to see if this would help with my indigestion, reflux and stomach pains. Diclectin is not usually used for this, but she figured it was worth a shot. It does seem to help, unfortunately it’s left me so drowsy that I actually prefer the stomach pain ... well not prefer ... but I kinda like to be able to think clearly and feel like I’m safe to get behind the wheel. I’ve lowered the dose, which decreased the drowsiness, but not enough. So now it’s a matter of whether my body will adjust and not be so drowsy after a few days ... or go back to the pain ... still debating that one.

Just for the record: I am now 12 weeks pregnant with a due date of August 5, 2007.