34 weeks

THIRTY FOUR WEEKS!!!!

We need one more week and we are in the "safe" zone.

I had my follow up ultrasound today.

The right foot looks normal and she gave me a picture of it.

The left foot was "in a funny position" and she said it could possibly be clubbed or it could just be the position. She said that we won't know until the baby is born and then it will be obvious.

She had a hard time getting a good picture of the head because it's so far down. She was able to get a pretty good picture of the baby's face. The left ventricle was still dialated and it's being called borderline hydrocephalis. The baby will have to have a head CT done before leaving the hospital to follow up on it.

I also did my weekly NST today and got done much quicker than last week. Baby was moving all over the place. I was the last one into the NST room and the first one out. Last week people came and went and there I sat.

And as an added bonus here is Tete checking out the baby.

33 weeks 3 days

I've made it to 33 weeks 3 days.

I missed 32 weeks and 33 weeks so we are a little later into the week than usual.

On Friday I went to in for my weekly non stress test (NST).

I was really thinking I was going to get by without them this pregnancy.

Not only did I not get to by-pass them I am starting them earlier than I did with the last two pregnancies.

My next one is scheduled for this Thursday along with my follow-up ultrasound in the Fetal Assessment Unit (FAU).

So far I've only had occassional contractions here and there so no more trips to the hospital.

Speech contest

For the last six weeks or so Brayana, Destini, Jaleel and Makkiah have been going to Reading Club at the Rec Center.

They really enjoyed Math Club and were excited to go to Reading Club.

One of the things that they do each day of Math and Reading Club is practice public speaking. At the end of Math and Reading Club they have a Speech Contest.

There is always excitement about this as well since the first five places earn cash prizes.

Each grade competes against each other on Wed and on Thursday they get their certificates and find out who won.

Brayana won 3rd place and $5 in the 5th grade category.

Destini won 2nd place and $10 in the 4th grade category.

Jaleel won 4th place and $3 in the 3rd grade category.

Makkiah won 5th place and $2 in the 1st grade category. Reading Club is for 1-6 grade and he is in Kindergarten but is an advanced reader and was allowed to participate with the 1st graders.

They all had fun and worked hard and learned at the same time. That's the way we like to do it!!

Makkiah's Surgery

Makkiah had his sinus surgery today.

We got there around 9:15am and did all of his pre-op stuff.

10:35am he headed back to the OR with his awesome OR team.

11:45am his doctor came out to let us know that all had gone well.

His anatomy is a little different than normal and he had what they call a "bubble".

His "bubble" had grown out and was blocking his sinus cavity on the right side. When they opened the sinus cavity it had emptied of the infection prior to the surgery and was just inflammed which was great news to hear.

They put some gel in the sinus cavity that will dissolve over time and helps with the bleeding.

By 12:15 he was on room air and around 12:30 they Rod and I come back to the PACU to see him. He was still pretty groggy but slowly waking up.

By 1pm we were on the same day surgery floor and he was more awake. He ate some graham cracker and had apple juice.

By 3pm we were headed home with nasal covering in place. He was still unsteady on his feet and got a wheelchair ride down to the car.

By the time we left for the Awards ceremony he was ready to go. I wasn't to sure about taking him but he was excited to see if he had won anything.

L&D and Perinatal floor

Friday I went to my midwife appt. I hadn't been feeling well for several days. Crampy, naseous, and just plain yucky. The midwife checked me and I was 1.5 cm/ -2 station/ medium/ thick. She told me that she wanted me to come in Sunday night to be rechecked on the labor deck.

Sunday I went to the labor deck to be rechecked. I still wasn't feeling very good but didn't really think that I was having contractions.

They put me on the monitor and the midwife rechecked me. I was 2cm/-2 station/50% effaced/soft so things were changing. They did a Fetal Fibronectin Test and decided that they were going to admit me for steroids and fluids so they moved me to a labor room.

The FFN test came back positive so they then decided that they were going to give me magnesium sulfate to stop contractions and allow the steroids time to work. I got a shot of steroids Sunday night and another Monday night.

On Monday I had several visitors - Marsha and Deason Hayes both came up and sat with me while I nodded between sleep and wake. Mom came up later in the evening with a toothbrush so I could brush my teeth, hairbands and hairbrush which felt so nice and peppermints which helped the HORRIBLE heartburn that I got. I was miserable since I couldn't eat and the heartburn stuff that they were giving me was not helping so much. Mom spent the time rinsing out cold washclothes and putting on my face which took some of the burn off of my skin. Did I mention that I was HOT? Everyone else who came into my room was freezing.

On Monday night they lowered my dose of magnesium and moved me from L&D over to the Perinatal floor where the high risk mommas are. The room their was much nicer with lots of room, a tv and a FAN!! The medication made me REALLY hot so the fan was wonderful.

Tuesday they stopped the magnesium and continued to monitor me for contractions. I was still having occassional ctx's and the baby had one decel but other than that things were looking good.

Wed morning when the doctor came in I asked about going home. The dr told me t hat I had to stay for 48 hours after they stopped the mag so they would try to get me out by 7:30 Thursday morning since Mak was having surgery. That morning Mom brought Taniyah in to see me since I hadn't seen her since Sunday. She wasn't to sure about everything but came and cuddled with me on the bed anyway.

Mom and Tete left to go home and the dr came back in. She decided that she would let me go home since I had been stable even though I had only been off the mag for 30 hours. She wanted me to be there for Mak's surgery and said that it was a big deciding factor. I almost beat Mom and Tete home. They stopped to do some shopping and we pulled in right behind them.

So for now I get to be home. I go back in on Friday for a nonstress test. Hopefully all goes well with that and I get to come home afterwards. Four days up there was plenty for me.

Busy Day

We started out the morning by going on a tour of Juvenile Detention. There was an Open House and we thought it would be educational to take the kids through it. Not that we are worried about them getting trouble as they are all good kids but it was very informative.

They split the kids and parents up and have the kids walk just like they would if they were there for real. Shirts tucked in, pants up, mouths closed, and hands in armpits with thumbs showing.

After we left there we headed to a birthday party for a friends son. It was fun. The kids jumped in the bouncehouse, Rod took pictures and I hung out and talked with friends. We were there for a few hours, had pizza and cake, watched him open gifts and then it was time to move on to the next activity.

After the birthday party we went to Faith Community's Fun Fest. It's a fundraiser that was started a few years ago while we were still attending church there. We've continued to go each year and the Action team presents there each year. I spent most of the time sitting as I was running out of energy and not feeling to well.

On our way home from there Mom took us out to HomeTown Buffet for dinner. It was yummy but I didn't eat much as I wasn't feeling and was tired. It was a long busy day but I think everyone had lots of fun.

Master craftsmanship

Tonight I had a support group meeting that I had to run so I headed off to do that.
My Mom volunteered to take the elementary kids to the Open House at the school since it intereferred with my meeting time.
She took them to the art show and saw all of the art set out.
Then she took them through the pizza line.
They asked her how many people there were and she said 9 so they gave her two boxes of pizza :giggle
Then they headed off to the classrooms.
Since it's Open House all of the classes do "special projects"
And the first stop of the evening is Jaleel's class
His seat is three places from the door and proudly displayed on his desk are his Indian mask and his totem pole.
The teacher explain what meticulous craftsmanship went into Jaleel's work all the while my Mom is trying to keep a straight face.
She says I set her up but I'm totally innocent
So my Mom goes to Destini's class and sees hers
And then she goes to Brayana's class to see hers
Then a stop at Makkiah's class to see his
And she got to carry Jaleel's artwork through them all.

Happy Mothers Day

Mother's Day this year was really nice. It's the first time in a few years that my Mom has been here for Mother's Day.

We went to church and then headed home to cook and eat. Marsha and her kids came over since Will is on deployment.

Rod made chicken and carne asada on the grill, jamabalya, beans, and salad. It was all yummy.

All the Mommies opened their gifts after we stuffed ourselves and then the girls all had their hair done. It was a fun day.

31 weeks

Well my Mom and Poppa made it into town without any mishaps along the way.

They even arrived with all of their luggage in tow. Hey there's a first time for everything!

On Friday my Mom and I went to "Muffins for Mom". Makkiah's kinder class sang us songs and had muffins. We both forgot our cameras but it was really cute.

I'm a few days late taking pictures but here is 31 weeks 2 days. Baby feels really low.

I fought the fence

and the fence won!

Jaleel was pushing Makkiah down the neighbors driveway on the power wheels four wheeler.

Well the driveway is to steep and the four wheeler has no brakes and Makkiah's legs are not long enough to stop himself.

He hit the fence with his face.

The fence has screws coming from the other side where they screwed lattice to their side of the fence.

Makkiah now has "screw treads" on his face.

Pray that it doesn't get infected as it could put his surgery off.

UPDATE: He also seems to have gotten his eye somehow. We are watching it closely to see if we need to take him in for an appt.

Makkiah's ENT appointment

Makkiah had his ENT appt yesterday with Dr Brewster. I thought we would be there for 30 minutes or so but it took 4 hours!

Makkiah has dealt with chronic sinus issues for years. He's maxed out on allergy meds. He takes singular, zyrtec and nasonex everyday. We went and saw the allergist a while ago and his work up was unremarkable. He had the scratch test done on his back. I was told that he has an allergy to dog and dustmites but not severe.

When we put him on antibiotics it works until we stop them. We have done anywhere from 10-30 days of antibiotics. While he's on them the drainage stops but within days of stopping the meds it's right back.

In December he started with it again. When we saw Dr W in Feb I asked him about it again. Dr W put him on antibiotics for two weeks and it stopped - again. Within days of stopping it was back so he sent him for the sinus CT.

Mak was not having any drainage when he had the CT scan done. So for the CT scan he was at his best. The guy in CT told me that his right sinus was filled with something.

The pulm (Dr W) sent a consult to the peds ENT (Dr Brewster) who we have seen many times before. He knows Makkiah well and has pretty much followed him since he was 3 months old.

I had read up on impacted sinuses and asked some people. Everything said that he would probably get his sinuses flushed out. So I thought we would be going in and getting his sinus cleaned out and then we would be on our merry way. Boy was I wrong.

First off Makkiah never developed the sinuses above his eyes probably due to them being blocked. The dr said that usually they aren't big enough to cause serious problems in kids Mak's age but Mak has none.

The left sinus below his eye is totally normal but the sinus on the right side is not. It is completely impacted and the ENT said he thinks there is an anatomical anamoly that is keeping it from draining. He thinks there is no opening between the sinus and his nasal passage.

He is having a FESS (Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery) with anterior ethmoidectomy and maxillary antrotomy on May 24th. Basically they will go in and chip the bone away to create holes in his sinus so they can drain.

This carries serious risk since they are so close to his eye orbit and his brain. They have millimeters of space to work with. There is a very thin bone seperating the area they are working in with the brain and another very thin bone that seperates the sinus area from the eye. They will use the CT scan as a go by during the surgery to manuever in the space.

Without the surgery they are concerned that the infection will start to eat away the bone in his face. He thinks there is still an underlying allergy issue so he needs to openings to allow his sinus to drain.

Aside from the risk of the surgery itself he has other risks. Due to his history with airway issues he is at increased risk for airway problems during surgery.

I was told that usually they use a "cuff" with positive airflow for the airway during this procedure due to it's length. They will intubate him though as they are concerned with securing his airway.

Intubating him for such a long procedure (we are looking at 1 hour minimum)carries additional risk with swelling in his airway. Because his airway is smaller than most and he still has croup episodes the tube sitting in there could cause swelling.

Because of the bronchomalacia they can't use albuterol with him as a rescue med so there is increased concern there as well. They will give him steroids during the procedure to help decrease the swelling and hopefully make it easier for them to extubate him.

The only rescue med that he really has is nebulized racemic epinephrine. He's had to have it on several occassions due to swelling in his airway during a croup episode.

The bathroom sink

Before Poppa came on his last trip I decided to switch out the sink and cabinet in the kids bathroom.

The old one was NASTY and I was tired of looking at it. I went to HD and bought a pretty new cabinet and sink.

Brought it home. Had Rod turn off the water before he left on his trip.

A few days later I had Brayana and Destini demolish the old sink and cabinet.

Discovered that Rod had not completely turned off the water so the floor and wall were soaked.

Put a fan in the bathroom for two days hoping that wall would dry.

Realize that the wall is NOT going to dry and has to be removed and replaced.

Replace drywall and refinish.

Put project off for a week or so.

Sand and paint wall to match the rest of the wall.

Put in new cabinet.

Discover that the new sink/counter does not match up drain wise under the sink.

Make trip to HD to get new drain pieces and replacement supply hoses to replace the plastic ones.

Put project off for a few days.

Install new faucet on sink.

Realize that the new faucet that we bought does not have an overflow on it.

Uninstall new faucet and put it back in the box.

Install old faucet on sink and decide that I will just fix the faucet.

Use cool new drain piece that is flexible and will not require cutting and remaking the whole drain.

Hook up water supply lines.

Turn on cold water supply knob.

Turn on faucet.

Discover P-trap is dripping and so is cool new piece.

Decide that since all is connected we might as well make sure the hot water supply line is working.

Turn on hot water supply.

Discover that was a BIG mistake as water starts spraying everywhere!!

Turn off water quickly.

Go to disconnect water supply line and it breaks off in the hose.

Caulk the sink while it's clean so that it's finished.

Put project off for a few more days.

Go to HD and buy new supply spigot for hot water.

Put project off for a few more days.

Hang mirror so that it at least LOOKS like it works.

Put project off for a few mroe days.

Get motivated to finish the project.

Take hot water supply spigot off and discover that we didn't buy the new piece.

Make a trip to HD to get hot AND cold water supply spigots since the hot one is NASTY inside.

Install new hoses and water supply spigots.

Turn on water.

Discover that the hot and cold spigots are leaking AND yes the drain still leaks and the faucet still drips.

Leave the mess for Rod to deal with.

Rod heads in the same evening now 30+ days into the new sink being installed to work on the sink at midnight.

Removes hot and cold water spigots, cleans the pipes, adds the tape stuff and reinstalls the water supply spigots.

Takes drain apart and in the process takes apart the part that is attached to the sink which mind you did NOT leak!

puts drain back together and discovers that the drain still leaks and now the part connected to the sink does also.

Fixes the part that connects to the sink and leaves the drain for another day.

Put project off for a week.

Take faucet apart to get the pieces to replace in the knobs so that the faucet will stop dripping AND take the drain apart.

Go to HD to get new pieces.

Discover they are having a workshop on making a garden path which I want in the front yard.

Attend workshop and win a citronella candle.

Attempt to find help in the plumbing isle.

Give up and find all the pieces myself.

Head home and put bag on the couch as I'm tired and don't feel like doing it.

Put project off until tomorrow.

Install pieces into faucet and put faucet back together.

Put all the new drain pieces together including a washer in the cool new piece.

Hold breath and turn on water.

Wait.

No spraying.

No dripping.

No leaking.

Jump for joy that the sink is FINALLY in usable condition with no water coming out of anything EXCEPT the faucet when you turn it on!!

Wonder when we start the next sink.

More progress

This morning we got up and went to church which is our normal Sunday morning routine. I taught this morning and had ten kids so stayed pretty busy.

After church Rod and I headed to HD to get more joint compound and paint for the library. We also picked up a rug for the living room and one for the library.

The living room rug will tie the furniture all together and protect the carpet. The one in the library will give the kids something to lay on to read books in there and also cover the ugly yellow tile that eventually will come out.

We picked a light green color for the library (much to Rod's hesitation) and Tyreque painted the entire room. After we get it all put back together I will take pictures. We also hung king sized flat sheets on the two walls that REALLY need to be redrywalled. We haven't had the ability to redo them but the sheets look MUCH better than the blankets I had hanging on the wall before.

Ladaria, Raquel and I got the rest of the pickets put up on the fence and Rod set the bolts for the gate post brackets. Tomorrow we will be able to put the posts in. Then we will be able to measure to make new working gates.

Rod got the hole in the kids bathroom fixed. He had to cut out and replace the drywall but it looks much better than it did. Now the kids bathroom just needs to be painted. That didn't get done today since the joint compound has to dry first.

The water damage in the library (on the ceiling and near the sliding glass door) was fixed yesterday so it got primed today. The ceiling in the library got painted as well today. It's all starting to come together - one piece at a time.

Destini and Brayana folded a bunch of laundry and put it away. Jaleel helped wherever we needed him to go and help.

I was going to cut the molding for the bathroom in the kitchen but have to fix the saw as it wasn't adjusting right. That's ok. I'm tired and I think everyone else is as well.

Progress is being made

We started out with chainlink fence in the front yard. I've been wanting to change it over to wood for a while now. We've planted several things on the front fence. Most of them have died because the fence gets to hot. Two of them have survived and were really starting to intertwine in the fence so I decided that we need to pull the chainlink down. I didn't want to kill the plants by letting them grow another season so I took the fence down. I figured that would commit us to doing it.

It all got removed along with the gates that didn't work right. Amah and Poppa tried to fix the gates everytime they came out but they were not made correctly so there was only so much fixing that could be done. This morning we started out with just the posts. We left them since they are metal and in the concrete.

We went out to get started and realized that we didn't have the right screws to go through the wood and into the metal posts. We also needed more 16 foot 2x4's so we made a trip to HD.

Came home and got started. While Rod and I worked on the fence - Makkiah cleaned his room, Jaleel worked on the back porch, Destini cleaned the living room, Brayana worked on the library, Raquel and Ladaria scrubbed and scraped the ceiling in the bathroom and library so it can be repainted and they cleaned the hall closets, Tyreque worked on the upstairs porch which had been abandoned several months ago. Everyone got a lot accomplished.

After they were done with their jobs they all joined us outside to work on the fence, wrestle, and clean up. Brayana took apart the green swing that someone was going to come pick up but never showed up to get.

By the end of the day we got over halfway done and we ran out of pickets. Ladaria, Raquel and I made a trip to HD to get more pickets while Rod spackled the spots that needed it on the ceilings so that it can get painted. Tomorrow we will finish the fence and hopefully the gates.

New lense

I got a new lense in the mail today.

I went out and took some pictures of the roses out front.

The lense is a macro/wide angle combo lense.

These were taken with the macro lense.

I only took a few but I think they turned out pretty neat.

30 weeks

30 weeks

I don't feel like I'm any bigger than I was before.

Tomorrow I will have officially 9 weeks 6 days left till my due date.

It will be 68 days until my due date!!

My husband is out of the yards and starts his work up schedule.

Between now and June 20th I think he'll be home less than 2 weeks.

My Mom comes into town next week for 10 days.

Then she comes back the same day as Rod in June.

Marsha is on standby baby watch and is ready at a moments notice.

I had my three hour glucose done but haven't heard the results.

As far as I'm concerned - no news is good news.

My next appointment is in two weeks.

I'll get all my preadmission paperwork and I'll start carrying my chart.