My first outing with the kids!

Yesterday, I became very brave and went out with both boys! There were some challenges, like Micah screaming for the first five minutes of the car ride and the stroller refusing to open, but we made it!!

I had to go pick up some stuff at the March of Dimes office and decided that I would stop over at my mom's house afterwards so that she could spend some time with Micah, before she goes to Italy next week. The hour before leaving was interesting as I was trying to get all three of us ready to go, which included putting the kids in their costumes for my mom to see. Luckily, Matt was home for lunch and he was able to get Ethan ready, but my impatient little Ethan ended up asking every couple of minutes "can we go now?". That of course did not help things while I was getting Micah and I ready to go :)

We finally got on our way and ended up spending some time visiting with Jodi at the MOD office and my mom was able to spend some quality time with Micah. We even got out for dinner at a restaurant :) Of course, today I'm exhausted and incredibly sore, but I'm happy we were able to get out yesterday.

I am still surprised about how some of the soreness just sneaks up on me. It is mostly my sciadic that hurts today and I'm thinking it is because I did a lot of standing and sitting in hard chairs yesterday. I'm hoping the pain will ease up a bit today. I was talking to Matt and he reminded me that this is all part of the process, but I will be so happy to have it all over! I'm hoping it will be soon, but I have nearly 6 months of bedrest to recover from, which means a lot of unused muscles need to wake up! Yet another reason why we have decided not to venture into another pregnancy!

Tonight we are going to get them dressed up to visit Matt's mom, uncle, aunt and grandpa. I think Ethan will enjoy it now that he understands what candy is!! I'm guessing one of them will take some pictures for us tonight so that you can see our little ninja (Ethan) and superman (Micah). In the meantime, here are a few pictures of Micah and Ethan from Monday night with grandma.

Gaining Independence!

On Monday, we had an appointment for me and an appointment for Micah. My appointment was to check my incision and its healing process. It was funny, because as the doctor walked in, he had a huge smile on his face and said "we don't care about you anymore", and went right to Micah. He loved seeing him again :) He then checked me and said that my incision is healing well, so that was good to hear. He also told me that I can slowly start to increase my activity and even drive!!! That is where the independence is coming in. I have had to depend on other people to drive me around since April 22!! It was such a relief to hear that I could finally drive. After the appointment, Matt told me, "so I guess you are driving home" and I did. It felt great to finally drive again. I actually found it a lot easier than when I started driving after 3 weeks of hospital bedrest. It helps that I have been able to walk around more in the last 6 weeks or so. I was able to build up some muscle strength in my legs, which was good.

Right after my appointment, we went across the hall to Micah's appointment. He weighed in at 8lbs 6oz. The doctor said that was not good and that he really should be at his birth weight by now, but he was not too concerned. The reason he was not concerned right now is because everything else about Micah looks great. The dr. was amazed with how alert Micah is and how strong he is. He said that if he didn't see such strength, he would be concerned about the weight. So, we are going to continue working to get his weight up and I will need to take him in next Monday morning for a quick weight check. I have decided at this point to not try and breastfeed. Because, we are still having issues with weight gain, I feel like I can better control what he is eating through a bottle. It was when I was breastfeeding that he had the biggest weight loss, so I feel that this is the best decision. I am continuing to pump milk so that he can at least have breast milk and we are supplementing with formula when needed. I hope that I can keep doing it for awhile, but I am just going day by day right now.

As a family, we are starting to adjust to our new life. Things get better each day as our routine settles in and as I feel better and better. Right now, the big problem for me is my back. That seems to be the one lingering problem from bedrest. If it continues to be an issue, I will talk to my doc at my 6 week appointment about possible therapy for my back. Hopefully, it will resolve itself in the next few weeks.

Matt and I got out for a few hours last night when we went to the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction. It was a lot of fun and it was good to do something normal and just the two of us. We have not done anything by ourselves in months, so it was nice to have that little break, even though it was only a couple of hours.

Driving and getting out gave me a small sense of what my life was like before bedrest :) It is great to finally get some of this independence back and to get some of our normal life back! We are so happy to have our family together and complete. We have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Some Pictures

A few pics from before Micah came along...

The weekend before we visited a pumpkin farm.

Waiting for the hay ride!

Yes, he is on a donkey!

Feeding the cows.

Visiting all of the little Wilburs!

This is what I looked like the morning of Micah's birth!

38 weeks 6 days!

Family Update

Micah is now 10 days old! We were released from the hospital together last Thursday, which in itself was such a wonderful blessing! It was the best feeling in the world to be able to leave the hospital at the same time as my baby. The weekend was difficult because Micah became jaundiced. It could be a combination of things that caused it. There are so many things that were factors in him becoming jaundiced, so it wasn't a surprise. Saturday seemed to be the worst day of it, because we could not get him to wake up and he would not eat. I ended up having to move to pumping the milk for him and we had to supplement with formula. We knew we had to get him eating to help get rid of the jaundice. He finally started to eat and do better. On Monday we had an unscheduled appointment with the doctor to get a blood test. We then had to go back on Tuesday morning for another blood test. Thankfully, his bilirubin was going down and it was showing that the jaundice was correcting itself and we would not need to get a light for him.

On Tuesday, we went to a lactation consultant, because he would not latch on well (this was happening before the whole jaundice thing). They gave us some tips to try, so I'm going to continue working on it, but we'll see how it goes. He was weighed and was 8lbs even. He had lost a lot more weight than normal at the hospital, but we were not given his release weight so we don't know what it was.

Today, we had a nurse from the Help Me Grow program come out for a visit. It is a service that is paid for through our taxes, so we took advantage of it :) It was really helpful to have it with Ethan and it was really good to have it today. She weighed Micah and he was 8lb 5oz!! So, all of the bottle feeding we have been doing has been great and is working very well! She checked his muscle tone and said he was doing great and was very strong. That was such great news to hear. She was really impressed with everything about him and she said it was very clear that he was full-term. That was music to my ears!! I was so excited to hear how well he is doing and that he is progressing well. She even checked my incision for me and said it was healing well. I was glad to hear that because I had no idea if it was healing well or not. I was surprised that she was checking me and making sure all was well with my health, but it was nice to have that.

We have been adjusting pretty well. It gets better every day as we have been able to get a schedule down. To make sure that Micah is eating well, we have started a feed/pump schedule, which has also allowed us better sleep time. Ethan has been enjoying getting to know his new brother and has been really patient during the crying times. He even rubs his head to help calm him. Ethan got his 3rd cold in 7 weeks this week and we have confirmed that he clearly still has asthma!! Wed night was quite a challenge giving Ethan treatments and taking care of Micah and me having to pump. We did not get much sleep and Ethan had to miss school. I had to get him to the doctor yesterday and we now have to start a 6 week regimen of medications, which will not be much fun, but will hopefully get him to stop being so sick. He also had his flu shot on Monday, which will eventually help with all of the colds too.

I am so happy to have our complete family! We are working on getting some pictures up. We have still not found our camera and may have to go out and buy one. Matt's mom has been trying to take pictures whenever she comes over, so I'm attaching a couple of those. Matt got a few on his cell phone, so we are going to try to work on getting those on the computer so that I can post them. I promise we will try and get them as soon as possible!! I want to thank you again for all of your support over the last 9 months!! We have this wonderful miracle in our lives because of all of the prayers and support. Thanks!

Introducing Micah Andrew

I realized that I never put the announcement of his birth, so here goes...

Micah Andrew arrived on Oct. 13, 2008 at 9:39pm. He weighed 8lbs 13oz and measured 21.5 inches long.

The extra special thing about his birth date is that it was the day that Ethan came home from the hospital 4 years earlier! We have now been blessed twice on Oct. 13.

I was admitted into the hospital at about 8am and we began to induce at about 9 am. Contractions had already begun that morning, so once the induction started they continued to become stronger. Eventually I was checked and I had only dilated to 2cm, but we still decided to go ahead with an epidural so that they could break my water and because Micah heart rate kept going up really high and we had to do some other things to help to keep him calm.

I had finally relaxed myself enough to take a small rest, but in that time I apparently had several very close contractions. Before I knew it there were several nurses standing over me telling me to roll over and throwing an oxygen mask on my face. Micah's heart rate dropped incredibly low. Luckily, with the intervention we were able to get his heart rate back to normal. It was a very scary process for both Matt and I. It was also really stressful for our parents. Once his heart rate became normal it stayed there. I was checked again for dilation and I was at about 3.5 cm. The contractions were coming regularly and I was feeling a lot of pressure. So, they checked me at about 8pm and I was still only 3.5.

The doctor came in to confirm it and at about 9pm he said "let's go have a baby". It took me a second to realize that he meant it was time for a c-section. After 12 hours of labor, I was not progressing and I was extremely exhausted. As soon as the doctor left the room, I broke down and cried. Matt and my mom worked to calm me down and I soon realized it was for the best and that I would have my baby in less than an hour. They wheeled me down the hallway and got me prepped and then Matt was brought in. Within a few minutes we heard the most wonderful sound we could hear, our little Micah let out a nice strong cry. We didn't get to hear a true cry from Ethan until he was over a month old. I, of course, began to cry tears of joy. They brought him over and he was so handsome! Matt went with him to the next room while they prepped him and he got some pictures of him.

Then they brought him over to us and let Matt hold him and me kiss him. Matt was able to wheel him into the recovery room. They tested Micah for his sugars and since they were low, they had to take him to the nursery for about 4 hours. I was so exhausted at that point that I could barely keep my eyes open. I visited with my parents, Matt's mom and Ethan before they wheeled me down to my room.

It had been a very long day, but it was one of the happiest days of my life. After a very long pregnancy, I was so happy to have my little tiny Micah in my arms! We would have never made it there without all of you! Thank you!

Here is the link to the pictures they took at the hospital when Micah was about 14 hours old :) http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=70950420-a130-42b0-a6cf-a52c5da3937f

We are working on getting some more pictures to you, but we seem to have misplaced our digital camera. Between being completely exhausted at the hospital and having a million things to bring home, the camera has disappeared. Luckily, we had not really had too many pics on it, but it is still pretty disappointing that we may have to buy a new one. So, we will get pics as soon as we can. Things are going well. We are still very tired, while trying to get the schedule down. We have had some feeding issues, which has been very frustrating to both Micah and I. Poor Matt feels as if there is nothing he can do to help us. I'm hoping it gets better, otherwise we'll have to make a change soon. He seems to be very happy to be at home, almost like he recognized it. Ethan is having a good time getting to know his brother and even the reasons for his cries. He spent the night at his great uncle and aunt's house on Friday night, which helped Matt and I to have a night to just get some routines down and even sleep in!!! That happened for the first time in months for me. Of course, it was not like it meant much after being up a few times in the night, but it was better than nothing :)

I am not healing quite as fast as I would like. I've been told my a lot of people that they would do a c-section again and didn't think the healing was bad, but I have not found that to be true. I am still in a lot of pain and sleeping is still horrible. I can't seem to get into a position that doesn't cause pain, then once I get down, it is almost impossible for me to get up without pain. I have until next week before I'm supposed to go into the doctor, but I may try to go in earlier if this doesn't get better. I've also been quite swollen. It is getting better, but it is still very uncomfortable and not helping with the whole pain thing. I knew this would be a hard process but, I'm really just ready to finally feel normal! I'm tired of feeling so sore all of the time, especially while trying to take care of a 4 year old and a newborn. Hopefully, as the week goes on things will get better faster. I guess we'll see!

I hope that you all like the hospital pictures and like I said, hopefully we'll have some new ones to share whenever we find our camera or buy a new one!

Getting Induced Monday!!

I had my ultrasound today to check on the size of the baby and he is a whopping 8lbs 4oz, give or take 1/2 a pound! The tech actually said, wow you are all baby and I said yes I am! My belly is solid with baby everywhere I touch! Everything still looks good with the baby, she even said his head size was good for his gestation, which made me happy! We got to see him opening up his mouth searching for his thumb, and then we saw his thumb go in and he started to suck on it! We also saw him holding his own foot, which was really cool to see too :) It is so amazing that we have technology that allows us a glimpse of life in the womb.

We saw the doctor right after and he was still surprised to see me there still pregnant. He too, didn't think we would get this far, so we are all pretty happy we've made it this far. He checked me and I am still just about 1cm dilated, so no major change there. He checked to see if he could feel any part of the cerclage and he couldn't, so he was a little more hopeful this time that maybe he did get it all, which was great news to me. So, since the baby was not over 9lbs and he could not feel the cerclage, we will induce on Monday, providing nothing happens this weekend!! We are not sure what time, but they will call us very early in the morning to give us the time we need to be there. We still can't believe it is the 4 year anniversary of Ethan's homecoming from the hospital! It was meant to be.

If the induction doesn't work, for whatever reason, we will proceed with a c-section. I'm happy to be able to at least try to deliver without a c-section. Hopefully, it will work and we won't have to go the surgery route, but we are at least prepared if that is what we need to do. We are very excited to know that we are only a couple of days away! I'm still letting it all sink in that we are finally at the point that we will see this little guy. It has been such a good day and I am so happy!

Thanks again for all of your continued prayers and support. We'll keep you updated if anything changes this weekend, otherwise the next message will be our announcement!

March of Dimes Chef's Auction

We are only about 3 weeks away from the March of Dimes Chef's Auction. I have a small request of you. They are in need of some items for the auction, both the live and the silent auctions. If you click on the right hand side where I have the banner for the chef's auction it will take you to the website with all of the information for the evening.

I am asking to see if you or someone you know would have an item or service that you could donate to the auction. I would need you to either contact me or use the contact info on their webpage to donate something. Over the years there have been many different things donated from gift certificates, gift baskets, weekend getaways, jewelry, etc. All of the proceeds from the auction goes to benefit the March of Dimes in the fight against prematurity and infant mortality.

The event itself is a wonderful evening of food tasting, bidding and entertainment. The list of area chefs that will be joining us this year are on the webpage for the event, there is also going to be wine tasting this year. There are still some tickets available if you would be interested, but they are going fast.

If you have something or know someone that could donate something, please email me at the email on the right hand side of the blog. You could also contact the local March of Dimes office using the contact information on their website.

Thank you for considering an item donation for such a meaningful cause!

Things are happening a little earlier...

I called the doctor's office today to confirm the day my dr. is on call next week, so that Matt could plan with work. It turns out he is on call on Monday, he couldn't remember which day when we talked to him yesterday. So, I gave the situation and said that I wasn't scheduled for my next appointment until Tuesday and he wanted to move forward next week and not wait until 40 weeks. So, I am now going in for my ultrasound this Friday and then we'll see him right after to make the decision on what to do on Monday.

I certainly don't mind it being a couple of days earlier than we thought :) He had originally told us that he thought he was on call on Wed, so we were thinking things would happen on Wed. The cool thing about it happening on Monday is that October 13 is the anniversary of Ethan's homecoming from the hospital 4 years ago! Matt and I were both pretty excited that we could have the baby on the same day, it's like it ties everything together for our family :)

Ethan is pretty excited about him coming soon! He asks me everyday when the baby can come. I've been talking to him about the hospital and that I will have to stay there for a few days with the baby before we can come home. He seems to understand, because he has noticed that I have a bunch of stuff packed and ready to go whenever I need it. He tends to point out my makeup and shower bags that are on the counter in the bathroom and he says that I need them for the hospital (hostipal, in his words). He has also decided that the baby must be stuck! He keeps asking to kiss the baby and then he says he's stuck. That then leads us into telling the baby to come out and that we want to see him :) Ethan even said that he loves his brother tonight after giving my belly a kiss! I'm loving his reactions to all of this and I'm so excited to be making our family a little bigger :) I think he'll make a great big brother.

We are so excited to be less than a week away at this point! We are really hoping that he decides to do something for us on the 13th, because we are both ready. Physically, this has been getting more and more difficult on me. I know it would be hard in a normal situation, but I am also still recovering from 5 months of bedrest, which compounds all of the aches and pains even more. I'm thankful to at least have had another 2 weeks past my cerclage removal to help me build up some of my strength. I'm better than I was 3 weeks ago when I first started getting up and walking, but I will still have some more work to do. I still have to learn how to drive again :) I have not driven since April 21st! I'm actually quite scared to do it again, because I fear my reaction times will not be good enough between my brain to my feet. I guess we'll see once he comes and I can get out and practice in the neighborhood a little :)

We are looking forward to the next couple of days and still hoping that I may go into labor on my own in the next few days :) Thanks again for all of your support, we wouldn't be here without all of you supporting us. We'll keep you updated!

38 Week Appointment!

Well, I never thought I would make it to this appointment and I did. Things are still holding steady at 1 cm. I really have not had any contractions to help me dilate any more than that. The doctor is also still thinking that he may have left too much of the stitch in, be we are still not sure since I haven't had any contractions. If I was contracting and there was still no change, it would tell us a little more. But, as it stands we don't know what is going on other than this little guy not being ready yet.

I have gotten to the point now, after feeling a little nervous last week, that all I want is a healthy, strong baby, not matter how he comes to us. As much as I would like to avoid a c-section, we both know that it is a huge possibility and it is now ok in my mind :) If I don't go into labor on my own this week, I will go back to the doctor next week and get an ultrasound to check his growth. If he does not look too big, we will go ahead and schedule an induction. If he looks to big, we will schedule a c-section. Either way, it will happen sometime next week, whenever my doc is on call. I'm going to call tomorrow to see which day he is one call, so that we can have a plan for Matt and work in place. And it will also help us to plan for Ethan to be taken care of.

I figure, the baby must need the extra time for a reason, so we'll let him have it. I'm incredibly sore, but I will keep doing what I've been doing to get myself to next week, if I need to. We went to the mall for a little tonight to walk and I am completely exhausted. It still amazes me how much work it takes for me to walk around. I don't necessarily feel a lot of it when I'm doing the walking, it all comes after I sit down for the first time. I have a difficult time getting up afterwards, so right now I'm relaxing on the couch and trying not to feel to sore :)

We'll keep you updated on how things progress over the next couple of days, if there is anything to update :)

On the right hand side of the blog, you'll notice a banner for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and Day. I decided to put it there, because I personally know several women that have had a miscarriage, 3 being in the past year and I also personally know several women that have lost an infant, many I have met through the March of Dimes March for Babies committee, the others I have met online. I also know that it could have been us twice. We could have lost Ethan and we could have lost this baby. We are so thankful that we didn't, but I feel it is important to make people aware that this is happening everyday, many of the reasons are unknown. For more information, please click on the banner that takes you to the site for Oct. 15, which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.

Here is a video of my belly with the little monkey inside moving around. Most of the movement is him, very little is of my breathing movements. About halfway through there is a big kick to the left. Most of it is of him just rolling around, which is pretty much what he does now. Sorry if it is a little long. I was trying to get a kick or two :)

The Sickness is Spreading...Not a Good Time for This!

Ethan is slowly getting better with all of his medicine doing its job. He barely ate yesterday, which usually happens with being on albuterol and prednosone. We tried to get him into bed several times last night, with midnight being the last time. The medication makes him extremely hyper the second day of sickness, so we end up having a kid playing in the middle of the night!!

Last night, Matt finally caught the cold also. It doesn't help that he is the one having to get up multiple times during the night to take care of Ethan right now. He's pretty miserable and I am trying to work hard to not become sick also. It's hard because the things I would normally do to help me prevent myself from getting sick cannot be done right now. I can't even drink a big glass of orange juice, like I usually do! So, I'm trying to stay rested and keep myself going, but I'm not sure if it is working. I'm really hoping that the symptoms that I think are coming on are just due to my allergies that I have been dealing with all week.

This is not a good time for this family to be sick! I told Matt that he has to get better quick, so that he can still participate in the birth safely, especially if it is a c-section. He is the only one I want with me and I don't want to have to decide on someone else to be there. We are nearing the end now and I want us all healthy for this little guy to come :)

I'm getting more and more anxious about his birth and wanting him to be healthy. I thought this feeling would go away once I became full-term and here I am, almost 38 weeks and still scared that something bad will happen to him. I know that the feeling will never go away, because it never has with Ethan and I guess that is part of being a parent. I just wish that I could relax a little about the birth. But, again I'm guessing that is normal for all pregnant women about to give birth :) I'll let you know what I find out from the doctor on Monday. We'll probably come up with a plan for the next week or so, if I don't go into labor on my own. If I didn't have gestational diabetes, I would be fine with just waiting it out, but I know that there can be more risks if we do wait it out. So, we'll see what he decides to do.

Another Bad Cold

Ethan caught another cold this week! I really don't think the weather helped the situation. With the drastic change in temperature, his little lungs have a hard time recovering. He started to get sick Wed and we were hoping it would be a small cold that would move on quickly. Very wishful thinking!!!! We really don't look forward to the fall and the winter each year, as every cold turns into a full on asthma attack.

He is needing breathing treatments every 1-2 hours, which means not much sleeping happens the first night of the asthma attack. He came down to me last night a little before 2 a.m. and he wanted to sleep in my bed for a little bit. So, I let him in and very quickly it felt like there was a fire in my bed. He had a pretty good fever going, so I had to get Matt to find out if he had given him any medicine yet. We gave him Motrin with the hopes that it would knock him out like it usually does. But, instead it lead him into being awake until after 3 sometime.

Once again we had some plans for the weekend that had to be cancelled. He was going to stay the night at his Great Aunt and Uncle's house tonight and then be a part of the Juvenile Diabetes walk tomorrow. He was really excited about it, but with him as sick as he is, we could not send him. So, we have it planned that he will get to stay the night there sometime soon :)

Over the years, Matt and I have learned that we can't count on our plans sticking during the fall and winter, sometimes even the spring. We have even gotten to the point sometimes that we don't tell him our plans in hopes that he won't get sick. I know it is superstitious, but sometimes it is all we have :) Hopefully, as he grows older, he will grow out of it.

As he continues to get older his lung disease from his prematurity will become less and less, so that will help him to not have as severe attacks. The first year that he had asthma was the worst, as he was hospitalized twice, so we are doing much better than that. Luckily, we know what we are looking for! I called the doctor's office this morning and asked for some prednosone and we already got his first dose in him, which should help tremendously.

When we talk to the doctor next week for the decision about Ethan's daily meds, I'm going to check on possible allergies. At first, I didn't think it was caused by allergies, but the last time Ethan was sick, I was sneezing and coughing with a runny nose due to allergies and the same thing happened this week. I have been pretty miserable this week because of the allergies that have come up with the weather shift this week. So, maybe he and I have some of the same allergies, I guess we'll see!

Still no news on the baby front! I was cramping a lot more yesterday, which I was told could be early labor or a false start of labor. So, no major change other than I think he may have slightly dropped, as I have felt more pressure! I'm currently watching the show Birth Day and it is about women with gestational diabetes and the delivery of large babies. One woman actually had a premature baby with the first pregnancy, so I'm going to watch and see what may come my way :)

Progress Update

Well, we are still waiting :) There are still no major signs of impending birth! I have had a little more tightening over the past few days, but nothing painful and nothing timable. I have however, become more and more exhausted. I have been taking two small naps a day lately, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Carrying the weight has been difficult on me over the past couple of days. I don't think that being as short as I am is really helping much!! I've also had a lot more back pain because of the weight of my belly sticking out so far and my back is trying to compensate for it. It's so funny how getting up from the couch or even the bed is so much more difficult. I'm amazed at how quickly it has all changed in just a couple of days!!

The baby is still moving well and I feel every movement. My belly is completely solid and pretty much everywhere you touch, you can feel him. It is so strange to know how big he must be :) So far, we have the record of the smallest grandchild on my side of the family and we are hoping not to also have the biggest grandchild!! The record holder right now was 8lb 12oz, so I guess we'll see where this little guy (or should I say big guy) fits in :)

Overall, we are still hanging in here and becoming more and more impatient to meet him :) Ethan is getting more and more excited each day also! I'm so happy to be at my due date month, finally!! We will keep you updated and as I said before, I go to the doctor on Monday.