Birthday Party Extravaganza - Getting Ready

For the last few MONTHS, Jennifer has been planning the babies birthday party. It is tomorrow! The theme is cookies and milk with Elmo and Cookie Monster. Jennifer has gotten all the decor ready to go. We both have been baking cookies all day! All of our guest should be in for a great treat. Only one problem.

Baby sick - no.

Balloons all popped - no.

The milk is spoiled - no.

The cookies are not edible - no.

How's this for a party pooper - we got 2 1/2 inches of snow. Jennifer loves snow and wants it to snow all the time - just not now! What to do, What to do? I think we have gotten past the disappointment of weather interfering with the party. Party is on whether we have guests or not. Jennifer, Ellie, Evan, Charlotte and I will all be there. My brother said it would take more than a lousy couple inches to keep him away - he's up for an adventure.

Reflecting - Day 3-8 in the hospital

On day three, we finally got some answers. We had an ok night that was filled with a little less interruptions, but still in the hospital. That morning her perinatologist (special high risk baby doctor) came by to check on the babies. They did a full work up and looked closely at each baby. They seemed to be doing great, but they were concerned with Jennifer's condition. Her BP was not getting any better and they found a stronger trace of protein in her pee test. These two combined caused the diagnosis of preelampsia. I am not a doctor, don't play one on TV, and did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express so I will not even try to explain all the details of this diagnosis, but here are the basics. It's not good. Her body was not reacting well to being pregnant. If she only had one baby, it could be tolerated longer but since her pregnancy was high risk it was a serious issue. Then the difficult news. Best case scenario is we would stay in the hospital and monitor her condition for as long as she could or at least until the babies had more time to develop. They set a target of getting to 30-34 weeks. Worst case scenario is her case goes from mild to severe and they have to go in and get the babies out. The only cure for preeclampsia is not being pregnant. Of course we new the issues with 13 week premature babies and Jennifer having worked at Children's Health Care of Atlanta knew exactly the issues we could face. We can stay in the hospital for 6-8 weeks, right? The beds were extremely uncomfortable, food although readily available was still hospital food (that's her comment - I liked it), our other babies (Phoenix and Zona) were stuck at home with out us, I had to figure out how to manage work and a sick wife, and so on. We were both mentally prepared to camp out for a few weeks.

I set her up as comfortable as possible. She had her home pillow, friends had brought magazines and books, she had some flowers, and of course her laptop (NEGAMC has wifi). Through the week I worked a little from the hospital and a little from the office. I was limited because I could get called at anytime to come in for delivery. Not much changed through the week. Her BP did not get too bad but it was not getting any better. The doctors made rounds but had little information except for the perinatologist - he was great. They came about every other day to check out the babies and they had not seen anything alarming yet. It was really neat to see them that often. They were pretty high tech. I think it was a comforting for Jennifer to see the ultrasounds (since that's what she did for a living for 9 years).

Jenn playing on the computer

Now we are up to Saturday the 14th - Valentines Day or better than that MY Birthday! Her BP had risen and the latest pee test showed more protein. This was not good - her condition was getting worse and in a short period of time. The perinatolgist came in to check her and they estimated that the girls would weigh about 2lb 2oz and that Evan might be a little smaller. They were also concerned with the cord flow to Evan so they made the decision to plan go ahead and deliver the babies. They set the delivery for 1pm Sunday afternoon!!!

Celebrating my birthday Feb. 14th 2009

Reflecting - Day two in the Hospital

This is a continuation of yesterdays posting...

It was a long night. Jennifer woke up about every 3 hrs and was having to collect her pee. If you have ever been pregnant or dealt with a pregnant wife, you know how many times they have to pee. This meant every time she got up - I got up. This was no problem since it was Sunday. I was able to get someone to cover my Sunday School Class at church (I teach a young adults class), so my schedule was clear. Jennifer did not have anything on her schedule either, so we had a day of relaxation in the hospital - if there is such a thing. One positive to note, is that the food at NEGA medical center is pretty good. At least I liked it. Jennifer was able to get the offered meal or just about anything she wanted. This was a welcomed change from the empty fridge and cupboard at the house or at least her ever changing pregnant mind. She really never had an appetite so the joys of pregnant eating were a miss. We finally got a visit from the doctor and he said that we should be going home in a day or two - yeah. They were just going to run some test to see why the BP had risen. The coolest thing was they hooked up heart monitors every morning and every night. Here's a picture of Jennifer all hooked up to the monitors.

It took several minutes and sometimes hours for the nurses to get just 5 minutes of heart tones. It was an adventure but we toughed it out in hopes of going home soon.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - everything changes!

Closing in on a year!

We have officially started the one year birthday count down - just 8 days away! The reflecting has already started, which brings me to today's topic. It was a year ago today when we got some difficult news. Jennifer's pregnancy had it's ups and downs, but we were not expecting her to get hospitalized. The day before (Friday the 6th) we had a routine visit and her BP was fine but had a little protein in her urine. The Dr. did not seem too concerned, but as we were checking out he mentioned he was on call that weekend and he wanted us to come to the hospital to get another BP check. No problem - right? All we had planned that day was just a baby shower - all of our closest friends were coming into town. Jennifer was very proactive with planning the baby showers early. We knew that we would not go full term with the pregnancy so we were having showers at weeks 26, 27, and 28. I guess we did not plan early enough. We both made it to the first one, I made it to the second one and she gave birth about an hour before the third one started - needless to say we both missed that one!
My memory of that morning is crystal clear. We got to the hospital around 10am and expected to run right in get a BP check and run right out. This proved to be the first wrong thought of the day. I was very confused and frustrated. Why were we stuck in the registration room going through an extensive Q&A session? I told the poor lady (that I was definitely rude too) that this was not necessary - just check her BP so we can leave. We finally finished that process and was put into an exam room. They checked her BP - a little high - of course we were both ready to scream - we had been there for over an hour. If they had checked mine, we both would have been admitted. They then told us that she would have to stay for a couple hours. They wanted to monitor her BP and see how the babies were doing. They attempted for several minutes to get the babies' heart beats but it was difficult since we had a little rock band in her belly. A couple hours pass and her BP was not improving - getting worse. They then informed us that they were probably going to keep her overnight and moved us to another room - a overnight room. I called our friends to let them know the details and that I would be home as soon as I can. Jennifer's Mom and Dad came down and I went home. When I got to my house I was surprised by some of our friends (the Lindlers and the Smiths). Daniel Smith was in the back yard entertaining his sons (Calvin and Colin) and the Lindler kids (Orie, Bradley, and Lou). Elizabeth Smith was upstairs cleaning some baby toys they had brought for us to borrow and Kevin and Ashley Lindler were in the nursery putting together two matching cribs that they were letting us borrow. I can't thank them enough for all their help. I got a quick shower and then it was off to see the rest of our friends. It was great getting to spend time with friends, but I could not fully enjoy it knowing Jennifer was in the hospital and not knowing really why. Here are some pictures of me opening some gifts. Can't you just hear the oohs and ahhs!

Yes - I'm holding up breast cream!

I sure wish Jennifer was here!

While I was gone they told Jennifer she was going to stay a couple nights or at least until they could get her blood pressure under control. They also came in and gave her a steroid shot. The shot was to help strengthen the babies lungs. Her dad asked the nurse if she was having the babies tonight and she told him this was just in case they would be born prematurely. I left the baby shower, ran home, and packed a couple things. I did not even consider her being hospitalized for more than a couple nights. By the time I got back to the hospital, Jennifer was in pretty good shape. She was a little worried but was not as bad as when I left her. We both got comfortable and prepared ourselves for a night in the hospital. Here's a picture of the pregnant mother in her new room.



The good news is that the women's center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center was new and had only been open for a few months. The room was nice it had a bed for me and Jennifer still has nightmares about how uncomfortable her bed was. They even brought her a blow-up waffle mattress but it did not help. She did receive some comfort from our first night nurse. Her name is Cindy (we nick named her Cindy Lou Who - but she never knew it). She and Jennifer went to church together when they were growing up. She was the best and a God sent. I brought most of the clothes that we got at the shower with me to the hospital so she could see them. It really cheered her up.
The day ended so much different than it started.

Standing Tall

What a sight - seeing all three stand up on their own. Charlotte has taken a odd step back. She was the first to crawl and was standing not long after that, but here recently she has preferred to kneel instead of stand. Ellie has gone from barely crawling (Christmas time) to pulling herself up on anything she can get her hands on. Evan is more careful with his standing but his calculated moves pay off and he usually flashes a big grin to announce his accomplishment. Ellie and Evan are in competition to see who will walk first. They both will navigate around whatever they are standing against with little side steps. I have caught Ellie letting go but usually only for a second or two. Here are some more pictures of the babies standing for attention.


Remember the "construction zone" they were getting into in the last post? I still have not finished the project and look what I get - two more tattle tails. Thanks for getting me in trouble Ellie and Charlotte!