What a crazy month....

Thank goodness July is over and August seems to be a little less eventful. July started out great, my parents and four younger brother came out here to visit for a week and we had a great time. However, during their stay I started having quite a few contractions with cramping that would come and go. When they left it started happening more frequently so I scheduled to see my O.B. to make sure it wasn't anything to be worried about. (I was only 30 weeks along so I was a little apprehensive.) My doctor checked me and I had dilated to a centimeter. Between that and the consistent contractions, she put me on bed rest and wanted me to get a series of two steroid shots (for the baby's lungs) in case the baby decided to come early. She warned me that the steroid shots could elevate my blood sugar so I needed to keep a close eye on it. Soon after I got the shot and returned home the contractions were more frequent and they were becoming more uncomfortable. I called my doctor and she told me to go to the hospital.

Because I was contracting every 2-3 minutes when we got there and the pain was increasing, they started giving me IV fluids. At the time I was wishing that I could have an epidural as the pain was as bad or worse as when I delivered Ryan, but we obviously didn't want our baby to come quite yet. We checked my blood sugar frequently and it kept rising despite the amount of insulin I was giving myself. I told the nurses that I didn't think my insulin pump was giving me any insulin so they ended up starting me on IV insulin.

The doctor checked me again, and I had dilated to a 2+. They then gave me some nifedipine, an antihypertensive that also acts as a tocolytic (it stops/slows the contractions). By around 4:00 a.m. the contractions started to ease up and my blood sugar returned to normal. The next day I was transferred to the antepartum unit and was told I needed to stay another night because I still needed to get another dose of the steroid shot and they wanted to keep an eye on the contractions and my blood sugars. Fortunately I was able to go home the next day on strict bed rest. We were so worried about what we were going to do with Ryan for the next three weeks. Eric was on a tough rotation; he didn't get home till late in the evening most nights so I knew he couldn't help much. In addition, the time he was home he needed to work on residency applications.

The night I got home we had a really bad night. Ryan ended up rolling out of his toddler bed and ended up in our bed. And the next morning he wouldn't climb off our bed without my help (which he usually does) and seemed to be sore from his fall from the previous night. Now I can see why he was sore. (I'll explain later)

Anyway, my mom offered to come out to take care of us, but we figured it was just a long time to have her be away from my younger brothers. My good friend Jana just happened to have a flight booked to Utah and offered to take Ryan with her. (What a saint!) So after a lot of consideration we decided it would be best for Ryan to go with Jana to visit family for a while. He stayed for two-and-a-half weeks and had a great time with his grandparents and extended family. My mom flew back out here with Ryan and stayed for a few days till I got into more of the "safe zone" (34 weeks).

While in Utah our family noticed a bump and a bruise on Ryan's right clavicle. Once he got home the bruise was gone but the bump was still there so I took him in to see the doctor. The poor kid fractured his collar bone when he fell out of his bed. They took an x-ray and everything is healing the way it should and come to find out they wouldn't have really done anything for it anyway. They may have put his arm in a sling but he would have never kept it on. Fortunately because my friend Jana noticed he would whine when she picked him up under the arms she was careful not to do it and passed the word along to our families so they were careful not to do it as well which is just what the doctor would have had us do. I just can't believe how tough he is. He whined a little about it but not as much as I would expect for it being a broken bone.

Thank you to everyone who helped us out during this crazy time. We have such great family and friends who stepped in to help watch Ryan, ran errands for me, brought us over wonderful meals, and the Young Women in our ward even put together a little activity kit with crafts, toys, and treats to help entertain Ryan. (Little did they know that they brought it over the day we found out he had broken his bone. He was in heaven!)

Anyway, I'm now 35 weeks along and I'm sure I'll probably carry this baby to week 40! We are all doing well now. It's nice to get up more to take care of my family. Eric is just busy wrapping up application stuff for residency. We are so glad to have Ryan back and to have life be a little more normal around here.