Christina and Family: Where has all the fluid gone?

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Where has all the fluid gone?

Well, I will probably call some of you and tell you about this, but if I don't, just know I'm still trying to digest it all and make sense of it. Today I saw the perinatologist. Definately have low fluid. Very low. Today they were only measuring me at 1 cm. I mentioned previously that at 5 cm they get concerned about it. So, the reasons for low fluid could be one of three things, none of which they can confirm is causing it at this point. It could be that the membranes have ruptured. It could be a poor functioning placenta (as is with placenta previa). The other thing it could be is something being wrong with the baby. Very hard to see anything in the ultrasound, but the parinatologist could make out things obviously being well trained. The baby does have a stomach, bladder, kidneys, and ureters, which is very good in the sense that hopefully the low amniotic fluid is not due to something being wrong with the baby. Is it the placenta? No way to tell. The umbilical cord looked good and it's placement. The placenta is covering about half of the cervix and may never move since it hasn't yet. (But there's alwasy still a chance.) This will guarantee a c-section delivery. No big surprise there, already planning on one. I don't know if my water has broken. The doc did do a test yesterday to see if they had, and it was negative, but that doesn't mean it hasn't. There has to be fluid present to get a positive result. There just may not have been any leaking at the time. With me bleeding off and on for the past five weeks, I have no clue what I'm leaking when I'm leaking! Well, you know. So, anyways. The good news about ruptured membranes is that it can heal on it's own. Not always, but it could. The bad news is that it can lead to infection. If they have broken and all goes well up to 23 weeks, they will admit me to the hospital then and keep an eye on me. The earliest they want to deliver the baby would be 24 weeks. I will be 22 weeks on Friday. Of course they want to keep the baby in there as long as possible as long as all is going well. Because we don't know what is causing the fluid to be low, we watch for everything. I will take my temp every day to watch for fever. Any abdominal tenderness is a warning sign. Now if I have any bleeding I have to call the doctor and not wait it out. There's many things that could go wrong with the baby because of low amniotic fluid as well. The lungs may never develop properly which wouldn't allow him to breathe. He could compress his cord which wouldn't have a favorable outcome. And if he's always stuck in the same position, he doesn't get to move his arms and legs around and may need physical therapy after birth to get his muscle working properly, it they function at all. Of course everything could be just fine with the baby and we just keep watching and monitoring. But the chances of having a premie are high too. If I could get the little guy (or girl) to just hang on a couple more weeks until they do another ultrasound, I think I'll be able to breathe. And once again we do not know what we are having at the moment. The tech today said she was pretty sure it was a girl, but not 100% becuase of the difficulty of making things out, but she said three white lines usually means a girl. The last ultrasound we had was at the hospital and she said because they (in the ER) don't do alot of OB ultrasounds, they may not have been correct in prediciting the sex. So, right now, who knows. All I want now is for the baby to be ok, hang in there as long as possible and have the least amount of problems. I think I can handle the NICU again (although it could be a lot longer of a stay) and even handle having another child with disabilites. Just hang in there little one! I know a lot of this can be hard to handle at first, but they always have to tell you everything so you can be prepared for anything while hoping for the best. I don't know what will happen, I just know everything will be ok and that we will be taken care of even if Todd is gone when all this happens. My next ultrasound is June 10th. Todd will leave June 16th for Washington. He doesn't get back until July 18th. Everything will be good. I'm not on bedrest right now, thank goodness. I'm allowed to go about my everyday buisness, just no strenous exercise, heavy lifting, pelvic rest, and have the doctors permission to be lazy.

1 comment:

edsajadaha05 said...: Oh my! I hope that everything goes well. We will always pray for you. How are the kids doing?
And Todd?; May 22, 2008 at 8:22 AM

Funny Mishaps

November 2011

During Primary, the song leader is trying to teach a song about the Nativity. She asks, who is Jesus's mother? Someone answers, "Mary". Then she asks, who is Jesus's father? Karsten (6) replies, "Joseph Smith".

September 2011

Karsten (6) asks me "how can you tell if a baby is a boy or a girl when they are born.?" I reply, "How do you think you can tell the difference between a boy and a girl." Karsten replies, "their hair." I then tell him that pretty much all babies either don't have hair or it's really short and to think of another way. Karsten then replies, "by their eyelashes." I tell Karsten everyone has eyelashes! Trying to get him to think harder, I ask him what's different around their bottom areas. Karsten says, "oh, their diapers!" (Just for the record, he finally knows how you can tell the difference between a boy baby and a girl baby!)

August 2011

Karsten (6) comes into the house yelling for a bandaid. I ask him what for. His response: "Blood leakin'."

April 2010

Karsten (5) informs me that when it's his turn on the computer he is going to go on YouTube and look up cheat codes. Where do they learn these things? :)

March 2010

As we are driving down the road, Dane (7) sees a sign that says "Beer and Wine". He then asks, "Why does that sign say Beer and Wine?" He goes on to answer himself by saying, "It must be because after they drink beer they w(h)ine."

March 2010

Karsten (4) tells me, "Mom, if you type in the password for the computer, I'll let you play with me." The next day he comes up with this one: "Mom, I'll give you this if you let me play the computer." I ask him, "What do you got?" Karsten replies, "An M&M." Apparently, my son has been trying to bribe me to let him to play the computer lately.

August 2009
Dane (7): Mom, I'm bored.
Me: Why don't you take a nap?
Dane: I'm too tired to take a nap.

May 2009
At Walmart I tell Alex (11) he can get some crystal light. So off he goes to find some and brings back every flavor they sell! Needless to say we did talk him into choosing just two. And later on that same trip I tell the boys they can have a Hot Wheel. Alex took down almost all the cars off the racks looking for a police car. Never let Alex shop alone!

May 2009
At Matt and Denise's house, I ask Karsten (4) if he wants a frozen burrito for lunch. He replies, "No, I want it cooked."

May 2009
As we are traveling down to New Mexico, I look in my rear view mirror and see Karsten (4) with his finger in his nose. I asked him if he was picking his nose and he said, "No, I'm just checking."

April 2009
I asked Karsten (4) to open up the washer and take the clothes out and put them in the dryer. (We have a front loader.) So he goes into the pantry, opens up the washer, grabs a few clothes, and asks, "Where do I put them?" I tell him, "In the dryer." He then asks, "This dryer?" As if there are two or three dryers in the pantry and he has to ask which one to use!

March 2009
Karsten (4) was spotlighted this past Sunday for his birthday and was sung to as well. His birthday is this upcoming Saturday (the 28th). Well, since they sung to him he insists that he is already four years old and no one is going to convince him otherwise.

March 2009
Karsten (3) is obsessed with light sabres. Everything is a light sabre. Only he calls them light savers. So, I tried teaching how to properly say light sabre. I was telling him to say sa-bre. And he was thinking I was telling him to SAY ber. So he would just say ber. Ok, if that really didn't confuse you, then you get the joke. It was quite funny.

February 2009
Emily (8) wakes up and tells me her stomach hurts and she doesn't want to go to school (like we've never tried this). I tell her that she needs to get up and get ready for school. She wines a little and complains about her stomach, but we moms know better. I tell her to get out of bed again and she then says, "Well, Kate got to stay home on Friday." (Kate faked sick the Friday previous.) I then tell Emily, "Yes, and she had to clean all day too." Emily jumps out of bed (miraculously healed somehow) and gets ready for school. Can't pass the "my stomach hurts" one on this old pro!

February 2009
We recently got a handicap parking pass for Alex so we can park in the handicap spots now. Every where we go Karsten (3) has to point out the handicap spots. The funny part about it is that each time he sees one it's like he's never seen one before. He sounds so amazed when he points them out.

February 2009
Karsten (3) has been sick with a cold and it has gone to his eyes. When he woke up this morning I told him that I was wondering if he had pink eye. He then goes into the bathroom, looks in the mirror, and says, "No, they're still blue."

December 2008
Karsten (3) is getting himself dressed and puts his shoes on without socks. I tell him to take his shoes off and put his socks on first. He looks up at me and says, "Mom, can we pretend that I am wearing socks?" Who can't keep from laughing with a response like that!

November 2008
Alex (10) is playing with the neighbor girl. She tells Alex that her dad caught a mouse and put it in a jar. They go over to her house and get the jar with the mouse in it. They bring it to our house. Alex wants to see if Moses could catch the mouse. So he gets Moses and then lets the mouse out of the jar. Moses chases the mouse into Alex's bedroom where it quickly disappears. Needless to say, the mouse was found later that night in Alex's dresser.

October 14, 2008
I am in the bathroom doing my hair. Seth (4 mos) is lying in his crib and Dane is happily watching him. All of a sudden Dane (5) runs into the bathroom and yells, "Mom! Seth said his first word!" I then ask him what Seth said. Dane replies, "Meow".

October 14, 2008
Todd and I are sitting on the couch when from behind I hear Karsten say, "Look, I have nipples!" I turn around to look and Karsten has placed an open hamburger bun on his chest. Now I've heard of a coconut bra, but a hamburger bun bra?

September 23, 2008
Todd and I are talking to Kate (9) and discussing human anatomy when we ask her if she knows where babies grew inside the mommy. At first she replies, "in the kidneys". Then she thinks about it for a minute and then says, "oh, the uterus, I thought that was the name of a planet."

September 2008
On the way to school, Kate (9) and Emily (7) are discussing what they are learning in school. Kate mentions that they are learning about the water cycle. Emily comments that she has already learned that. Kate has to flaunt her newly acquired knowledge by asking Emily if she knows what condensation, evaporation, and participation is? I couldn't help but laugh and asked her if she meant precipitation.