Going Home!

My echo results just came in and everything is normal! Yay! My heart rate is still in the mid 40's, so the Cardiologist asked me to briskly walk around the floor a few times to see what my heart rate does. After a couple of laps, I stopped at the nurse's station and my heart rate was 100. They were really happy with that, and the doctor said that if my heart rate has the ability to raise that quickly that there are no problems. All these heart rate issues are most likely a result of me laying in bed for the past 6 weeks. Now, I am just waiting for my OB to come up and see me one last time, then I will be discharged. Hopefully for good!

gimme a break

You'll never believe this, but I am back in the hospital tonight with
a 101.5 temp and a developing infection. We are so tired of this.
When I was discharged 2 days ago, the doctors were concerned with me
getting an infection, but there was nothing "clinically" that showed I
had one at the time so they let me go home. Well, now I do and I am
admitted for a minimum of 48 hours once my fever goes away. This is
so disapointing, and Josh and I are in need of more R&R at home.

Off to get some good Ambien sleep... Hopefully!

Lauren Green
•Sent from my iPhone•

bed rest caddy

A BIG thanks to Aunt George, Gina, and Kelsea for finding me the
perfect caddy to hang on the side of my bed. It holds everything that
I need! I am so glad you could come to Tampa this weekend; it was
great to see you!

good news!

I had a quick ultrasound today to check on the baby's positions and fluids, and we got good news!  All of the babies have plenty of fluid around them, and are moving around looking healthy and strong!!  Their sacs all look good.  Baby C has also moved into a better position.  For the past couple of weeks, she was laying head down with Baby B, both competing for the limited space.  Now, Baby C is in breech position with her head up by my ribs.  Hopefully, this was a result of me laying inverted for the past week, and is now alleviating some of the pressure on my cervix.  Next week we will have a more detailed ultrasound to measure the babies for growth and weight.  It really helped lift my spirits hearing some good news today.

1 week down!

Hey Everyone - I thought I'd try to post today to let you all know that I am still "hanging" in there!  Today marks 1 week of being in the hospital... in bed; inverted.  My feet have not touched the floor in 7 days!  It's really hard, and starting to get to me, but I don't want to post about how bad it is... you can imagine.  On the very bright side, my pregnancy seems to be going well.  Like Josh mentioned, we are getting an ultrasound sometime today, so it will be nice to check in on the babies.  I am not experiencing any more leaking, so I wonder if Baby B's sac has sealed up.  All the babies are moving around all the time, and their kicks are getting harder and stronger by the day.  Laying around, feeling them kicking is my most exciting past time.  

I think we finally got the temperature issue down.  Since I've been using the cheap thermometer, I have had only normal temperatures.  Please keep praying that I won't get any infections.  I am determined to hang on to these babies until way past viability!

I am exhausted now, so I am going to take a little nap.

words to Llve by

My friend Brooke sent me this great poem today, so I wanted to share it with you...

If God brings you to it,

 

He will bring you through it.

 

Happy moments, praise God,

 

Difficult moments, seek God.

 

Quiet moments, worship God.

 

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God.

Hanging Out in Bed

I've been leery about posting recently, because I don't want to "jinx" how things have been going, but I know that's silly.  Life has been very uneventful lately, and that is a good thing!  It's exactly what we've been praying for - a long, uneventful remainder of my pregnancy.  I've just been hanging out in bed all day, everyday!  We've got a good schedule going, so things run pretty smoothly.   I've been getting achy from all my time in bed, from my feet to my neck.  Other than that, I feel fine!  I'm still not bored, just a little restless about not being able to get up and do things.  The most difficult thing is letting go of the control I had over my house and things.  If you've never been on bed rest, you may not understand what I mean.  It's just weird not to have looked in my own refrigerator for 3 weeks now.  When I am asked, what do I want to eat, I have to then ask - What do we have??  It is also hard to not have control over when and where things are put away.  I hate clutter.  Seeing it around makes me feel very anxious lately because I can't just get up and put things away.  I hate to ask Josh, or someone else to do every little thing that comes to my mind.  So, for all of you who are not on bed rest right now, enjoy the time you get to spend cleaning or prepping dinner in your kitchen for me, because I actually miss those monotonous little tasks!

The babies are moving around more and more!  Sometimes it feels is like an internal crawling feeling.  The second I feel them, I put my hand on my stomach, but then they stop!  I'm sure my days of having constant kicking and seeing limbs moving across my stomach will be coming soon!

3D pictures

OK, I finally got around to sorting all the ultrasound pics, and Josh scanned them in for me.  The 3D images can look find of scary, because the babies are still so skinny, but here they are!  I think they're cute :)

 

This last picture shows our girls, B & C, as they always are, laying together and playing.  I bet that they will be really close to each other.

Doctor Update - I went to the doctor's AGAIN yesterday for a cervical check and... My cervix is totally closed and 2.38 cm thick, with no funneling! All good news!

Goal #1 - Get Thru February!

It is so good to be home again.  So far this week, I have been resting and getting back into work again.  I'm feeling good, but definitely taking it easy!  My day consists of waking up around 7:30am, breakfast in bed :), then doing some work while still in bed.  My mom has been coming over most afternoons to help me with lunch.  I eat lunch, then I rest and continue some work on my laptop.  Once Josh gets home from work, I usually move out into the Living Room, eat dinner on my recliner, then finish off my day watching some TV.  It seems to be working out pretty well.  This may come as a surprise to some, but I don't get bored doing this.  I have plenty of things to keep me busy.  I do miss getting dressed up in normal clothes, putting makeup on, and going out to do things, but all that can wait.  I know I will get those parts of my life back one day.  My main focus is to get through the month of February without any complications, at a bare minimum!  That's our goal.  Once February comes and goes, the babies will be much better off, and I can receive steroids to help them develop their lungs.

Mom and Dad are taking me to my doctor's appointment tomorrow.   Josh will also be meeting us at the doctor's office too.  I will be seeing my High Risk docs, and Dr. Rao, and I'll be getting more ultrasounds.  Big day!  I look forward to getting a check up and seeing the babies.

To all our wonderful supporters out there that pray for our family everyday, we sincerely THANK YOU!  Your prayers are what has gotten us this far and what gives us the strength to go on.

that sucked

I've now made it safely to recovery without any complications from the cerclage. But that really sucked! It took the anesthesiologist about 15 minutes just to get me numb. Apparently I have some curvature to my spine and no matter where she injected, it went to my right side. It was scary being in that huge OR for just this small procedure, but they all said that this was a good glimpse at what a c-section will be like.

I am still in recovery now, but feeling good. Josh brought me my only request - a chocolate milkshake. I tried to drink it slowly to make sure I didn't get nauseous but after 17 hours of not eating, that didn't really matter; I was famished!

Dr. Rao came in following the procedure, and said everything went great! He said there were no signs of preterm labor, and I look to have completely recovered from passing Baby A. The hospital Chaplin also came in to talk with us, and she said a nice prayer for us.

We are just waiting for my last IV dose of antibiotics to finish, and then we can go home!! We should be home just in time for the Super Bowl kickoff! What a weekend...

Lauren
•Sent from my iPhone•

B, C, and D are looking good

I just had more ultrasounds taken to check on Babies B, C, and D.
They all look great! This pic may be hard to see, but this is a 3D
image of Baby D covering his face. He's probably trying to get some
sleep like the rest of us!

back in the hospital...

We had a really rough night last night. All evening I had been
feeling contractions, and been very uncomfortable. Just as I was on
my way to the bedroom to get ready for bed, I felt more contractions
and knew I needed to go to the ER. Once we arrived at TGH, we went
strait up to L&D. They quickly determined that I was in labor. It
seemed as though Baby A needed to come out. At 2:24am on 1/31/09,
Baby A was stillborn. Since then, my labor signs have seemed to
subside, and the others seem fine. On Sunday, I am scheduled to get a
cerclage (a stitch in my cervix) that may possibly help me carry the
others longer. Still, there are no guarantees that I'll even make it
to 24 weeks because the doctors all say that we are in uncharted
territory. All we can do is pray that I can continue carrying the
others to viability.

I am going to try and get some more rest now. Please, please continue
your prayers for us.

Love,

Lauren & Josh
•Sent from my iPhone•

home sweet home

As you may have read on Josh's Blog, I am home from the hospital now.  I was really nervous about coming home at first.  It's been nice having all my meals delivered to me, and nurses waiting on me hand and foot, but nothing beats a good night's rest in my own bed!  Josh has been a trooper too.  He rushed around the house this morning making sure that I had everything I needed for the day at my bed side (except my morning cup of coffee :)) before leaving for work.

I want to thank everyone again for all the prayers and support.  Even though, things have not worked out exactly the way that we had hoped, I still feel at peace.  Baby A has now gone up to heaven, but I believe she is now our family's own personal angel.  I know this happened for a reason, and God has a plan for us.  We continue to ask for your prayers, and are hoping that Babies B, C, and D will grow stronger and healthier now.  My goal is to carry them 34 weeks... May 18th 2009!

ultrasound results

I couldn't wait any longer, so I pushed to have our ultrasound today.  The nurse got it scheduled, so Josh came back to the hospital from work a little early to be here for it.  We tried to prepare ourselves for the worst with what we might see.  What we got was confirmation that our sweet Baby A is not doing well.  She has absolutely no fluid around her.  With out the fluid, she will not have a chance to develop beyond where she is now.  I was advised by the doctors that it was already a miracle that I didn't go into labor last Tuesday when her sac ruptured.  That usually sends someone into labor right away, and we could have lost all the babies then.  Josh and I already consider the past week a blessing of sorts.  

Still, all we can do is wait and see, and hope that an infection doesn't occur as it could end up hurting the other babies and possibly me.  We've been informed that an infection may have already started, but we won't know until it's too late.  Needless to say, please continue saying your prayers for us and the babies.  I believe that the prayers have already really helped us deal with the situation, and give us more time with the babies than we "technically" should not have had.  

Good Morning!

Well, I am 18 weeks today!  Still not anywhere close enough to having viable babies, but I am still making good progress.  Each day seems long, but overall the weeks come and go pretty quickly.  Like Josh mentioned on his blog this morning, he has left for work, so today is my first day alone in my room.  I will have some visitors this afternoon, and I plan to keep busy by attempting to start working again.  I am all set up to work remotely from my room, and I think it will be good for my mind. 

Breakfast was gross this morning, so I supplemented with 3 bowls of cereal and a banana!  I'm feeling good now that I have some food in me, so I am off to go take a shower and get ready for the day!

Sunday

Today hasn't been too bad of a day.  It's quite an improvement from yesterday.  Yesterday, the doctor that was doing the rounds was really negative with us, and told us that anything they do from here on out was just to preserve Babies B, C, and D, and that Baby A won't make it. I realize the risks and understand what all the "statistics" say, but I still have a good outlook on things.  It's really hard to stay that positive on days like yesterday, but today is definitely better.  

I've been sleeping much better the past couple of nights.  Our new room is the furthest away from the entrance, so we don't hear a lot of noise from the hallways.  Also, I am oral antibiotics now, so I don't need to be attached to that horrible IV machine any more.  The nurses pretty much leave us alone from 11pm to 6:30am, so it's not too bad.

Josh strongly encouraged me to go for a ride in the wheelchair today even though I didn't want to.  I was glad I did, because we sat out in the sun and ate lunch.  We also found a great place to sit outside and watch the yachts come in from the bay.  I think it will also make a good place for our wonderful dogsitters to come and bring the dogs to see me.  I miss them sooo much!  I am going to try and get out at least once a day to enjoy the nice weather.  I felt so much better after I did.

Wednesday is our next sheduled ultrasound, so please keep us in your prayers.  We are still hopeful for a miracle.  

Love you all,

My Big Morning

I managed to sleep pretty well last night aside from all the IV beeping interruptions.  I was woken up by one of the residents at 6:30am, and that was followed by a visit from the whole doctor team.  They seem positive, and hope that I can just keep on doing this well for the next 12 weeks or so.

After my double portion breakfast was served, Josh took me for a wheelchair ride around the hospital.  It was weird leaving my room for the first time in 3 days.  We went down to the McDonald's that's on site and got coffee.  It was very exciting.  BTW - Isn't kind of weird that a hospital has a McDonald's on the premises?  I don't mind; it gives me somewhere to go occasionally other than the drab cafeteria.

After our walk, I was still feeling spunky, so I even took a shower!  Exciting, I know!  Now I feel refreshed, in clean clothes, and am ready to see my first scheduled visitors of the day!  Even though I am feeling really well this morning, I still know that I have to take it easy.  I don't want to over do it.

The Bed Rest Begins...

This week marks the half way point of my pregnancy! I'm glad to have made it this far with no complications, but I foresee the next 14 - 18 weeks being more difficult, as I spend more and more days in bed.

I'm getting a good glimpse at what bed rest is going to be like today. All night last night, I had bad cramping and my stomach was really hard. The first thing I did this morning was call the on-call physician to tell him what was happening. He said that is was probably just Braxton Hicks, and that I'm OK. All the cramping that I am experiencing is triggered by activity. The second I stand up my abdomen hardens. What I am feeling is my uterus literally growing by the minute! To avoid the discomfort from getting worse, I need to stay off my feet today and drink lots of water.

Usually, I enjoy my mornings because that is when I have the most energy and can get a lot done around the house. Today is a different story. I've been parked on my living room couch, watching movies. My plans for the rest of the day consist of eating and napping... fun, fun! Once I feel better, I plan to go to the fabric store to get a pattern to make some huge maternity nightgowns. When I am in the hospital and so huge that nothing else will fit, that's what I'll be wearing.

Josh, my parents, and I are all looking forward to going to my doctor's appointment tomorrow. The doctors will be doing a full anatomy scan of each baby and we'll be finding out the sexes! I'm so excited! I will be sure to post what we find out when I get home tomorrow evening! Please say a prayer for the babies - that they are all continuing to grow and develop normally, and that I will have positive results to share with everyone.