Seriously?!?

Is this baby store straight out of 1993?

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday morning I went into work a bit late after stopping by the lab at our clinic. I needed to drop off my 24-hour urine collection from Sunday, and have blood drawn.

This additional lab work was ordered on Friday by my midwife. Despite having a healthy blood pressure all pregnancy, and no trace of protein in my urine at my check-ups, I have been having headaches every night like clockwork. Headaches can be a symptom of preeclampsia (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001900/). I felt confident that these labs would just reassure me that everything was fine.

Just as I took off my coat, my cell rang. I saw it was my clinic calling, and when it was my actual midwife (instead of a nurse) on the line, I knew my labs were not as I anticipated. We discussed the results for a minute (Friday's blood work showed abnormal levels of liver enzymes), and then she informed me I needed to check-in to the hospital so I could be monitored for the day, and likely overnight. This is when I started to freak out a bit.

I spent yesterday at the hospital where my BP was measured regularly and additional blood was drawn. The baby's heart rate was also constantly monitored, and I wore a strap to track any contractions.

My BP was still normal and healthy, and I trusted these measurements because they were taken by a machine. I have never felt great about the listless staff at my clinic when they go through the motions of taking my BP. Recently one of ladies didn't even inflate the strap fully- to use medical terminology, of course. I swear I could have placed several fingers between the strap and my arm.

The baby's heart rate was constantly monitored and I was monitored for contractions. The baby is very active and strong, and I recommend napping to the "whoosh whoosh" noise of the monitor. Few sounds in life are as reassuring.

I did have a few Braxton-hicks contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I waited for hours for the urine and new blood results to come back. I couldn't eat or drink water during this waiting period, which, you can imagine, was quite difficult for me. This is the same hospital that I delivered Rosalie at, and the food was not good. However, the menu was new and I considered this a dry run for when we are in the hospital for delivery. And I was hungry!

I never asked WHY I couldn't eat, but I'm assuming it was just in case an emergency c-section needed to occur. It would be easiest for them to administer drugs on an empty stomach. I did keep asking IF I could eat, though. Priorities!

The results arrived close to the end of the business day, despite having been submitted at 8am and marked as STAT. While my enzyme levels were better than on Friday, they were still slightly above normal. In combination with the presence of protein in my urine, I was diagnosed with preeclampsia.

I have been placed on complete bed rest. I have an appointment on Friday, when I will learn more of what I can/cannot do for the duration of my pregnancy. Until then, though, I am in bed, eating, or using the bathroom. That's it- no working, cooking, laundry, etc (I had to ask). Additionally, my prenatal care can no longer be provided by my midwife team, and I will be seeing a practitioner here-on-out. I simply am now categorized as having a high risk pregnancy.

Of course the goal is to keep baby and me healthy for as close to full-term as possible. I am 34 weeks tomorrow, and 37 weeks is considered full-term. This is certainly not expected, as I did not have any of these complications with my first pregnancy.

We are facing a very large hurdle in our household right now, because I can't lift or interact much with Rosalie. Logistically this makes mornings impossible, because Rob is long gone when she wakes up. He waited to go into work today until after he could take her to daycare. We have made arrangements for the rest of the week with Janice and my mom. Thank you, Lord, for our family and friends.

I know this is not the best news, but I am very grateful today. If you are the praying kind, please remember our health in your prayers.

I am also thankful for my kindle fire, because I will certainly get to do some reading this week.

I will keep you all posted with any new developments.

An old photo of Rob

With his younger sister Tina. Doesn't Rosalie look a lot like her father?

We all heart Mary (formerly) Nutter

Ready for the weekend

Go Bears!

Rosalie says, "Go Bears!" when she looks down at her shirt. Hopefully she'll bring them good luck today!

Laying around the lawn

Leaf helper

A-Men!

Wheee!

Meadowbrook Park

Rosalie gives kisses. A lot.

We haven't posted in quite some time, but we have uploaded about 4 [Rosalie] videos to our YouTube page. Click on 'Videos' on the right to view the latest, or here is a link to one from today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC6nNwyQTiI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oops

This is what happens when you drop your iPhone.

CSA

Rosalie and I picked up our first batch from the CSA (community supported agriculture) we joined this year! Rob will be eating more salads than usual this week :)

IL Marathon Medal

Rosalie and Rob rained together for the Il Half Marathon (joggin stroller). Only makes sense she should get to wear the medal too.

Tech Saavy

Rosalie is getting lessons on the droid from her daddy.

The Class of 2028

Here is a picture of Rosalie's class from 'school.' All of them were born between November 2009 and February 2010, so they are very close in age and development (Rosalie is the most advanced, of course). They love to read books, dance, and bite. I think this photo was taken right before nap time.

Rosalie the Vampire

A parent's worst nightmare - Rosalie bit two kids at daycare today. Now we have to figure out how to handle it - do we worry that she's a biter? Do we ignore it and pass it off as a one (two) time thing? We're told she didn't respond positively to discipline, she just smiled.

Later, one of the toddlers she bit (all involved remain anonymous) was playing with a ball; Rosalie wanted to "share" and tried to take the ball away. The toddler had it's revenge when it sank it's teeth into Rosalie's arm. We know it was a baby with eight teeth since you can count each one in the mark left behind on Rosalie's left arm.

Peek A Boo!

Original 1
Original 2

Rosalie loves to laugh

Success!

The Dr. says there was a lot of fluid, the consistency of Elmer's glue.

ARRRRR you ready for surgery?

Rosalie is undergoing surgery this morning - ear tubes. After she gets put under, the doctor will cut a hole in her ear drum and nsert a tube; fluid will be able to drain from the ear canal rather than get stuck and cause an infection.

Mary and I are waiting for the 5-8 minute procedure and the 10 minute recovery to be over.

In honor of our friend Joe Seeley who has had chemo and a stem cell transplant to beat his leukemia and has been known to wear a pirate's hat, Rosalie is seen here wearing a pirate shirt.

Getting Dressed

Rosalie's latest trick: attempting to wear EVERYTHING. She tries to put clothes, socks, paper, even this canvas shopping bag over her head like a shirt.

Here's a video of Rosalie wearing Mary's bra.

More Walking Videos

You ask, we provide. Here are two newer videos of Rosalie showing off her walking skills. She walks more than she crawls now, and has started to "trot" a little. It still surprises me when I see her round a corner on her feet!

Girly Giggles!

Even though Rosalie's walking has been the talk around the Nutterson household this week, I had to share these giggles with our family and friends...despite the black beans in her mouth at the same time.

And She Walks!

Here is a video of our cautious walker, Rosalie, both walking and brushing her teeth at the same time. We are so proud of our little walker, and thankful that her landings thus far have all been relatively graceful!

Rosalie gets funky

3 wks, 3 illnesses

Like we could get Rosalie to open wide and stay still long enough to take this photo.
Christmas Eve: Stomach flu - push fluids
Between Xmas and NYE: Ear infection and swimmers ear - 10 days medicine
This week: Strep throat - at least it's only 5 days medicine and one day out of daycare.