Jaundice

After 24 hours in the hospital, Jaxon had still not pooped. He had peed on the nurse when he was first born, but had not peed since that time. While he was nursing wonderfully, and I was sure that he was getting colostrum, I knew how important that first bowel movement was. I started supplementing with some formula from the hospital to try to help him along. Jaxon finally produced a soaking wet pee diaper, but the poop was still not coming. Finally, after more than 36 hours, he produced what is known as a meconium plug. I had never heard of this before.

The doctor told us that in some cases a meconium plug can present when a baby has cystic fibrosis. Since CF is part of the newborn screening, he told us to be sure and ask the pediatrician about it at our first visit. *Update-  we did this when we went for our first bilirubin check and we were told the newborn screen was not back so we will have to wait for the 4 week visit to get this information.*

Jaxon’s jaundice levels were higher than what they like them to be (12.4), most likely because of the meconium plug and delayed pooping. He was placed under the lights at the hospital, complete with baby protective eyewear, which he hated. He cried almost the entire time he was under the lights. I hated it. I got out of bed and sat beside him (not an easy task with my stitches and pain). Jason and I took turns holding his hand and rubbing his head to comfort him. I was so glad when they came in and said that the doctor had decided to just go ahead and release him with a light to take home. 

We were sent home with a “glow bed” and instructions to keep him on it at all times unless we were feeding, changing, or comforting him. Not fun at all! But sooo much better than the lights he had been laying under at the hospital. With the glow bed, he didn’t have to wear the eyewear, and he could be covered up, which seemed to make him feel more secure.

Jaxon on his glow bed

The home health nurse came on Sunday to check his levels – up to 13.4. On Monday, we went to our pediatrician for a bilirubin check. His levels were down to 12.5. On Tuesday we went back for another check, but saw a different pediatrician in the practice who said that since the levels were dropping and he was gaining weight, there was no reason to stick his little heel again. She also told us we could discontinue use of the light! Yay! I am very glad to have this behind us.  

39 Week Update

We went for my 39 week appointment on Wednesday, 2/16. Since we all had concerns about the baby being big, and since my body was doing nothing to prepare for delivery, the doctor decided to do an ultrasound to see how big the baby was. I was very happy and had planned to ask for one. I had been doubting my resolve to go to 40 weeks because the baby has just been feeling so big inside me. The sentimental side of me still wanted to go into labor on my own, but the practical side of me knew the experience would be terrible if the baby was too big. The ultrasound tech estimated the baby at 9 lbs 6 oz. I immediately wanted to get him out! That size scared me!  

After the ultrasound, we went to meet with the doctor again and discuss our options. Since my cervix was not ripe at all, the doctor said there was no way to do an induction the next morning. He gave the following options:

1. Wait through the weekend and see if the cervix condition would change by Monday.
2. Schedule a c-section (for as early as the next morning)
3.  Come in that night for the cervix softening tablet and try for an induction on Thursday morning. 

We immediately ruled out option 1 - we thought waiting would only allow the baby to get larger and could possibly make the c-section my only option. I really did not want a c-section. So we decided on option 3. If the cervix softening tablets didn’t work that night, the doctor said we could still opt for the c-section on Thursday morning or we could go home and come back Thursday night and try the cervix softening tablets again.

So we left the doctor’s office, grabbed some lunch and headed home. Since we didn’t even have our hospital bags fully packed and since I was working that day, the next few hours were a little crazy as we both scrambled to pack bags and handle other last minute items. Jason lined up care for our other three kids (thankfully his mom was available) and charged the video camera. I did some laundry and wrapped up a few work assignments and then let my boss know what was happening so he could divide the rest of my work between my coworkers.

We dropped the kids off at Jason’s mom’s house and headed to the hospital. 

To be continued…

30 Weeks Pregnant!

And I often feel like I’m full-term! For some reason I feel very large with this pregnancy, even though I’m about the same size as I was at 30 weeks during my last pregnancy. I think it’s because everything I do is requiring more energy and I feel like I’m always exerting myself. Compared with my previous pregnancies, I’m having a little more trouble getting up and out of chairs, walking for long distances, and going up and down stairs.

The baby is doing well. We learned at my last appointment that the blood clot in my placenta had completely disappeared, so we no longer have to worry about that. The baby is active and has fairly predictable patterns of activity. He is most active in the early mornings and late evenings. If I wake up in the middle of the night, he’s usually moving. Thankfully, I can sleep through most of it! He doesn’t seem to like it when I lay on my right side – he will kick against the bed until I turn over. When I’m on my left side, I’m usually against Jason, and so he’ll kick against Jason until I move away. Apparently, he doesn’t like things touching my stomach because he also kicks against things like Jason’s hand or my desk at work. It makes me happy that he is so active. There’s something very reassuring about feeling him move around.

I’m having issues with a few things right now. One, my legs…they ACHE almost every night. This is obviously a PD thing, not a pregnancy thing, but it’s really annoying. If I keep my legs moving, the pain is bearable, but constantly keeping my legs moving is annoying. Thankfully, the heating pad usually helps.

The second issue is also a PD issue: choking. Parkinson’s patients often have trouble swallowing, which can cause choking. I had several choking issues before getting pregnant (maybe 5-6 in total). But over the last few months, my choking has definitely increased. It’s a little frightening for me. Most of the time, I get choked, cough a couple of times and then I’m okay. Still, it’s a little unnerving when it happens, especially when I’m alone.

The third issue is a pregnancy issue…I think? I have been waking up during the night vomiting. Not waking up needing to vomit, but waking up because I’m already vomiting. It’s gross, and a little scary, especially in light of the choking issues I’ve been having! The vomiting doesn’t happen every night, but it’s happening several times a week. This happened a few times a couple of months ago and my doctor prescribed Protonix for acid reflux. I’ve been taking that for the last 3 months. So I don’t understand why it’s happening again now since I’m still taking the Protonix. It would seem like the Protnonix would help if this was caused by acid reflux. So it has me wondering if there is some other cause. Has anyone else had anything like this happen during pregnancy?

Overall, though, things are going well. Less than 10 weeks and then we meet our baby boy!

Our Anniversary Present

Our anniversary is May 25. We went away the weekend after our anniversary to our favorite place, the beach! It was a wonderful, relaxing, fun weekend and we really enjoyed it! A few weeks after we got back, on June 24, I found out I was pregnant! I was thrilled…and a little shocked. I have to say that I really did not expect to get pregnant that quickly! When I told Jason, he was so excited. I have never seen a daddy-to-be get so excited! It made me so happy to see him so excited!

On July 7, I went to the doctor for my first ultrasound. It was wonderful to see the baby’s heartbeat. Then we met with the doctor and got some not so great news. The doctor told us that there is a 2cm blood clot in my placenta. Knowing that the baby was only about 1 cm made me very scared. I’ve never heard of a blood clot in the placenta, but the fact that the clot was bigger than the baby terrified me. Dr. Simmons said that clot might resolve itself. He said about 50% of clots do. But there’s also the possibility that something bad might happen – I could start bleeding and lose the baby. I was pretty terrified. Jason looked up more information that night and his additional information scared me even more. Nothing was positive or good.

On August 4^th, I went back to the doctor. The doctor couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat. Since I was only 11 weeks, I didn’t get too concerned. I knew it was early. He sent us for a sonar to check on the baby. I didn’t get scared until the sonar started and I couldn’t see the baby’s heartbeat…but it was there! Such a sweet sight…and so grateful to get to see the baby again! So tiny and such a sweet miracle! The blood clot was smaller but still there.

We found out that the baby is a boy on September 29^th. We had previously been told at a 13 week ultrasound that the baby was probably a girl. But since it was early, we knew that was not set in stone. You should have seen how excited and happy Jason was to hear “boy”…he jumped out of his chair when the sonar tech told us (and showed us!) that the baby is a boy! Jason had thought from the beginning that the baby would be a boy, so he kept saying "I knew it! I told you!"It was great!

The bad news we got that day is that the clot was still there. Smaller, but still present. But, everything else looked right: arms, legs, kidneys, heart, etc. The baby shows no signs of Down's or other abnormalities and this baby is a mover...he was squirming all over the place during the ultrasound! Can't wait to meet my sweet boy!