41 days until we meet you! - Thursday July 30th

Dear Baby Ethan,

It's a happy Thursday, almost the weekend.  My lovely boss' dad is having surgery today, so we are praying for him.  I am still having painful cramps here and there.  It sounds like I should not need to take the nifedipine unless I have 6 or more in an hour.  It has usually been 2-3 in a row, and then quiet the rest of the hour.  So, it sounds like early labor is not a concern as long as we continue with no bleeding.  It was almost a week ago that we had our last bleed.  I have been happy for the quietness!

I had another one of the tasty new shakes I found out about this morning.  The Chocolate Banana one is quite good!
Rose enjoyed it too.

Then we visited the waterfall outside the hospital on my wheelchair ride!

Tomorrow is Friday, then on Saturday my Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit! They are going to see your Aunt Daisy and cousin Anna Beth in Lincoln and then head over here for some dinner and to stay the night.

Upcoming Events

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 3rd when we do another sonogram.  Just 3 days away!

August 15th is the 6 year anniversary for your daddy and I! We got married August 15, 2009 in Kansas City. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a good husband that is so low maintenance.

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Your birthday will likely be September 8th!  Just 41 days!

Love you,

Mommy

42 days until we meet you! - Wednesday July 29th

Dear Baby Ethan,

I was woken up around 4:30 with some stabbing pain.  That thankfully subsided, but it was a bit scary.  I really hope you are able to stay in there awhile longer! There has been no bleeding thank the Lord!  My doctors have indicated that I might need to take "nifedipine", but I'm not interested in taking medications unless I need to.

We got some exciting news on the food front today.  I got a list of smoothies/shakes that they can make me to ensure I am getting enough protein.  We tried the Orange Julius one today and it was just OK.

I had a nice visit from my friends from work, Sara and Cindi.  They brought me my "wild woolies" coffee cup so I would be able to use that.  It's my favorite at the moment.

I had a great evening with your daddy and Rose.  We took a nice trip with my wheel chair down to a courtyard next to the hospital with lots of water features.

Rose was a bit upset at first, she has her last few teeth coming in.  We got some teething gel on her gums where the teeth are coming in, and that helped.  And we watched some of her favorite "Super Simple" videos on YouTube that help her learn colors, numbers, letters, body parts, and lots of other things!

Upcoming Events

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 3rd when we do another sonogram.  Just 4 days away!

August 15th is the 6 year anniversary for your daddy and I! We got married August 15, 2009 in Kansas City. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a good husband that is so low maintenance.

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Isn't your sister Rose so cute! She had an accident falling off some playground equipment a few weeks ago.  The area under her high is finally almost healed!

Your birthday will likely be September 8th!  Just 42 days!

Love you,

Mommy

43 days until we meet you! - Tuesday July 28, 2015

Dear Baby Ethan,

It sounds like as long once we make it to 32 weeks, we can set a date for your C-Section. Today my OB indicated you will likely be born on Tuesday September 8th as we do not have any bleeding issues!  So, that means we now have 42 days until we meet you!  Just at 6 weeks today! 13 nights in the hospital as of now.

I have slept quite well the last two nights, which has been nice.  I've been adjusting my schedule a bit given that I do not need to be up early to travel to work or get your sister Rose ready.  I have been going to bed around 11 pm and getting up around 7:45 am.  I know I will have to go to bed much earlier once you arrive!

It's a rainy day here in Omaha.  This is the second rainy day we have had since I've been in the hospital.

I'm still really enjoying the flowers from Grandma and Grandpa! I'll have to ask your daddy to bring me more from the store when these ones get sad looking.

I have had my IV in a good place on my forearm since I came a week ago.  Apparently they may have to move it soon.  It is so nice that it doesn't bother me.  When they put it in my hand or wrist it is so sensitive, I have to be very careful in general.  Especially while sleeping or around Rose.  I hope they can go to my other forearm when they have to move it!

Always bittersweet to see your daddy and Rose leaving! They are so sweet together, but I miss them.  I so appreciate that they have visited every day that I have been here.

Upcoming Events

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 3rd when we do another sonogram.  Just 7 days away!

At 32 weeks we can set a date for your C-Section.  So around August 7th or 10th we should out what your birthday will be as long as we do not have any bleeding issues!

August 15th is the 6 year anniversary for your daddy and I! We got married August 15, 2009 in Kansas City. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a good husband that is so low maintenance.

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Love you,

Mommy

39 days until we meet you! - Monday July 27, 2015

Dear Baby Ethan,

We are now under 39 days until we meet you!  We are praying you stay in there much longer.  I am not sure given the odd random contractions and cramping I have been having

Exciting news, I now can get pushed to other areas of the hospital in a wheel chair to get a change of scenery.  I also got copies of the "weekly" menu for the cafeteria from a new Nurse Assistant Katie.  So that has expanded my food options in a good way.  I'm a creature of habit, so I had gotten to only eating certain things.  This helps me try the new daily options!

 I  watched The Bachelorette and worked on my MBA paper finished.  Your dad and Rose were not going to visit.  I feel bad that they have been spending every evening here in the hospital.  But, they ended up surprising me to give me my first ride around the hospital!

I asked the doctor if we could move up your scan to August 3rd, and they said that was fine!

12 nights in the hospital as of now.

Upcoming Events

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 3rd when we do another sonogram.  Just 7 days away!

August 15th is the 6 year anniversary for your daddy and I! We got married August 15, 2009 in Kansas City. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a good husband that is so low maintenance.

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Love you,

Mommy

41 days until we meet you! (30 weeks) - Saturday

Dear Baby Ethan,

We made it to 30 weeks! We are still praying that we make it to at least 34 weeks, if not 36 weeks.  Your baby’s digestive tract is now almost fully developed and will soon be ready for mouth feeding after birth.  You will gain about half a pound a week until week 38.

So far today I have just had some brown discharge, and no issues last night or today thank the Lord! It was nice to have my first low key day at the hospital.  I am able work do my work from here during the work week, during the day.  So, I really have no free time! Your daddy and Rose usually come visit and we all visit and eat dinner together.  Then they  leave and it's almost bed time during the week!

Today I relaxed in the morning and took a nap.  I then worked on my MBA marketing class a bit.  The class is done on the 31st.  Rose actually went to daycare today, so that your daddy could get some work done cleaning out the Nissan Armada that we had for when we lived in the country.  Your daddy ended up selling it, Praise the Lord! It is nice to have it sold given that we do not need it.  Now the space is freed up, and we have a bit of cushion financially for the next few months.  It helps me feel more comfortable in case I end up having some weeks off work that are unpaid.

I got to see your daddy and Rose on Saturday night!

10 nights in the hospital as of now, and 41 days until we get to meet you!

Upcoming Events

Tomorrow your Aunt Daisy, cousin Anna Beth, and sister will hang out for a bit at the hospital with me.

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 6th when we do another sonogram.  Just 12 days away!

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Love you,

Mommy

40 days until we meet you! - Sunday July 26, 2015

Dear Baby Ethan,

We had a nice and busy day.  You were quite active as usual.  Your Aunt Daisy, Cousin Anna Beth and Rose came to hang out for awhile.  I feel bad for Rose keeping her cooped up in this room.  She started going to the door to get out after an hour or two.  Usually your dad and Rose just stay for an hour or two each night, so she is not used to being here longer than that.

We just tried to keep the children happy and watched HGTV! Baby Anna Beth is having some pooping issues, and is requiring an enema/suppository to poop.  She is over 8 pounds now though! She is over a month old now.  She was born on June 25th.  It was great to have some new visitors.  I also got to enjoy holding baby Anna Beth for a bit.  It's so different holding a new born versus taking care of your sister!  I also am realizing it is going to be quite a lot of work caring for both you and Rose when we get to take you home.  Rose loves Anna Beth, but she is also sad that I can't pick her up anymore.

I worked on my MBA paper for a bit after aunt Daisy and Anna Beth left.  Your daddy came and picked up Rose so she could take a nap, and he could get a bit more done.

Then your daddy and Rose came back to take their showers for the day, have dinner, and watch Battle Bots! We've enjoyed watching the robots fight it out this summer each Sunday.

I was still having some cramping and odd pains randomly, but no bleeding, so it was a good day!

11 nights in the hospital as of now, and 40 days until we get to meet you!

Upcoming Events

Tomorrow I am going to watch The Bachelorette and try to get my MBA paper finished, so your dad and Rose are not going to visit.  I'll be sad to not see them, but it will be good for them to get to have a regular night at home.  I feel bad that they have been spending every evening here in the hospital.

It sounds like we should get to see how your growth is going on August 6th when we do another sonogram.  Just 11 days away!

August 15th is the 6 year anniversary for your daddy and I! We got married August 15, 2009 in Kansas City. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a good husband that is so low maintenance.

Your Ummichi will be here Friday August  21st for baby Anna Beth's baptism.  She will be here for a bit to help take care of Anna and Rose.  That is just 4 weeks from today, when you will be 34 weeks along and in even better shape to be born.

Love you,

Mommy

42 days until we meet you! (29 weeks and 6 days) - Friday

Dear Baby Ethan,

We have had a busy day and night! Last night I laid down around 10 PM and then felt some blood trickling out.  I did have a few larger clots come out through the night.  The blood just kept trickling out and did not fully stop until this afternoon.  They monitored you last night and early this morning.  Your heart rate is great, so they plan to just let you cook as long as possible.  I really did not lose much blood, so they are not hugely concerned.  I just have to monitor myself to be sure labor does not start, so I am watching for cramps.

I decided to take a bit of vacation time to sleep in this morning.  I ended up missing the Deacon from St. Robert Bellarmine, thank goodness he came back this afternoon to chat and give me communion.  I also received these lovely flowers from my Grandma, Grandpa, Mom (Noni to you), and Dad

Your daddy and Rose came to visit. It was great to hang out with them!

Then, I watched "the Queen", a move about the Queen of England during the period that Princess Diana died.  It could have been better.  I was having a lot of cramping, so I was worried there would be another bleeding issue.  All was quiet though!

9 nights in the hospital as of now, and 42 days until we get to meet you!

Love you,

Mommy

43 days until we meed you! 29 weeks and 5 days - 8 nights in thehospital as of now

Hi Baby Ethan,

It's a quiet day in the hospital today.  I finished an MBA quiz last night, and will take another tonight.  I'm glad to have the MBA class to distract me a bit from the hospital life.  It actually has not been too bad yet.  Work has been quite busy. So that helps me keep busy during the day.  Joshy and Rose have been visiting every night.  So I really just have a bit of time after they leave to hang out, and then head to bed.  I finally got some decent sleep last night.  Your daddy brought me some ear plugs, so I was able to keep out the noise of the hospital.

I have a very nice nurse today named Rene.  She lives in the Westside school district.  She opted in for her older son, and ended up  moving their in time for her younger daughter to make it to school.

Your daddy and Rose visited again.  Your daddy went out to work on his stereo a bit, so Rose and I stayed inside and rinsed her off and she enjoyed "cleaning" the room with a wet washcloth.

Looking forward to getting to see how big you are in two weeks or so!

Love you,

Mommy

29 weeks and 4 days - 7 nights in the hospital as of now

Dear Baby Ethan,

Today Cindi and Sara from work were so sweet to come and visit.  They bought me lunch from Paradise Bakery, some work reading, and some other magazines.  It was so nice to see some familiar faces!  Then Father Hahn our new priest at St. Robert Bellarmine came by.  He said a prayer for us and visited for a bit.  He just blessed our house last Saturday, so it was nice to see him..

The Stats

The current count is that I have spent 7 nights in the hospital.  Because of the placenta previa they will not let you go past 36 weeks.  Thus, you will likely be born around September 4th.  As of now, I may be in the hospital another 6 weeks or so, which is 44 nights, or 1 month, 13 days.  Only 7 more Wednesdays!

At last measurement (Monday July 6th) when I was 27 weeks and a few days you weighed approximately 2.6 pounds and were in the 51% percentile, so they were not concerned about your growth.  We should have another scan in a few weeks, perhaps around August 3.  It's funny that your weight is about 1.5 pounds over the average listed here - http://www.babycenter.com/average-fetal-length-weight-chart.

Love you baby Ethan!

Momma

Just over 6 weeks until we meet you! - 29 weeks and 3 days

Dear Baby Ethan,

We are so excited to meet you.  I'm a bit sad that it will be sooner than we had expected.  Your due date is October 3, 2015.  At our 20 week ultrasound we were diagnosed with complete placenta previa.  As of now, the placenta is still fully covering your exit! We had expected to have  c-section anyway given that I had a c-section with your sister Rose.

Past Bleeds

On June 20, 2015, I had my first spotting episode.  There was a clot of bright red blood.  I was in the hospital 3 days and then they let me go home because I had no other issues.

Last week I had a very scary bleeding episode.  I felt a small trickle on my leg while I was sleeping.  I got out of bed and felt a huge gush of liquid.  I thought perhaps my water had broken. Instead, when I found my glasses and the light I saw blood everywhere.  I ran around a minute or so trying to decide what to do.  I went to the bathroom just as your dad stumbled in and a huge blood clot feel out.  At that point I was still bleeding a bit.  I ran into the kitchen and asked your dad to call an ambulance.  We could not leave your sister alone.  So, the ambulance came.  By that time the bleeding had stopped or at least slowed.  I stayed in the hospital for about 1.5 days.  Because the bleeding had stopped so completely, they said I could go with no restrictions.  It was quite scary. But, they said because  I had a long cervical length of 4 cm, that I only had a 20% chance of bleeding issues.  I was fine the rest of the week and had a great time hanging out with your grandparents, Aunt Daisy, Uncle Kevin, and new baby cousin Anna Beth.

Yesterday (7-20-2015) at about 3:30 am I felt another trickle and went to the bathroom to check it out.  There was a gush of blood into the toilet.  I told your dad that I needed to go to the hospital.  I did not think the bleeding had continued, so I thought I could drive myself.  I called my OBGYN on the way, and confirmed they thought I should be checked out.  When I saw Dr. Dalke with the high risk group yesterday he strongly suggested that I think about staying until you are born!

The Plan

I spoke to your dad and our family.  I learned that it is possible to lose all of one's blood volume in 10 minutes with a bad bleed.  If I were to go home, they said I would need to be monitored 24/7 which is not possible if I work from home, drive places, do quite a few things! Also, it is scary how fast and serious the bleeds can come on.  They have always stopped quickly, but the next one might not.  With a heavy heart we all agreed I should likely stay here.  We will see if the doctors directives change.  But, for now that is the plan.

The Stats

The current count is that I have spent 6 nights in the hospital.  Because of the placenta previa they will not let you go past 36 weeks.  Thus, you will likely be born around September 4th.  As of now, I may be in the hospital another 6 weeks or so, which is 45 nights, or 1 month, 14 days.

At last measurement (Monday July 6th) when I was 27 weeks and a few days you weighed approximately 2.6 pounds and were in the 51% percentile, so they were not concerned about your growth.  We should have another scan in a few weeks, perhaps around August 3.  It's funny that your weight is about 1.5 pounds over the average listed here - http://www.babycenter.com/average-fetal-length-weight-chart.

I have gained a bit more weight this time, and am up to 150 or so.  I am not surprised given that I cannot lift, work out, or do much!

Going forward

We currently have your baptism scheduled for October 11th.  I am praying that you stay in as long as possible so that we can avoid the NICU.

I am very grateful that my job and boss have been so flexible. I am able to work from the hospital quite easily.  My work phone is forwarded to my cell phone, and I can get all documents on our legal drive as long as I have an internet connection.

I am praying that you stay in that long.  I want you to have the best shot at having no issues.

Visits Lately

Your daddy and sister Rose have been so sweet and visited me every day I have been in the hospital.  Today was even your daddy's 32nd birthday!  A bit of a sad birthday for him.  We got Rose a baby doll to start practicing for when you arrive.

Love you baby Ethan!

- Mommy

Dear Jesus, please be with my baby Ethan.  Help him to stay inside and safe until early September.  Please help him to grow well and keep us both safe.  Help him to be a Godly man who is always close to you and good to others. Lovingly yours - Angela