Early Morning Drama !

We are already learning the difference between raising boys and girls. My pregnancy with Jack was so "unremarkable" and my delivery with Jack was a breeze. This little girl has kept us on our toes every single day! I guess I shouldn't blame today's activities on her, but, it has kept us laughing all day that this is just a foreshadowing of how different raising our little boy and girl will be :)

I woke up at 4:30 this am with a pain in my tummy and by 5:15 realized that I was having contractions. After timing them and honestly almost having a nervous breakdown, I called the hospital and they told me to come in as soon as possible. 

After a few calls to close girlfriends (Clare & Kathy) in the neighborhood at 6 am, we had someone here to watch Jack in less than 10 minutes (Thank you girls!). Dan and I jumped in the car and had no idea where we were going. Yesterday we talked with the people at Children's and decided that, after 5 weeks of research and after getting the results of our latest echo and ultra sound, the best facility to care for our baby girl as well as for our family is Minnesota Perinatal Physicians at Abbott and Children's Hospital of Minneapolis. However, since we just made this decision at about 2pm yesterday, we thought we'd have a few days to change over and deal with the paperwork - we had no idea that I would potentially be in labor this am. We didn't know if we could even go to Abbott this morning without our records there! Our main concern was, if she is born today, the surgeons would not have her records at Children's and it was 6 am and the Pediatric Cardiologist from Children's that we met with two-weeks ago was not going to be there, etc. UGH! Anyway - after a hundred "What should we do? I don't know, what do you think" and a million phone calls (at least 5 to my dear friend Betsy who went through a very similar experience last year and knows the ins and outs of Abbott/Children's) we learned we could go to Abbott and get the paperwork settled immediately. 

After being hooked up to all of the monitors and trying to summarize our file while completely frantic and scared, the nurse looked at me and said, wait,  "You had the lung shot yesterday? That's why you are having contractions!!" We calmed down after she said that betamethasone can sometimes cause contractions and to not be worried. They did many more tests and determined that I was only having "preterm contractions" NOT "preterm labor" which was obviously a huge relief.  They said that the contractions wear off once the medication wears off  so they didn't have to give me any medication to slow or stop the contractions.

We also met with a fabulous High Risk OB. He scanned her and said he was not concerned with her fluid levels and that they are so close to normal they could even be considered to be in the normal range. He said he also wasn't too worried about the dilating of her ventricle as this is what they anticipate to happen. He was not only wonderful bc he told me what I wanted to hear (ha!) but because he sat down next to Dan and I and so thoroughly explained everything that was going on.  He also contacted Dr. Rios (Cardiologist) about the dexamethasone (to treat the fluid) that I was planning to start Friday. Dr. Rios consulted with his team and advised me NOT to take it because a) it is not proven to work and b) steroids are very strong and if you don't need them you shouldn't take them.  (I am so glad to be done with 2nd opinions!!! I can't take it!) :)

Betsy, being an amazing friend and also knowing everything about Children's Hospital and Abbott, paged the Children's Care Coordinator and pulled her out of a meeting to come meet with Dan and I. Betsy adores her and said she helped her family through SO much. She was right, she was so sweet and comforting! She helped explain what the process will be now and when she is delivered and also what it will be like having our daughter in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). We are scheduled to meet her for a tour of Children's next Tuesday.

While I was at the hospital this morning my sister-in-law Krista called me and told me that their family friend, Dr. Hoekstra, who is a Neonatolgist at Children's, would be willing to talk with me and that I could call him today. He was the nicest man! He made me feel so at ease and was so positive. He definitely made me feel like we made the right decision :) He also gave me 4 different numbers to contact him if I had any other questions. 

Finally after waiting at Abbott to get my 2nd "lung shot"...we are home. I am so lucky that my mom and sister Alissa are in town. They came to watch Jack this morning when Kathy left  and when I walked in the house I noticed that my house was sparkling clean! Thank you so much!

So, we went from thinking our baby girl was going to arrive this morning to a much better prognosis than we were given yesterday! I am also on no restrictions and have an appointment scheduled at Abbott for an ultra sound/echo next week!

Thank you all so much for the sweet messages, prayers and support. We are truly, truly so grateful for all of you and there is just no way we could get through this  alone. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives!!

Love,

Alli, Dan, Jack & Rufus