No Room at the Inn

Round 2 for Inducement and this one is happening for sure...no ifs ands, or buts. The hardest part today was scheduling it and finding an open room at the busy busy hospital, but it is set in stone. We go in at 10am on the 3rd to have and meet our little boy, finally...unless he decides to naturally come into the world on his own. But since so far his track record is pure stubbornness, in which case we highly doubt it. We have 6 days to get the house in order, relax and enjoy the girls til our little Max comes!!! It has been a long, trying and emotional roller coaster but we have finally made it and soooo incredibly grateful for all of your love, thoughts and prayers. We wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!

No Christmas Baby

With 45 minutes left of Christmas, I can confidently say Max didn't want his birthday on this day. With complete expectations that he would have been here earlier in the month, we felt kind of "empty" over the last few days. I know its weird because he is here with us in Heather's belly and doing awesome, and we can't explain our feelings which were clearly built on expectations that we thought we were going to snuggle him on Christmas.
Contractions have been nuts over the last 4-5 days as close as to a minute and a half apart. We spent Friday evening at St. Ann's and was sent home due to no cervical change and to walk, walk, and walk. The contractions are more sporadic but defiantly getting stronger and more intense as they told us is expected in the early stage of labor that we are in. We have a doctor's appointment on Thursday for a check up and to discuss inducing. Can we say tax deduction??? hahahaha :)

Stubborn Little Max....

Max is defiantly our son, being he is sooo stubborn on not coming out. Heather had contractions all weekend up to 5 minutes apart and no labor yet. Today we had a check up and Heather is 1 cm dilated and completely effaced....the doctor felt his head (as weird as that sounds). So with our luck we will be spending Christmas in the hospital. Which is a funny family story because last year Kylie sat on Santa's lap and asked for a baby brother for Christmas. So she thinks Santa is playing a trick on her and delivering her brother this Christmas just for her!!! Its funny how we worked so hard on getting pregnant, staying pregnant, growing a healthy boy and now we are working so hard on seeing him! So off to walk, walk, and walk to get labor started!!! Love you all~

"The Scoop"

First piece of advice we have learned...do not listen to doctors!! Sorry- you can sense our frustration at this point during this very emotional roller coaster. We have waited so very long to meet and hold Max and that is what we will continue to do until God decides when he shall arrive, not the doctors. Basically to sum it up in a nutshell, since Heather's internal organs are not shutting down (which is awesome!) and she is only is pain due to inflamation they do not see a life threatening reason now to induce Max. Which is the complete opposite that we were told since about month 5 of her pregnancy. All of our doctors are passing the buck and do not want to be the one to say "okay lets induce". His lungs are measuring at 36 weeks and he is growing everyday. Heather's body has naturally fallen into a few labor symptoms this past week and Kylie was born at 36 weeks, so we have let nature takes its course and shall hopefully get to introduce all of you to Max very very soon!

Grow Max Grow

What a couple of very emotional days we have endured. After a great conversation with our hi risk OB he felt that yes Max could of came out yesterday to meet everyone, however, his lungs would not of supported himself breathing and could possibly be in the NICU for a few weeks. The steroids that Heather has been taking, Max is not receiving the benefit of them, due to Heather's body needing them for her Lupus inflamation(s) and has been obsorbing them instead of going to Max. Although he is a big boy over 6 pounds, his little lungs are not develped where we all had hoped and wished for. I have to say we did not expect this at all and were really set to meet our little boy of our dreams this week. As parents and although Heather is flaring up right now and in pain we have decided to give his little lungs another week (hopefully) to grow. We are meeting with our hi risk OB on Tuesday to do another growth evaulation on Max and to discuss which day to induce soon after. His lungs should by then be along the lines of a 36 weeker and they feel strong enough to come out. Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and well wishes, we feel them and are sending them little Max's way!

Long 2 days!!!

I wanted to take a moment and give you a quick update. Long and frustrating 2 days…. My hi risk OB is out sick and is really screwing things up. We had our amnio yesterday and learned his lungs are not developing like the rest of him. His lungs for some reason are only at the level of a 34-35 weeker but everything else is measuring hi 36 low 37 weeks. Which if that was the case they would have taken him on Monday. So they gave me a steroid shot yesterday and we were at the hospital most of today getting monitored since he was not moving very much and received another steroid shot. The initial plan with my hi risk OB (before he went MIA) was to induce at 12 noon tomorrow (Wednesday). He is hopefully returning tomorrow….however, in the meantime this morning I developed a Lupus flare. We are all having a meeting tomorrow with my delivering OB, hi risk OB, Neurologist and Rheumatologist to either admit me for my Lupus flare and/or induction. So again we shall wait, rest, take medication, go and back and forth to the hospital and pray that the steroids plump up his little lungs.

With that said….we would gladly take any thoughts and prayers 

Still Waiting....

Not the greatest news this morning, Max's lungs are not developed enough to come out safely today. Heather was givin another steriod shot and will go back to the hospital tomorrow for another one. We shall wait and see what the next couple of days brings. In the meantime Heather is resting. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, we feel them!

Okay....6 days and counting!!!

Wow! So weird to not schedule another doctor's appointment and to think we are done! Heather has been use to at least 2 doctors appointments a week. We met with Dr. Shubert today for a Max weigh in...can you believe he gained a pound and a half in 2 weeks??? He weighs 5 pounds 15 ounces and is measuring 35 weeks. His little femur bone is still 2 weeks behind, but they just laugh and say he takes after his daddy. We are scheduled at St. Ann's for Monday December 3rd at 9am for the amnio to make sure his lungs are mature. If he is good to go they will start labor induction immediately. If not they will give Heather a shot of steroids and wait another day to bring Max into the world. We can not believe we get to meet our little boy next week. The little boy we have dreamed of for a year and a half, worked so hard for, talked to so many doctors, taken so much medication for....and it was all worth it!!! Heather has been put back on her medication for her Lupus now that Max will not be affected by it, we just have to wait for it to kick in which takes about 6 weeks. Unfortunately her Neuralogist believes she may have some nerve damage in her leg due to her Neuralgia and will tackle that battle once Max is out.
To say the least the next 6 days we are wrapping up work, putting up the Christmas tree, finishing our Christmas shopping, tackling last minute things around the house and and having a baby!!!! We will be sure to keep you all posted....

Growing Like a weed....

Off to the Hi Risk OB again today. Max grew to 4.5 pounds and is measuring 33 weeks!!! He was moving like crazy today and had his pouty lip stuck out the whole time. With Heather's internal inflammation and pain going on, Dr. Shubert has decided to do an amino on December 3rd. (Less than 3 weeks away!) At that time he feels Max should be weighing in at upper 5's low 6 pounds and with luck his lungs will be mature to come out that day. If his lungs are not okay, Heather will stay in the hospital to receive 24/7 monitoring along with shots of steroids for Max's lungs, then checked again on the 4th to see if he is able to come out and so on until his lungs are okay. Dr. Shubert feels he will be okay on the 3rd as we have just completed 10 days of steroids and that is 20 days away for him to get even stronger and should be measuring 35/36 weeks! It is a great relief to have a plan and now we are able to work with Heather's Rheumatologist and Neurologist to create an after birth recovery plan for her. Seems so surreal today to know we are at the end of one very long journey and about to begin such a beautiful new one all together.

Latest and Greatest

November 6, 2007

Kylie's 9th Birtday today and about to be a big sister all over again!!! We are so excited and proud to be adding another beautiful additon to the family. The anticipation is beyond us and can't wait to meet the little dude. We had a check up today with our regular OB today. Max is doing great, very strong heartbeat, head down and 4 pounds! Heather on the other hand is still in her flare up and on steriods to not only help her internal inflamation but to also help Max's lungs develop quicker. We are going to meet next week to discuss with our high risk OB on doing an amnio to determine if his lungs are developed enough to get him out so that Heather can be fully treated for her Lupus flare.

COUNTDOWN...

Heather had her 30 week ultrasound today and everything looks great. Dr. Schubert (our high risk OB) told us that Max is healthy and everything looks awesome. The obstacle in our path now is keeping Heather healthy and keeping her Neuralgia and fibromyalgia under control, We found the small beginnings of a rash on her right leg and we're keeping an eye on it. Heather is so strong and only complains when she wants her back scratched or shoulders rubbed. I hope and pray everyday that Max will grow to be as strong as his mother. Today in the ultrasound Max seemed to have found his tongue because he was sticking it out and playing with it a lot. He also blew bubbles and opened his eyes. He is head down and weighs 3.9 pounds (estimated). We are hoping to keep him inside Heathers belly for another four weeks or so, that would put his birthday close to the end of November or beginning of December giving us something to definitely be thankful for.