Stubborn Boy!

This little boy is as stubborn as can be!!  For the past four weeks, we've had to do these non-stress tests, which pretty much make sure that when Lane moves, his heart rate accelerates like it should.  Needless to say, my little gymnast decides that whatever time they want to do this test is the perfect time for his nap.  We eat, drink and move around, trying to get him to move, and it never works.  Even shocking him with this vibrating/shocking mechanism does little to get him to respond.  We usually end up in ultrasound for a biophysical when they do they AFI (which measures his fluid).  Yesterday, though, was by far the worst.  He wouldn't even produce results for the biophysical!!  He is such a stubborn boy!!  But, finally the doctor was content with him and the minimal results he was producing, so she let us pass.

Beyond that, his fluid levels are down (which is normal at this point), and he's running out of room in there.  Everything is still set to go for September 22nd.  We'll get to the hospital at 5:30am, around 7:30, the urologist will come place his stint and the official surgery should start by 8:00am, taking about 45 minutes.  My team is hopeful things are going to go smoothly, as are we.

We've been asked a lot of if we'd like visitors, I'd say anytime after 2:00pm that first day (Wednesday), should be fine, but please call us (as there are a lot of unknowns until that day).  We'd like an opportunity to spend time with our baby and let Cole meet his brother.  We should be there until Saturday, so Thursday and Friday should be fine for people to come visit as well.

At any rate, we're excited to wake up for our last Friday morning without Lane.  We have our intake appointment at the hospital Monday, followed by our final OB appointment at 11:00am on Monday, then Tuesday we get to sit and wait...

This portion of a poem is from "8 Seconds" and it reminds us of the last 8.5 months:

"We've been waiting on Lane ever since we can recall,
It started in the winter, and now it's early fall..."

We can't wait to meet you, sweet baby boy.

Final Preparations...

We had our routine, weekly doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  Lane's looking good, fluid's measuring good and nothing has changed for the better or worse.  As I may have mentioned, my OB has been out on her own maternity leave for the past six weeks, so we've been seeing one of her partners.  While my OB did discover the previa at 16 weeks, it has been her partner who has been working with us in the third trimester, when it becomes more serious.  My OB has been practicing for ten years, while her partner has been practicing for 24.  Both are great doctors, but we fell into a comfort zone with the partner doctor.  Doug actually asked at one of our appointments if we could switch to her, to which she said no, it was bad practice.  We completely understood, but still kind of felt like, "Well, damn."  But, the partner would be assisting during the surgery with my OB, so we at least had that.  Well, on Wednesday, she said she had discussed with our doctor and that our doctor was okay with her performing the surgery, with our doctor assisting, instead of vice versa, as we originally thought.  Again, we like our doctor very much, but feel this is the best thing for us and for Lane, so we are so excited and relieved!!  Our next appointment is Thursday, then we're going to be down to less than a week as a family of three.  =)

Yesterday I met with the urologist who will be placing stints in my ureters before the surgery.  What this does is makes sure if anything goes wrong and I start bleeding profusely, the doctor will be able to feel the ureters (as they likely wouldn't be visible) and it lessens their risk of being cut.  I really liked the doctor and his staff, which is nice, especially when there's not a lot of time to find someone else if I didn't.

Overall, we're cautiously optimistic that Lane will get here uneventfully and all of the precautions that are being taken will have been wasted effort.  We ask, now that we are getting down to the wire, for continued prayers from our friends and family.

Our Little Virgo

It's finally official - our baby boy will be born September 21, 2010.  Our regular OB, who has been out recovering from the birth of her son, will be back the 13th, so the 21st is her first available surgery date.  Barring any further complications (me dilating, spotting or bleeding, or Lane showing any signs of distress), that's his birthday!  It's funny - it's 7 years and one day after Doug and I started dating, and just five days short of our first anniversary - needless to say, September is going to be a busy month for us!!

At today's appointment, Lane was active as could be, our fluid level looks good, I'm down three pounds for a whopping gain of 3.2 pounds for the entire pregnancy, we got a booster shot to ensure the maturity of his lungs at delivery and we had about five people in our room at all times - three nurses, the doctor and an intern.  Our favorite part was when the doctor walked out, completely disregarding the intern right behind her and shut the door on him.  Fortunately, he seemed to find humor in it as well.  We are so blessed to have an excellent medical staff - our nurse, Julie, is even trying to take off the day we deliver to be there to help keep us calm (all of the things they're talking about and doing to be prepared for something to go wrong has us scared to death), and will come visit after work if she's unable to get the day.  I feel so blessed to have someone who has taken a personally vested interest in us, and our family and become not only a care giver, but a friend.  We have had nothing but an excellent experience with the doctor we've been seeing while our doctor is out, she hugs me, she takes an interest in Doug and his questions and concerns and is just overall a wonderful person to have in our corner.

While this experience has been trying at times, we truly are very fortunate to have a great team beside us.  Beyond having an excellent team professionally, we are so blessed to have my mom, who has come to take care of me during the day while Doug's at work, has kept our house in one piece, laundry done and life as normal as possible.  This would definitely be a lot harder without her here holding our hands and we're just really lucky - but, that's the kind of mom she is - she always has been willing to drop anything when we need her and I hope I can be that kind of mom to my boys when they need me.

So, right now we just keep on keepin' on - I'm on bed rest until he is delivered, doctor's appointments every Wednesday, watching for spotting/bleeding or any other sign of "disaster" (as our doctor says).  But, I know between my dad, Doug's grandpa and my grandparents in Heaven, Lane's got an awesome team of angels beside him, as do I, and we're going to be just fine.

Again, thank you SO much for your thoughts and prayers - they're working!!  We love you all!!