Hospital Stay- Day 3

I'm pretty much settled in and things are going well. Here's Hudson's new picture!

Yesterday morning I started having contractions again, so they gave me a Terbutaline shot to stop them, and that did the trick. They doubled my dose of daily contraction medicine, (Procardia), so I'm now taking one in the morning and evening. Saturday evening I had some more contractions, however after taking my second dose of medicine, they stopped.

They started me on my progesterone steroids, and will continue those daily until I'm 36 weeks, or obviously, until Hudson comes--whichever is first.

They won't take Hudson's measurements until another week. I think he's getting big. When I was hooked up to the monitor yesterday, he had several "fetal heart accelerations" which they said are good to see. At his stage of development, they like to see him have at least two heart accelerations within 15 minutes, and last night, he had ten! So he's doing great!

They will measure my cervix again in a few days. Until then, I'm enjoying the surprisingly good food and enjoying lots of movies! The doctors think I will be here for awhile, so that's good, as far as Hudson goes!

Doctor visit 6/26

Sorry for the late update. Well, today was a little bit of a set back. I went in today and my cervix measured at .4, which is very short. They immediately told me that I was to be on hospital bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy. So, I will basically be here until little Hudson comes.

So I'm now checked into my comfy room. I saw the doctor again after I checked in and he said he may want to start me on additional steroids, this time for my cervix--to help strengthen it.

We asked him about a time line again, and again, he said everyone's different. It could be today or I might go until September. Hopefully it will be later than sooner. I am 28 weeks and 2 days today.

The good news is that everything is still looking good with Hudson! We got another ultrasound picture that I will upload later.

Thanks again for everyone's prayers! Even though it may not be fun, I hope I'm here for awhile. At this point the baby's surviving rate is fine, we'd just like for him to be in there as long as he can!

The doctor said today that we will have a better idea of what's going on by the beginning of next week. So I will update with any more news.

Thanks!

*28 Weeks*

Just a little bit about what's happening this week with the baby's development...

Hudson weighs about two and a half pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures about 15 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through my womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world. (from BabyCenter.com)

My next doctor's appointment is this Friday, so hopefully we'll keep getting good news (and another good picture)!

Doctor visit 6/22

Well, another good report!

The fetal fibronectin test came back negative. Which basically indicates that is it most likely that I will not go into labor in the next two weeks.

Great news!

I will go back Friday for another ultrasound and to check my cervix. Hopefully things will continue to go well! That is definitely an answered prayer!

Thanks again for all your prayers, they are working!

Posting comments

Okay, I've heard from several people that they are having trouble posting comments, so here are a few steps that you can try.

- Click on "COMMENTS" below the post you want to comment on.
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That should work! If you have trouble after that, you can always e-mail me at Ambutler623@gmail.com

Doctor visit 6/19

Here is Hudson's first 3D ultrasound picture! You can't tell in this one, but he already has some hair on his head. From another angle we got to see some hair flipping up over his ears! He had his arm in front of his face most of the time, and finally she got him to move it under his chin for this picture.

Today was a good report!

We went to a high risk specialist, his name is Dr. Schneider. We really liked him! He was very informative and easy to talk to.

They did an in depth ultrasound to check Hudson's weight and measurements, and turns out he's going to take after Blake! He weighed in at 2lbs 5 oz. The ultrasound tech said he's in the 72nd percentile for weight at this point in the pregnancy. She said we didn't want anything over 80 or under 20, so he's on the heavier end of normal! She measured all the major bones and organs and she said he has nice long arms and broad shoulders (like his daddy). When the doctor saw the measurements and then looked at Blake he said he will definitely take after him. His exact words were "We got a ball player here!".

He will talk with my OB and they will continue to work together, but as of right now I go back in Monday for my fetal fibronectin test, then again next Friday for another ultrasound and also to measure my cervix again.

Thanks again for the prayers and we will keep you updated!

If there ever was a clip from a movie that I can relate to, it's this! Enjoy! :)

Doctor visit 6/18

Well, I'm home from the doctor, and here's the latest update. My cervix measured at 1.3 again. There was also some fluid in my cervix, which wasn't there last time. Overall, my doctor said she felt comfortable with me going back home today and remaining on bed rest. She made me an appointment for tomorrow morning (Friday) to see a high risk specialist. We will see what he says and then he and my doctor will figure out a plan from there.

Here is an ultrasound shot from today :) I think he looks like Blake in this one.

My doctor also said she wanted to run a fetal fibronectin test to determine the likely hood of me going into labor within the next two weeks. If the test comes back negative, that will be good and will let us know we have a little more time. I posted a link below that explains a little bit about how the test works.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1149.asp

They will also measure Hudson again either tomorrow or next week to see how much he's grown in the past 2 weeks.

I asked my doctor, from what she has seen in my progression, if she had any idea of a time-line of when I might have him, and she said basically you never know. She said I could go into labor tonight or I could hold off for another 2 months. So it was good to know that it was still a possibility to go that far.

That's about it for now. I will update again tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

*27 Weeks*

Well, we've made it 2 weeks since all the excitement started! That is definitely an answered prayer and blessing. I am 27 weeks today and I wanted to let everyone know (courtesy of BabyCenter.com) what all is going on this week with the baby's development.

This week, Hudson weighs about 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. For any of you who know our dog Lexi, he's about her size, just a little lighter. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, his brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now- not taking into account his steroid shots. Any tiny rhythmic movements I might be feeling could be a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him.

Also, on another note, I go back to the doctor tomorrow- so I will update y'all on what she says!

To catch everyone up...

The past 26 weeks have been nothing short of a new adventure for us and our families. I know a lot of you have just now heard about the pregnancy and/or the hiccups along the way. Again, we are so thankful for everyone's prayers and thoughts, and even though we try to update everyone individually as much as possible, we want everyone to be able to stay informed on exactly what is going on. So to those of you who are interested in what has led up 'til now, here goes.

We found out I was pregnant back in January and despite the unplanned surprise, we are very excited about it! For those of you who know me well, you know my plans for kids (if any) weren’t in the near future, but it’s amazing how God has different plans. My attitude on kids has changed dramatically throughout all this.

We found out we were having a boy and I don't think it's any secret we're excited to have a little football player on the way :) We decided to name him John Hudson Butler. Blake, his father and grandfather all have the first name John, so we wanted to keep that tradition going. We were talking about parents who name their kids after cities and so for the fun of it, we went through where all Blake had lived (since I had only lived in Memphis) and we got to Hudson, Ohio... and we both kinda liked it. From then on we kept going back to it and ended up being sold on it.

So, besides the constant morning sickness, my medical problems have been minimal until recently. When I went in for my 21 week check up, I had told them about some complications that my mother had with me, my brother and the preterm birth my mom had before me. They measured my cervix and it measured a little shorter than what they were comfortable with. For all those not familiar with pregnancy terms (like me)… the cervix is basically the lining that holds the baby in. As this gets shorter (or thinner/weaker) the risk of the baby coming early is greater. For all my nurse friends, they first measured it at 2.9, which is slightly lower than "normal". I went back in at 22 weeks and it measured at 3.1. My doctor figured I just had a short cervix for my body and that it had just fluctuated. So I went about my normal routine and was scheduled to come back a month later. When I went back for my 24 week check up, I had felt more pressure than before and I asked my doctor to check my cervix again, just to ease my mind. She ordered an ultrasound and additional tests and told me that my cervix was measuring at 1.3! She sat me down and told me that I was to immediately go home and go on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy and that where I was, was borderline to putting me on hospital bed rest. She then told me that she wanted to start me and the baby on steroid shots to boost his lung development in case he came in the next week or so. That was a scary reality. I met Blake at home and we talked about where to go from there. That was a tough day. We had begun to have a peace about the whole situation that afternoon and wanted to continue life as much as we could. For those of you who don't know, we have a bible study at our house every Thursday night for college and young adults and I wanted to still carry on with that--after all, life still goes on. So we told everyone that we were still on for bible study. About an hour before people were to arrive, I started having contractions. The weren't terrible, but I didn't feel good about it and decided to go in and make sure everything was okay. So we went in to the hospital Thursday evening. When I got there, they immediately hooked me up to a monitor and recorded my contractions at 3-5 minutes apart. They gave me shots to stop the contractions and luckily succeeded. They monitored me all night and Friday morning I started having contractions again. They started me on medicine to manage the contractions that I will take for the duration of the pregnancy. They ran a test to determine whether the contractions were the type to possible lead to labor in the next two weeks and it came back negative, which was the best news we had heard all week! So the only thing left they wanted to check was my cervix. They did an ultrasound Sunday morning and it measured at 1.6, so they gave me another steroid shot and sent me home! :)

Since then, I have gone back to the doctor once, and they ran some more tests and the report wasn't bad. They measured my cervix at 1.5 and said all things considered, that was just fine and to keep doing what I'm doing on bed rest and I will check back in next week. They also measured Hudson and said he weighed in at 1 lb 15 oz, which is right on track for 26 weeks! We have been so thankful that throughout all this that Husdon's development and progress has remained perfect and completely unaffected by the other issues.

So that's basically it for now. I didn't realize how much I have to say about all this until I sat down to type it. There have been so many little fun stories that I will post later for those of you who like reading blogs :) but as for now, that's it!

The purpose of the blog.

If you know me well, you know I'm not a "blogger". So, some of you may be surprised that I "caved in" to the blogging world. Sorry to disappoint you, but really the only reason for this blog is to keep everyone updated on what's been going on with the pregnancy.

I will be on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy and even though things are looking up, we aren't completely out of the water. We have really appreciated everyone's prayers and support and want to keep everyone as updated as possible.

I hope not to get sucked in and ramble about things that you don't care to read about. I will try my best not to let the bed rest boredom get the best of me and will let you know what posts are important updates and what are just random meaningless thoughts :)

That's about it for now! It might be a few days before the next update. We are at a hotel tonight since we don't have power so we're taking advantage of internet access while we have it. Off to bed!