UW Appointment Update, As Promised

We made it up to Seattle again for our appointment on Monday, but it was a close one!  Ryan jumped in the car to pick me up at work, only to find that the battery was TOTALLY dead!  Thankfully our neighbor was home to jump the car.  Thanks Greg!  We ended up only being 15 minutes late, although I have no idea how.  Especially considering Ryan was making work phone calls the entire drive, and multitasking isn't his speciality.  He was driving anywhere between 10 over and 5 under the whole way.  But it is was a good practice of patience, right?

The appointment went well.  I continue to be impressed with the care we get at UW.  It has been fantastic.  I have yet to meet a staff member that is rude or short in any way, and since we are "special" we get to meet with four to five healthcare providers every time we are there!  So, if anybody was going to encounter the rude staff member, it would be us just by sheer odds.  They really know there stuff and they go beyond the medical aspect of treatment to make sure that we are doing okay in every aspect of my life.  I even got a lecture that I am not asking for help with life after he is born enough, so I have been working on that.  Anyhow, everything is moving along just fine with the pregnancy.  I show no signs of premature labor at this point, I am not swelling, I am not gaining too much or too little weight....everything is great.  We had another non-stress test on Monday, which also went well.  He is moving and his heart is accelerating just like it should.

That is really the latest and greatest for now.  I have another non-stress test this coming Monday, then the next Monday is our big appointment in Seattle that we are really looking forward to.  Besides the lonnngggg ultrasound we will have that day, we will also meet with a neonatologist and the anesthesiologist that will talk to me about the c-section.  After this appointment we will really just be in a twice weekly monitoring stage to make sure he is doing okay.  If he isn't for some reason, out he will come.  So Ryan and I will have a bag for all three of us in the car every time we go to Seattle just in case we don't come back.  Crazy to think.  But for the sake of his lungs being as developed as possible, let's just hope that the emergency bags are not used.

I have to throw out ANOTHER thank you to our friend's, the Barton's, who have offered to be our emergency dog care-takers!  Our nurse said it would be best if we could keep the dogs local so that they are able to come home and stay with us when we come home to get a good night's sleep.  She said that this is important because they are good for our stress and health.  Music to my dog loving ears!  Thankfully, the Barton's have offered to do a lot of dog watching for us (still have some gaps to fill in, but we are working on that!) and they live right in Orting.  We plan on throwing a big Thank You BBQ when Gavin comes home to thank all of the people who have been supporting us.  We just couldn't do it alone, and everybody who has helped has made an impact on Gavin's life already by allowing us to focus on him instead of logistical things.  I can't describe the fear that I have for him at times, and it helps to have people in our lives who are so willing to take anything off our plate of stress.

I hope everybody is doing well!  I will definitely have an update if anything else happens that is noteworthy, and definitely after our big appointment on the 4th.

Carly, Ryan and Gavin

32.5 Week Update on Updates!

I have gotten a few emails and texts asking what the latest and greatest on Baby C is, so I thought I would put a quick update on the blog!

1.  We have a name!  Gavin Michael Christiansen!  I suggested Gavin months ago, and I guess it just grew on Ryan.  Ryan has been entertaining himself by coming up with G related nicknames.  G-Funk, G-Money, G-Unit....it is endless.

2.  Things are going as well as they possibly could be.  Gavin and I had our first non-stress test last Monday.  Basically, I get hooked up to a machine and I press a button every time I feel him move, and then this machine measures if his heart rate goes up when he moves like it should.  My doctor said G Money looked phenomenal, and that a lot of the time 32 weeks is too early to see such great heart acceleration.  Gavin showed definite acceleration in his heart rate every time he moved.  Dr. T also commented on how hyper he is...Yikes!  We go in tomorrow for another non stress test, as I will have them weekly until week 34, then I will have them twice weekly until we have him!

3.  We go back up to Seattle on Tuesday for another appointment, so I will have another update for everybody after that appointment.

4.  We are sort of counting down the days until February 4th.  As I have stated in the last update, that is the big day up in Seattle where we will really map out the last month of this pregnancy as much as possible.  We will schedule the C-section, meet with the surgical team so that I can get prepped for surgery and sign all of the paperwork, and we will tour the birthing center at UW.  Not to mention we will have another huge hour long ultrasound to get the best idea of what we will all be dealing with when he comes out.

5.  Pregnancy wise, nothing is going wrong.  The omphalocele has no impact on my health, so I am just carrying on like it is a normal pregnancy.  Still jogging and working out!  I can't imagine how miserable I would be if I didn't!  It really helps me sleep through all of the kicking, which is getting quite strong!  My gestational diabetes test came back great, and my blood pressure is fantastic.  So, hopefully this all stays stable and he gets to camp out in there as long as possible.

6. For expectant Moos (and anybody else interested in my uterus in regards to future pregnancies): I did get the word that I won't ever get to have a natural birth this week.  I will be having a horizontal incision on my bikini line, but I will have a vertical incision on my uterus.  I was bummed, and I had to sort of grieve the loss of the normal way we see birth for a few minutes.  But, heck, Gavin probably isn't stoked about his liver and guts being outside of his stomach cavity.  If he can get through that, then I can get over this.  And, at the end of the day, I know his safety and health is number one.  This isn't always the case if you are wondering what to expect, but it is what my medical team decided is the safest exit for him

So, other than all of this, life is continuing.  I am busy with school and the beginnings of my research on maternal-infant bonding in single patient rooms vs. open bay NICU's (sorry to bore everybody with that), we are just preparing our home for another person to live in it, and we are mourning the end of the 2012 Seahawk season.  I am also looking forward to my baby shower on Saturday!  I can't thank our friends the Winterfeld's enough for hosting it at their house and for the continued friendship and prayers for Gavin.  I am looking forward to our sons getting into all sorts of trouble over the coming years.  The innocent, non criminal type of trouble of course.

Also, a mom that was 5 weeks ahead of me in the Moos group had been kind enough to reach out and tell me what their experiences were like since she was farther along than me.  Great news: they had their baby this past Friday and he is doing beyond fantastic.  So, congrats to the Hoskins' family!  The cool thing about these babies is that their lives are really so inspirational.  Most people don't get to say that about their lives.  I can't say my life is inspirational, but I do get to be lucky enough to be the parent of such an inspirational life, and for that Ryan and I are both lucky.

Thanks again to everybody who has been checking in on us.  We appreciate your support, and Gavin sure does too.  I also need to thank my uncle, Ken, for showing me some back exercises on Christmas Eve!  I was having the WORST back pain at night.  It was awful.  I was barely sleeping at all and I felt like a raging lunatic.  Ken (a chiropractor, not a male ballerina) showed me some things that I can do and I have been sleeping almost all night ever since!  Sweet relief!!!!!!  I think Ryan is more thankful than I am.  :)

Until next time!

Carly, Ryan and Gavin