More news from the homefront

Next week is Kyle's big week. He gets to meet with the Early Intervention School Director and get to tour his new classroom. Karl will be meeting the director and nurse to go over Kyle's general history, basic needs, etc. There's another meeting scheduled in early December for evaluation and placement purposes.

Kyle seems to be quickly getting around his limitations. The other night, he managed to pull out several dresser drawers, positioning them like stairs, and begin scaling them. Karl pulled him away before he got up to the second set, LOL. He's also on a talking streak lately. Learning several new words and sound combinations every day. Books still seem to be among his favorite toys, particularly his Big Baby Book.

Today he did the CUTEST thing. I was laying in bed watching the end of Bringing Home Baby, and the mom and dad were giving their baby a kiss. Kyle was next to me, and crawled over and gave me a great big kiss - I just wanted to cry, it was so sweet :)

One of the moms from my Mothers & More group dropped off dinner tonight, and has offered to pick Kyle up on occassion for playgroup in the neighborhood. In addition, one of my neighbors has also offered to pick him up from time to time, to come down and play at their house. I was so thankful for their offers. I know Kyle will really enjoy getting out to play with other kids. I feel horrible that he isn't able to do much, in the way of out of home activities or getting to see other kids. Fortunately, Karl is working from home full-time now, and his mom has come up a couple times - spending several days to help out. At least I know Kyle is getting enough quality playtime and attention here in the home.

Pregnancy News
Last Friday, due to an overwhelming number of contractions, the Peri put me on Indomathicin to help break through the contractions and give me a little relief. They also ordered up contraction monitoring. I did have some relief through the weekend, but the contractions started up strong again yesterday. Today I had 9 contractions in 2 hours, then I've had about 3/hour since. Fortunately my cervix is holding strong, but it's enough to cause concern. At today's appointment, the Peri decided to put me on a terbutaline pump. My home nurse comes tomorrow to give me my 17P shot, and I think she'll have the pump with her. If not, that will be set up on Thursday. I'll continue with the 17P shots until I reach 36 weeks, regardless of the use of terbutaline.

We opted for the terbutaline pump this time, because the pills proved to be inconsistent, as they are only as effective as your system processes it. In my case, they were wearing off before it was time for the next pill. In addition, I had alot of chest pain from the spikes as a new dose was delivered every 4 hours. With the Pump, I'll instead have a low, continuous stream of medicine pumped in via needle, under the surface of the skin. The continuous flow minimizes some of the risk/side effects often felt in using the pills. It's also a consistent dose, but if I do have breakthrough contractions, I'll be able to press a button so that a bolus dose is delivered immediately. Pump doses can also be monitored and adjusted easily vs. pill form that's dependent on the pre-manufactured dose. Procardia was another option, but since I've been on bedrest, my blood pressure has been pretty low (90s & low 100s over high 60s/low 70s). The doctor expressed a concern about having a negative response/increased risk, since the drug is intended for treating hypertension (high blood pressure).

In general pregnancy/OB related news... I've lost a couple more pounds this month. So I'm back to being 10lbs under my prepregnancy weight (I had gained back 2.5 of that in the month prior, now negated from the loss). It doesn't really seem to matter what I do, I can't gain anything substantial. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the baby at all. They're doing regular growth scans to ensure that baby progresses as they wish. Right now he's measuring nearly a week ahead, so that's reassuring. However, I'm measuring 32-33 weeks at only 23 weeks along. That's a little frightening. Still no explanation for the abnormal growth, they've just chalked it up to an anomaly. I go for my Gestational Diabetes test in two weeks. The dr doesn't see any reason why I won't pass. Which is reassuring, because I don't need any more bad news.

In conclusion, I will continue to see my OB every two weeks, and my Peri twice/week. Hopefully the Peri will change to one time per week soon, because admittedly, all these appointments take alot out of me. But I know it won't change until they're comfortable knowing that I'm not at risk for cervical change, and not until my contractions are under control.