Friday's Update from Bed Rest Central

Can someone print a certificate for my wall stating I made it through a week here???? Just kidding. But whew! Today I am in great spirits. No rollercoaster of emotions here. Sally brought the girls by last night-- and being the genius that she is... she kept them all corralled in the "family" playroom (that exists somewhere outside my door-- I'm told). Then she sent each girl in one at a time for snuggling in my bed and talking. It was soo great. I honestly believe they may survived this without permanent scarring and a need for years of therapy! (Insert chuckle here, please). Anyway, it must pay to suck it up and not complain here. Last night, the nurses moved me out of my perfectly fine room to the hospital's version of the bridal suite at the Ritz. Lets see, the room is HUGE, I have my own microwave, a much bigger fridge (since I'm on a general diet that's way cool), tv, DVD/VCR, TWO windows, a bed/bench for Byron and a desk for anyone that wants to use it. It's great.
I did get my massage yesterday. Wow. One of the nurses here spends two hours of her shift each Thursday giving 20 minute massages. I was jello afterwards...mmmmm it was great. Now I absolutely have to make it to at least next Thursday for Massage day. Ha.
Several friends stopped by, plus my brother-- so the day went fast and it was a good day.
On a medical front... had a little gush at 3 am. But that's actually a good sign. Since my water is officially broken, that just means my body made some more. So phew. The other highlight (I know, it doesn't take much these days)... is that I'm no longer on antibiotic IV's. Great, great news in that I've already blown out two IV's and my arms are very sore. Did I mention I'm kind of wimpy? Anyway, you'd think that since my water is broken they'd be keeping me on antibiotics. But as it's been explained to me, the antibiotics would mask any infection until it was most likely too late to save the baby. So I'm off the yucky stuff and they just take my temp every two hours, check vitals and I'm to watch for soreness etc. Cool, eh? All the regular baby monitoring shows I'm doing okay-- Baby Boy Barker is steady and so far no contractions on my part. So yes, things are good today.
Finally, anyone know any cool boy names that mean "torturer of nurses"? This little kid loves to kick and move whenever he's being monitored. One nurse spent-- no joke-- 45 minutes chasing him to get him on the heart monitor. It was classic. That's great- he needs to be a little pill to survive what's ahead.
Thank you again for all of your love and support.

The Roller Coaster Continues

Yipee... I made it to day six here in the hospital. Who would've thought that with all the depressing news we were given on Saturday. Yesterday was a bit crazy. The monitoring showed the baby's heart rate going down for 4 minutes and then 2 minutes. So they tested me for another hour and it only happened once. A third hour of testing and he was back to his normal. The doctor figures we'll either see more of this as the placenta deteriorates or he was just pressing against the umbilical cord.
Last night I had my best sleep in months. Of course, drugs get all the credit. They gave me an ambien (wow, I'll be happy to do commercials for this miracle drug) at bedtime but then my IV blew out. By the time the nurse got another one in me, I was wide, wide awake. So they gave me another ambien. I slept amazingly well-- even with the nurse coming in every three hours to check vitals and give me antibiotics.
This morning, I had another gush (sorry for the more than you want to know info) and the doctor says my bag of waters is officially broken. Scary setback-- but the baby's heartbeat is still plugging along and we will continue with the plan of keeping me flat on my back and still. Dr. Lovelace thinks I could be fine like this for a while -- even a week or two-- if my body doesn't go into full contractions, I get an infection or the baby goes into stress. So all in all, other than the emotional rollercoaster... we are still plugging along.
My nurse scheduled me for a massage today. Yesterday, I had a relaxation therapist spend a half hour with me and on Mondays here, they have someone come in and do crafts!!! Can you believe that? I guess in this ward it's all about keeping the "down for the count" women SANE.
My room is filled with beautiful flowers. I have a DVD/VCR, internet and a refrigerator. I even have a view of trees and vines from what I can see out my window. I'm calling it my "Idaho Staycation". Byron even brought in chocolate last night to celebrate making it to 25 weeks. Of course, the fun was ruined when we had to spend the evening going over all of the bills that I usually handle. Poor guy--- he may neeed prayers more than me to keep everything juggled.
Thank you again and again to everyone for all of your prayers, love, visits, books, clean underwear, real food, flowers and support. I feel so loved. And thank you to all of you who are loving my little girls so I can stay here!!!

I Need Your Prayers Now...

After getting over the initial shock of being pregnant at age 43… and then getting to what we thought was a safe zone before telling most of our friends… we’ve suffered quite the set back. On Saturday, May 30th, I was admitted to the hospital (St. Luke’s downtown Boise) with some pretty major complications. In my layman’s interpretation… it seems my placenta has ripped from the left wall and my amniotic fluid is down to just ten percent of where it should be. The good news is I’ve made it a few days without any more major setbacks. We’ve had a few blips but that is to be expected. As of today I’m 25 weeks. I’m hopeful (with moments of utter despair), but overall, hanging in there. When we came in Friday, the doctors/perinatologist/neo-natologist all told us we were looking at a 40 percent survival rate (that’s not including health issues). But every day the percentages go up. If I can make it two more weeks (which is what would probably be considered my best case scenario), the chances go up to 80 to 90 percent survival.

I’m flat on my back with the big excitement for me being the periodic chances I get up to go to the bathroom. My bishop from church came by and talked with me and gave both Byron and I blessings—and it has made all of the difference. Much of my fear has melted away. Oh, I’m still an emotional wreck but its all relative.

So now we are in the midst of a dance—hoping to keep this little boy inside me to let him grow for as long as possible—but knowing the time is limited. As he grows, my failing placenta will not be enough to support him. As I said, the doctor figures I have 2 weeks if all goes perfectly. Just so you know, I’m planning on three and then going from there. I’m counting on some miracles here.

Sugar Highs! Here we go...

The Great Easter Egg hunt is on! The cousins came over and the little scavengers all picked the yard clean!

Here's Reese (above) and Lindsey in the blue, Katy in the green and Morgan with the funny face below and two of my girls with their "spoils of war".

The line up of the "Sugar Thiefs" in front of the playhouse.


Happy Easter Everyone! (I know, a little late)

A Very Eggcellent Easter

I know I'm a little late on this... but I've been distracted with life. But here are the girls decorating Easter eggs.

Once we finished with the eggs... we were ready for the big Easter Egg hunt in the yard with the cousins-- of course we used plastic eggs with (my oh so not favorite) candy-- instead of the boiled eggs.

Girl World Has Been Infiltrated

In case you weren't born with the "I can read ultrasounds" talent-- let me help you out. The baby does not have three legs. That's something we've never seen before. Yup, we're expecting a true, blue baby boy. After three girls... we just didn't think this was possible. In fact, Byron was extremely quiet on the way home from the doctor's office. I think he had convinced himself we would be adding to Girl World.

So now I don't feel so bad about giving away all of those darling girly outfits the minute-- no the second-- Reese grew out of them.

So now we are at square one when it comes to names. Greer had "Aquamarine Bella" all picked out for us. Somehow, I don't think that will be quite fitting. We're officially open for suggestions. My one friend has already suggested "Bryan". That's only funny if you know that my dad called Byron "Bryan" on and off for the first several months of our marriage.

Oh, I'm almost 5 1/2 months along. We are due in on Sept. 15th. It took me this long for reality to sink in. So now you know.

Are You Sitting Down?????????

So I've been putting this post off and off and off. I guess I'm still recovering from the shock of it all. But since I can't hide it anymore, I'll come clean. I am pregnant. Yup, if you need to read that sentence again, I'll wait.....
Byron and I now fall into that little category of the 1 percenters... where birth control did not work. My doctor tried to make me feel better by telling me he sees two groups of "Oops Babies" moms-- teenagers and women in their 40's. Those of you who know me probably know what category I'm in.
So this is what happens when you get rid of every baby item in your home, give away all of your maternity clothes and are mentally prepared for the next phase of life. Reese starts pre-school two days a week next year. This is also what happens when you start a new business with a friend and are busier than ever. Crazy, eh?
P.S. I know, I know-- several of my high school friends are grandmothers at this stage. Just call me a late bloomer.