Update

Sorry for the delay in updating -- obviously we've been very busy and I haven't been on the computer much. I know, crazy, right?

So I'll start from the beginning from how everything started so everyone knows events leading up to and since little Hannah got here.

Thursday was uneventful as usual all day -- I took my nightly sleep medication but was up playing around on the laptop until it "kicked in". I was sitting  at the time and felt a gush around 11:18-11:20pm so I rushed to the bathroom, not sure if I was bleeding or what. I got in the bathroom and noticed that my pants were drenched but it wasn't blood. I walked back to look at the bed and there was a huge wet spot on the bed. I called the nurse and told her I thought my water had just broken, so they did a quick test to see if it was amniotic fluid and it was. They said "we're going to prep you - tonight is the night - call your husband", so I did. Paul was asleep when I called so I think it took him a few minutes to register what was going on, but he was quickly on the way.

In the meantime, my Ambien had kicked in so I wasn't panicking. I had an order for Ativan (relaxant medication) to be administered if we were sent off to delivery for any emergencies (and this counted) so I was given that. Thankfully, both of those kept me relaxed as they prepped me in my room and as they wheeled me down to surgical. One of my most favorite doctors was on call which also gave me a ton of relief. I was able to think of other things during the spinal so didn't freak out too much during that administration. Paul came in the room soon after the spinal and I focused on him instead of all of the things going on around me. Not long after, Paul walked Hannah over to me and I got to see her for a couple of minutes. I remember Paul turning to leave as they got ready to do the splenectomy and I don't remember much after that until I was almost to my new room in the Women's Surgical wing. Hannah was born at 1:59am.

Hannah was taken up to NICU right away and given a CPAP to help her breathe since she is premature. Paul was able to go with her and spend time with her until I was out of surgery.

Once I got to my room post surgery, I think I slept for a little while. I'm not going to lie, Friday (right after surgery) until about mid-day Saturday was horrendously awful in terms of pain. Between being given pitocin to get my uterus to shrink (hello cramps!) to being on pain medication that only lasted about 30 minutes at a time and having to wait for the next administration (ugh!) to having incredibly sore abdominal muscles and being unable to move or adjust myself (someone move my leg) to having to get up to use the restroom due to all of the fluids being pumped in me but being unable to use those muscles TO use the restroom (running water did not help) to having sharp, stabbing pain in my shoulders from the gas that was pumped into my abdomen during surgery (AAHH!!!), those 30 hours were the most excruciating, most horrible hours I've ever had. I didn't even get to go see Hannah until nearly 2pm which just added to the terribleness.

On Saturday, they finished administering my last dose of IV medication which meant I was able to switch over to pain medication in pill form. HELLO RELIEF! I was still very sore on Saturday and unable to move myself too much but the pain wasn't nearly as bad. On Saturday night, I walked with the aid of a wheelchair (I basically pushed it down the hallway) all the way to NICU and back, which isn't a short walk. Today, I have been up and moving really well, able to maneuver myself, and walked to and from NICU twice without assistance. Overall, the staff is really impressed with my progress considering I had more than just a C-section. They say that I may be released tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday. I still don't quite know what to think about being released from the hospital - it still seems kind of like a foreign concept.

As for me, I have been told repeatedly that everyone is surprised just how smooth my surgeries went. God showed off BIG TIME. The doctors and surgeons have had many weeks to consult with each other and make a plan for every possible scenario and there are so many things that could have gone wrong. My previa could have caused me to bleed a lot and my body could have compensated by pumping a lot more than usual which would have put a lot of pressure on my spleen all at once which, in turn, could have caused the cyst to burst during the C-section. They had ordered blood in case I were to need an emergency blood transfusion and they had put in extra IVs just in case. But instead, I ended up losing only 250 units of blood total which I guess is extremely LOW. They said no one that read the report that wasn't in the room would probably believe them. They did a vertical incision from my bikini line up to about 2-2.5 inches above my belly button. And they said the spleen removal was also smooth sailing - they didn't have any trouble at all. I begged them to get a picture of it for me and they did. After seeing it, it's SO OBVIOUS to me how much God was working through all of this. Click here to see my spleen. Warning: it's graphic. The huge portion is the cyst -- my spleen is supposed to be closer to the size of the smaller side in the picture. Now how Hannah made it to 35 weeks with my uterus as large as it was and to still have this huge spleen inside me without bursting is a miracle. I honestly can't come up with any other explanation - the spleen is a pretty fragile organ and it looks like that thing could have burst at the smallest problem. I am so in awe of how God protected me and I am so beyond grateful for those of you who have been praying for us constantly during these weeks and months. I honestly don't know what would have happened if God hadn't intervened.

As for Hannah, she is doing really well! She's a preemie so she's got a few issues and will have to stay in NICU for now. However, she was on assisted oxygen only for about a day (as a precaution) and was breathing well enough on her own that they removed it early Saturday. Today, they stopped giving her antibiotics to prevent infection as she's showing no sign of any infection. However, she is not wanting to eat at the moment - she's taken some food by mouth, but for the most part, she has no interest in eating. That's issue #1 she'll have to overcome before she can come home. Issue #2 is that she is unable to control her own body temperature at the moment. However, once she puts on some weight and starts eating, that should resolve itself. There is no estimate, really, as to how long she'll have to stay in NICU. Both of these issues will resolve as the days pass so it's ultimately going to just depend when her body "catches on". That could be in a couple of days or it could be closer to her original due date (which was December 13th). I desperately want her to come home with us, but considering we thought we might have to deliver at 24 weeks and again we thought we'd have to deliver at 28 weeks, we are both just ecstatic that she made it to 35 weeks and that her biggest problem is not wanting to eat. That will obviously be something that is easily remedied as the days pass. Thankful, again, for all of you for praying for her all of these weeks and months. Considering all of the issues she could have, these are very minor, and we are praising God for His protection and provision for our daughter.

Here are a few more pictures since our last post. Thank you to all of you for your support and prayers - we can't wait until you're all able to meet her. She's just amazing.

First official family photo - November 9, 2012

Mommy and Hannah November 10, 2012.

Took the tubes out of her nose November 10, 2012.

Sleepy Hannah November 10, 2012.

Mommy and Daddy get Hannah to take a couple of swallows November 10, 2012.

Mommy and Hannah skin-to-skin time November 11, 2012.

Daddy tries to get Hannah to eat. November 11, 2012.

Daddy burps Hannah. November 11, 2012.

Hannah. November 11, 2012.

Welcome Baby Z

She is here! And despite the fact that we've been calling her "Baby Z" for pretty much the extent of the pregnancy, we have had a name picked out for quite a while (I know some of you were worried).

Welcome to the world, Hannah Reagan Grace Zoller

We decided on Hannah, which means "Grace of God" or "God has favored us (with child)". In the Bible, Hannah was one of the two wives of Elkanah. Elkanah's other wife was able to have children but Hannah was not and she was very grieved by it. In her grief, she prayed for God to give her a child, and He answered her prayer by giving her a son, Samuel (1 Samuel). We have longed for a child of our own for so long and have prayed and prayed and prayed that God would give us one in His timing, and he answered that prayer with Hannah. We are so thankful.

Paul originally wanted her middle name to be Grace, but I have liked the name Reagan for the longest time and after discussing which middle name to give her, we decided to give her both!  Reagan (a derivative of the Irish name Regan) means "of royal blood" or "child of the King" and as we feel she's the daughter of the King of Kings, it seemed appropriate. Besides, we both like Ronald Reagan. :) Grace means, well, "grace", or better yet, "of divine favor". She has exhibited divine favor through all of the hardships we've experienced since conception. She overcame a blood clot in the uterus, previa that could have caused her to come as early as 24 1/2 weeks and again at 28 1/2 weeks (but she held on!), AND a parasite. At every doctor visit and every daily check-up since I got checked into the hospital, all of the medical staff has consistently commented on just how strong her heartbeat has been for her gestational age and how active she has been. We can't wait to see what God has in store for her life as He has blessed her already!

She arrived on 11/9/12 at 1:59am and weighed in at 4lbs .9oz and 16 inches long.

The surgeons were able to remove Amber's spleen during the C-section and she is sore but doing fine. Hannah is in NICU but is doing great so far. We can't wait until we're all able to be home together!

 

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." -1 Samuel 1:27

Ultrasound Update 33w4d

They were able to get us in pretty early for our ultrasound check this morning. Overall, Baby Z still looks good but she is falling behind on the growth scale. The past several ultrasounds we've had have measured her in the 14th-13th percentile for her gestational age. Today she measured in the 7th percentile. Some of you may remember that when we were first checked in, they said "there's no need to worry unless she falls under the 10th percentile". Well, we are now under the 10th percentile. They are estimating she weighs around 3lbs 8oz at the moment.

As they told us the news, I was thinking that was it -- today was the day they might decide to go ahead and take her. But they checked on the umbilical cord and it is showing that the blood flow is good and she's getting all of the nutrients she needs. We also do a non-stress test every single morning on her and me and her heart rate always looks like she's happy and healthy, so they said they are not worried about her at the moment. However, if in the next week or two she starts to look like she's stressed, they might go ahead and decide it's time to go. But the doctor said as we are getting closer to the end, usually "bigger" people's babies tend to grow on the upswing and "smaller" people's babies tend to grow on the downswing. They consider me small (height/stature) so they do take that into consideration when they're looking at growth (which is why they're not too worried yet). I'm glad they're not concerned yet - that is somewhat of a relief - but to go from the 13th percentile down to the 7th in just three weeks is worrisome to me. And to think, I was 9lbs 2oz when I was born! Goodness!

I still have previa -- it looks about the same as it was last time (just bordering my cervix) but my cervix is still closed. That is good news.

My spleen does look a little more squished but they said they're not worried about it at this point in time. Also good news.

They said they will likely do another ultrasound on us next week to check the blood flow on the umbilical cord just to be sure she's getting all of the nutrients she needs. We will probably schedule a date for 36 weeks sometime this afternoon or tomorrow. Of course, it's subject to change based on any signs of distress on her end. So...we'll continue to wait and see. Thankful that today doesn't appear to be "the day" but was hoping to hear she was still growing on par with what she has been.

When we schedule a date, I will post an edit on this blog entry so check back on this entry later today or tomorrow. Please continue to pray that Baby Z is healthy and getting all that she needs. And please continue to pray that I will have peace about the surgeries. **UPDATE: We are scheduled for Thursday, November 15th at 8:30am. We'll be 36 weeks to the day if we make it that far!**

Thanks to all of you who are praying for us every day! We can't thank you enough.

33w4d

Asked for a pic of the spleen :)

33 Weeks + 1

Well, we made it to my goal (of 33 weeks), but here's hoping we can make it to the next goal -- 36 weeks!

A friend of mine's sister got checked in to the room across the hall from me last night. She was just a few days ahead of me gestation-wise and went into preterm labor yesterday. After trying to stop the labor unsuccessfully, they had to deliver her by C-section quickly this morning. On the bright side, it's nice to see just how quickly the staff here is able to handle an emergency. On the not bright side, it's a stark reminder at how quickly things can go awry. Prayers for her and baby are appreciated --  I suspect since baby came around 34 weeks, she may be in NICU for a little while, and mom wasn't prepared for an emergency C-section, so please pray for her physical and emotional recovery.

Our next ultrasound is Monday morning. If everything is still looking good, they said we'd start talking about scheduling my C-section/splenectomy. And while no one here has mentioned that we may be heading off to have Baby Z on Monday, I am trying to mentally prepare myself just in case it looks like my spleen is in danger and they decide to play it safe rather than sorry. I'm really hoping that they say everything looks good and we can continue forward.

I talked to the Infectious Disease doctor today about the recommendation about medication after they take my spleen. I've read that some doctors prescribe something for a couple of years to boost the immune system for a while and I've read that some doctors do not recommend it. He said he would not recommend it as it could make my body resistant to antibiotics and if/when I do contract something, it may not be as responsive to the medication. He said he may prescribe me something to keep on hand in case I were to come down with something and was unable to get medical attention quickly, just as a backup, but that's it.

In other news, the hospital is shutting off power for 12 hours tomorrow to test emergency power backups and do maintenance. For those of you who panic when you don't hear from me within an hour or two, there's a good chance I will be void of internet tomorrow evening starting at 6pm. Looks like I may be doing a lot of reading and going to the bathroom via flashlight or glow stick. ;)

Other than that, we're still hanging out. The hospital has been crazy busy the past week (must be leading up to full moon) so I am sticking to my bed like glue just in case whatever is "going around" tries to creep into my room. Trying to stay stable, stable, stable!

Here we are!!

33w1d

32 weeks

I apologize that it's been more than a week since I have updated; there just hasn't been much new to report on! :) We have made it to 32 weeks -- Praise The Lord! Baby Z is still active and seems to be doing really well despite a couple of days having to stay on the monitor longer due to her moving a lot and having it look like her heart rate was dipping. Fortunately, after extending the time on the monitor, she looked just fine - I think it was just the position she was in.

The Infectious Disease doctors have given the go-ahead to remove my spleen during the C-section (unless something happens where I am not stable enough to do so). I have been on the Albendazole medication for the parasite long enough where they feel like the risk in removing it is greatly diminished at this point. It sounds like even after the surgeries, though, they would like me to stay on the medication until December 4th, just in case I have another cyst somewhere that hasn't been found or in case I have one that has been too small to detect as of yet. Being on the medication for the full three months should kill off anything that might be hiding, so they want to take the "play it safe" approach, which is fine by me.

The nursery is almost finished! The changing table and the crib and the rocking chair are all set up. There are only a handful of things left that we still need, so if you would like to contribute to any of the remaining items on our registry, the links are in the right column next to this post under "Baby Registries". :)

I am getting more anxious as we approach the end which could be anywhere from now through another four weeks or so. My biggest fears are needles and surgery (and not having any control) so putting all three of those together into one big event is pretty difficult for me. Prayers that I have peace about it by the time we actually get there are greatly appreciated.

Here are some pictures!

Rocking chair and ottoman my sweet coworkers got for us.

Changing table and crib ready to go.

32w1d

Thankful to all of you who are praying for us!

Ultrasound Update

I can't believe I have been in the hospital for six weeks (as of yesterday). I thought originally that I would come in, have them check me out, tell me I am stable and send me home. But six weeks has flown right by ... well, maybe not flown, but it's been a bit of a whirlwind so it doesn't exactly feel like it's been six weeks.

We had another ultrasound this morning to check on everything. All of this info is coming straight from the ultrasound tech as I haven't heard anything official from the doctors, yet (probably will hear from them later this afternoon). Updates from doctor in italics.

It appears I still have a previa. I am not sure if it's still considered complete previa but Baby Z's head is pretty much directly over my cervix along with the previa. Looking at the images of it, I can't believe I haven't been bleeding more frequently or with more intensity (especially with how active she is). I am attributing that entirely on God answering the prayers of so many of you on our behalf - thank you. Update from doctor: I still have previa, but it is no longer complete previa! My previa has migrated some and is still right next to the opening of my cervix, but it is not completely covering my cervix. We can still have a big bleed that sends us off to surgery, but the likelihood of that happening gets less and less as the previa hopefully continues to migrate away from the cervix. Praise the Lord!!

My spleen still looks the same. I watched her measure it and it's pretty much the exact same measurements as last time so that should indicate it's not getting too squished yet. Also an answer to prayer. Doctor confirmed that it is still the same and the cyst may even be a bit smaller, but not significantly smaller - only a few millimeters at most. In addition, the doctors and I have all agreed that we're hoping not to have to rush off to surgery for at least another couple of weeks - after that, I will have been on the parasite medication for 8+ weeks which will have given the medication time to start killing off what is inside the cyst. That will greatly decrease the risk for other organs being contaminated should there be an issue during the removal of the spleen.

Baby Z looks great!! She is still measuring small but she is progressing exactly as she should in regards to what she has been. She is an estimated 2lbs14oz which is a huge relief to me - I was afraid she was significantly smaller than she should be, but the average weight she should be is only about one pound bigger. I'll take it. And in other answers to prayer, this past Sunday was the first time she kicked my ribcage (and I've gotten a few more jabs to the ribs since) but all of her kicking and pushing and moving has been localized to my right side, so nowhere near my spleen (which rests under my left ribcage). I also suspect the previa is probably partially what is keeping her stationed so low in my uterus, which is also a good thing for my spleen. God is showing off in the midst of all of the stuff going on. Doctor didn't give us any information we didn't already know on Baby Z. :)

Here are some pictures from today's ultrasound. Thanks for continuing to pray for us - it is working!!

Baby Z 30w5d

Baby Z 30w5d "I see you"

No News Is Good News

I am so glad that I don't have much to update! So far, there hasn't been any more bleeding - HALLELUJAH! I am still paranoid that it will happen again, but the doctors have all said "maybe you're done" -- I certainly hope so. If we stay stable this week, our next ultrasound is a week from today where we'll check on Baby Z, on the previa, and on the spleen again. All of the nurses I've talked to who used to work the NICU have all told me that 30 weeks is kind of the "magic number" for weeks of gestation where they would always breathe a sigh of relief when a baby was born at that gestation or later - they said those babies have a lot fewer problems than babies born before 30 weeks (and most of them are relaying that from their experience over 10+ years ago in the NICU).

We will be 30 weeks on Thursday. Thankful to be plugging away at the days Baby Z can hold on and develop!

I haven't done a whole lot of bragging on the staff at Mission (just a little here and there) but the nurses and doctors have all been so wonderful. On the days when I had the bleeding and they had to switch me from being under the care of the Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFU) unit to the Labor and Delivery (L&D) unit, I found out that the MFU nurses would keep my monitor up at their desk and watch everything happening even though I was not technically their patient any more. Even since I've been back under the care of MFU since last Wednesday, the nurse I had while under the care of L&D has come by to check on me several times. She was nurse to a lady who was in labor next door to me earlier today and once she'd finished with her, she stopped by just to ask how I was doing and to tell me she was thinking of me while she was helping deliver on the other side of the wall. I realize I am technically just a patient, but I really haven't gotten the feeling that I'm just a patient to any of the staff. They seem to genuinely care about all of us and I'm so thankful.

In addition, I am beyond grateful to be in a country where they value the life of my unborn child. I know all of the Roe vs. Wade debates that are still in the spotlight in this country and how many people still feel like life doesn't begin until birth (and, as such, is not as valuable), but any time I've talked to anyone at Mission Hospital, they've been adamant that they want Baby Z to be in the best health/shape possible and want to delay me having her any earlier than I absolutely have to. I can't imagine being in a country where if I'd had a bleed or had a large splenic cyst that the medical staff may not be as concerned about making sure that my child's interests were also considered in the course of treatment. Sometimes the nurses come in just to give her a quick listen in the afternoons even though I know on my chart it doesn't indicate they have to do that as long as I'm stable. I really feel like everyone here is as concerned for her welfare as Paul and I are.

Not much else to report at the moment, thankfully! Paul thinks he has passed the kidney stone, finally! And we're looking forward to our friends & family baby shower this weekend (at the hospital) assuming there are no more surprises. :) I may be in a wheelchair the whole time, but I am beyond excited to see everyone regardless of the fact that I won't be able to be very "active".

Thanks for all of the prayers! I know how many hundreds are lifting us up (and probably hundreds more that I don't even know about who are lifting us up). Amazes me to have so many people committed to praying for us every day. I can't wait for this little miracle to meet all of you when she gets here.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." -John 15:7