Here we go again!

So... Angelo and I went for our weekly prenatal visit and we were told that I'm dilated 4 cm!! It came as a shock, because at the appointment following the initial labor scare, we were told that my cervix had successfully closed back up again... and yet a week from that point brings us to the last appointment on Friday where we were given the news about the whole 4 cm bout. Yikes!! So... he'll certainly be on his way out soon enough. We are just waiting for my water to break I suppose, or at least for the heavy contractions to kick in... but we were told this could be any day. Out doctor does not feel confident we'll reach August 22nd, though on the same note, he wasn't so sure we'd made it through the weekend either, yet here we are. :)

Correspondence between Nicole and I.

From: Nicole
Date: Jul 21, 2007 5:58 PM

Hey Jess,
Sorry I haven't called you guys or made it down there to help. The Saturday that Chile posted the bulletin requesting help, I took a pregnancy test and to my surprise... I'm pregnant! :)
Anyway, I hope you're doing good. I got your bulletin about pediatricians... did you find one? I wish you could find one like ours. She's an MD and an all natural-alternative physician. She's against giving infants all there shots at once... she spreads them out... and she doesn't prescribe antibiotics unless necessary... she's awesome. I wonder if she has any colleagues in Melbourne?

Anyway, I hope you guys are closer to being ready for Beni... let us know if we can help!

I'll talk to you soon... tell Chile we said HI!

Love~Nik

From: Jessica Lynn
Date: Jul 21, 2007 8:28 PM

Oh my goodness, congratulations Nicole! Honestly, when I read that my jaw literally dropped and I was just floored with good spirits. We are SO happy for you both. Blessings come in all forms of surprises these days! It's a good thing after all that you held onto all the baby stuff. :)

As far as the house and "Beni-prepping" goes, we just put the laminate hardwood down in both bedrooms, and a friend of his is going to put up all the moulding tomorrow evening... so, slowly but surely everything is finally coming together (thankfully). And yes, we'd still love for Mister to help with tiling. Once we get situated with the rest of the house, we'll give you guys a call and arrange a good time for everyone.

I have a feeling Beni will be coming fairly soon now that I've been taken off the medication and given the "okay" for labor. I started having heavy contractions last night and I was very close to making a run for the hospital, but after a couple of hours it calmed down to just minor irritability. False alarm I guess. It seems I'm stuck at a cross between wanting him here so badly just so we can finally see his little face, yet knowing realistically we need just a bit more time to finish up the house and prepare. Inevitably though, it's his call. :)

At some point when things start leveling out around here, we'd love to plan a little drive to Orlando to get together. There's this little restaurant on West Colonial, Garden Cafe, that I absolutely love, but haven't gone to in several years... they have the best vegetarian food! The imitation meat is close to impossible to tell from the real thing. I don't know if that's something you would be interested in, but it's an idea?

Anyway, I'll talk to you soon and call if anything comes up with little Beni!

<3,
Jessica

Discharged, yes!! Finally!

Yesterday afternoon I was finally (!!) discharged from the hospital on orders of strict bed-rest. The doctor decided to use an alternative to the magnesium sulfate in order to keep the contractions at a minimum -- Procardia, a "calcium channel blocker". So far, I've only had about 6 per hour and no further dilation than the initial 2cm... so, it seems everything is running smoothly in that respect. That makes us two very happy parents-to-be when our little one gains a little extra growing time in mommabellyhotel. :)

We're staying in Rockledge at my dad's house for the time being since our home is a bit of a construction disaster... that, and we still don't have the plumbing hooked up in the kitchen.

We can still be reached on either of a our cellphones, but I wanted to let everyone know we were no longer in the hospital since I know some of you were planning to stop in and see us.

As far as when little Beni comes, your guess is as good as ours! Hahha. :)

Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and words... ♥

Correspondence between Kellee and I.

From: Kellee
Date: Jul 2, 2007 8:00 PM

Sorry we haven't been up to see you! I've thought about you & Beni every minute of every day you've been in the hospital, trust me. I've also been having dreams with you & him in them. Everything will be alright, I just am worried about you! My car broke down and we've been stuck and in a stressful state from that too these last 2 days. I would have come to see you but I haven't had a car. How are you? How's Beni? Chile holding up? Do you guys need anything?

From: Jessica Lynn
Date: Jul 3, 2007 12:42 PM

Thanks so much for checking in us, Kellee... We were actually discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and I've just been on strict bed-rest since. He switched me from the magnesium sulfate to a prescription calcium channel blocker which has kept the contractions under about 6/hour and I haven't dilated further since then, so it seems like everything is pretty stable for now. As soon as I pull myself up out of bed though, contractions kick in tenfold again... so still not quite sure how much time we have... hours, days, weeks? Suppose it's up to little B and how long this medication holds up, hahha.

Anyway, we love you and I can't wait to pass on the good news when he finally comes. Cross your fingers! ♥

48 hours in the hospital...

I know I haven't given any updates since the initial blog on Friday, but here's what's going on:

Despite the magnesium IV administered to stop the pre-term contractions, they've still been fairly frequent in the past three days. So, chances are I will be here until I actually give birth, which we're still trying to put off at least until late afternoon, best case scenario would be to make it to Tuesday so that his lungs are fully developed from the steroids. I don't know quite how dilated I am at this point, but as of Friday morning it was 2cm. I'm sure the contractions have made quite an impact since then, though. My doctor is delaying another "hands on" examination to check because that might throw me into full-fledged labor again. So, like I said in my last blog, we're still a little in the dark here. It's just a matter of waiting from this point on..

Anyway, hopefully that cleared up at least some confusion! Thanks for all the calls everyone! We are so blessed to have the support we do from our friends, now of all times especially.

Love you all. Wish us luck!

Updates from the hospital bed...

I know those of you who received a text message from Angelo this morning are wondering what's going on!

So... I'm technically "in labor" as I type this... hahha.

I had a routine prenatal appointment this morning and mentioned some cramping I've felt since yesterday morning sometime. He felt that what I was describing sounded like contractions, so he went ahead and checked my cervix and found that I was already dilated two centimeters. Uhh, WHAT?! Dila-huh?

So, as you can guess, I was immediately sent to the labor and delivery unit at Holmes Regional Hospital. At this point, I'm only 32 weeks pregnant, so they are trying to delay the labor process as best they can. It's been an incredibly tiring day filled with so much uncertainty. I have tubes and wires coming from every part of my body monitoring everything from the baby's heartbeat, contractions, my blood pressure, IV's (connected to magnesium and antibiotics), etc. I was given a steroid shot to advance Beni's lung development to lessen any chances of breathing difficulties when he does come, because it's still a little too soon to be expecting him.

The magnesium is a muscle relaxer that has calmed the contractions a great deal, they are a lot less frequent now than when I came in. The only thing we can do now is wait. They are trying to delay the delivery for a couple of weeks, but at this point we're unsure if that's possible. He may come tonight, or with the muscle relaxers we may be able to shoot for longer.

It's just a matter of waiting at this point. So, we'll see...

There's a part of me wants him to come now, simply because I want to see his beautiful little face and hold him in my arms, but I know he has a little more growing to do, so it's best that he stays put for now. He's putting up quite a fight against it though, hahha.

Anyway, this was longer than I anticipated, but it's nice to kind of pull my mind away from all the craziness surrounding for the time being. Laptops and WiFi are a godsend! And so is Daddy-to-be! He is just the most amazing support I could ever possibly ask for. He makes me feel so, so blessed. :)

Correspondence between Billie and I.

From: Jessica Lynn
Date: May 31, 2007 8:11 AM

I never got a chance to congratulate you with the news before! I was just thinking about you wondering how you're holding up with the pregnancy? Let me know...

Hope all is well!

From: Billie
Date: May 31, 2007 2:31 PM

Thank you very much.
I just got back from my first doctors appointment! All the exams were very rough but we got to hear the heartbeat, which was sooo exciting!!
I think I'm almost 11 weeks so far, so not too far along, but still exciting.
You're almost there, eh? How have things been for you??

Billie

From: Jessica Lynn
Date: May 31, 2007 5:39 PM

Aw, yes! Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was just... so amazing. I had a perma-smile for the rest of week! Otherwise, the first trimester was horrid, I was literally glued to the bed and felt terrible all the time. Thankfully that subsided around 14 weeks and since then I've actually felt pretty good! I'm at the point now where my only complaint is lugging the extra weight around and a bladder that's likely the size of a pea, but other than that I think I'm fairing alright. (Knock on wood! Hahha.)

Do you have any names picked out yet and have you decided if you want to find out the gender?

The time passes by so fast it seems, at least for me it has. Just a couple more months... yikes!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy. A joy for every woman...

We'll have to arrange a some play-dates in the future. :)