Home!

We are going to have a Texas baby! We made it home safely- with the normal amount of minor contraction activity throughout the flight. Yesterday afternoon was looking a little shaky, but yesterday evening and this morning everything was normal, so we felt comfortable getting on the plane. Thank you everbody who prayed for our discernment and safe travel.

Coming Home!

Today we got the go ahead from Dr.Huang to come home on Saturday. Now my job is to stay down until then and pray nothing happens between now and then. Please pray for us that things would stay calm but also that we would have wisdom leading up to the flight. We will be the ones that ultimately have to decide whether or not to get on the plane on Saturday. Thank you all again for all your prayers and support.

Still Hanging Around

Nothing new as of today. Kelly did not feel any contractions as a result of our little road trip yesterday, so that is a very key data point.

Robert is at 33 weeks and 5 days. We are REALLY looking forward to heading home- still planning on Saturday. We have an appointment with the OB on Thursday. Our prayer is that we would have wisdom about whether or not we should fly on Saturday and we appreciate your prayers for the same.

Kelly's mom scanned a 4-D ultrasound image of Robert. This picture was taken when Robert was 30 weeks old.

Outing

Today we made the big trip to Sonoma. We had a wonderful lunch. It felt so great to get outside and be up and about. The best part is, nothing happened as far as we know. I didn't have any more contractions than normal (well, as normal as it's been for the last two weeks.
The next step is to take it easy until the doctors appointment on Thursday and hopefully, she will give us the ok to come home on Saturday.

Less than a week

We are hoping to come home on Saturday, so now we have less than one week left in California (we hope). Tomorrow we have our exciting journey to have lunch out. Hey, I'll take what I can get at this point. Hopefully, that will go well and make us feel more confident about the flight.
We can't wait to be home. We have new granite that we haven't even seen and believe it or not we're actually missing Darcy (Glenn more than me). Evidently she's acting a lot better as of late. The George grandparents have been keeping her and they're not dying to pass her off to the Wellings. Maybe she thinks we had finally had it with her and she'd better be a good dog or she'll get abandoned again. My dad said they're turning her into a real dog. She runs around their property and chases the horse and even seems to want to play with the steer. She's still scared of dogs though. She'll still only be able to come to our house for visits when we get back, because I won't be able to deal with her and be on bedrest.
Anyway, enough about our crazy dog, we'll update everyone after tomorrow's excursion.

Big Oops

I put the wrong mailing address on our blog before.

It is:
871 (not 971) Sonoma Ave., Apartment D
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Sorry for any problems that might have created.

Nothing new so far today.

Clarification on the post below

I want to explain why the doctors are not keen on us flying back this weekend.

1) Flying back anytime before Robert is born has some risk that Kelly could go into labor on the flight. More specifically, Kelly sat in a sofa for 30 minutes and has been on a car ride for about 30 minutes. Going home will require a 1:15 drive to the airport trasferring her to a wheelchair, checking in, going through security, sitting while we wait, getting on the plane and then sitting in the plane seat for probably 4 hours (3.5 hour flight). All that is MUCH more than Kelly has experienced in the past 2 weeks and that much motion and disturbance might trigger labor.
2) Robert is at 33 weeks today. Babies are considered full term between 37 and 40 weeks.
3) Nothing magical happens at 34 weeks, but even an extra half week lowers the chances that there could be problems
4) If Robert was born today, odds are that everything would be okay. At this stage about 10% of babies have problems associated with prematurity. White male premature babies tend to fare then worst.
5) If you overlay the 10% chance that he might have a problem with the unlikely odds that Kelly would give birth on the plane, the odds are small, but we want to minimize the risks.
6) We have repeatedly heard 34+ weeks as a stage where the doctors (Kelly's OB and 2 neonatologists) would be more comfortable.

Hopefully that explains all the thoughts.

We had prayed for very clear guidance in the doctor visit this morning and we feel we got it. So as long as things hold stable, we are planning on coming back April 28, four weeks to the day after we left for vacation....

More waiting

Well, during our conversation with the OB, we feel like we got clear guidance that we should NOT fly back this Sunday. That guidance corroborates with a discussion I had with the dad of one of Kelly's friends, a neonatologist at Brown Medical School that has been very helpful throughout all of this.

We had let our minds get set on coming back this Sunday and kind of jumped the gun. It is hard to know we will be here probably at least through next Friday. It was particularly hard on Kelly to think about being here another week. Her eyes can't focus very well right now- we think because of the medicine she is on- so it is hard to read. She is so tired of watching TV, so there is really not much she can do, so that makes staying here another week hard for her to deal with.

Trying to figure out when to go home

Today Kelly and I drove to the local In'N'Out Burger. It took about 30 minutes to get there, get the food, and get back. It was sort of a test to see how well she fared and make sure no contractions happened. Tomorrow we have another appointment with the OB at 9 AM. One of our major conversation items will be whether we should try to travel on Sunday or not.

We ask for prayer for wisdom and guidance for us and our doctors as we consider what we should do...

Waiting

Today we had yet another ultrasound and everything still looks good. I have lost a little weight from this ordeal, but Robert had grown since last week. We are tentatively making plans to come home. We're trying not to get our hopes up, but it is very exciting.
My mom went home today so now it's up to Glenn to take care of meals and bring me whatever I need. I'm sure he'll do a good job. Fortunately, he is able to get some work done from here, but my day was more boring without my mom to keep me company. Hopefully, it won't be long until we are home though.

Trip to the doctor

Today was the big trip to the OB, and this is about as exciting as things get for Kelly right now.

Here she is on the way out the door...

Results of the doctor visit:
1) Robert (actually his little heart beat) still sounds good
2) Kelly is doing fine as well
3) Kelly took another fetal fibronectin test. We will get the results tomorrow, but if they come back negative (we hear tomorrow) it would suggest that she will not go into labor for the next week.
4) We have another apointment on Thursday. Kelly will be at 33 weeks then. The doctor said it might be possible to head home early next week if everything stays stable. We would do a little outing, maybe back to Sonoma since it is within a 30 minute drive of the hospital, to she how she does sitting and riding for a few short hours. If that causes lots of contractions it would be unlikely we could head hom soon, so this will be sort of a trial.

Tomorrow we have a ultrasound tomorrow at the hospital, so Kelly gets another outing!

We really appreciate each comment and post on this blog... and of course all the thoughts and prayers. We have seen evidence of the Lord taking care of us and Robert through this time in big ways and in small ways.

Status quo

Nothing new... Kelly wanted her mom to get a glimpse of the area (since all of her travel to get here was in the dark),so armed with cell phones and ready to get back to Kelly on a hairpin trigger, Kelly's mom and I took a couple of hours and went to Sonoma for lunch and a very brief change of scenery. The weather was perfect. At lunch we were seated next to an actress we both recognized. After we got back "home," we figured out that it was Maura Tierney from the TV show ER.

Because Robert will either 1) be born in Wine Country or 2) come really darn close to it, we tried to locate a onesee (translation: one piece clothing thing for babies)that Kelly and I previously saw that said "whine conneseur" but had no luck... One of the many challenges of being stuck away from home trying not to have a baby.

Tomorrow's highlight will be a visit to the OB.

Hello from Kelly

Hi everyone. It's really nice to be out of the hospital. I'm starting to feel more human again. I look forward to taking my 5 minute showers. They are the highlight of the day. Mom and Glenn have been taking great care of me.
I really appreciate all the prayers. They are really the only explanation as to why Robert is not born yet. I had a great night last night and have had less than one contraction an hour today, even though I decided to swith from taking the Terbutaline every 4 hours to every 6. We'll see what the doctor says on Monday. Maybe we can try a tiny bit more activity to get an idea how the flight home might go.
I miss everyone and really appreciate all you support!

Everything the same

No major updates- Kelly slept pretty well last night. I got us some In-N-Out Burger for lunch to celebrate a successful week of not having a baby. We have a doctor appointment on Monday and ultrasound on Tuesday. If all goes well, Kelly's mom will head back home on Tuesday. We still hope to make it back to Houston in about 2 weeks...

In the apartment!

Things are still looking good and we are now in the apartment! Kelly enjoyed the 3 minuted drive over to the apartment and is looking forward to spending daytime in one room and night-time in another. It will seem a little more normal.

Also, Robert is at 32 weeks!

A couple of big milestones for the day...

The apartment address is:
971 Sonoma Avenue, Apartment D
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

The direct phone is : 707 528 8509

Kelly's e-mail address: janeite_k@yahoo.com

We are still hoping to get back to Texas ini about 2 weeks if all remains stable.

Latest

We are still in the holding pattern. The doctor allowed Kelly to take a 5 minute shower today. She sat down on a stool in the shower, but just getting out of bed is a pretty big treat after all she has been through. If the trend stays in the positive direction, the doctor said she might let Kelly go to our apartment as long as everything remains okay- the apartment is about a 3 minute drive from the hospital. I have gotten us set up to get internet in the apartment on Friday, so that should make keeping the blog updated much easier. It will also allow me to log in to my work network so that I can get some work done. I appreciate everyone who has offered to help in any way, but I really can't think of anything right now.

From a medical standpoint Robert's heart is still looking great, Kelly takes tributylene (have no idea if that is how it is spelled, but there it is for the medical folks...) every 4 to 6 hours to keep the uterus as calm as possible, and it still looks likes her water has not broken or at least any holes have healed. Tomorrow she will be at 32 weeks. Also, it appears that any infection she might have had has been taken care of.

For those who don't think in weeks (like me before all this happened) 37 -40 weeks is considered normal with 40 being full term. Every day in the womb is worth 2 in the neonatal ICU, so everyday he remains inside is really good. There is VERY preliminary discussion about flying home at 34 weeks, but a lot of things have to line up for that to happen, so it is probably unlikely, but we are hoping for that to be the case. Of course Robert's safety and health trump everything, especially our convenience.

So I think that is it for right now.

Kelly trying not to have a baby...

Kelly and I on vacation...

How we got here...

First, our contact information then how we got to this point...

If Kelly knows you, she would probably love to hear from you since she has nothing to do but lay in bed...

Telephone: 707 525 5300 ex. 6263

Mail:
Patient Kelly Welling
Labor and Delivery
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
1165 Montgomery
Santa Rosa, CA 95405


Why we are having a baby in California...

We wanted to take one last vacation and our pregnancy had been completely normal and smooth. Our doctor and our research inidicated that we could fly as late as 35 weeks, so being gone during week 30 and 31 did not seem like a bad idea.

We came to the Northern California area on Saturday, March 31 and headed south to the Big Sur Area. On Monday morning after tourinig the Monterey Aquarium, Kelly started having repeated Braxton Hicks (for all the medical people I am probably really mis-spelling everything) contractions. We called her doctor and she siaid to drink cold water and lay down. If they did not go away she said to get to a hospital. We set out towards San Francisco with her laying down in the car and fifteen minutes out of Monterrey she was having them every five minutes. We went to a hospital where she was monitored for about 3-4 hours and everything had calmed down. Additionally the OB did a fetal fibronectin test. This came back negative and meant that she should not go into labor in the next week or more. We deicided to proceed as planned, but to take everything really easy (limited walking around and numerous breaks).

San Franiciscio was fun (and relaxing) and so was our tour of the beautiful wine country, but on Thursday night Kelly was getting the same mild contractions repeatedly. Sinice we had the previous test we decided to see if they went away and if not head to the hospital in the morning. They did not go away and became worse, so we went to the hospital at 4:30 on Friday morning. After 3 hours of monitoring they were ready to send us on our way and decided to check for dilation. Now she was 1 cm dilated and had some blood. We were not going to be leaving soon.

About four hours later we had indication her water had broken. She immediatly had two steroid shots to speed Robert's lung development- the doctors hoped to delay birth for at least 48 hours so the steroids could help Robert as much as possible. She also went on Magnesium for about 2 and a half days. For the doctors and women who have been on that- you know how bad it is. She writhed in extreme discomfort that first night. Magnesium is the most powerful "labor preventer" there is, but during that first night I did not think she would be able to stay on for the Magnesium because her body was being exhausted. They lowered the dosage and that helped tremendously.

As of now, it appears that her water did not break (though there could have been a slight leak). It seems like all of this might have been induced by a small infection, though that is hard to tell. Bottom line: we are no closer to giving birth today than we were 3 days ago, so we are in a holding pattern.

Robert could be born today, he could also go to full term, nobody knows. As of today we are 31 weeks and 5 days. The general prognosis if he is born is good, but we are not out of the woods because there is plenty that could not be so good in terms of his general health and development. The biggest concerns are breathing ability and blood leakage in his brain, but there are other concerns as well.

EVERY single nurse and doctor has told us he is looking great- they monitor his heart rate. That is obviously good.

We know that hundreds of people are praying for us- many we do not even know- and we have seen God take care of us in a number of ways already.

Our prayer requests:
1) That Robert stays in as long as possible
2) For Kelly as she faces the challenges of being on bedrest (longer is better for Robert, but harder on her)
3) As we deal with the logistics of being away from home for a long time. Everything from work to taxes to paying bills to mowing the lawn to getting mail is now something we have to figure out.

That was the quick, misspelled, probably not very clear update, but I wanted to get something out. I will continue to update this as things change and I have a chance.