Today, November 12, I had a regular OB visit with Dr. Sweeney. I had been looking forward to seeing her so I could talk to her about several things. First of all, I gave her an update on the consultation with Dr. Gates, the pediatric surgeon from UC Davis. And, then we talked about the appointments set up with Stanford. One of the main concerns I wanted to address was the possibility of Caden being born as early as 34-35 weeks according to Dr. Gates. I asked Dr. Sweeney if I should be on bed rest now and she said I should definitely be taking it easy. But I really wanted to know to what degree, how strict should I be. So, she said she wanted to check my cervix to see how it felt before giving me any specific directions. First she measured my stomach and I measured right on exactly where I should be. I was glad to hear that since people keep telling me they think I'm too small. And, Caden's heart beat sounded good as well. When she was done with that, she checked my cervix and told me some unfortunate news; it is very short and very soft. Not good for me. It means that she put me on bed rest/restricted activity beginning today. Caden has been extremely low my entire pregnancy and I have been feeling a LOT of pressure in my pelvis, especially in the last couple weeks. As Dr. Sweeney put it, gravity works. The more I'm up, the more gravity will pull Caden down and the more chance of my cervix beginning to dilate. The good news right now is that I haven't started dilating yet.
So, now we are left trying to figure out how we're going to make this work. After all, Greg is in Florida this week so I'm on my own. But, I will be going over to Greg's sister's house tomorrow in Walnut Creek. That will help me out for Thursday night and Friday. And, I don't plan on coming home until Saturday morning, so that will get me to the weekend. Then Greg will be home Saturday afternoon and can take over other. But there are still several more weeks in which we have to figure out how to work out the logistics of what to do with Kyler. Dr. Sweeney told me the parameters of my bed rest are that I absolutely cannot lift Kyler or other heavy object. She said no errands, house chores or preparing meals. She said driving is okay and that I can go to appointments, etc. But I need to limit the time on my feet as much as possible and spend as much time lying down or sitting as possible. So we'll see how we make this work. After talking to my mom, she thinks she might be able to come down and help me for a little while between a couple of her trips but I'm waiting to hear back from her on what she thinks she can work out.
The other thing I talked about with Dr. Sweeney is what I should to if I go into labor before I relocate to Stanford. She said if I go into labor, I should head straight to Sutter Roseville to deliver there. She said she would deliver Caden and she knows our situation. They have a NICU there and would be able to stabilize him and then transfer him to Stanford via helicopter or ambulance as needed. She said this is obviously not ideal because it would be better to deliver at Stanford where they could control everything and have everything lined up already for NICU, surgeries, etc. But, if I was to go into labor here, the best bet would be to go where the people know me and my situation. We just hope this isn't the scenario because we don't want Caden born this early. I will do everything in my power to keep him inside me for as long as possible.
Please pray for us as we try to work out all the details of me being on bed rest and still making sure all Kyler's needs are taken care of. I'll try to update the blog again after I have my ultrasound and MRI at Stanford on Friday.
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