February 29, 2008 at 10:52 am (Hospital Stay)
Wow, I can’t believe it’s leap year day already. At the same time, it feels like forever since Marek was born, but technically it hasn’t even been 48 hours yet.
I haven’t been in to the hospital yet this morning but I called and Marek’s nurse says he’s doing fine. He’s stable, not too puffy and holding up well. It’s still all so unbelieveable. I didn’t sleep well – I was nervous that something would go wrong and they’d phone. But they didn’t. It was nice to be home with Ben though. It was really nice to be in my own bed again and not have a nurse wake me up regularly to check my BP.
I talked to the doctors last night and they’re happy with his progress so far. He’s still got a long way to go, but so far so good. They did ultrasounds of his brain and his tummy and everything looks good. He doesn’t have a spleen, but we already knew that – and he can live without it. He’s such a little trooper. I can’t wait until I can hold him again. Here’s a picture of what he looked like all hooked up last night.
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February 28, 2008 at 2:05 pm (Birthday)
Oh, where to start… so much has happened since yesterday (Wednesday) morning. I guess I’ll start there. Basically, I woke up at 6 when the nurse came in to check my BP. Within seconds, I’d sprung a leak. My water broke! It didn’t take them long to get me up to a labour and delivery room. Unfortunately, a whole lot of nothing happened – for hours and hours and hours. By 3 pm, I was a whopping 3.5 cm. I was convinced I wouldn’t deliver until next week at that rate. But things did get moving from there. By 5 pm, I was looking for the epidural – which was horrible because it took them 3 tries to get it in, but was definitely worth it. By 10 pm, I was ready to go. You should have seen the crazy pile of people try to cram into that little delivery room. There were 3 OBs, 3 people from the transfer team and a host of nurses. Kind of crazy. But I pushed him out in 7 minutes – and there he was! Marek Pierce was born at 10:17 pm weighing in at 5 lbs, 6 oz. He was a little smaller than we’d hoped, but seemed to be reasonably stable. I even got to hold him for a couple of minutes before they got him into the ambulance. And then suddenly, I was totally alone. Merv, completely deprived of sleep followed Marek to the U of A.
They were ready for Marek right away at the U of A, and by 2:30 am, Merv phoned with good news. They’d done the echo on Marek – and his heart is in better shape than they anticipated! They think they can fix him – a total miracle. They scheduled him for surgery right away – he went in around 4:30 am. Meanwhile, I attempted to sleep back at the other hospital (ok, not so successful) and they discharged me ASAP in the morning so I could get over to see Marek. I managed to get there in time to talk to the doctor who did Marek’s surgery. So far, so good. Marek is stable and it seems the surgery has gone well. He’s only 12 hours old and he’s already had open heart surgery – but we’re all really hopefull at this point. The next 48 hours are critical, but hopefully things will just get better from here.
Thanks to everyone for their prayers. Clearly, prayer is very powerful. Please continue to keep us in your prayers – Marek isn’t out of the woods yet. But it sure is nice to have hope again. Here’s a couple of Marek’s newborn pictures… 
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February 28, 2008 at 6:04 am (Birthday)
Marek Pierce born Feb 27/08 10:17 pm 5lbs 6 oz
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February 23, 2008 at 6:28 pm (Uncategorized)
Ok, so nothing is really new, but I’m at home so I thought I’d post. I’ll be 39 weeks on Tuesday, so Marek could be making an appearance anytime. I don’t feel anything weird yet, though. I felt kinda crappy on Thursday and Friday, but I’m feeling better today, although I’m really starting to tire now. I got a 6 hour pass for today and for tomorrow, which is nice. It’s nice to spend time with Ben and Merv. I really miss being at home.
My roomie got a private room (she was next on the list) so the last two nights, they’ve put a new person in my room in the middle of the night, only to move them out again in the afternoon. That kind of sucks cuz I’m getting very little sleep. They still wake me up twice a night for BP checks and now on top of it, I get woken up when they bring in the new person. I really wish I could stay here at home and get a good night’s sleep. Oh well. I guess I should try to nap more during the day.
I’ll try to post as soon as there’s news…
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February 17, 2008 at 4:08 pm (Hospital Stay)
Boy, it sure is nice to come home – even if it’s just for a few hours at a time. It’s really hard to go back at the end of the day, especially when Ben says “not yet, not yet”. I feel awful going back and leaving him, but at the same time, I’m so exhausted at the end of the day and I know I still have to do a non-stress test, check my BP and my protein level when I get back. And yesterday I came back to beautiful flowers from Auntie Odile (thank you!) – that helps. The place is definitely more cheerful with the flowers that everyone has sent.
Last night wasn’t the greatest night’s sleep. They ran out of rooms in labour and delivery so some lady had to deliver on our ward. I don’t think anyone got any sleep on our ward after about 4 or 4:30 this morning. Why do the ladies who scream the most always deliver in the middle of the night???
Merv and Ben are managing ok. There’s a lot of craziness, but I think they’re ok. Merv fell on the ice the other day and that freaked us all out. His back is sore, but he’s otherwise ok. Can you imagine if he had to go to the hospital too? That would be just too much insanity…
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February 16, 2008 at 4:40 pm (Hospital Stay)
Well, I’m out on a pass again today. BP is still good and it’s really nice to spend a few hours at home. Here’s the update:
We waited and waited and waited all day yesterday for the ultrasound to measure Marek’s growth. I really didn’t have high hopes and kind of thought that he’d only have grown a couple of ounces. But after waiting all day, we finally got some good news. They did my ultrasound just before 4 pm (I think I was one of the last appointments) and drumroll please – he grew!!! And he actually grew kind of a normal amount. He was 3rd percentile 2 weeks ago and he’s still 3rd percentile now. He’s definitely tiny, but at least he’s still on the scale and not getting smaller, relative to the curve. I was so happy. That’s the first time we’ve had good news at any sort of appointment in what feels like forever. It by no means puts us out of the woods, but at least it means he’s doing well in there and can stay a while longer.
By Tuesday, I’ll be 38 weeks and considering I had Ben at exactly 39 weeks, I guess he could make his appearance any time, but right now, I’m glad he’s safe and sound, warm and cozy. Yay for small victories!!
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February 11, 2008 at 9:45 pm (Hospital Stay)
Feb 11 – afternoon
Ok, so I did get to see Dr. H and it turns out there was a bit of a goof up. They will be doing the ultrasound on Friday to measure his growth. If they had done it today, it wouldn’t have been very accurate at all because it hasn’t been that long since the last one. So, on Friday they’ll measure his growth and then if he hasn’t grown, we’ll plan a multi-disciplinary meeting again to discuss delivery. If he has grown, then we’ll stick with status quo and bake him a little longer. So, please pray that he grows!!! He’s going to need all the weight he can get. I wonder if it would help if I ate poutine and ice cream for the next few days…
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February 11, 2008 at 9:44 pm (Hospital Stay, Uncategorized)
Feb 11 – morning
AAAARRRGGHH!! I’m so frustrated! They took me down for the ultrasound this morning but they didn’t measure him, which is what I thought the point was. They were checking some other things like amniotic fluid and his practice breathing, which I guess is good, but I thought the whole point of this ultrasound was to see if he’d grown. So, now I got all worked up about this ultrasound, praying that he’d grown so they didn’t have to take him out right away and now here I don’t know anymore than I did earlier. And I haven’t seen any doctors yet today – and I don’t think I’ll actually see anyone until tomorrow now. I’m really starting to worry about how coordinated this whole process is. It feels really chaotic and it’s frustrating not to know what’s going on!!!
On the plus side, I did get to go out for 2 hours on Friday and then 4 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. Friday I went out for dinner, Saturday I went home to spend the afternoon with Ben and then Sunday I spend some time with Ben then went for supper with Merv. It was all really nice. The only problem is that I’m not used to being up that much, so I’m kind of sore now. It’s like my legs forgot how heavy my belly is or something.
Anyway, I guess there’s no news since no one’s telling me anything lately. I so crave information. I’ll write again when I get more news. I hope all is well with everyone.
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February 8, 2008 at 11:06 pm (Hospital Stay)
Feb 8
Yay, I finally got parolled! I’m allowed to go out for 2 hours today, and as long as all goes well, then I can go home for 4 hours tomorrow and 4 hours on Sunday. Assuming, of course that my BP stays low. Here’s hoping. Today, the plan is to go out for supper. We’ll see how that goes.
The only other news is that they’re going to do an ultrasound on Monday to see how Marek is growing. I’m REALLY hoping that he’ll have put on weight. All his other signs seem good, he’s super active and his heart rate is perfect. Just have to get through the weekend – it’ll help to go home, even if it’s just briefly.
I want to say thanks to everyone that sent/brought flowers: Uncle Cy & Auntie Lynne, Uncle Gil and Auntie Deb, Auntie Paula and Dan and Larissa. Thank you so much! Definitely brightens this place up.
Oh, if anyone wants to email me directly, I’m now connected to my Shaw account via Blackberry. It’s so good to be connected again!
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February 6, 2008 at 9:43 pm (Hospital Stay)
Feb 6
Well, still no day pass. Maybe tomorrow. I did get a little more info though. The folks from the perinatal clinic stopped by today and basically they said that they’re concerned about my liver, my kidneys and possible seizures (the BP is a symptom of these possible issues), so as long as I’m stable, we’re going to stick to status quo, but if anything gets worse, they’ll take Marek out. I’m not sure how long we’ll go on like this, but it’s looking less and less likely that I’ll get to go home before I deliver Marek.
The boredom is starting to set in – ok, it’s totally settled in. I’m finding it hard to keep my spirits up – this would be hard enough if I knew I’d be taking home a healthy baby at the end of it, but to know that, at best, he’s heading for open heart surgery within the first few days of his life , well, some days it’s hard to be cheerful. And I could totally scream at the idiot pregnant ladies downstairs smoking! It makes me sooooooooooooo angry. But I’m taking comfort in the knowledge that Marek has been given to us, so he has the best chance possible.
Ok, enough of this downer post. My BP is still ok today. And hopefully tomorrow, I’ll get paroled.
One day at a time…
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