My little ghosts! Oh, and another appointment.

As expected bed rest is here to stay. I saw my new OB yesterday (did everyone know I switched by the way??), and first I want to start by saying that I absolutely love her! She was recommended to us by our pastor's wife, our music pastor's wife, and our music pastor's daughter-in-law so we knew there was probably a reason for that. :) She was really great! She's very much a "people person" and about patient care. My other OB definitely failed miserably in both of those areas. Also, she delivers at the local hospital here that actually has a NICU. The other OB delivered at the other local hospital, but it has no NICU whatsoever. I feel much more comfortable knowing that if I have this baby too early, there will already be a NICU on site for him.

Warning: This next section is not for the faint of heart so men might not care to read. I just want to blog about it so I remember everything later. :) Anyway, the new OB had to get a test done on me so she decided to check me for dilation during the exam and noticed that I'm 1 cm or so dilated. It's normal for women who have had babies before to be dilated a little bit, but she said I was dilated more than I should have been or at least more than she felt comfortable with. So from there we did an ultrasound from which she got 3 measurements. One measurement was 3.1 cm which is kind of what it is when I'm lying down with no pressure on my cervix, one was 2.5 cm which is what it is when the baby puts pressure on my cervix/I sit up/etc., and one was 1.5 cm which is what it is when I have a contraction/go to the bathroom/lift/etc (I had to bear down to get this one). I don't remember at all what they made me do during my pregnancy with Lorelai, but I do know that every time they checked my cervical length at my last OB they told me to bear down. I just realized the other day that I apparently wasn't doing this properly. When they did this measurement she would ask me to take a breath in and then bear down. She didn't specify what she meant so I just would bear down with my teeth. I know that probably sound completely ridiculous to anyone else. I mean why in the world would she want me to bear down with my teeth. But I just kept thinking why in the world would she want me to bear down in any other way?! What if I accidentally had a bladder accident on the floor which is very possible for a pregnant woman anyway?!?! I'm happy to report that yesterday I did bear down the right way, and I did NOT use the bathroom in the process. :) I have no idea why they need those different measurements or which one(s) really matter. I do know that the OB did feel a little relief over the 3.1, but wasn't happy about the 1.5. Again, I have no idea why it matters. I just said, "OK" and moved on. I'll be seeing a new perinatologist on Tuesday morning (I'm switching because my new OB uses a different peri, and this one is right across the street from her office instead of 30 minutes away). I'm rotating every week between him and the OB. We've also begun discussing steroid injections to mature the baby's lungs, bi-weekly Fetal Fibronectin tests (if you want to know what these are just ask - otherwise I'll post about them when I start), and starting Procardia (contraction meds) once I reach viability which is in 2 weeks. So that's it for that. I know it doesn't sound like a great appointment, and I did get worse news, but I'm just happy to have a doctor who I love now and who is involved more. I now know that this baby is going to be monitored well.

In other news our family is so incredibly blessed! This week we started getting twice weekly meals to help us out from our church family. Last night two women made us dinner, but we didn't eat it until tonight because some friends came over, and the guys picked us up something. So we had the meal tonight. Unfortunately Jon apparently didn't get the whole meal so the main dish is still sitting in the church refrigerator. We made do with what we had, though. Tomorrow night Seth's mom, Michele, is bringing us dinner. I know we're having meatloaf, but I'm not sure what else. We like meatloaf in our house so I'm looking forward to it since Jon won't be making something like that ever - too confusing for him. :) We also have other meals lined up, and as you can imagine this is such a blessing for us. It's so helpful to Jon and keeps us from eating frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, boxed dinners, etc. every night. Thank you Calvary family! We love you all!