Closure

Today was a great day. I got a lot of answers that I've had for 11 months now. It's hard to explain how emotionally difficult it is to deliver a baby 3 months early and not know exactly why it happened and why your body failed. I've gone through so many scenarios and always left with questions. I didn't really worry about finding the answers until now because I was more worried about Jayda and how she was doing and progressing.

One of my BBC preemie moms who delivered at 25 weeks around the same time as me went into a high risk doctor to talk about her pregnancy and she said it gave her many answers and closure. I wanted that so bad! So I decided even though we are not trying to concieve and won't be for a year I wanted to get some closure and possibly answers.

So I scheduled an appointment with a high risk doctor Dr. Chaumlers who was there the first week of the beginning of the nightmare of my life: hospital bedrest. There was a certain auro about him I just can't explain. He's an amazing doctor and person.

When he walked in he instantly recognized me even though its been a year since I have seen him. He remember exactly what week she was delivered and things about my case I didn't expect him to remember. That tells me he cares about each one of his patients.

First question was pretty obvious: Why did I deliver early?

So he whips out a piece of paper and draws three diagrams of the lady parts. :P He said there are 3 reasons women deliver early. 1. Incompetent cervix 2. Preterm labor 3. PPROM (water breaking prematurely).
The first, he said, was not me since I came in with a strong cervix and no dialation. The second was not me either since he said most times its genetic and I have no family history of it. Plus he thinks the reason I went into labor was because my water broke. So I would be the third, PPROM. He said of all the three this is the best one to have because with incompetent cervix the risk of a preemie is extremely high. With preterm labor its 30% (15% if you take the progesterone shots) and 5% with PPROM. So a drastic difference.

Since Jayda was born with jejunal web (an intestinal blockage) he said that my body or her body put me into labor. A lot of times when women have a baby that has any abnormality the risk of PPROM is much higher. This can happen to anyone and is typically random so the chances of it happening again are much lower.

BUT he is going to take all precautions anyway. He said that these are the things that will help me go further next time and he will help me do:

-wait 2 years to try to concieve
-come right in when I am pregnant
-take progesterone shots weekly starting at 16weeks
-check for vaginal infections frequently
-watch me closely
-give medications to stop contractions if necessary
-modified bed rest at 20 weeks at least past the critical period
-schedule c-section at 36-37 weeks to avoid risk of uterine rupture

So today has been a good day and I look to the future to have a healthy full term baby! I don't think I'll know what to do with a take home baby! Finally I feel I can leave the past in the past and move on. I have a beautiful daughter out of this past hell year but I realize how lucky I am because some moms don't walk away with anything. I try to remember that I was one of the very lucky ones and I thank Heavenly Father so much for watching over my baby and letting me take her home!

Being sick is no fun!

This week has been pretty much miserable for the whole famdamily. Jayda and I were both really sick this week. We're now just starting to feel better today....still pretty exhausted though still. She had an ear infection and a cold. She had RSV one time and this time it seemed far worse than then which is wierd considering she didn't test postive for anything. The nurse that was sucking her nose out at the clinic said that they have the whole PEDS floor filled with babies that are testing negative for anything so they think it is just a new virus they don't know about yet. Luckily we did not have to end up there...sometimes I felt like checking myself in though. :P

Today she has been exhausted--pretty much sleeping the whole day. When I was taking a nap in the back room (took a unisome last night and its still making me tired! Those little pills do their job thats for sure!) she was a little fussy with Chase so he put her on the floor to play with her toys but she was so tired! Finally he found her like this after a couple minutes.....So funny!

Las Vegas Trip!!

So this weekend Chase decided it was time for some "us" time so we left Jayda with the Blake Grandparents and headed to Vegas. Although it was really hard to leave her we desperately needed some alone time. We had a lot of fun but we were also so exausted because we were very sleep deprived from Jayda last week and we walked and walked up and down the strip several times. We stayed at the Riveria so were right in the middle of it all.

We went and checked out the Bodies Exhibit (where they actually have really body parts/whole bodies to show the different parts) it was very educational and interesting. It was interesting because I got to see real ovaries, uterus, bladder and then also different fetus's in the first trimester week to week. It was amazing how big they get in just a couple weeks.

We then went to the Titanic exhibit and saw different artifacts and stories. We actually got a card with a person's name on it and at the end got to see if they lived or not. Luckily my lady (Mrs. Stephen Holt) lived but sadly her husband died. Chase's guy unfotunately didn't make it. It was amazing to see all the names on the wall. Then at the end of the exhibit they had an actual piece from the Titanic that they recovered in 1998. It was really cool to see.

Then we went to the Shark Reef and saw all the different fishes and sharks. It was pretty neat. Then we also went to the M&M factory and Coke Factory.

We had a lot of fun but I was happy to see Jayda again! I don't think I'll be doing that again for awhile!

Plug for my talented sister!

So my sister is such an amazing photographer! She is self taught and has quite a following! She took some wonderful pics of Jayda while she was in the NICU and also took some a few weeks ago while she was visiting. They are adorable pics (maybe cause my baby is adorable?) hehe. Check out her blog! She is very very good at what she does! Thanks Beck!

beckyearlphotography.com/blog/

And we're on the move!

Today Jayda decided being still was just too dang boring! I left Jayda in the front room for 2 or 3 minutes and came back to find her all the way across the room by the front door! I was shocked! I'm not sure if she was rolling all the way over there or if she was scooting over there. Regardless it's time to baby proof. She actually tried to pull down the wires hanging down off the tv (from the wii) and she put my laptop wire in her mouth (yikes!). She definatly pivots and can turn herself around. So I think its a mixture of scooting and rolling! Everyone is telling me that this is when it gets crazy but honestly I'm so excited for her to be more independent!

Jayda's latest milestone

Well, I have to admit I'm new to this whole thing so I am still learning how to add everything including tons of pictures so I guess I'll start small. :P

For those that aren't used to the "preemie" lingo, I'll explain what the whole adjusted age thing is. Since Jayda was born 3 months early she obviously does not do things developmentally along with her actual age. That would be nearly impossible to expect her to be 3 months ahead of what she should have been. So for the first 2 years or so we refer to actual and adjusted age. So adjusted age is as if she was born on or around her due date. For instance she is 10 months actual but really 7 months adjusted (from her due date). So she will do things more in line with those babies that are around 7 months old.

When she was about 5.5 months adjusted (8.5 actual) she started to sit for short amounts of time. We had to intice her by putting a toy in front of her and then she would fall over after about 10-15 seconds. Well this last weekend she has been such a sitting pro! She sits for several minutes at a time and won't tip over if she looks to the side or at something else. My little baby is just getting so big (well to me at least she's still 13lbs hehe).

She also is eating like a pro. This past week it was like something just clicked. She just wanted to eat tons of food! She went from eating 20-24oz a day to eating 28-33oz a day! And just gobbling it down! I love this new baby! They always said that one day it would be like a lightbulb went off and its SO true. It just happened one day! We're hoping it sticks! Now if we could just teach her how to sleep better at night things would be much better. :P

She also has gotten her two bottom teeth! They are really starting to poke up but its nearly impossible to get a pic just yet because they aren't completely up and she has learned she doesn't have to do her big mouthy grin but keep her mouth shut to smile. It's the cutest thing ever! We are so blessed! Finally things are starting to feel normal! Yeah!!

Guess there's a first time for everything!

Well finally after many people asking about if I have a blog I've decided to finally join the blogging world! I guess this will be good to keep family and friends updated on Jayda's milestones and on the latest Blake news. Also, it will be nice to save this as a journal later since writing by hand is pretty outdated to say the least. :P So this should be fun!