It's not time yet, Lillian!

So...I can't focus for long periods of time so a blog of all that has occurred is going to be challenging. I am cutting and pasting an email from Kevin so that you can be kept informed of the most recent events. I will add the latest report from the doctor to the bottom.

"We came to the hospital Wednesday night because Ashley was having some minor but regular contractions. They gave her some medication (terbutaline) that stopped them and released us. She did fine Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon, until she got up to start getting ready for work. Then the contractions started back; this time there were a little more intense and regular. They told her to come in again and let the doctor take a look.

After about an hour of observation the doctor admitted her and said he wanted to watch her at least overnight. They gave her another shot of terbutaline but the contractions did not stop like for as long as they did before. After about another hour or so he decided to go ahead and give her magnesium and steroids to stop the contractions. Since she was at 33 weeks he didn't want them to go on any longer than they had to. He said he would want to watch her until at least Saturday.

This morning he came in and said everything is looking good. No major changes. He said he would most likely keep her until Sunday, and possible even until Monday morning. He also said if everything stays smooth while she's here, and he releases her Sun/Mon, and the contraction start back after that, she'll be at 34 weeks by then and they will not do anything to stop the contractions or delivery.

oh ... btw ... HAPPY NEW YEAR (from the very uncomfortable couch in room 3345) "

The latest report from the doctor is that I am still dilated between 1 and 2 cm but nothing has changed...this is what I have been since Thursday evening. I am on 2 grams of magnesium sulfate per hour via my iv and it makes me feel like crap. I have been super dizzy, but this morning, that appears to be waning. They gave me 2 shots of betamethasone 24 hours apart to help mature Lillian's lungs in the event delivery occurs soon. They are keeping me on the mag until at least 9:30 this evening to make sure that I get the full benefits of the steroid shots. They need at least 48 hours in my system to be effective in aiding in fetal lung maturity. Once they stop the mag tonight, it sounds like they are going to keep me here tomorrow to monitor me for contractions and then hopefully send me home on Monday. I do not get the impression that if the contractions return and things start happening, that they will delay Lillian's delivery at that point. I also got the impression that if anything like that were to occur it would most likely be a delivery by c-section. I am just praying that she will stay in and bake a little bit longer. If not, I do know that God is in control and that all happens for a reason. We will get through this and our happy little family will be better and our testimony will be stronger because of it.

Also, on a different note...while writing this blog, Kevin just called me from the road (he is on his way to West Virginia to pick up Sammy from his Christmas visit to Pennsylvania) and let me know that our step-grandmother passed away this morning. Please remember my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Brenda and Gary Atchley, and our whole family as arrangements are made and as we face this difficult time. Alma had been sick with congestive heart failure and some blood clots in her lungs, but she seemed to be on the mend. Kevin said she started having trouble breathing in the middle of the night and she passed away early this morning. She's not suffering any more, which helps ease the pain some, but it is still a difficult road to face.

Correction

Ever since we decided to name our our baby after Kevin's grandmother's I have been spelling Statia wrong. For some reason, I keep wanting to spell it "Stasia" instead of "Statia." I guess I am thinking Anastasia when I spell it. So, I must apologize to my readers as well as my unborn daughter for misspelling her name. I hope that this doesn't make me a bad mother. The other dilemma we are facing with her name is how to spell Lily. We plan to give her a nickname like Sammy has. Kevin likes Lilli (just drop the -an), I prefer Lily, and if I were going with Kevin's logic, I would either spell it Lilly or Lillie not Lilli...so we are having a bit of a discussion on how we should handle that. At this rate, we may just drop the nickname altogether and just call her Lillian. We shall see.

It's A Girl!!!

Wow....what a day! We had our detailed ultrasound today and we are pleased to report that we are going to be the proud parents of Lillian Ella-Stasia Atchley!! I have suspected that she was a girl the whole time, but I also thought that Sammy was a girl up until I was proven wrong at his ultrasound so I wanted to have definitive proof before getting my hopes up too much. I will say that everything I did prior to the ultrasound supported my gut feeling of girl....I will name a few...

1) Old Wives Tales - there are a bazillion out there on the internet and most of the ones that leaned toward girl held true for me and this pregnancy such as...heart rate greater than 140, sweet cravings, husband's weight gain (don't tell Kevin that I told you he was gaining a few pounds along with me), round and full face on me, pregnancy acne, etc.

2) Chinese Birth Chart - This is a chart that allegedly determines the sex of your baby based on the mother's age at conception and the month of conception. In my case, this also said girl.
http://parenting.ivillage.com/ttc/ttcsigns/0,,j736,00.html

3)The Needle/Necklace tests - You're supposed to dangle a needle from a piece of thread over your palm. If it goes back and forth, it's a boy and if it goes in a circle it's a girl. This test is also supposed to show you the kids you had before the one you're carrying now. So I did it and it went back and forth, stopped, and then went in a circle. So, according to the test, I had a boy first and then a girl. The necklace test is similar. You dangle a necklace over your belly and if it goes in a circle, it's a boy and if it goes back and forth it's a girl. Sure enough, mine went back and forth which meant girl.

4)Intelligender - This is a test you can take at home that allegedly with something like 90% accuracy predicts the gender of your baby after 10 weeks. You pee in a cup and then put it in a test kit. It changes color in 10 minutes - green if it's a boy and stays the same or turns orange if it's a girl. Mine indicated girl. I know it was silly of me to pay money for something that wasn't guaranteed, but it was still fun. :)
www.intelligender.com

So back to today. The ultrasound technician found out her gender first thing for us...Lillian was very cooperative as you will be able to tell from the pictures. She wiggled around the whole time for us. The sweetest moments were looking at her profile with her mouth open and watching her curled up in a ball with her hands on her knees. The ultrasound technician told us that she has really long arms, legs, fingers and feet. We also looked at her brain, spine, heart, kidneys, bladder, and stomach and everything appears to be developing just like it should be. There were no red flags so thank God for a healthy report on our little one! Kevin, Sammy, and I are super excited about our little girl. We cannot wait for her arrival in February. Here are some pictures in the meantime...

Profile shot with mouth closed


Profile shot with mouth open


Leg


Leg again


Girl Parts


Foot


Fingers and Legs


Face


Arm on Knee


Arm on Knee again

Preggo Pics

Here are some preggo pics of me. The first ones are from week 7....



The next ones are from week 18 (Sammy was the photographer - I think he did a good job)




I am starting to get a baby bump. Although, I mostly feel like I have put the weight on in my face, butt and thighs. That's where I tell most of the difference. :)

Sick/Update

I have had the crud this week, and I am hoping that I am over the worst part of it. I started out with laryngitis which then traveled to my sinuses and into my upper chest. Fortunately, I developed this in my second trimester instead of the first which made my medication choices a little bit better....SUDAFED!!! Sudafed normally clears this junk up for me (or at least lets me tolerate things while the sickness runs its course). I had something similar when I was pregnant with Sammy except that I was in my first trimester, miserable, and ended up losing several pounds because I had this on top of morning sickness (or as I used to affectionately call it...all day sickness).

Other than being sick this week, the pregnancy is going well. We are 18 weeks along and we find out what we are having in one week(assuming peanut cooperates)! I cannot believe that this pregnancy is almost halfway done. I still don't look overly pregnant...if you didn't know, you would probably just think I had put on a few pounds (6 to be exact). My butt and thighs appear to be blossoming and I have a small baby bump. I need to take some pictures and post them, but Kevin is not home to do that for me at the moment so that will have to come a little bit later. I have started wearing some maternity clothes, mainly for comfort. I am at that awkward stage where my normal clothes just don't quite fit right anymore, but the maternity clothes look a little silly. I am still having cravings that seem to change by the week...the one and only craving that has remained consistent throughout pregnancy has been ice cream! In addition to ice cream, I have also had cravings for Hardees' gravy biscuits, McDonald's fries, juice (apple and cranberry grape) and ketchup. I think that I have been able to feel the baby move a few times...it's just a little fluttering still. I am looking forward to the movement being more pronounced so that Kevin and Sammy can share in it with me. My doctor's appointments have been going well. The heartbeat has been ranging from the 150's to the 160's and all of my labwork has turned out good (my hemoglobin is a little bit low, but that is normal for me...if it is still low at 28 weeks, I will probably have to take some iron supplements).

On a slightly different note, Sammy is doing well in second grade. He has not gotten written up in his behavior folder all year long (we are almost halfway through the first nine weeks). All I can say is PRAISE THE LORD!!! I think that he has matured some and I also think that the way his teacher handles discipline gives him enough incentives throughout the week to do the right thing. I just hope and pray that this trend continues. He really likes his teacher too. He also starts soccer tonight assuming the weather holds out.

Kevin is still wonderful as usual. He has been really busy getting our new computer desk situated so that we can get Sammy moved into our old computer room. Hopefully, when things settle down, he'll be able to edit the videos of us telling our parents so I can get them posted on here. I still have the blog written and ready, just need the video.

I will try to get some baby bump pictures on here in the next couple of days while I am off work. Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I really need to get back into the swing of things.

Technical Difficulties

I am having some trouble getting the video uploaded. Kevin is going to have to help me edit it down tomorrow so it won't be posted until then. I was so hoping to get that posted tonight...at least the blog part is written and all it's waiting for is the video file. :)

Slacker

I have been a slacker over the past couple of weeks where the blog is concerned. I hope to do better over the next few days and actually post the videos of us telling our parents (assuming I am actually able to get the videos to upload). I hope everyone has a great weekend. Sammy and I are spending this last Friday together before he starts school on Tuesday. We are going to sign up for fall soccer, play at the park, eat somewhere fun (but not Chuck E. Cheese), and run a few errands. We are then going to play some UNO this afternoon - Sammy loves that game. I can't believe that he is going into the second grade. We met his teacher last night and I think he is going to enjoy his year. He really likes both his teacher and her assistant. Well, we're off to start our day. Hopefully I will start posting the video blogs later tonight or tomorrow.