27 weeks and 2 days! The baby train keeps rolling... And so do the long e-mails (sorry)
Yesterday was a repeat of Sunday though a little less severe (or maybe I'm just going numb). Michelle does not have kidney stone, but does have liquid buildup in one kidney. It appeared that she has a urinary tract infection (she would tell you that she does), but the culture finally came back today and it was negative. Anyway, her stomach was on edge all night (she thinks from her bladder) Wed night and she said yesterday morning that she felt like anything could push her over the edge. A doctor (the one butting heads with our doctor) came in and did a quick exam. Nothing she did was out of the ordinary but Michelle soon went over that edge again. (Our doctor quickly gave up his day off and came in). More bleeding and more contractions. She went back on the magnesium and this time they started with a low dosage (after a boost) and worked their way up as the contractions weren't stopping. They ended up on higher dosage than Sunday. They had planned on her being on it for at least 12 hours and maybe 24. She didn't make it that far (7 hours) before her blood pressure went down again and they had to reduce the dosage. They stopped it soon after that (around 7pm). Things were thankfully quite for the rest of the night for the most part.
I haven't a clue what's going to happen today. Our doctor came in and things look good right now. BUT... and there's always that damn but.. Michelle's blood work from yesterday shows an elevated white blood cell count. They just took more blood this morning for another test. If it comes back further elevated we may just need to deliver as it points to infection. We are walking a delicate line right now. Is Taylor better off in the womb or delivered? Naturally, you assume the womb. But... The placenta has torn an may be continuing to slowly tear away. The amniotic fluid is gone. Michelle has needed medicine to fight the contractions. It is game over in a lot of doctor's minds already. I think the elevated blood count would push all of us to that same conclusion no matter how hard we are trying to get Taylor to 28 weeks. 27 weeks has a huge survival rate (over 90%), its just the short and long term affects that are more scary. 28 weeks is one of those major milestones. (24, 28, 32, 34...). The likelihood of survival goes up (95%) and some of the risks for other nasties go down (though every risk is still there). For the most part, Taylor appears to be doing good. She has had some of those thing you don't want to see on the heart monitor though and thats another factor. We will deliver at a moments notice if Taylor appears to be getting stressed. One nice thing about Magnesium right now though is that some recent studies have shown that premies exposed to magnesium have less risk of cerebral palsy.
Anyway, we are awaiting the results of the blood test or for the next obstacle on this ride. Michelle says her stomach isn't feeling good this morning. I don't know what the means. We've been having a lot of conversations and trying to figure out what we want to do. If we get past today, the big drama facing us is this weekend and our doctor being out of town. Different doctors, different opinions, and most likely delivery if things happen. Who knows... we may deliver today, or next week, or next month. ;-)
Its a crazy, crazy ride.
Yesterday was a repeat of Sunday though a little less severe (or maybe I'm just going numb). Michelle does not have kidney stone, but does have liquid buildup in one kidney. It appeared that she has a urinary tract infection (she would tell you that she does), but the culture finally came back today and it was negative. Anyway, her stomach was on edge all night (she thinks from her bladder) Wed night and she said yesterday morning that she felt like anything could push her over the edge. A doctor (the one butting heads with our doctor) came in and did a quick exam. Nothing she did was out of the ordinary but Michelle soon went over that edge again. (Our doctor quickly gave up his day off and came in). More bleeding and more contractions. She went back on the magnesium and this time they started with a low dosage (after a boost) and worked their way up as the contractions weren't stopping. They ended up on higher dosage than Sunday. They had planned on her being on it for at least 12 hours and maybe 24. She didn't make it that far (7 hours) before her blood pressure went down again and they had to reduce the dosage. They stopped it soon after that (around 7pm). Things were thankfully quite for the rest of the night for the most part.
I haven't a clue what's going to happen today. Our doctor came in and things look good right now. BUT... and there's always that damn but.. Michelle's blood work from yesterday shows an elevated white blood cell count. They just took more blood this morning for another test. If it comes back further elevated we may just need to deliver as it points to infection. We are walking a delicate line right now. Is Taylor better off in the womb or delivered? Naturally, you assume the womb. But... The placenta has torn an may be continuing to slowly tear away. The amniotic fluid is gone. Michelle has needed medicine to fight the contractions. It is game over in a lot of doctor's minds already. I think the elevated blood count would push all of us to that same conclusion no matter how hard we are trying to get Taylor to 28 weeks. 27 weeks has a huge survival rate (over 90%), its just the short and long term affects that are more scary. 28 weeks is one of those major milestones. (24, 28, 32, 34...). The likelihood of survival goes up (95%) and some of the risks for other nasties go down (though every risk is still there). For the most part, Taylor appears to be doing good. She has had some of those thing you don't want to see on the heart monitor though and thats another factor. We will deliver at a moments notice if Taylor appears to be getting stressed. One nice thing about Magnesium right now though is that some recent studies have shown that premies exposed to magnesium have less risk of cerebral palsy.
Anyway, we are awaiting the results of the blood test or for the next obstacle on this ride. Michelle says her stomach isn't feeling good this morning. I don't know what the means. We've been having a lot of conversations and trying to figure out what we want to do. If we get past today, the big drama facing us is this weekend and our doctor being out of town. Different doctors, different opinions, and most likely delivery if things happen. Who knows... we may deliver today, or next week, or next month. ;-)
Its a crazy, crazy ride.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment