Thursday, March 13

Our first blog entry.

I have been so envious of other people's blogs and knew that one day I would set one up. I knew it would be great way to share news, info and photos of our baby, (which we affectionately named Poppy very early in the pregnancy... cleverly enough when he/she was the size of a poppy seed!). I was just thinking I would have a little more time before starting this! None the less, here we are and I welcome you to our blog - appropriately titled, We can wait!!!

I cannot tell you how many times we have said, "I cannot wait!" over the last several months. I cannot wait to meet Poppy, I cannot wait to decorate the nursery, I cannot wait to find out if Poppy is a boy or a girl. But we change our minds - We can wait!! And we will. We would like to wait several weeks or months and hopefully that will be the case. That is our prayer.

For now, before I get to post the darling pictures and cute stories, we will use this blog to keep our friends and family posted on the progress of this pregnancy. Which, unfortunately, has taken a sudden turn this week.

Yesterday I was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a condition that effects some pregnancies. It is characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. It is something I had never heard of before and still have a lot to learn about. If you are interested, you can learn more at preeclampsia.org - but as always, reading too much online can be dangerous.

I have been monitoring my blood pressure for a few weeks now after getting high readings at the doctor's office. Tuesday morning it was exceptionally high so I went to see the doctor. I got another high reading there and traces of protein in my urine. They did an ultrasound and the fluid levels were low so I was admitted to the hospital in High Point. Once there they did lab work and my platelets were low (indicates problems with my liver) so I was transferred to Forsyth hospital in Winston Salem. I have been through a variety of tests because they suspected preeclampsia but I got the official diagnosis yesterday when there was a high level of protein in my urine, which indicates there is some trouble with my kidneys.

The only "cure" to preeclampsia is delivery. But since I am only 26.5 weeks pregnant we are trying to prevent that. I am here at Forsyth hospital for the duration of the pregnancy so they can keep a close eye on my blood pressure, kidneys and liver. As long as my body can hold out, we will keep the baby inside.

We had an ultrasound yesterday and once again the fluid level is low. This is not something that is of a huge concern right now, but we will keep a watch to make sure the baby is growing appropriately. Right now, they suspect Poppy weighs in at about 2 lbs.

So, with all of that we will call the hospital our home for as long as necessary. We have received so many well wishes and prayers and I cannot thank everyone enough for thinking of Randy, Poppy and I right now. We have been asked so many times what we need and what people can do and my answer is simple. We need lots of prayer.

Ironically enough, my family was in this similar spot about 4 months ago when Abby was preparing to give birth to Lacey. What I learned from them at that time has been invaluable. Words like NICU, high risk pregnancy and neonatologist are not quite as frightening. I pray I can draw strength from Abby and Lacey, who are doing great! Their strength and determination is inspirational. We learned the miracles of prayer at that time and I trust the Lord will bless us once again.

In the future, maybe these entries won't be too long. But actually, the longer the better - that means I have time on my hands, which is what we need right now... After all we can wait!!!