27+1!!!

I DID IT! I made it to 27 weeks and one day! I'm not on bed rest, in the hospital, or in labor! And I won't be tomorrow, either! Or the next day! Or the next! I very well could go all the way with this one! Or at least into the 30s!

Today I celebrated my pregnantness by having a 3D ultrasound done. Now I have pictures of both of my boys at 27 weeks and one day! I'd show you, but our CD drive doesn't work. I'll show you later. Let me just tell you, the new baby has cheeks! And his chin doesn't seem as pronounced as Caleb's was. And his feet aren't as long and skinny as Caleb's were. And he's adorable, just like his brother.

Then I celebrated by having a DQ ice cream cake!

(Forgive me for failing to photograph the lovely cake before making the first cut....)

And now, here I am at 26 weeks 4 days with Caleb:

At 27 weeks 1 day with Caleb:

And at 27 weeks 1 day this time:

Looking much better, huh? As in...not in LABOR!

At this point, I'm certainly bigger than I was last time. I have two new, tiny stretch marks on my belly to prove it (last time I only got one tiny stretch mark on my belly, and it came when Caleb was TWO WEEKS OLD! Not fair!). I'm gaining weight in places other than my belly (I think), which isn't my favorite thing. I don't have sciatic nerve pain like last time, but I do have awful back aches. I can tell that this baby has recently reached the level of my ribs, but he is kind enough to only kick outward, not upward. Caleb kicked upward into my ribs a whole week before he was born, and I wasn't able to breathe. I still have to take half of a zofran pill every morning around 6AM for nausea, or else I can't fall back to sleep. I don't have an insatiable hunger like last time, but I crave all sorts of unhealthy things. I'm workin' on not giving in to every single craving. It can be hard.

And judging by the picture, I'll probably have the biggest pregnant belly you have ever seen if I make it to 40 weeks! Don't you think? I'm going to do my best to embrace it. I'm SO glad I'm still pregnant!

A week of doctors

On Monday Caleb had a weight check at the pediatrician's office.

On Tuesday he had his first ever g-tube button change at the surgeon's office in Salt Lake. (From now on we'll be able to change his button on our own at home when we need to.)

On Wednesday he had a flu shot at the pediatrician's office.

On Thursday he had a follow-up appointment with the GI doc in Murray.

Yesterday he went to the NICU Follow-Up Clinic. He was assessed by a developmental pediatrician, an infant psychologist, a nutritionist, and a speech therapist, all in the same place, all there to follow the development of micro preemies born in Utah in the last four or so years. It's pretty cool. This was Caleb's third time going. He graduated from needing to see the PT and OT last time because we didn't have any concerns.

This is what we found out yesterday:

Caleb's head circumference is in the 40th percentile! WOW! He is 31 inches long, which is in the 10th percentile! HIS LENGTH IS ON THE CHARTS! YAHOO! His weight (20 lbs 1.5 oz) is just barely off of the charts, which, let's be honest, is pretty good!

And...Caleb's cognitive development is absolutely incredible. One year ago, he was at the level of his adjusted age, and a few things were slightly advanced to his actual age. Today, he was very advanced from his actual age. The psychologist said that he would be "challenging" because of his curiosity and how fast he learns things. He said that a year from now, between 2.5 and three years of age, he will be very, very advanced. He said that "kids like this turn out to be the top of their class."

Then...the speech therapist, who was in a completely different room, doing a completely different evaluation, said that he will be "challenging" because of how smart he is! That it will be a lot of work to keep up with his learning and energy. She literally said that we'll need to look into charter or private schools for him so that he can continue to be intellectually stimulated. He's currently expected to be at a 19-month-old level with speech (even though he's 22 months), but he's at a 24-27 month level.

I always knew he was smart, but I really never expected that THIS would be my "challenge!" I mean, this is the kid with BRAIN BLEEDS! He had an MRI, and we know he had actual "brain damage!" I am so proud of him, and everything that he has done and gone through and continues to do. I'm so impressed by him every single day. And now I'm a little overwhelmed. Two doctors in one day tell me that he will be "a challenge?"

Heaven help me if this next baby is born with a healthy brain.

22 Months and PROGRESS!

It's probably about time for another update. At 22 months (19 months adjusted) Caleb:

• Weighs 19 lbs 15.5 oz!! HOORAY! He gained half an ounce shy of two pounds since getting his g-tube two months ago. It took six months to gain two pounds before getting the feeding tube. Here is what his glorious "button" looks like (with a button pad on it, to soak up all of the discharge and goop that comes out of the "stoma," or the hole where the tube enters his stomach):


• Wears some 6-9 month clothes and a lot of 12 month clothes! FINALLY!
• Wears size three diapers during the day and size four diapers at night. He gets 6-10 oz of formula through his tube while he sleeps, so he has a very wet diaper by morning.
• Has all of his teeth except for the second set of molars in the very back. I think they're coming in, because he's been drooling and always has to put everything in his mouth as far back as possible. He has been chewing on his left thumb (the one he sucks), and it got a scab and then a blister, which he popped. Gross, I know.
• Is finally putting a hard consonant sound on a lot of his words. "Book" used to be "bu," but now it's "bup." Much better. :)
• Uses quite a few small sentences.
• Can use a fork and spoon to feed himself. He cheers every time he spears a piece of chicken or tuna with his fork and gets it successfully into his mouth. I cheer for him, too.
• Can ask for whatever food he wants by name. He'll be eating sweet potatoes, and when they're gone he'll say, "bape?" (aka, grape). He asks for juice, grapes, raisins, sweet potatoes, apples, chicken, tuna...yeah, that's basically all he eats.
• LOVES to count! He knows his numbers, but only once has he gotten them in the correct order by himself (1-4). When you count to ten for him, he cheers for you by clapping and saying, "yay!" :) Makes ya feel good. Today we were counting the grapes on his high chair tray, and when I was done counting them I went into the kitchen and he kept saying the numbers on his own, all jumbled around.
• Loves to play "Ring Around the Rosie." Somehow I think it may be unwise for me to be swinging myself in circles and throwing myself to the ground, so this morning I sang the "Rosie" song and let Caleb spin around the room on his own. His favorite part is falling down. :) He says, "DOWN!," laughs, and gets up saying "adain? adain?" (again?, again?).
• He also loves football, like all little BYU cougars do:

• He also loves somersaults:

• He also loves to put his stacking rings on his feet and wear them around the house like high heels. Seriously. He can RUN with these things on! Cute little weirdo. :)

• He also knows that his dog's name isn't "Dog." It's "Meg." And he's learning that his aunties all have different names, too, but they're harder to pronounce.
• Knows that when the credits roll at the end of a movie or TV show, the show is over. He says, "Bye-bye, show" while waving at the TV.
• Recognizes so many words that we have to spell things when we don't want him to know what we're talking about. "Nate, are we going to go o-u-t-s-i-d-e right now, or later?" "Are we ready to give Caleb a b-a-t-h yet?" He gets a little bit too excited to go outside or to take a bath or to go bye-bye, so we can't let the thought into his head until we're ready, or else we're just asking for a bit of a fight. On Sunday morning I put his shoes on him too soon, and he wanted to go to church (which he can say) that very moment, which would have made us very early. So, we put him in the stroller and walked very slowly to church. :) Let's hope he isn't an early speller.
• Tries to hold "light" in his hands:
• Likes to watch TV (and other things) with his hands clasped behind his back. Especially fitting for Jane Austen movies:
• Loves getting and giving kisses. When you want to give him a kiss, just say so and he'll put his forehead against your lips.
• When he gives you a high-five, he has to give one to everyone in the room. He just gave me a "five" and immediately afterwards shouted, "Auntie? Five? Five? Five?" (she was in the other room), until she came and gave him a five. :)

It's amazing to see how much he can learn when we just take the time to teach him. He's learning so fast these days! At every stage, I think "this is the funnest stage of them all!" and it's true, this stage really is the funnest!

Just some cuteness!

We practice in the high chair, because Caleb needs to be confined in order to keep his attention on one thing at a time.

And he loves his Dada.

:)

B-Town Vacation!

The three of us went "home" a few weeks ago to visit my family. It was absolutely wonderful! We planned our trip around the county fair. I might be biased...ok, I'm really not...but the county fair where I grew up is the most impressive county fair of all time. It's better than the Utah State Fair. No kidding. It was a big part of my life growing up, and it was shameful that Nate and I have been married for almost four years and he had never been to the fair. It's like he never really knew me. Shameful, I tell you.

And it was the perfect time to bring Caleb, since he can identify every farm animal there is, and tell you what sound it makes. It was wonderful for all of us.

Here is what we did:

We hung out with the cousin at horse shows:

Caleb rode a horse in his very first ever horse show! He's a REAL cowboy! And the tough look on his face proves it:

This is Caleb actually showing in the horse show:

We took naps in the camper. Sometimes we took naps in the car. Sometimes we didn't take naps at all! Eek! What rebels! It felt good to have a little bit of flexibility of schedule:

Caleb got his first cowboy hat. Doesn't it look like it just belongs on him?:

We watched my oldest nephew win Reserve Champion (second place) with his dog, Belle: (he's the boy in the red plaid shirt with the black and white border collie)

We watched my youngest niece win Champion in Junior Swine Showmanship (meaning she presented her pig to the judge better than any other kid in the Junior age group. It's a very impressive accomplishment! I won when I was a junior, too. :) )

I helped my oldest niece prepare her horse, Dixie, for the horse show. This was only her second year showing horses (she's 12) so I gave her a lesson a few days before the fair, I helped her groom Dixie, and I helped her put her "look" together by bringing my show shirt for her to wear, getting her a stylish belt and jewelry, etc. Did you know that horse showing is like a pageant on horseback? It's true. It starts with first impressions and how good you look, and then it goes to real talent. If you have real talent but you don't look good, you don't win. It's pretty sad. But since I've been there, I know every trick in the book when it comes to looking just right. So I made my niece my pupil and I made myself her personal groom, and I also gave her tips on how to improve her real skill. And do you know what? She did AWESOME! She was one of the top horse showers in the whole county, and she earned a trip to the State 4-H Horse show! She's not going to go to state, because she still has a lot to work on, and it's expensive, (and she's going to take her pig to the state fair--see below), but she'll get another chance when she's older and then she'll kick some butt! (I wish I had a better picture, because they really looked good...you've never seen such a shiny horse! But I was too busy being her groom, so it was hard to be her photographer, too.) :

We watched that same niece win Grand Champion with her January Gilt (in farmer language, a female pig born in January). You can't see the girl very well, but that pig sure does look nice! These two are now at the Minnesota State Fair!:

It was a lovely vacation. Caleb's favorite parts were the Kiddie Barn where he could see the pigs, chickens, rabbits, and miniature horses all at once, and the sandbox outside of the Kiddie Barn. :) His favorite "real" barn to be in was the sheep barn. He would point to each sheep and say, "Baa, baa, baa, baa!!!" with such enthusiasm. I love my little animal lover. :)

23 weeks! It's time to party!

(Please forgive the poor angle of this picture. I took it myself about 60 seconds ago.)

I have been counting down to this day for...oh...about 19 weeks (aka, since I found out I was pregnant).

If premature delivery is a problem for you, you know that 23 weeks is a very magical number. It's where the pregnancy becomes "viable." Well, some would argue that 24 is the week of viability, but a baby born in the 23rd week has a 17 percent chance of living (found on my good friend's blog, here), and that's the point at which I would feel comfortable demanding that doctors resuscitate my baby. I personally know a 23-weeker who was born shortly after Caleb, and who was in the same hospital as him. If you think Caleb is doing remarkably well, then she's doing extremely remarkably well! Seriously, that girl is amazing. It gives me a lot of hope in case this pregnancy doesn't go as long as I'd like.

(I might be crazy, but I've gotten to the point now where every day that something doesn't go wrong I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I can't shake the feeling that if something does go wrong, it will be some time in the next 4 weeks, because that's when things went south with my last pregnancy. Nate even said yesterday, "Wow, this pregnancy is going so much worse than the last one!" Yikes. Let's hope he's wrong. So, I'm trying to take it easy while at the same time enjoying the fact that it's "safe" to still do fun things. So, if you want to hang out with me some time, you might want to do it soon, just in case!)

Just in case you're interested, here is the chart from my friend's blog:

Survival Rates for Preemies:
23 weeks: 17%
24 weeks: 39%
25 weeks: 50%
26 weeks: 80%
27 weeks: 90%
28-31 weeks: 90-95%
32-33 weeks: 95%
34+ weeks: Almost as likely as a full-term baby

I still plan on at least getting farther than last time. Into the 30s would be nice. :)

So, to celebrate the possibility that Little Purser could live if he was to be born any time now, I think I'm going to have a piece of cake. Well, probably two. :)

By the way, did you know that this week my baby is almost a foot long and weighs just over one pound? Isn't that amazing? I've seen babies that size! In real life! Cool.

If I wanted to be a nurse, I would have gone to nursing school!

Instead, I get to care for a child with some odd (although not terrible) medical needs. I'm not complaining, because I'm really glad that I can take care of him how he needs me to, and I know it could be much worse, but seriously--who else has had to put a tube down their child's nose? Who else has a night time routine with their little one consisting of gauze, steroid cream, and endless supplies of q-tips? Who else has "call medical suppliers" on their to-do list? Who else has a 21-month-old with "button" and "tube" as a daily part of his vocabulary?

Nate says I'm perfect for the job, because I like lists and routines. I do things the same way, at the same time, every day, and I kinda go a little bit nuts if everything isn't perfect. I guess you have to be a little bit like that to deal with these things.

I guess I do a good job. I really don't mind it, but I certainly would rather not have to do it (more for Caleb's sake than for mine)! It's just part of my job as a mom. Not what I envisioned being a mom would be like, but it's part of the deal and it's 110 percent worth it.

And now...part of being a mother of two is giving MYSELF a shot! It must be done. I'm taking care of my unborn son by doing it. Hopefully this will keep me from needing to use my past medical knowledge (aka, NICU and feeding stuff) to care for the littlest Purser. But man, it sure isn't fun!

The shot of which I speak is 17p, the progesterone shot that must be administered weekly in order to (hopefully) prevent preterm labor. I live 35 minutes away from the clinic where a nurse could give it to me, so instead of wasting over an hour every week, with Caleb, (not to mention the gas that my truck guzzles), I have been giving it to myself. I thought, "Hey, now that I've done this, I could totally be a nurse!" My good friend said, "Hey, now that you've done that, you could totally be a druggie!" Nice. :)

So, for the second time so far, I shot myself in the patootie. How many more times I have to shoot myself depends on how long I stay pregnant. I hope it's at least two or three more months.