2 more days!

We are getting nervous, but excited to welcome Libbi into our lives! The kids keep counting down the days and when we switched from Tuesday to Friday and told them it was 4 days not 7 they were a little taken back, Koy especially. He is struggling and worried about this no matter what we all think. I can see the concern in his face when we talk about Libbi. The other day he cried like 4 times over NOTHING! It breaks my heart that he is not old enough to fully understand, yet old enough to know something is not right. He actually said during one of his episodes the other night that he wished we weren't even having a baby :( We've tried to play it down quite a bit but he's smart enough to sense something. I hope he does ok when she gets here and when i'm gone for a couple days. For those of you who don't know Koy, he is a tough kid! He never cries! If he is upset, he'll just knock you out, crying is not his thing so to see him cry is really hard for me. Jerzi on the other hand is pretty much oblivious to what's going on. She keeps asking, 'where's the baby' but she is not acting sad or confused like Koy. I think with everything that is going on, these kids are my biggest worry. I hate to not be able to fix things and take care of their little feelings. I just hope we can get through these next couple of weeks and return to being a 'normal' family.

We've decided because there is no cell service down there that the best way to communicate will be through email. We will update this blog every couple hours so you can check here but also just email me mindidixon@msn.com and I will check that often as well. We go in Friday at 7:30 am so we expect her to be here Friday, late morning or early afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed and we will hope all goes well!!

Updated plan..

We went to visit Dr. Andrus today (the high risk OB) to basically tell him everything that went on Saturday and that we were not happy and not doing that again. He was very nice and understanding. After visiting with him for an hour we decided to move the induction up to Friday, and doing the amnio Thursday. He didn't feel like 4 days was going to make a difference. Our main reasoning is so that I don't happen to go into labor on my own over the weekend again because the hospital was not prepared for us. If i go into labor before then, he assured us that he will make the calls and get done what needs to be done. We felt good after leaving there. I hope i make it to Friday, i'm a little nervous!!

Night at U of U

We had the opportunity of spending the evening at the hospital. Ok 'oppurtunity' is not the right word. Anyway, I was contracting all day yesterday and the Dr. felt I should get down to the hospital. We got there about 6 pm and i was a 3. They monitered me for a while then checked me into a room. They felt in necessary to give me the medicine to stop the labor due to Libbis size. She was only measuring 5 lbs 4 oz on their 'on call' machine. The big accurate million dollar machine apparantly has weekends off!! I hope it was enjoying his break! Seriously, that's what they told us, that we couldn't be 'sure' of her size because that machine wasn't to be used on weekends? What?!?! Anyway, the contractions stopped about 4 am and I was a 4. They weren't sure they wanted to send me home being a 4 but after laying there for 5 more hours with no pains at all, they let me come home. So i am a 4 and on modified bed rest and also i am still taking the medication to stop labor every 6 hours. We hope for the best! We want Libbi to be big enough for surgery (she was 100 grams too little by their calculations) so we are hoping to make it another week. I was so not impressed with that hospital and I am not looking forward to going back. I bet I saw 15 different doctors and nurses in the 14 hours i was there. Never the same face twice. The 'real' doctors were all off cause it was the weekend. If one more person said 'doctors need time off too you know?' i was going to take them down!! AHH! It was a very annoying night, we went from 'o ya you'll for sure be staying and having her tonight' to 'i think you'll probally go home' to actually being a 5 then back to a 4! I didn't know that could happen but it did! That's what you get when you're being checked by a different person EVERY time! I'm glad to be home, and I hope they get it together down there before we go back!! Sorry i'm a bit grumpy, i need sleep! We were so thrilled that our whole family came down to support us even knowing that we may not be staying. They are all so wonderful, they were there until about 3:30am. We love them so much!! They are the best, look how tired they all are! Good day!!

A day with the Doctors.

Today was a long long day but a good day! Dr. Menon was not there and apparantly he is not actually 'our doctor' so we met with Dr. Pinto who we really liked! She said everything is looking the same as our last visit and that the 'temporary' surgery is still looking like what they will do at first. She also said that it isn't actually an 'open heart surgery' they just go in from the side so that was good! She said Libbi should really only be there for 3 weeks or so, which we know is just a guess but she acted optimistic. They still cannot say for sure what will happen until she gets here but looking at everything, we feel it looks good!! She said this is a rare case and it will be a day by day thing to determine her treatment, but that it is not likely that her heart will fail! She should be just fine! We felt really good leaving there!!

We then went to Dr. Andrus again and as you know I have been having some pains, well they have actually been labor pains but very minor. They hooked us up to the monitor and did a non stress test where Libbi looked great! My uterus was showing some signs of contractions but not very many. I am dialated to just a 1 with some thinning happening. Her head is down and in position to come! They felt like i will be ok and probably make it until the 24th still. He said as long and the pains don't get worse and more consistent then not to worry about them. If they do get worse then I have his number and I can call and get checked before heading down to the U.

The funniest part of the day is at the U there was a big sign hanging above the nursery that said 'Welcome baby Utes' Kurt was very un happy! The big cups they give you, you know the ones at Ogden Regional that are green.. Well there's are red with a big 'U' on them! We need to find Kurt a BYU mug so he can have a drink because I can guarantee you he'll go thirsty before he uses a Ute cup!! Today we feel very excited to meet our Libbi. Our fears are minimized today, I hope we are not being naive. The one bad thing is that they said RSV will not be over til April which means the kids won't get to meet her until she comes home probably. That will be hard on them but we'll take pictures and video of her! It's getting close, we can't wait!!

Scary night!

Yesterday my wonderful mother in law came over to help me with some 'spring cleaning.' I really wanted to wash my blinds, since it hasn't been done in a while. Ok i'll be honest, it's never been done, we've lived here 2 years! AH! How sad is that?!? Anyway, and i needed my shower door cleaned, along with some baseboards dusted. Well i know that i need to take it easy so i chose to stand and clean the blinds. Really, all i did was stand. Well about 5 pm my back started hurting so i layed down in the chair (yes Chase, "THE" chair!) and rested for a bit. Well it kept getting worse and worse. I got in the tub and the pain stopped so i was relieved. About 5 minutes after I got out of the tub, they started again. I was timing the 'pain/contractions' and they were 4 minutes apart for about half of 24 (our favorite show). Then they got further and further apart. I finally gave in and called Dr. Andrus, he said to pay attention and see if they were 'consistent' rather than the intesity of them. Well they weren't very consistent. I had Kurt give me a blessing, mainly just so that I would know if i needed to go in or not. I was still very undecisive (i know, me, undecisive? weird..ha ha) We got our bags packed, which needed to be done anyway, and i went to bed. The pains woke me up a couple times but nothing to alarm me. So it is morning, i made it through the night, and i will not be cleaning blinds today!! We did get done with the cleaning just in time so i'm enjoying my nice clean house..for now.. We go see Dr. Menon (cardiologist) tomorrow morning and i'm hoping for more good news! Then we go see Dr. Andrus (ob) tomorrow afternoon. It will either be a great day or a very stressful day! I will keep you all posted!
I have to tell about my new friends, the Dennisons. The missionary in our stake is named Elder Palmer, i cut his hair, well used to, and he mentioned his sister from Arizona was going to have a baby with a heart condition. I talked with him a couple times but then hadn't seen him in a while so my other friend Heidi (Jerseys mom) lives in Arizona so I emailed her asking if she happens to know 'baby Jake.' That's all i knew about him, no last name or anything. Next thing i know, i get an email from Liz, Jakes mom, Elder Palmers sister! Her and Heidi are already friends! Weird huh? It was fun to get to tell Elder Palmer that I talked with his sister. He has been avoiding me because sadly enough, baby Jake passed away and Elder Palmer didn't exactly want to tell me that. I can see why. This family is amazing though, their link is on the sidebar. When i read their blogs, (Jerseys and Jakes) I don't feel scared, i feel at peace. It does make me sad for their families, but i just think how lucky those babies are that they get to live in such a wonderful place, free of pain and worldly crap. Crap is the only word i can think of. If you need a cute comfy blankie for yourself or someone else, baby Jakes website has a link to the cutest softest blankies ever! They are actually making some to give to the hospital where Jake was, they are called Jakeys blankies. Very cute!!
2 weeks from today and we will have our baby girl! I'm very excited to meet her and to see what she looks like! I'm also excited to be done being pregnant, i'm getting a bit immobile. It's very annoying!! Thanks for everything you have all done and continue to do for us, we are the luckiest family in the world!

Libbi arriving March 24!

Today we met with Dr. Andrus, who is a high risk OB/perinatologist at Mckay Dee. He said everything is still looking good with Libbi and we actually made a plan! That felt good! We will do an amnio test on Monday, March 23 to make sure her lungs are fully developed, which they should be but he's just wants to make certain so we don't have another thing to worry about at birth. Then we will go into the U at 7:30am on Tuesday the 24th and they will induce labor. IF for some reason the lungs are not fully developed, we will wait a few more days to induce. From what I understand, the amnio is not real pleasant. They stick a big needle in my tummy! OUCH! He claims it is not that painful, i will be the judge of that and let you know! There is a risk with the amnio, it could break my water, sending me into labor anyway but he feels this is the best option. They will 'check' me next week the 11th and again on the 18th and if nothing is 'going on' then i will have to go into the hospital Monday night (the 23rd) to "soften my cervix" whatever that means? Just to help me to get going before they induce i guess. He also gave me his cell number to contact him if anything is happening before then. That made me feel good because every night I lay in bed thinking 'what would i do if i went into labor tonight?' No more Dr. Bierer, there is nothing more he can do at this point :( The one thing i wasn't real happy about is that they won't do a full ultra sound again, meaning we have no idea how big she is. That concerns me a little but they acted like it was no big deal and not to stress about it. I'm just putting my trust in them, they seem to do this often! So today is the official 20 day countdown, i'm not sure what to think. My mom and Sunnee said "yay i'm excited" and Netso said "yikes." I feel more like Netso! Yikes only 20 days!! That's less than the Christmas counter downers we make at Christmas time! I am looking forward to meeting our little Libbi, it will be quite a ride i'm sure!

Some heart friends

I have been finding out that there are sooo many babies out there with different heart conditions. It is interesting and can be comforting to read. It can also be worrysome. I have added a couple that have hit home for me for some reason or another. Grant and Avery are coming soon and we will probably cross paths with them at Primarys. They are from Heber and Logan. Jersey's blog really hit home, probally cause her name is Jersey but also I feel like her mom and I are alot alike. I read her blogs before she had her and they remind me so much of my posts these days! Unfortunately their little Jersey didn't make it. It is very sad to read but their strength helps me to be strong. Their other kids are our kids ages, the little girl and Koy are only like days apart. We have a lot in common so it's been interesting to get to know them a little. They are from Arizona..i think.. Anyway, if you want to grab a tissue and read some of these other families blogs, it is helpful to see we're not alone. If you're emotional like me (or Deana and Netso) then you may not want to read them.. just a warning!! We go back to Mckay Dee today, and hopefully we will have a date. I just hope it's not a waste of time like last week!! Stay tuned!