The fam has settled in quite nicely here at Michele’s house. What an amazing, selfless friend she has been to completely open up her home and her fridge (and her bed!) for us to completely take over. We’ve had some small outings to the store and to the park. I’m trying to get in my walking, squats and lunges. Micah has been SUCH a good boy… so patient without all his toys, just keeping himself entertained in the house all day. He’s sleeping well and eating well here. Definitely an answer to prayer as far as the transition goes.

Other good news. My BP’s have been consistently ok. Higher than my normal self, but hey! I’m pregnant. Definitely low for preeclampsia standards. The only issue I’m keeping an eye on is the steady headache. Could be due to the fact that I’m not sleeping in my bed with my special neck pillow… my muscles can be quite sensitive with that stuff. When I stretch, the headache seems to go away. No liver pain, no blurred vision, even my swelling has decreased quite a bit! Could it be that my prior symptoms stemmed from taking care of a toddler, not sleeping, and having a husband who works nights? That would probably raise the blood pressure of most people and cause some kind of underlying headache. Obviously we are still watching out for preeclampsia. BUT if my levels consistently stay within the normal range, and no other issues come up, we would be inclined to cancel or at least delay our induction. We know that it’s an option, and we would take full advantage of that if we find induction completely unnecessary. There have been tons of studies relating inductions/VBAC’s with some pretty terrible outcomes, including a much higher chance of needing a c-section and also higher incidence of uterine rupture. This article sums it up very well if you’re interested: http://www.ican-online.org/vbac/vbac-and-pharmaceutical-induction-help-or-hindrance

We’ll keep ya up to date on our plans as the countdown continues to b-day! In the mean time, here are some random pics we’ve taken since being here. It helps pass the time to keep ourselves entertained.

Keeping on top of the blood pressure

Micah thinks the legs of the table are a ’slide’ and keeps getting stuck!

Already playin with little sis (Excuse my ratty shirt. It’s the only one that fits my belly)

Chele bought him a special hat

My Mom reminded me of something I left out of the last post. When they took me into triage at first and hooked up the fetal heart rate monitor, Kaelyn’s heartbeat had a nice loud steady rhythm. Micah heard it, stopped playing, and began dancing to the beat of her heartbeat. He said, ‘Good song!’ and kept dancing for a long time! My sweet boy…

Ok back to the whirlwind. It took a couple more hours for them to get my room and intake forms ready, and finally around 2:30am they settled us into our room. Finally some sleep!! And some snacks. I can’t remember the last time I skipped dinner! A warning came from the nurse that they would need to take my blood pressure every 2 hours. What they didn’t warn me of was that they would also wake me up at 5:00, 5:30, 6:15, and 7:15am to draw blood, ask random admin questions, ultrasound my legs (they thought my feet swelling was due to a blood clot in my leg. Ugh. They should have seen my swelling with Micah’s pregnancy!), ultrasound the baby to check fluid, and to do a non-stress test too. Seriously, can’t hospitals talk to each other and decide to come in ALL at once, say after a good night’s sleep, and get it all over with at the same time??? It’s a teaching hospital too, so I had residents, students, techs, nurses, nursing students, and the whole lot coming in for different reasons. That was a rough night.

My BP stayed low overnight. Blood tests came back normal, and they continued to test my urine protein for 24 hours. Thankfully after the first night, it actually started feeling more like a hotel stay. I slept in, had food delivered, watched some TV, caught up on emails, stayed in bed all day… all without chasing a toddler. Blood pressure remained within the normal range, most likely due to the fact that I stayed in bed all day! The OB on call visited and informed me that they would keep me another night to finish out the urine analysis and continue to monitor blood pressure. Fine by me! I was starting to see the silver lining in this whole hospital stay (mind you, a very expensive way to relax!). As long as I didn’t have to be awakened every 1.5 hours, I could enjoy this time. During the afternoon/evening I felt more freedom to walk around, take a shower, get my own snacks & beverages, and generally move around at my own pace. Unfortunately this minimal activity alone raised my blood pressure enough to be just under the cutoff range that would raise concerns.

Around 7:15pm, exhaustion took over and I decided to lie down for a late nap. As I lie there, it all started falling into place… some random symptoms that I’ve had over the last couple weeks could actually be early signs of mild preeclampsia. Increased swelling, increased heart rate, a couple high blood pressure readings, a slow building headache, some blurred vision and bouts of feeling lightheaded. I had been taking care of myself, eating well (LOTS of protein and water), resting as much as I could, and so on. However, I wasn’t sleeping well at night. I chalked it up to exhaustion. But with these high blood pressure readings and a new light being shed on preeclampsia, it hit me that the doctors may just be right! I was in denial the night before when they kept throwing around the term that I never even considered it a possibility for this pregnancy. They don’t know exactly what causes preeclampsia, although some have tried speculating different reasons. The problem, besides the obvious risks, was that this disease leads inevitably to induction… not something we wanted to consider at all. Especially because there can be some complications associated with the drugs they use to induce and a patient who attempts a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). The low risks aren’t scary enough for us to decide on a c-section however. Our desire remains to have a vaginal birth, and I will do everything I can for that to happen safely. That being said, induction complicates the matter of a natural childbirth. I had to be ok with compromising this part of my expectation of labor and delivery for the safety of Kaelyn and myself. Another thing to consider… the worse preeclampsia gets, the more medical intervention necessary. With mid to severe preeclampsia, they administer magnesium sulfate – it drops your blood pressure, but has horrible side effects like intense nausea, a dizzy and lightheaded feeling, among others – that would require me to be chained to the bed, with an IV, catheter, and a general drugged and ‘out of it’ feeling. Mild preeclampsia doesn’t necessitate this drug, but it’s a fine line before mild turns severe. So my dilemma is… do I hold off on induction and risk my symptoms getting worse and going into the mid to severe range? Well honestly we decided, yes. We will monitor my blood pressure (Dad brought his cuff from home) and keep an eye on my symptoms. If things get worse, we’ll decide when to go in. If my pressure stays ok, we’re going to hold off as long as possible before inducing. Thankfully the doctors were ok with waiting until about 5 days before my due date to begin induction next Monday night. This took a lot of discussion with Tony, prayer, and a general letting go of my stubbornness and high expectations. I don’t feel rushed about the decision… and I also know I can change my mind depending on my blood pressure this week. If Monday comes and I feel just fine, I can always push the induction back and give her some more time to cook. Anyway, just a couple interruptions came the second night, and the next morning I slept HARD until almost 9am!

They discharged me late the next morning with two appointments set up. Non-stress test for Kaelyn on Friday morning, and the induction scheduled for Monday night. I have a feeling she’ll decide to show up before then… but if she doesn’t, I know I always have the option of delaying it depending on my health. We are settled in at Michele’s house in Castle Rock. My parents both graciously offered to stay up here too, to help care for Micah and to also keep an eye on me. Tony’s night job scheduled him every night this week, so unfortunately he won’t be able to join us at all. At least until b-day comes. So please pray for loooooow blood pressure, no headaches, no blurry vision, no preeclampsia!… and a little girl determined to come out soon!

Hey guys. It’s Tawni again. I have lots o’ time in bed and free internet access, so I’ll catch you up myself for today at least. I love my friend Shan for volunteering her PR services and updating my blog… life is a lot easier when you have a friend like that!

The past 36 hours have been a whirlwind to say the least. It started out fairly calmly yesterday morning, when I began to experience some early labor symptoms. I’m not one to overreact in a situation, so I hoped my behavior during labor would follow suit! Without going into too many gory details for our faint of heart readers… let’s just say there were ‘things that happened’ yesterday morning that made me think, ‘Hmm… this thing could go down in the next few days.’ I mentioned it to Tony, but we both went on getting ready for church knowing that these things can take some time. Went to church, went to lunch, came back home for naps. One of the symptoms I can mention, nausea, started getting worse when I got home… that and my temperature jumped up a little. I laid down for a nap, not sure of how much time I’d have to do that in the next couple days.

I started contracting during my nap but not having much pain associated with it, I didn’t think to count duration or frequency. These contractions did feel different, compared to my previous Braxton-Hicks contractions however. I knew it was only a matter of time before they got more painful and more frequent. After about an hour of that, I decided to go downstairs, watch the Rockies game, and call some family to chat. Contractions continued, but again not really that painful. Tony woke up from his nap, and after the update, we started talking about our options as to when we should start heading to a hospital. The hospital in the Springs where my OB practices is about 40 minutes from our house. The hospital in Aurora (outside Denver) where I was supposed to deliver could be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 or more hours depending on traffic. Contractions sneaked up on me, and at one point I realized they were only 5 or 6 minutes apart. Ok guess we need to be timing these suckers! 30-40 seconds in duration. Well still not REALLY far in labor or THAT painful, but after 2 hours of driving, who knows? Didn’t really want to deliver on the side of the road. At that point, we decided to call my awesome OB in the Springs (who SO kindly offered up his cell number to us for any questions). After explaining my slight symptoms from that morning and the building contractions that afternoon, he thought it best for us to go ahead and head up to Aurora to at least get checked.

Adrenaline kicked in, we loaded up the car, picked up my folks, and headed up there. Well wouldn’t you know it? I’ve heard before that adrenaline and an early trip to the hospital can slow down labor…. mine came to a dead stop when we got there!! Nevertheless, they hooked me up and poked and prodded. Only 1 cm dilated. Bag of waters had not fully ruptured. I was contracting, but they weren’t strong enough to get the job done at this point. I thought, ‘No big deal, I’ll just go to Michele’s house like we planned and wait it out to see if they start up again.’ That’s when they hit me with the unexpected news. Two or 3 high blood pressure readings concerned them enough to throw around the term preeclampsia. Actually, two of the readings fell in the ’severe preeclampsia’ range. They don’t take any chances with that pregnancy-induced disease. Quick recap of it: can cause anything from high blood pressure, swelling, liver problems and vein constricting (slowing the growth of baby) to maternal seizures, infant brain damage, and maternal and/or infant death. A quick decision to keep me overnight for monitoring totally changed my expectations for that night. No labor. No going home. Now thinking of other necessary options.

(I have to split up this story, because it’s late and I need sleepy! Part 2 should come tomorrow… as soon as I have a little chunk of time. Good night, and thanks for the constant prayers!!)

Hey everyone, Tawni’s friend Shannon here. I’ll be taking over the blog for Tawni for a little while since she will be slightly pre-occupied for the next few weeks She asked if I would keep all of you up-to-date as much as possible since we know there are so many of you reading this, praying for Tawni, Tony, Micah and Kaelyn, and the entire Martinez  and DeYoung clans! Thank you for taking this journey with them, for sending SO much prayer, support and encouragement…it truly has made such a huge impact on their lives to know that no matter what roads God asks them to take they have such a strong, vast army of friends, family and even people they have never met praying for them every step of the way! God is so faithful to provide exactly what we need, when we need it for every season of our lives. We all cannot WAIT to meet this tiny, beautiful miracle that the Lord has brought into each of our lives. Some of you will only get to “meet” her by the words spoken here, and the pictures we provide. And with that in mind, I promise you I will do my best to give you as MUCH as I possibly can about this incredible little lady, her amazing parents, and the details of the “grand finale” to this journey.

Standing in faith,

Shannon

This week marked 37 weeks in the pregnancy, making us officially full term! If Kaelyn came now they would not stop labor, and all organs including the lungs should be fully developed. I have had only minor contractions thus far… mainly still Braxton Hicks. Nothing to get excited about yet, however they are definitely coming more often now. I have a sneaky feeling I may go into labor sometime between 38 and 39 weeks (38 weeks starts this weekend). Not surprisingly, Kaelyn is measuring above average for height and weight. At our last OB and Cardio ultrasounds the week of August 9th, she measured in the 79th percentile… 6lb 14oz on Tuesday and 7lb 2oz on Friday of that week. That was when I was only at 35 weeks, and they estimate a weight gain of 1/2 lb a week at this point. At that rate, going to my due date would put her over 9 1/2 lbs!! I’m not really worried about her size though. I still just have total peace about the entire labor experience, especially because at this point it’s out of my control! Plus I know those measurements can be off by up to a pound or more, so we won’t know for sure until b-day.

So are you curious about what they found on the last ultrasounds? Those were in fact the last scheduled ultrasounds before birth. Well besides her size, there was nothing too exciting about it all. More of the same… hypoplastic left heart syndrome. But you know what? Perhaps God is waiting for us to be over and done with all the poking, prodding, and spying on her heart. Maybe he just wants to work on it in peace, hidden from the outside world, without the doctors trying to claim that they knew what was going on. As some friends reminded me this past week, He does NOT share His glory with anyone! Perhaps He is waiting for day 4 after birth – the day of her ‘planned’ first heart operation – to reveal His hidden miracle. So the doctors can see with their own eyes, in the physical sense not using sound waves through my belly, the before and after. A broken heart mended without their intervention. Wouldn’t we love to avoid the time in the NICU, the heart-wrenching account of our brand new daughter hooked up to various tubes and machines for 4 days, the constant vigil of watching her oxygen levels and praying she doesn’t get an infection, and the financial burden that would put on us? YES! So y’all keep praying that whatever time frame God has set up, that He would mercifully heal her NOW! But will our faith be shaken if that time frame is not in His perfect will? NO. We rely on His promises and His timing… we are expectantly waiting for a complete healing… that He will finish what He started. And we will be SO excited to share that with you all!! The game plan is out the window… we are not packing to be at the hospital for a month. We’re putting our actions where our belief lies. So what if it sounds stupid to anyone… we are a peculiar people, aren’t we?

Anywho… our selfless friend Michele has offered her home to us. Micah, my Mom and I will move in with her this Sunday, barring any ’bouts’ of labor this week. We’ll be 30-45 minutes from the hospital in case I have a super speedy labor (like so many of my friends have lately!) and need to get up there quickly. After birth, I don’t know if they will give us a chance to be with Kaelyn if/when they take her to the ICU. We’re asking that everyone who is planning on making the trip to Aurora be sensitive to the fact that we’d like some time with her before anyone else spends time with her! You may not get to see her, or us for a while. AND most importantly if you or anyone in your household has been sick or feels like they may be getting sick, please feel free to love us from a distance, from the comfort of your own home! Even if you don’t go into the ICU, we don’t want to be exposed to anything ourselves. That sure would put a damper on things. My folks and my friends Shannon and Anna will act as representatives if you have questions or want to visit. Shannon will be updating this blog at times, so you can get up-to-the-minute reporting!

Ok so let’s go back and recap the non-Kaelyn happenings of the past few weeks, shall we? The DeYoung family made our debut in the annual Bronc Days parade here in GMF. We opened the parade in the department’s main fire truck, lights flashing and Micah and I waving dutifully. Micah was sooo elated to be ‘driving’ in the front seat of the ‘big big truck.’ Whenever we stopped, he’d say ‘Go! Go big truck!’ I told him to wave to the people, so he’d grab my waving hand and say, ‘Hi peoples’ over and over again. Dad rode on the back of the medical truck with Smokey, this time sans tiara.

The following weekend, we took a much needed family day and went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Tony has been working 5-6 nights a week in addition to his day job, so we scheduled this way in advance to make this happen! Micah’s favorite animals happened to be the monkeys and snakes (much to Tony’s disappointment). He did get to feed the giraffes and birds, but the long giraffe tongue just freaked him out too much.

We rounded out the weekend celebrating 2 years of life for Micah’s betrothed, little Ella Bells Moore (her full name according to older sister Adri). Can’t believe Micah’s is just around the corner too, on September 8th! These babies just turned into little people overnight.

Oh and this was just a random picture from last Saturday morning. We do it right with pancakes or french toast every weekend. In the midst of our syrupy goodness, Tony turned Micah into a nun.

Thank you again to all of the amazing people who have sent us encouragement, scripture, and words from the Lord along with your continual prayer for our precious Kaelyn. Thanks to our sweet friends Eileen and Shannon for the special, AWESOME prayer time you held for me, Kae and Ton. Looking forward to doing it again with the Flanagan’s tomorrow. I’ll leave you with a passage that just KEEPS coming up over and over (hmmm maybe it’s important?). John 14: 12-14: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”