Baby Thomsen

There have been a few complications with this pregnancy that many of you loving people have asked to be kept informed about. It's not very personal, but I do find blogging to be the most effective way to disperse the information.

I'll try to be as chronological and sensical as possible. 

At our 19 week ultrasound it showed placenta previa. Meaning that, the placenta had grown over the cervix. Not ideal - how will the baby get out? It has the potential to move away from the cervix as the growing uterus expands and stretches. It comes at an increased risk of bleeding because the placenta is highly vascular. 

Two weeks ago, on Tuesday February 4, I went to hospital for assessment because of some light spotting (bleeding). It stopped on it's own and was very light. They assessed me and sent me home within a few hours. Stating that if I had two more episodes of bleeding that I would need to be admitted. 

This past Tuesday, February 25, I had a more significant bleed. When I went to hospital for assessment they decided to admit me. NOT what I was expecting. I spent the last two nights in hospital for assessment and observation. During my time there they have discovered that the placenta previa has developed into a vasa previa. 

What does THAT mean? 

The part of the placenta overlying the cervix likely did not have good blood supply (the cervix is not as vascular as the rest of the uterus). So this part of the placenta shrivelled up and disappeared. However some of the blood vessels (the veins and arteries) that were in this small part of the placenta, remain. The protective tissue of the placenta is gone and these blood vessels are exposed. They are currently situated between baby's head and the cervix. Vasa - meaning blood vessels, Previa - meaning in proximity to the cervix.

What now?

If I bleed again I need to get to hospital ASAP. The exposed vessels are fetal, and if ruptured the baby could lose it's entire volume of blood very quickly. They need to determine quickly if the blood is fetal or maternal. If it is fetal, it means an emergency c-section to resuscitate baby. If it is maternal they will decide on interventions depending on whether it is slowing or increasing and how much has already been lost. Interventions such as IV fluids, blood transfusions or a c-section. 

In any case, if I bleed again I will be in hospital until baby is born. 

I am home now with weekly home care visits and a life line panic button. Press the button and EMS is dispatched to our home and we go directly to the hospital (no pit stops at Dairy Queen, even if this preggo begs). 

The likelihood of a vaginal birth at this point is very very remote and likely too risky. 

Best case scenario is a hospital admission at 32 weeks and a scheduled c-section at 35 weeks.

Why 32 weeks? As baby gets bigger there is an increased risk of these blood vessels being disturbed. And if something happens in hospital, baby's chances of survival are greater. 

Why a section at 35 weeks? A scheduled section at 35 weeks helps eliminate the chances of going into labour which could be dangerous.  

Baby Pants from an Old Shirt

Ingredients:
One shirt - long sleeved knit, or sweater, sweatshirt.
Piece of elastic - long enough for babies' waist.
Sewing machine
Thread
Scissors

Cut the arms off the shirt.
Find a pair of pants that fit baby.
Use the inseam of the pants to gauge how far to cut the inseam into the sleeves. Add another inch or so on the top to leave room for folding it over. Mark the length with a pin (see photo).
Cut down the inseam.
Sew the inseam right sides together using a stretch stitch. I used a surger to finish the edge or you could use a zig zag stitch.
Finish the top edge with a surger or zig zag stitch.
Fold over and sew the top leaving a pocket big enough for the elastic to run through.
Leave an opening big enough to run the elastic through.
Fasten a safety pin to the elastic one end. And run the elastic through the waistband.

Quiet Book Project

Such HOPE.

LOVE IT! 

Check out this interview with Lillian Greckol, an Albertan living with cystic fibrosis who just celebrated her 75th birthday! 

Her longevity is one of the many reflections of the outstanding progress made by the CF community in research, advocacy, fundraising and so much more.

http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/2148858484001.000000/a-cystic-fibrosis-patient-celebrates-her-75th-birthday/

An Answer to Prayers

First of all, I really want to thank all of you have been praying for Jack. Those prayers have definately been answered, Jack is doing amazing! We feel SO blessed.

Jack and I were at the CF clinic at the Alberta Children's Hospital this morning. The team is amazed at how well he is doing. One of the team members remarked that she has never seen a child with CF so healthy and hefty. Jack weighed in today at 22lb and is a whopping 28.25 inches long. He is 5 and a half months old and in 18 and 24 month clothes - you know, just like the average 5 month old.

Not much more to say - things are going well. Jack is at a really fun age. Experiencing the world through his eyes and getting to witness his firsts is such a joy. He is starting to get up on his knees and elbows and lift his tummy off the ground. Any day now he will take off crawling - and then he will be keeping us on our toes. 

Thanks again for all of your love, support and prayers. Please continue to pray that he stays healthy. 
All the Best,
The Thomsens

Wow time flies....

How time flies. I can't believe that Jack is now 3 months old. He is growing like a weed. For the first time the clothes that no longer fit out number those that do. He is starting to talk lots of baby-babble and grasp at objects. Jack is now over 16 pounds. And measures 25.75 inches long. He and I are recovering from our first mommy - baby cold. Poor little man got an ear infection too. Ouch! We are on the up. I haven't been blogging lately. I've not really wanted to talk much about CF. Perhaps it's been my way of coping with it. Ignore it and it'll go away. It was getting me down being approached with pity, while trying to maintain an attitude of optimism. Yesterday we went to clinic. And I wanted to share with you a conversation I had with one of the nurses. I was discussing the decision we were facing when my mat-leave is up, regarding whether to send Jack to day-care, a day-home or for me to stay at home. She asked me "Are you planning to send him to public school or home school?" We are planning to send him to school. "Then you could send him to day-care", she said. She reminded me that Cystic Fibrosis is NOT AN IMMUNE DISORDER. He has (as far as we know) a perfectly normal and healthy immune system. He will get colds just like every other child. A problem can present when he get's a VIRAL cold infection and BACTERIAL infection decides to take over when he is run down. A secondary bacterial infection on top of a viral infection. She said, "You can treat Jack just like any other kid. If you would send him to day-care if he didn't have CF, then send him to day-care". I asked, "I thought the doctor on our first visit told us to take extra precautions"? She said, "Either he mis-spoke or you mis-understood. You do not have to take EXTRA precautions per-say. But you do have to take normal precautions. (not everyone does this routinely)." Normal precautions to prevent the spread of germs. Such as regular hand washing and coughing into a sleeve. Avoiding unnecessary contact with someone that is really sick. So if we are planning to send him to school - wouldn't it be better to send him to day care as we intended and have him build an immune system in the first 3-4 years of life - rather be at home from school for the first 3-4 years of school? Yes. This is starting to make better sense to me now. And with some relief that I don't have to be quite so fearful of the germs he'll come into contact with. So I suppose this means that we don't have to run and wash our hands everytime we touch him - but exercise normal precautions and wash if we have not washed recently. I have been avoiding touching his hands and asking others to do the same. His hands go in his mouth a lot and it would be the equivilent of walking up and putting our fingers in his mouth - yuck. We don't have to avoid people that have the sniffles - but it is a good idea for us to avoid contact with people that have coughs. Thank you all for your support, we appreciate you.

Cystic Fibrosis - Another personal account...

Here is another website written by someone with CF. There is a lot of great comments on here. And he has a great attitude.
I like his story of how he learned to swallow a pill. "When I was 5, my mom shoved one down my throat and from then on I could swallow pills". Ha ha ha.


http://frontpage.velocity.net/yanc/