Same old same old...

Update from 4/30: Bruce had to have oxygen last night...clock starts over. Praying that tonight goes well and we can start the 72 hour countdown.

A few more things...

For his reflux update look at the previous post, I wanted to post a few pics as well...

When I was looking back through the pictures, I thought about a few more things. He had to be under the "billy" lights for his jaundice for about a day, and it was just funny because he always had his hands up and looked like he was sunbathing.

We would be remiss if we didn't post a picture with the Bronco's blanket. And, he's in a BIG boy bed! And I mean BIG! They didn't put him in the little beds they usually put babies in because they didn't think he'd fit that well so he gets a special bed! He also gets to wear "real" clothes now so thanks to the Karen and Ephraim, Bruce has some clothes! :-)

He DOES have reflux..

Which is a good thing. We are hoping that by treating the reflux we can get rid of his "events" and he will finally be on his way home. It takes a while for the medicine to kick in and once it does we'll find out if his "events" stop. Assuming they do, then we have to go 72 hours without them for him to go home. Greg and I took infant CPR tonight and he may still get sent home with an apnea monitor. His last two major things are to quit having events and to pass his carseat test where they make sure he keeps breathing for an hour while in his carseat.

I am getting to hold him and cuddle him and feed him etc. That makes it not quite so unbearable, but it's still really hard. I took myself off pain meds so I can drive that way I can keep going up to the hospital when Greg goes back to work tomorrow. I just couldn't imagine not being there! He's so cute and such a cuddle bug. He loves to snuggle up into you and he SLEEPS SO MUCH! His nurses like to comment on his "fatness" and his sleepiness. Both of which are fine with me!

I'll put a few new pictures up in a bit, so if you check his picture site there should be new ones.

Booooo...

Now it looks like Sunday! Boooooo... not handling it well.

Update

This is the email I sent out tonight:

I was released from the hospital Saturday, but Bruce is still in the hospital. He has been upgraded from the NICU to the IMC (intermediate care). He's made some pretty big improvements, but he's still having "episodes" where he drops his heartrate really low (brady's) and also the oxygenation in his blood drops (desats). His neo-natologist is optimistic that he'll be home by the end of the week, but likely will have to stay on monitors at home. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers, trips back and forth are becoming very tedious...it's also very hard not to have your baby at home with you.

We appreciate all the notes and emails and of course the continued prayers.

I'll try and update pictures tomorrow. It's hard to get on the computer since I spend my entire day at the hospital and don't leave until it closes and I don't have a computer there.

Videos...

http://www.dropshots.com/gregandallison#

Sorry, the diaper one is kind of gross, but Greg said put it up there anyway. And the best part of the one where Greg gets to hold him is watching Greg try to figure out how to put on a hospital gown!!

Pictures...

Here's the link: http://kneibfamily.shutterfly.com/

A few things: 1) the first pictures are "before" pictures 2) boy parts tend to get very swollen while "inside" and take a while to get to normal size "outside." Greg's initial reaction was that of a VERY proud papa...when you look at the pictures you'll understand! :-)

He's Here!!

He's here, he weighed in at 10 lbs. 10 oz! Wow! I sure am glad I didn't have to push him out! C-sections as it turns out really aren't that bad. The apprehension is far worse then the actual procedure. I'm walking around a bit now and not feeling too much like a hunchback.

This will be quick because I want to head back down to the NICU to see Bruce. Things are looking better. His breathing is getting better, we've had a few "heart" scares so he had an EKG yesterday that we're still waiting to hear back on. I've been slow to respond to phone calls and texts mostly just because I've been having a hard time and have really just wanted to spend time with Greg and Bruce. It's been very hard since I hadn't been able to even see Bruce. I did finally get to hold him this afternoon and will post pictures of all that. I'm in the process of uploading our pictures to our shutterfly account, but seeing as I'm on the hospital's slow wireless connection it will be a while before they're all up. I'll post the link once I have it all updated.

Continue to keep us both in your prayers. My blood pressure is still elevated and Bruce is still having a hard time regulating his breathing and with his weird heart accelerations it's pretty certain I'll be going home without him. That's a little more than I feel like I can handle right now so I'm just focusing on spending all my time with him while I'm here. Will update again later.

Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts, messages, etc. They really do mean a lot and I do love to get them even if I don't respond~ Allison

Bruce is coming tomorrow!

Looks like Bruce should be here by about 2:00 tomorrow! They're thinking my c-section will take place about 1:00 or 1:30 tomorrow (April 22). Happens to be taking place on my parent's 30th wedding anniversary! I got married the summer of their 25th so no big celebration that year and then I decided to overshadow their 30th with the birth of the first grandchild! What can I say, I like attention! :-)

I would appreciate everyone's prayers. I'm feeling pretty apprehensive about the whole thing. Mostly just the whole surgery part...I've had various surgeries in the past, but I would anticipate this one being just slightly different! I should never have started watching TLC, those shows have freaked me out...

To help you understand why I'm having a c-section...here goes. Went in today and "little" Bruce weighed in at 9 lbs. 14 oz. and that was even a little off because his head was too big to get an accurate measurement so she had to "fake" it a little. They're actually anticipating him to be even bigger! Can you imagine?? So between that and my sky high blood pressure (180/115) the doctor gave me the option of attempting induction or going for the c-section. Since I'm barely dilated to a 1 there were concerns on whether or not I was even ready to be induced. He was also concerned that I would start the whole labor process only to find out that his shoulders are too broad to get out or my blood pressure would get even worse and I'd have gone through labor and still end up with an emergency c-section. So while a c-section was not in my ideal plan, I'm okay with it.

I'll have Greg update tomorrow once Bruce has made his appearance.

My wonderful husband...

Just wanted to say I really have a wonderful husband! He has been so sweet with me sitting in my recliner all day! He spent yesterday working on getting things organized upstairs so that I wouldn't have to feel stressed about it. He's also been getting me everything I need, helping me out of the recliner every 10 minutes when I have to go to the bathroom and just generally being a good guy.

That all being said, I have absolutely NO idea how people do bedrest for extended periods of time! I'm going crazy and it's only been a week! It is better being here and not at the hospital, but it still stinks! I think it's worse because I don't feel sick or anything, but I have to stay in the chair all day! So wanna know why the hospital was worse? They were doing a urinalysis to determine the amount of protein in my urine to see if I had developed preeclampsia yet so every time I went to the bathroom I'd have to call the nurse and tell her so she could collect it. Do you have any idea how humiliating that is? I pick up the phone "excuse me, I just went to the bathroom again..." Yeah, that stunk. Especially because I drink about 4-5 liters of water a day (literally) which translates to lots of phone calls!

I supposedly have a doctor's appointment tomorrow...they never called me back last week despite three messages from me to tell me what time I'm supposed to come in. I went to my family practice doctor Friday because my ear was hurting really bad and with all my ear problems my whole life I was pretty sure I had an ear infection. I didn't, I have a blocked eustachian tube (exciting huh?) but that's beside the point. When I went in he told me I need to just hurry up and have this baby. His suggestion was before I go into the doctor Monday call someone who really aggravates me and then start flexing my muscles right before they take my blood pressure and I'll be having that baby Monday! That being said, you'll know where you stand if you get a call right before I go into the doctor on Monday! :-)

I'm home

I'm allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and to take a shower and that's about it. I'll write more later, I'm still groggy from the medicines and I'm really tired and don't feel much like typing. Thanks again to everyone for the calls, texts, etc. they really all mean a lot! Now we're praying I go into labor...doc won't induce, but he's "encouraging" me to go into labor. He's pretty funny, when he found out I'd been having contractions he tapped my belly and told me good work and to keep it up! I told him I'd do what I could! :-) Like I said, more to come!

Update...

Well I'm writing this from the hospital. Yesterday turned out to be another crazy day...I have a knack for attracting those! I went to work as usual and was meeting a couple friends for lunch. On the way there I passed by the clinic and figured I'd go ahead and go in and get my blood pressure checked since it had been elevated at Friday's appointment. I run in and next thing I know I'm being pushed into a "resting" room with the lights turned off being told not to move. The nurse is asking me for my doctors information and my husband's phone number and tells me to lay down.

Apparently my blood pressure had gotten really high. I didn't even realize it, I was just going in on a whim. So the nurse calls my doctor who tells her to have me come in immediately. I'm then calling Greg to have him come pick me up...and I have to tell him that he'll have a security escort to the lobby where he'll need to pick me up! It all went crazy really fast! They're wheeling me out in a wheel chair to Greg's car and he's taking me over to the doctor!

Well the doctor checks my BP again and it's even higher now (can't imagine why...I mean they haven't just completely freaked me out or anything!). So they continue freaking out, make me lay down immediately on my left side and leave to get the doctor. At some point it comes out my blood pressure was in the possible stroke/seizure range hence all the rushing around. The doctor comes in and tells me I'll be heading to the hospital (all I'm thinking is, dang it, I knew I should have packed that stupid bag!). Well I've been here now all night and my blood pressure is still high, but it's getting better. My options as I understood them are: 1) If my blood pressure remains at an unsafe level despite bedrest then I'll be having Bruce today/tomorrow (not looking like that's gonna have to happen). 2) My blood pressure goes down enough that they feel comfortable sending me home and I'll be on strict bed rest until he either comes on his own or they induce at 38 weeks.

That's all we know for now. My testing and results should be completed by 7ish and we'll hopefully know then if I get to go home or not. Please be praying I get to go home for two reasons: 1) I'm not ready today! and 2) if he's coming today, he's most likely coming via c-section and that's not my first choice for delivery.

Will update more as we know stuff, thanks to everyone for the calls, texts, emails, and visits! They're all appreciated...and if I don't get right back keep in mind they keep giving me drugs, I'm not always sure what my name is! :-)

Update to follow soon...

I'm on my way out the door to go to a shower, but just wanted to update... I'm not at the hospital, I'm not having GINORMOUS Bruce yet, I'll provide all the details later. And for those of you that called yesterday and I never called you back... we're running low on cell phone minutes for the first time ever since I keep calling so many people so I was waiting 'til today. :-) More to come!

New Prayer Request...

I interrupt my typically cynical blog to ask for your fervent prayers for good friends of ours. They found out today that they are having a boy (yay!), but that it appears he might have some problems. She goes for an amniocentesis and a more detailed U/S soon, but I can only imagine how they must be feeling! Please keep them in your prayers!

I'm done... D-U-N...

That's my Big Brother reference for the blog (all good blogs should reference BB at least once...). And, I am done. I've had enough, I'm waving my white flag, take me out of the sandbox, I'm done playing. Three days without sleep have started making me a little delirious. I know, I know, "just wait, you only think you're not sleeping now, blah, blah, blah." Yeah, I know, sleepless nights are here for a while...I'd like to hope though that there will be some sleep!

I'm to the point where there is absolutely no sleeping position that doesn't cause pain in some way. I am officially Goldilocks. Downstairs couch is too hard, upstairs couch is too soft, our bed is too uncomfortable, guest bed is really uncomfortable, other guest bed is the most uncomfortable (okay, that was a given...we bought the mattress for like $99 or something...).

I guess God makes these last few days (or weeks...boooooo) really uncomfortable otherwise we'd never actually go through with that whole labor thing. Okay, so maybe some people would (April), but she doesn't count...she likes all this stuff! That's my whiny post for the day, just needed to get that out there.

Holy Heartburn Batman! And my hotdog feet...

Man this heartburn thing stinks! Again I must ask, why do people do this more than once? It's gotten so bad now that nothing seems to make it go away. I lay down to go to bed and can hardly breath!

And the hotdog feet AKA very swollen feet. They look like they've been squished into hotdog casings and they're bursting out. I've also related them to Fred Flinstone feet...they are pretty weird looking. And since you're all wondering just what that looks like, here you go!

And just so my ugly fat feet aren't the last image you see when you close your eyes, here are some other pictures from last night when Greg and I were messing around with the camera!