First, the good news

The good news is, Britt and I, as well as the rest of our family, are so incredibly blessed, and we know we owe our Lord all the glory for that!  Over the weekend, we were loved on and showered by some amazing friends.  Finn has a whole new host of new things he needs, things we wanted him to have, and things others wanted him to have – all given with love!  One guest even blessed and surprised Emma, Lara and Jake by bringing some fun trinkets for them as well!  I want to thank the AMAZING ladies of LTC, along with my dear, “old” friends Rachael and Tara for making it a super awesome party, and for everyone who came and made our day special!  (The opening picture is of the cake, the diaper cake, and the painting we were presented with!)  Looks like I will have some thank you notes to write over the next few days…

And the GREAT news is, Finn is doing SO WELL! He now weighs 3 pounds 2 ounces, and he is just over 16 inches long.  (I guess this is an “up” on the roller coaster ride…)  When I walked into my son's room mid-morning today, all the pumps were turned OFF! No IV's (fluids, meds or otherwise) and the PICC line is gone from his arm! Hallelujah!  He looks so FREE!  Like he could just TAKE OFF!  I took advantage of the freedom he must be feeling to partake in some Kangaroo care this afternoon, too.  I held him for almost 3 hours, and he tolerated it SO WELL!  So much better than he ever has.  Plus, during the 3 “hands on” times I was there for, he didn’t ”de-sat” (decreases in his oxygen saturation levels) the way he normally does!  Early this afternoon (while I was holding, in fact) the rate on his respirator was turned down to 31 (from 33 – it was in the 40’s last week), and the oxygen percentage was turned down to 58% (down 65% earlier today, and down from 70% just a few days ago).  SO EXCITING!  They had been weaning him off the phentanyl (opiate sedative) very very slowly, and they introduced oral morphine yesterday to take its place.  He tolerated that well, so that was the last IV medication he was on, so they discontinued that last night, and pulled the PICC line this morning!  He has not had morphine since 5:00pm yesterday, and he is actually doing better OFF the sedation meds!  (Maybe that was holding him back all along?  He was just too comfortable to work hard?  Just a thought… We’ll never know…)   Here’s to a few more days of an up-swing and more weaning from the respirator!  Here is a picture of him sucking his thumb (his new favorite pastime) while I held him this afternoon:

Some more great news?  The Oklahoma Blood Institute is hosting a blood drive at OSU this week!  It is the Bedlam Blood Drive and it is a little friendly competition between Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma to see who can collect the most donated blood.  We are encouraging everyone we know to donate, and you can donate for Finn!! If you are on campus, you can donate between the hours of 10-5 today thru Friday. Kerr Drummond North Dining Room or the OBI bloodmobiles parked on Athletic Street. Get a free t-shirt, get entered into the drawing for Bedlam tickets and tell them you are donating for Finn Weaver!  Finn and Mom even got a little SHOUT OUT in the Daily O’Collegian today.  (Click the link to read it!)  Rumor has it, there will be a full length feature story on Finn Weaver coming up later this week!

And, for some super fun news?  My Oklahoma State University COWBOY Football team is 10 – 0, and is ranked #2 in the nation!  We won our game this past weekend by a margin of 60 points, which led to a 40% discount on all clothing in the Student Store today!  I made the obligatory trip to the Student Union this morning – arrived at 8:02, shopped till about 8:20, finally paid and left about 9:15!!!  WHEW! Britt said he walked over about 4:00pm, and the lines were UNBELIEVABLE, so he left!  It’s a GREAT time to be a COWBOY!  GO POKES!

 

Double Digits

Well, lookie there!  My ticker is down to 99 days!  Double Digits!  I remember reaching this milestone in my pregnancy with Jake and being really excited!  While I am excited, it comes with a whole different meaning this time.  I have been in this hospital room 2 weeks today.  I will be 26 weeks pregnant tomorrow.  One week left in the 2nd trimester.  My birthday is next week.  All kinds of markers being reached in the next few days!  But, the only marker I want to recognize is that I am STILL pregnant!  Every day counts at this point!

I had some pretty serious bleeding overnight Tuesday night, which left me crampy, frustrated, and lethargic yesterday.  I got a surprise visit from my AMAZING husband in the middle of the day which helped my mood immensely, and we actually napped together for a bit while he was here, so that made me feel better not only for myself, but for his physical well being as well.  I know this whole ordeal has to be taking its toll on him, too.

I know he is physically tired - we were often tired from the wear and tear of 3 kids, 2 full time jobs, and a household to run when I was home.  I can only imagine what that’s like for him now.  We are blessed with the help of my wonderful parents, but coordinating everything can be just as tiring as actually carrying out the tasks.  I know he is mentally worn out as well.  He is sad and he misses us.  Two of the most important people in his life are far away, and there is nothing he can do to hold us or protect us.  That has to be heartbreaking (I know it is for me, too).  And then when he is able to come, it’s over 2 hours in the car round trip.  When you are already physically and mentally exhausted, that can be torturous.  I just want to take a moment to honor him here, publicly, and say THANK YOU to everyone who is trying (and succeeding) at lightening his load, but to also remind you to keep praying for him. And a surprise drink from Sonic might just make his day! Britt Weaver, I love you, and I think you are doing an AMAZING job with the lot you’ve been given the past 2 weeks, and I know you are strong and can do this!  Thank you for taking on this challenge so gracefully.  I pray for you constantly!

I also want to say thank you to everyone who has visited, send cards, brought gifts, and generally made this all a bit more bearable.  The guest book is getting full - and I’ve accidentally let a few people go without signing it!  I am overwhelmed with your generosity and your thoughtfulness.  This room is definitely a lot more homey today than the day I got here when there was no guest furniture, just a hospital bed and a bunch of equipment!  Also want to say thank you, again, to the folks from my LTC lifegroup who went the extra mile to set up the Weaver Support Fund.  This gesture was totally unexpected, and we are truly grateful for the blessing it will be in months to come.

PS - I woke up exhausted this morning.  I dreamed - more than once - that I was not pregnant with one son, but with triplet girls!  I guess it could ALWAYS be worse!

Emotional Weekend

Today is Monday, and I am 25 weeks 3 days pregnant, and my baby is the size of an eggplant.  The past couple of days have been an emotional roller coaster!  Health wise, Baby Finn and I are both great.  My bleeding has been minimal to nonexistent, and of course “Dance Party” has been moving and grooving like crazy.  Even gets the hiccups pretty regularly.  But, name an emotion, and I have had it over the last few days.  Fear?  You bet!  Exhaustion?  Comes with sleepless nights.  Disappointment?  Beyond measure.  Joy?  Have you met my son, he came to see me.  Pride? I have 2 of the most well behaved red-heads you have ever met.  I could go on and on…

I have been continually blessed with visitors.  My parents came by themselves on Friday night, then my husband and 3 kids on Saturday.  Emma and Lara were only here a couple of hours before a friend whisked them away to an event filled sleepover with a good friend who used to live in Stillwater but is now here in the city.  She texted me pictures throughout their day/night, and a good time was definitely had by all!  Britt and Jake stayed here with me, and we watched our beloved OSU Cowboys beat Texas A&M.  It was so fun – and since Jake slept through most of the game, Britt and I enjoys some quiet time, too!  (Not took long after the game started, Jake asked for a blanket, curled up on the couch with his Bobby, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and was OUT for almost 3 hours!)  Sunday, my parents came again to see me, and to pick up the Twisters after their fun adventure.  They all hung out with me for a couple of hours – the girls painted their fingernails while they were here – then it was quiet for a little while.  Sunday evening, 2 families from my AMAZING LifeGroup came by, too.  It just makes the time go faster and also allows us all to build our relationships and stay connected.  I am so thankful for their kindness and diligence to help me through this crazy time in my life.

But, it was not all candy and roses this weekend.  We had a little “domestic disturbance” on the hall that left me scared, mad, helpless, and frustrated.  It actually happened the first time Thursday night.  Twice a day, they hook me up to the monitor for an hour to gauge Finn’s heart tones and my contractions.  It’s a long hour every time as I have to lay flat on my back and lie very still since he is such a wiggler and tends to get away from the monitor at least once or twice a session.  So, imagine my frustration Thursday night when my hour was up and my nurse was NOT coming back!  30 extra minutes, and a nursing student comes in, simply to turn off the machine and take the belts off me.  While that was a physical relief, I had heard the ruckus in the hall, and it had “tied up” my nurse, so I was curious, naturally!  So, she did come in several minutes later to administer meds, and she kinda of joked about the “domestic” we were having.  7 OKC police men were on the hall.  So, to small town Betsey, that was a lot, and kind of raised my awareness.  Fast Forward to Saturday night, late.  Britt and Jake were in Stillwater at the airport welcoming the OSU Cowboy football team and staff back to Stillwater when I started texting him.  The lady next door was just HYSTERICAL!  She was screaming and yelling (cussing) and throwing things (that were breaking), there was a man’s voice dishing it out just as bad as she was.  Mind you, I was hooked up to the baby monitor, basically TRAPPED to my bed, and it sounded like they were in this room with me (thin walls).  It escalated A LOT before I heard security get involved.  Plus, I was texting Britt and my friend who had my girls like crazy.  She offered to come up here, but they wouldn’t have let her in since they were dealing with this out in the hall.  Again, I am well past my hour mark on monitoring, I am now scared, helpless and MAD!   Felt so helpless!  Strapped to my bed, can’t get up, weak from being on bed rest for weeks, no lock on my door, don’t feel safe, nurses can’t get to me… SCARED!  They finally intervened and got the situation under control.  But after about an hour, it started up AGAIN!  How did he get back up on the floor?  WHO let him in???  Long story short, Britt ended up on the phone with the charge nurse for the shift at about 11:30 who came down and blew some hot air and told me they were trying to get the guy off the floor and banned from coming back (not sure of the relationship, but come to find out this lady is a bit coo coo for cocoa puffs and hates her husband/baby daddy).  She told me this patient was “not a threat to the floor,” and that “she’s just angry” which I told her was fine and good, but she was definitely a disturbance.  She asked if I wanted to move rooms to down the hall.  Um, NO!  I am settled in here, I have decorated, all my STUFF is here, I’m not moving.  To which she said, “We can bring a cart and we will help you.”  I declined again, and suggested the Crazy next door be moved.  She didn’t answer that and left thinking she had pacified me, when all she had done was stirred my pot and left me with a restless, sleepless night.

The next morning, one of my doctors came in, and we re-hashed the night’s events as well – I was making sure she too knew I was not pleased with the situation.  She patronized me and said it’s hard to witness something like that when you’re not used to living in a big city where things like that tend to happen.  UGH!  Then, she offered me anti-depressants.  REALLY?!?!  How ‘bout you just make sure I am safe, and start the psycho next door on some anti-psychotics!  I am FINE – just need to feel safe and well cared for and that I am getting my money’s worth – which I did not feel that night.

Anyway – I am better now.  And NO – I am not on any anti-depressants.  I will not dwell on that awful 12 hours, and I slept much better the next night.  My IV relocation went very well yesterday, and 2 of my doctors have now mentioned if my bleeding stays away for a week we may consider sending me home.  I am not pinning any hopes on that.  I’m not sure that is a good idea, since I would be back home on bed rest, and I would be home in my house alone all day, and that’s a scary prospect if something were to go wrong.  I feel safer (most of the time) here with nurses and doctors and medical care.  But, we’re not even to that conversation yet, so I’m not even giving it much thought.  Just thought it was interesting that 2 of the 3 doctors have now mentioned it.

I am looking forward to a lunch guest today and a solo visit from my husband tonight.  I watched some good football games and new fall TV series on the tube this week, and know I will continue to do that this week as well.  I am also proud that I got my wedding rings off for the first time in MONTHS so I sent them back to Stillwater with Britt for a good cleaning and to be re-plated, as they were SO dirty.  Not sure if I will put them back on or not…

Also, notice the new link at the top of the page.  Members of my LifeGroup have started a bank account for us to help with medical bills.  I would like to publicly thank Gabi Martin, Daniel Thrasher, John Crawford and the rest of LTC for making this happen for us.  We have no idea what the financial ramifications of this ordeal will be, but it will be stressful for our family, and we are grateful for the offer to help.

Better, but still not great!

YAY! Made it to Friday! It has been a CrAzY week, where I have felt marginally better, but have not been great. The highlights are 4th of July (day off work, and blowing things up), registering for baby items (and the barrage of Transformers movies and shows my son is now obsessed with), getting all of my chicks back in my nest (the girls were gone for 2 whole weeks!), going to court (where we got to kibitz about lawyer fashion) and for Britt, finding out that the Peach Shake is back at Chick-fil-a! I have been looking forward to this day (Friday) as it is OFFICIALLY the start of my second trimester. I just got an email that said THIS:

Welcome to the second trimester! This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him -- a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches -- about the size of a lemon -- and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

Monday was the 4th of July, and no one had to work, so we loaded up the van, and took to the City. My folks went with us – Babies R Us is quite a draw when you haven’t bought baby items in almost 5 years! We started off there, and made a short registry of the basics – Britt was hoping that would help me get more excited about the pregnancy. It helped! I came home with a tiny diaper – it’s SO CUTE! – and some ideas, so that’s fun. After BRU, we went to lunch at Jason’s Deli – a family favorite with lots of healthy choices. And of course, free ice cream at the end for the kids! And Dads! Britt and my Dad were both loading up on the ice cream! ;) After that, we headed to Bricktown for a quick stop at Pinkitzel – we can’t be that close and not stop in! Got some treats to bring home for later! Then, it was off to our FAVORITE shopping destination – TARGET! We started a baby registry there, too. Added a few of the same things that were on our BRU list, but got some others as well. This is where Jake decided he wanted the transformers movie, but he is a bit disappointed with it, and likes watching Transformers: PRIME on the Hub channel much better. My DVR will never be the same… *sigh*

Got the girls back on Tuesday night, and Jake was in HOG HEAVEN! I thought I had never heard him talk so much as when they were gone, but he ramped it up into OVERDRIVE when he had them back – he had to tell them EVERYTHING from the past 14 days since he had seen them! It is so nice to have them back in the house – even if it is louder and messier! Wednesday night we hung out with our “LTC” LifeGroup friends at the Perkins splash pad, which was fun and refreshing even if it was like 102 outside and the splash pad water turned off an hour before it was supposed to! We all needed to get home to bed, anyway, right?
But, the most EXCITING part of Wednesday was THIS:

 

That’s right! It was late afternoon, and I was at my desk at work, and I stretched my arms up over my head and leaned back in my chair, and I felt my whole uterus do a flip flop! WOW! I know it was the baby, and it made my WEEK! I was so excited to tell Britt, and the kids thought it was pretty cool, too! (My mom was torqued because she found out on facebook – I forgot to text or call her… OOPS!) I guess it also led to my first craving, as this was my tweet soon after we got the kids all to bed:

We also had the distinct pleasure of sitting in a court room for 3 hours yesterday afternoon. We finally got the settlement entered from when Lara got hit by a car in the crosswalk in front of her school in February of 2009. I am so glad that is OVER! We still have a few small steps to take care of, but they all fall on me (the victim, of course – why do other people’s negligence always cause the victim work and stress?), and I have some time to carry them out, but it will be COMPLETELY over soon!

So, this weekend I hope to get some rest in between sorority meetings, church, and kids’ commitments. Will probably have to visit Chick-fil-a for that a fore mentioned shake for Britt, and I need to clean my house a bit, too, since this energy drain in my belly is not really allowing that to happen these days! Here’s to the dog days of summer - and the SECOND TRIMESTER!