Bedrest Is For The Tired

Bedrest is hard.

It is not necessarily hard for all the reasons you would suspect, although boredom and isolation are a little tough, but it is hard because it is a struggle for those around you and you cannot do anything to help. Thankfully we were able to get help in within the last week or so. Twice a week we have someone come in and walk the dogs and do a little light housework for two hours. Once a month we will have a housekeeping crew come in and do all the deep cleaning. We really thought, and has to an extent, taken a load off of Mike except that after our last ultrasound on Wednesday it appears I have shortened again. We are continuing the same treatment but now I have to be even more careful about getting up and down and walking around. This also means the little things that I could do to help Mike, like sitting in while Rooney bathes, I cannot do anymore. At least Mike won't let me.

I'm sure they told us before but I don't think it really sunk in for either of us that just getting up and down, the act of engaging my abdominals, could start these little contractions which are shortening my cervix. I did alot of getting up and down last week. So this week, so far, I have tried to remain in one place for as long as possible. Mike's Aunt Eileen came to visit me yesterday which was great and on Thursday I was babysat by Kelly again. That was great for two reasons: 1. I got some adult conversation and 2. I got to hang out with Roon all day.

Really, when we talk about how hard the bedrest is not being with Rooney all day and doing fun stuff together is probably the most difficult. When he asks me to play Hide N Seek I have to tell him I can't. He wants to wrestle on my bed and I'm constantly having to tell him be careful, not on Momma's tummy, no feet in Momma's face, etc. With Mike's hand being broken I think Roon is really missing that bonding time of wrestling too. When we were at Kelly's on Thursday Charlie wanted to wrestle with Rooney. Rooney kept saying "No" and finally after Charlie kept asking and I was asking why he didn't want to he said "I can't wrestle with my Daddy then I can't wrestle with Charlie". Sometimes kids are so heartbreaking.

However, with Mom being out of the spotlight Mike gets to spend alot more time by himself with Rooney. He does pretty well trying to keep him busy on the weekends. Today they are at Lowes for one of their Build and Grow crafts. Mike takes him to watch his friends play football on Sundays (and have some of them wrestle with Roon) and there has been alot of cookie baking going on. Yum those cookies are scrumptious but probably not the best thing for someone who burns the most calories per day getting up to use the bathroom. Mike has also taken over taking Rooney to swimming lessons. Since I cannot be there (and because Grandma Peggie asked) Mike took video of their last session. Also got some better photos of Rooney in his beloved goggles. You may recognize Rooney's future wife (according to her and Roon) Kaibre in the video. They are in the same class together. You probably won't notice but there is a huge improvement in Rooney's kicking skills.

Updates!

After we received a couple phone calls I realized I should really update our blog with the news from our last ultrasound. We got great news. I am still on bedrest but otherwise it was the best possible news we could have received. It appears my cervix is back at 2cm which means the med/bedrest therapy appears to be working. This also means that unless something drastically changes we have avoided surgery and a amniocentesis which I am relieved about. With alot of help from all of our great friends and family we have been able to find care for Rooney 5 days a week. Mike has been able to adjust his schedule to be home a little bit more and we are getting some help in to clean and do some light housework since Mike's hand is still in a splint. Hopefully we can start spending a little time together again before 10pm! I cannot emphasis enough how wonderful everyone has been and how lucky we really feel.

Ailbe is doing great. She's starting to kick up a storm and two nights ago Mike was finally able to feel her kick for the first time. Now with Rooney and I being apart most days I am really starting to miss the little guy. Thankfully the MD also confirmed that I can go outside the house, I just have to be sitting around wherever else I go also. Yesterday I spent the day being babysat by my friend Kelly (Charlie's mom). She is also graciously watching Rooney for us 3 days a week so it was nice to be able to tag along for a day and be with my baby again. Rooney always has a great time at Charlie's and we even received a visit from Aunt Renae and Felix! Could Rooney's day have got any better?

Although Roon is my sweet baby angel I have been painfully aware of his rapid growth for quite some time but every once in awhile you see them doing something and they've aged yet another 10 years. The other evening Roon and I were laying on my bed (I'm sure I was trying to get some snuggle time in) but he was tired and moody so we let him watch his Leap Frog Word Factory on his Zune. I'm not sure if it was the sullen kind of mood or that Rooney was able to so easily tune me out but I really got this image of him as a teenager as he was watching this. It's a little scary now but I cannot imagine how large he is going to seem once Ailbe is born.

Thank god he's potty trained!

Get Down

Here are a few video clips of Rooney showing off his best dance moves at the Farmer's Market.

I've always said the boy has skills.











Roon is also back in swimming classes. He finished up one class last week and got to graduate by going down a huge water slide. He loved it. I also promised I would get him swim goggles for his next class. He wore these for the rest of the day.

A Cer-what?

It's funny but I had started a blog post about a little scare we had regarding my having a short cervix. At the time I was writing the post I wasn't really sure if I should write about it because we did not think it was going to be a problem but did think that I should note the turbulence because I want to include what is going on with Ailbe in the blog. I stopped writing the post because I thought I should look for a new angle. I have one now but it is really not one we were looking for.

On Friday I went to the MD (our specialists) for a follow up ultrasound to measure my cervix. The last 2 or 3 ultrasounds there was some concern about its length but it was not changing so the MD did not seem too concerned but concerned enough to do a double check. When I went in on Friday they discovered a change. My cervix which was previously measuring at 2cm for several weeks was now measuring at 1cm (anything above 3cm is good and normal).

Mike and I had briefly wrestled with the fear of bedrest at our last appointment but we were put at ease by the MD and no restrictions were placed on me. We were very casual about going to this appointment and expected to be in and out with a planned grocery shopping trip for afterward. Instead, at this visit, we had to make some huge decisions in a very short amount of time. Number 1 I was going to be on bedrest from there on out. It sounds like it will be for the remainder of the pregnancy. What are we going to do with Rooney? Number 2 there were 3 treatment options we had to quickly go through and decide on 1. We could use medication and bedrest and hope that I did not go into labor until at least week 24 if not further. The MD said they have seen some success with this method and the least amount of complications or endangerment to the baby. The second treatment option was a cerclage and bedrest. The cerclage at this point in the pregnancy did have some possible complications such as infection and breaking of the amniotic sac. The MD also said that its effectiveness was about 50% but was the most aggressive approach. Finally the third treatment option was to do the medication therapy and come back for an early ultrasound to see how it is working (and give us time to think) and then possibly have the cerclage. The MD felt since we did go through IVF to have Ailbe that we would probably want to be pretty aggressive and I think Mike and I feel the same way but we chose Option 3. We felt it was still an aggressive approach but this gave us a little time to make sure we were comfortable with our decision, get Rooney's care situated and give the 1st treatment option a little hope of being effective enough.

The whole situation is really just kind of sinking in with me. I have a good feeling that Ailbe will be fine and I was pretty focused on trying to get Rooney taken care of. Since I am on bedrest I cannot chase after him (or the dogs). I cannot cook or clean and have to be pretty limited with my trips around the house. This would really be hard enough for 1 parent to handle all the responsibility of taking care of a 3 year old, the other spouse and try to do all the chores with 2 good hands. Unfortunately, Mike still has 1 hand broken and has been doing most everything the last couple of days. He's really been amazing. I'm hoping we can get a housekeeper in here at least once a month now because let's be honest that bathroom was in desperate need of being cleaned before we ever got this news.

Now that we have pretty much arranged a schedule with our friends and family for Rooney the enormity of what could happen is starting to become more clear to me. We could lose Ailbe and not because she is sick or because I am sick but merely because I might not be able to hold her in. That is so frightening. But like I said before I have a gut feeling she will be fine and we will deliver close to term but it is very likely she will be premature even if it is by a couple of weeks.

So now what do we do? We just wait. I will most likely have the cerclage so there will be a few days of hospitalization and hiccups in Rooney's care but if I have to be on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy than I really do hope that it is for another 4-1/2 to 5 months.

All this has me wondering once Ailbe is born who will be the real miracle child? Rooney for being conceived despite ridiculous odds, having a pretty uneventful pregnancy and being carried over term with the possibility of my having a short cervix even with him? Or Ailbe who took a team of specialists to conceive and now a team of specialists to keep her in? Or could it be that Mike and I are really just two of the luckiest people to beat odds and end up with two beautiful children?

This Time They Went Too Far

Sometimes you need a house to fall on you to have a realization. Last week we had that house fall on us. Rooney and Mike were wrestling and someone got hurt. We knew it was going to happen but they thought they were being careful. Guess we know now that things were going too far...







Mike broke his left hand. Last Sunday he received 3 spiral fractures in his middle and ring fingers. Monday we went and saw a hand specialist (the MD said the hand could be saved) and then Tuesday Mike has surgery to straighten his fingers and have them set with pins. Here's a few pics from the journey...




Rooney helping Mike fill out the medical forms









The unveiling
















Yikes! Are those fingers or sausages?




Rooney showing of his war wounds (left elbow/right knee)












Rooney feeling a little awkward after Mike gets confirmation of necessary surgery









Ashamed for hurting Daddy Roon goes into hiding









Daddy forgave me







Surgery Day. Mike looking pathetic. He learned this look from Courage.

The surgery went great. The MD said Mike did not need any actual cutting. There was just a lot of twisting and resetting of bones. The pins were inserted through the skin to keep the fractures stable. He has about 6 weeks or so of being casted and/or splinted. Then of course he'll have weeks/months of physical therapy. Mike has really been handling this like a trooper. He refuses to let me take care of him and does almost everything he did prior to the break (except wrestling of course).





I thought this story sounded alot more fun than the real story of how Mike hurt himself. In my story Rooney sounds tough but in the real story the tough guy sounds like a pair of shorts Mike got his hand tangled up in while trying to grab a flag during football. The real tough guy of course is Mike because a. he did not cry b. he thought his fingers were just jammed and was about to "unjam" them himself c. he felt no pain until after surgery and now he just finds the cast annoying