THIS Pregnancy

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook you should have heard the news by now that I am no longer on bedrest. Woohoo! I have to say I felt almost as if the MD didn't want to let me off but I've been stable and we ran out of child care so there was really only going to be one answer by the time I left there. I am now 8 months pregnant and Ailbe is doing great. She's definitely growing and her movements are becoming more defined. I have finally felt her kick up near my ribs and her rolling movements make my whole mid-section move. Mike thinks it's a little creepy but I think he's just having Alien flashbacks.

Of course I wasn't getting off bedrest that easy. This has been a very tit for tat pregnancy and just as I was winding down my bedrest and everyone was happy that I was remaining stable they found "something" on a recent ultrasound. They found something near Ailbe's heart. The MD seems to think that it is the thymus gland and being enlarged is very common in babies. It helps prevent illness when they are born and eventually shrinks and becomes nearly impossible to find as adults. However, on the last two ultrasounds I have had, the "something", did not grow with the baby which seems a little unusual. The MD also said there is a possibility it could be a tumor on the heart or a mass in the lungs. That of course sounds very scary but when watching the ultrasound footage of Ailbe doing her practice breaths it does not look like the "something" is beating with the heart (which is good) but it moves when the lungs move. That seemed to be a good sign. However, to be cautious we have been scheduled to have an ECHO ultrasound with a Pediatric Cardiologist mid-September. He should be able to tell us for sure that the "something" is not on the heart. Once they have determined that, they will of course do many scans once she is born. My gut feeling is that it's just the thymus gland but this wouldn't be this pregnancy without a little something thrown on top.

In better news we do have a date for the C-section. For the time being I'm not going to say the date (of course we'll tell all the grandparents. Don't spill the news!). I'm hoping there will be some kind of leverage in finding out the name of Kristi and Andy's baby. More tit for tat? Of course the date is all set as long as there aren't any real cardiac issues with Ailbe, in which case, I would probably deliver at Swedish instead of Valley.

Alot happened since my last post (beside the above). My mom came to visit for a few days, I had a wonderful baby shower and it seems Rooney was starting to miss his Momma. I haven't seen any shower pictures yet but if there are some decent ones in there and I get them soon hopefully I can post something soon.

So Sweet It'll Make Your Teeth Hurt

We did it (and by we I mean Mike)! We finished painting the nursery this weekend. I'll be honest there were times I doubted that it would get done. There are always snafus that are really hard to take into account plus work and kid schedules that don't always work out the way you want them to but I kept Mike focused and we pushed through and now my mom has a place to sleep tonight. Whew! I bet she'll be glad about that. The dogs get a little possessive of their beds.









Of course there was more riding on this room being done then just a bedroom for my mom to sleep in. We also had the cleaning ladies coming Monday morning to desperately get the house clean before we had company. Of course before they could clean we had to get the furniture out of the hallway and gets the totes and totes of clothes (Rooney's old clothes up for sale) into a centralized place. Needless to say it was getting a little stressful over here. I don't think as much for Mike as myself. It's very frustrating not to be able to do anything. From time to time Mike will catch me when I don't think I'm really doing anything or not realizing I'm doing something. That happened this weekend. Although this has happened before I think I'm a bit more emotional now and it made me really sad when Mike said something about it.

When Rooney caught me crying about it later he was so sweet. The whole time he was smiling at me. I wonder if he was really happy because it wasn't him causing me to cry? Anyway, he first touched my tears as if to make sure they were real then all of sudden he jumped off our bed and started heading out the door (still smiling). This seemed a little weird so Mike and I asked where he was going. He said "I'm going to get a towel to dry Momma's tears". That sentence made me feel so happy and proud and was in one quick second proof that we raised a caring and compassionate son that really loves his Momma. Plus it was just about the sweetest thing I ever heard.

Rooney ran into his bathroom and grabbed one of the two towels he had available. There was the hand towel that we use for drying our hands after washing them and then there was the floor towel. The floor towel is used for drying the floor after Roon's bath. I had a 50/50 chance but I knew he was going to grab the floor towel...and he did. Mike said to me "Do not let him touch your face with that towel" as a warning but it was too late. After the sweetness of the gesture how could I stop him from dabbing Momma's tears? So he smashed the towel in my face a couple of times then looked at me to make sure I was all better. Of course my tears had dried the second he said he was getting the towel and we were all laughing by the time the towel first smashed me in the face.

I was definitely all better.

How Do You Spell Big Boy? R-O-O-N-E-Y

I want to stress that we are not those parents that want their 6 month old to read, or plan on hiring a tutor for Kindergarten! Mike started doing a fun thing for him and Rooney each day. He decided to teach him how to spell a word a day. This video is a list of the words that Mike taught Rooney last week (other than his name, he already knew that). Roon definitely has a huge interest in learning how to read. Sometimes he'll tell me how much he wants to know how to read and other times he is insisting to me he knows how. Of course he also will correct me if he thinks I read something wrong.

We might be giving this kid a big head.

Favre Got Nothing On This Kid

Now that Mike's hand has healed and he is slowly regaining full use we felt it was safe again for him to play football...with Rooney. Summer is winding down and although Roon has been able to enjoy alot of outside time, Mom and Dad, feel like we missed out a little. Our yard has definitely suffered, our social calendar has suffered, the blog has suffered and the dogs have suffered but Mike has been trying to eek out whatever summer fun he can over the last week or so. Last night Mike and Roon set out to play a little football in the front yard. It wasn't quite like any football I've seen but then again I'm not really much into the game. The important thing is there was alot of laughs.

In The Works

I was kind of waiting to do this post until the nursery was finished but whatever free time Mike has, this has been consuming it, so it was time to start the post. Now that I have broken the story with pictures, new posts can show dramatic updates, so really it might be better this way.











The week before last Mike took a week off of work. We thought this would be a good time to start getting the nursery together. Mike got most of the room painted the first week but we decided to do a band around the room of another color (and the trim), so Mike wanted to let the paint cure for a week before he started to paint again. It was a little tricky to do much work with Rooney here butthankfully Mike and Renae traded a day or so. However, there was still alot of work to do so Mike did alot of work at night and on the weekend where Rooney could zone out to the TV while hanging with mom. Also we were able to find little projects that Rooney could do while "helping" dad and he got to use his inner decorator and help mom with color samples.

After a day or so of watching paint dry Mike was able to take the tape down and reveal the empty band. I think he did a pretty good job keeping it even. Here's Mike showing off his should be patented tape removal system. Some of you might be wondering why we chose to go with a blue paint when we are having a little girl. All will be revealed later, but the color is really very soothing and calm. We are really happy with the results thus far.





Since I last wrote there has also been some potential bad news. I took my glucose tolerance test a week or so ago. My blood sugar levels came back slightly elevated (139 is normal, I was 144) which could be an indicator of gestational diabetes. Ugh! Really? How much more crap can be added to the top of the pile? My MD's office called me back in to take a 3 hours glucose tolerance test this Friday. For this test I had to drink more of the sugar water and then have my blood drawn every hour for three hours. In total I had 4 blood draws that day: 1 fasting when I came in then 1 every hour. I don't know the results of the test yet but I am hoping the first test was a fluke. I'm not sure if being on bedrest could be affecting the test but I have to imagine it's not helping. Other than this Ailbe and I are doing well. We're both getting bigger and I was feeling great since she went head down although I am suspecting this morning that she may have turned again. I am definitely feeling like there are little feet burrowing again.

8/17 Update: I received a call from the MD's office this morning and good news I do not have gestational diabetes. All the blood work looked really good so it looks like the first test was a fluke. Whew!

12 More To Go!

This week is a big week. I am finally 28 weeks along and that means if I went into preterm labor Ailbe would have very good chances of surviving. At 24 weeks we were told that Ailbe had a 10% and at now at 28 weeks it would be 90%. Of course I know I will go full term so those are just numbers but it's good to have those stats on our side now. We had our weekly MD appointment yesterday and Ailbe was remeasured. I was told she now weighs 2lbs 5 oz (give or take 5oz). She appears to be doing quite well. I am very happy to report that she has now gone in the head down position and that is definitely making one of us alot more comfortable.

I want to say I got bad news also but it wasn't really bad but more just not the news I wanted to hear. I am still on bedrest for the next 4 weeks at least. If things continue to be stable then at 32 weeks I'll be off. However, as the MD pointed out, all my muscle tone has probably gone by the wayside so I will probably still feel like a slug until well after the baby is born.

After 2 months I finally gave up a little pride and decided I really needed to be out of the house even if that meant Target or Costco. But to go to those places I had to ride around on an electric cart. Target went OK. Those carts are very cumbersome and I had never driven one before. There should be a little lesson before they allow you to take off. I was getting very frustrated because there were alot of spaces I couldn't get into at Target and actually got stuck in the boys clothes racks! Mike thought it was pretty funny. Costco went alot better with their huge aisles. Most of the time Mike and I could actually be side by side (he was pushing the cart while I drove a cart). So despite my embarrassment of having to drive the cart, and how unflattering sitting on one of those is on your backside, it was great to get out of the house. Oh did I mention I have a handicap placard now also?




Mike took this week off of work and he has started on the nursery. I don't think we're as far a long as we would like to be but Mike also has to watch Rooney for half of the week since Kelly is on vacation. Hopefully it will all be painted by the time my mom comes in August.

This week Rooney also started his new swimming class. He has finally graduated to the next level (he took the last class 3 times) and now this kid is fearless. I have personally been with him when he just jumped in the water without warning without floaties or anything and unfortunately Aunt Renae has taken him to our local aquatic center and Coulon Beach where he proceeded to scare the bejesus out of her. Mike recently shot some great videos of Rooney in his class. You can see how well he is progressing. Now he wants to swim all the time. I think these lessons are coming right in time for Grandma and Grandpa's annual Lake Morton visit.

It's Time To Get This Thing Written

Alright this post has taken far too long. It's been a little hard for me to write any posts lately because I just don't have that much to write about. Rooney is gone everyday and Mike is working constantly. I'm hunkered down in my bedroom most days and only hear sporadic news of what Rooney did that day. Rooney doesn't really like to talk about it, and no offense to my wonderful husband, but he is really awful with asking questions. He's mentioned something about how he didn't want to pry.

We've had a heatwave over the last week or so. The heat reminds me of growing up in LA without air conditioning. Also reminds me why I left LA. Thankfully Mike got our portable a/c unit hooked up in the bedroom so we are able to sleep well and Ailbe, Courage, Rocco and I can all hole up in here during the day. Unfortunately Roon is not so lucky. Although this kid really isn't helping himself either. He refuses to have a fan in his room. I don't know if it scares him or what but the fan has to be out of the room not just off. He also insists on sleeping with his two fleece blankets on him. For a few nights it had to be 90 in his bedroom and I would beg him to let the fan blow on him or sleep without the blankets but kids are stubborn. I did finally get a wet washcloth on his head. He seemed to like that and finally fell asleep.

Here are a few more pics of what's been going on with Roon this summer:


This pic was taken by Kelly



King of the Mountain





At the Movie Theater (Monsters Vs Aliens)




Everything is going well with Ailbe. We are still seeing the MD weekly for ultrasounds. Nothing has changed, which is good, and if things continue not to change then hopefully I will be off bedrest in 5 more weeks. I'm hoping to hear modified bedrest or partial bedrest after next week's appointment.

Mike is going to attempt to paint the nursery this week. I twisted his arm and he is finally taking some of those 200+ hours off (it didn't hurt that our main babysitter is going out of town) but of course he also has to watch Rooney so it should be interesting (if not stressful) next week. I'll post pics if we get something done.

Meanwhile I have been going through Roon's old baby clothes. I am hoping to sell a good deal of them in October at a large consignment sale, but the whole experience is sad. I'm not really ready to part with all the stuff but we need the space and soon we'll have more baby stuff to replace it. Of course if you see Ailbe in a cute little pair of carpenter jeans you can bet you've seen them before.

There Will Be Tears

Since I am still on bedrest it has been a little hard to post. Obviously not because I lack time but mostly because all the posts would consist of pictures of my feet or musings about the dogs laying next to me on the bed. Fortunately for you since I haven't been able to have a pedicure feet pictures are out of the question but since Courage and Rocco have have been my constant companions during my little break I decided to slip in one pic of them. They're such good boys to their momma. They don't tell me "They won't miss me" like another little boy of mine has. My friends keep assuring me that Rooney's just a very secure child and knows that I will always be there but maybe every once in awhile he could throw his poor bed bound mom a bone and shed one tear. I asked him this morning if he was going to miss me when he left and I think he is getting wise to me so he said "I won't cry". Hmmm.

Although many of my Facebook friends may already be bored of this news and pics here is a little bit of what is going on. There are tons of cute pictures and video out there of Rooney's antics with other people, I've seen the evidence, I just can't seem to get my hands on much of it. However, the pics of the kids are from Kelly's house and the car pictures are of our new car we got last week.








24 weeks pregnant

All About Ailbe

So now that our little scare is over it's nice to be able to reflect on some of the positive things that came out of the experience. Mike already covered a big one in his last post...we finally got some time together and a vacation. Whew! I guess he's off the hook with that for a little while. We also got to spend alot of time focusing on Ailbe and even seeing her. This kid will probably grow up to be a model with all the pictures she has taken of her.

Here are 2 that we had taken on July 1st:


The next Angelina?



In case you can't tell that is Ailbe's little nose and lips peeking through on the ultrasound. Unfortunately it was not caught on a picture but for a brief moment I actually got a great look at Ailbe's little face. For just a brief moment it was almost as if I was seeing one of those 4-D ultrasounds. She's just beautiful.

In the next photo is a profile shot of Ailbe. You can see her little nose and ducky lips sticking up from the side. I think this profile shot came through really well also. I think you can see her little ear and her eyes too.



It's kind of weird to me because when you see these ultrasounds the babies look so big and full. You get to see them moving around and start to see features but then you realize that at this point she is only a little over 1 lb and not even a foot long.

And Susan Says I Never Take Her Anywhere

Last Tuesday night, I was sitting in bed working from home. We were discussing what to do about Friday, as our usual sitter for the day may not have been able to watch the boy the full day while I was at work. Then it struck me: Saturday was July 4th, meaning Friday was July 3, ipso facto, I would be able to watch the boy. Then Susan took a closer look at the website reporting my holiday and vacation time.

"Why does it say you only have 51 hours of vacation? You never take time off!"

"That's not 51 hours of vacation. That's 51 hours of use it or lose it."

"So how much vacation do you really have?"

"171 hours."

Well, things went downhill from there. Eventually, we agreed that Susan and I deserved some alone time together. The very next day, I whisked her off to an impressive (and expensive!) top secret location in Seattle. It was the start of a 6 day, 5 night R&R time for the two of us. Susan is waited on hand and foot, and every once in a while a learned individual comes in and performs an exotic act on her.

We've been able to spend a lot of Swedish time together. Not Sweden, but Swedish.

Not this:

But this:

That's right, not nearly enough of this:


And way, way too much of this:

On Wednesday, we had another ultrasound appointment with our team of specialists. I waited in the waiting area with Rooney, while Susan got probed. When she was done, the doctor, Susan, Rooney, and I had a little chat. According to the ultrasound, Susan's cervix now measured at 7mm, and he was recommending that we go to Swedish Medical Center right away and prepare for a cerclage on Thursday. We dropped off Rooney with Vala and headed downtown. There, Susan was probed again and got another ultrasound. In preparation for surgery, Susan was not allowed to eat that night (fortunately she polished off her box of milkduds before the cut-off), and Susan and I spent our first night apart since we've been married.

On Thursday, I left Rooney with Kelly, and drove in to Swedish. I went up to Susan's room. It was so great to see her; some tears may have been shed. Of course, at precisely that moment the nurse decided to walk in. She saw Susan with a red and teary face, and looked very alarmed. "I'm her husband, and those are happy tears." Fortunately, Susan confirmed my story.

Later a doctor came in, and told us the good news: Susan could go ahead and eat, as there would be no surgery that day. Susan has presented to be an interesting case for our jolly team of experts (or is it "merry band of misfits"?): the results they have been seeing on the ultrasound have not been consistent with her prior history and what the doctors have observed when performing a physical exam. This doctor had a new theory: Susan's cervix was actually at an angle, and the ultrasound was showing her cervix as short as a result. I was very excited to hear this, as I got to flash some math knowledge (pretty sure it involves an arccos, but maybe arcsin; I'm a little out of practice). The doctor's course of treatment: Susan would stay in the hospital through Monday, and then would be subject to a digital exam.

We were very impressed with "digital exam", as we thought this would involve some type of "laser", but it turns out that all he really meant was "finger". Slightly deflating, and probably more than slightly uncomfortable.

So, Susan and I have been staying in the hospital together this 4th of July weekend on what I like to call "extreme bedrest", while Rooney has been off living it up at his Aunt Annie's, his parents a mere afterthought. We saw a couple of fireworks in West Seattle from our window, and caught some of New York's, Lake Union's and Bellevue's shows on the telly (guess which one was the most impressive). Tomorrow, we find out our fate: to cerclage or not to cerclage. Everyone around here seems to think "not", and we continue to hope for the best.

Update 10:10 am, 7/5/2009: We were dragged out of bed at 7:00 for an ultrasound (I may have had sticking up hair), but it was worth it: Susan is going to be discharged; the doctors still want her on bedrest.

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