Tag archive for "the pregnancy"

The Pregnancy

The New Normal

4 Comments 02 January 2009

Throughout the pregnancy, the way Casey feels on a day-to-day basis has changed quite a bit. Unfortunately for her, the change has not usually been positive. The first couple of months, she was nauseous…a lot. After that, she had major food aversions, but was hungry all the time. I’m not talking just hungry, I mean famished, like she hadn’t had sustenance in days. She was also growing very fast and had a lot of swelling and other aches and pains during this phase. And oh yeah, by the way, she had two surgeries during this phase – one planned, one unplanned. Ok, she’s going to correct me on this one – the unplanned surgery wasn’t technically surgery, but whatever, she had to be rushed to the ER, drugged up, stuck with a really long needle to drain a huge cyst on her ovary, then spent the rest of the night in the hospital…I can call that surgery if I want!

Next came the pressure down low and the acid reflux. After that, sleepless nights were the norm, along with just about everything else mentioned above except for the nausea. Back pain came along shortly after that and difficulty moving around. Shortness of breath, major baby movement, a freak sharp shooting pain up her spine, bleeding gums, stuffy nasal pressure, false labor, one more night in the hospital, and bed rest all came along in November. December has brought more of the same as well as a sore throat, just more intense than before. Now that January has arrived, the intensity has ratcheted up a bit more.

All of these symptoms have sort of come in phases which have lasted anywhere from 2-4 weeks before the next phase begins. Through it all, whenever I’ve asked her how she feels, she generally rattles off her list of current ailments which for the most part have been consistent with whatever phase she was in. So for us, the phase became “the new normal”. She’d run down a list of 5 or 6 issues that would be awful to deal with, but truthfully had become her norm and were therefore not much cause for concern. Basically, “the new normal” meant, “I’m miserable, but no more than what I’ve been and there is nothing to worry about at the moment.” Great way to go through life, huh?

Well, it seems lately that “the new normal” has only lasted a few days before a different new normal has taken its place. She has been feeling really rough since the day after Christmas and it has gotten a bit worse every 3 or 4 days since then. I think the new normal from here on out is that she is going to be beyond miserable and it’s going to take every bit of strength that she’s got to keep from losing her mind. She’s dealt with a lot up to this point, but we’re about to see just how much this girl can take. It’s tough to watch because there is so little that can be done to make her comfortable. She’s shown a toughness that I’ve never seen and hopefully she’ll never have a need for again once all this is over. She’ll need to match misery for grit every step of the way. That’s right, Casey Ann and grit go hand in hand these days!!

Pray for her as often as you will. Pray for her strength of spirit, pray for her relative comfort, pray for her patience, pray for her perseverence, pray for her health. Pray for her in anyway that you can think of, but please pray for her. We both know that God will see her through this last month in his way, but we also know how valuable everyone’s prayers have been up to this point and how valuable they’ll be as the pregnancy wages its final battle on her body. Please pray…

God bless,
Ethan
www.JonesLife.net

The Pregnancy

Happy 28 Weeks! Oops…I Mean, Happy New Year!!

4 Comments 31 December 2008

So here we are, New Year’s Eve 2008, ready to ring in the new year and wave a fond farewell to the year that saw everything in our lives change for good and change for the better! 2009 promises to bring just as much change along with 5 times the chaos, blessings, laughter, frustration, confusion, organization, reorganization, smiles, smiles, grey hairs, more smiles, and immeasurable times the love!

More important for us tonight than the New Year holiday is the fact that we have reached the most important milestone to date for this crazy journey – week 28! Achieving this milestone has dominated our focus from the beginning as it marks a point at which our chances of “intact survival” of all babies are very high (intact survival means survival with no major, lasting defects). Adding to our excitement over reaching this date is the fact that Casey is not in the hospital yet and we were able to spend Christmas at our house this year which was another one of our goals. That’s Eliot poking her head out of one of the windows in her new playhouse…Santa was very good to our little girl!

We had a crazy day today and Casey is paying the price, but she is relaxing now and looking forward to an easier day tomorrow after a good, Ambien-induced, full night’s sleep tonight. We started off our morning with an interview at our home with KXAN, the local NBC channel. They are doing a story on the new labor and delivery wing of the hospital that will be delivering the babies, Seton on 34th, and they wanted to include our story as part of the feature on Seton. After that, we met reporters from KVUE (ABC) at Dr. Berry’s office for another interview while we checked in on the babies. Finally, the KVUE team followed us back home to wrap up the interview. All of that activity really impacts Casey so she’s had a rough afternoon and won’t be moving around much for the next few days! Here is the link to the news story that ran today:

Everything went very well at Dr. Berry’s office. The babies are growing as expected with their weights ranging from 1 pound, 13 ounces to 2 pounds, 6 ounces. However, I’m a little disappointed in Jack for giving up the lead in weight gain to one of the girls. He came in a strong second, however, at 2 pounds, 3 ounces and I fully expect that he will regain the lead by the time we see him next! Actually, I have to cut him a little slack. It’s a little difficult to make out, but Jack is the middle circle in the sonogram picture attached. That’s his head being smushed by one of the girls heads on the left and one of the other girls’ belly on the right. The poor boy is just outnumbered!

Dr. Berry doesn’t want Casey in the hospital unless it is absolutely necessary for her to be there so we are continuing with the waiting game that we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks. Our next goal is to make it to 32 weeks and get the babies weights up to four pounds each. If you’re doing the math, that means doubling their weight in the next four weeks! I don’t know how it’s possible for Casey’s belly to keep growing, but it will have to do just that if the babies are going to reach their goals.
Though we can breathe a pretty big sigh of relief, let me add a little reality check before I wrap up this update. If the babies delivered today, they would be 3 months premature. Though the odds of intact survival are very good at this point, our doctors have made it very clear that they want the babies in Casey’s belly as long as is physically possible to avoid any possible complications. The babies still have a lot of growing to do and there is no better place to do that than in Casey’s belly. No matter when they are born, the babies will likely spend several weeks in the NICU to complete their development, but that time can be exponentially reduced by maintaining the pregnancy as many days as possible (1 day in the womb is equal to 3 days in the NICU).

Once again, we want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. We are continually reminded just how blessed we are to live this experience and to feel the prayers of so many. Today is a good day at the Jones house, thanks in large part to everyone out there who has loved on us through this entire process. Please continue to pray for Casey’s comfort and health and the continued growth of the Quints!

Oh, one more thing I almost forgot. Casey got a steroid shot today and I get to give her another one tomorrow. We did a round of steroids at week 24 and we’ll do another at week 32. The steroids help accelerate the babies brain, lung, and intestinal development and helps prevent brain bleeding (which is one of the causes of cerebral palsy). I’m not exactly sure how it works, but basically the drug is effective for a few weeks after the shots are given, but only if the babies are born during that time. This is also good news that we were able to get these shots done. It’s also good news that I get to give the next shot…ha, ha, ha!! ;-)

Many blessings to you all in 2009!!
God Bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

Baby and Casey Update – 26.5 Weeks

4 Comments 23 December 2008

First, a little perspective for you from a picture that was taken five minutes ago. The other glowing blonde with Casey is Payton Merriman, one of our good friends from Riverbend Church. She and her husband, Mark, are two of our everyday heroes and angels who have been helping with frequent meals and frequent play dates for Eliot with their daughter, Harper. The reason for the picture is this: Payton and Casey have the exact same due date (if we were only having one baby), March 27th. That’s right, she is 26.5 weeks pregnant just like Casey. What a difference four more babies makes!

We went to see Casey’s Ob/Gyn today, Dr. Stephanie Reich, for our regular visit to check in on the babies and Casey’s health. Dr. Reich delivered Eliot and Casey always felt very comfortable with her so we were thrilled early on when we found out she would keep working with us through the quint pregnancy. She and our perinatologist, Dr. Berry, have worked together every step of the way and both of them will be in the delivery room with Dr. Reich taking the lead.

As has been the case with every visit to date, the babies and Casey are both doing very well! The babies seem to be running out of room though – we could really tell this time just how crammed they are on top of each other. Casey has baby parts up against both kidneys, pressed down against the bottom of her cervix, just below her sternum, and all points in between. There are literally three babies stacked on top of each other from her waist to her chest and one baby on each side of this stack. Later today, Casey had her hands on her hips and could feel the babies on the sides moving at the same time…crazy!

Though she is having a real hard time moving around, breathing, eating, sleeping, and just about every other activity necessary for survival, both doctors are astounded at how well Casey is handling this pregnancy. Dr. Reich told us today that she is really surprised that she’s not in the hospital yet. Her blood pressure was very healthy when they checked it today, her cervix is still completely closed, her symptoms are stable, and she is growing as she needs to be. Her belly grew 2.5 centimeters in the last two weeks!

As the babies are starting to require more calories to complete their development, Casey was given orders to eat more calories. Normally, that’d be great news, but it’s really hard for her to eat much at one time because her stomach is being smashed down by all those babies. She is also having an aversion to sweets so I can’t even tempt her with bowls of ice cream and holiday candy!
So, for now we continue the waiting game. And though the wait is always the hardest part, we love the fact that Christmas will be at our home this year and not at the hospital. We love it that Casey and the babies are doing so well. And we love it that we are almost to week 28 and the pregnancy is almost over! We love more than anything that God has blessed us so richly with this pregnancy and that we have been able to share these blessings with so many wonderful people. It’s going to be a wild January (and hopefully early February), but we are more excited with each passing day about finally getting to see these little ones who have garnered so much attention. And when the time is finally right for this guy and these gals to meet the world, bring on the CHAOS…the good chaos that is!!
God Bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

It Comes in Waves…

6 Comments 19 December 2008

After a fairly quiet week, we had a lot of activity today which seems to be the way things go these days…really quiet for a few days, then a wave of activity before things quiet down again. So, here is a quick recap of the daily happenings in the Jones Life:

– Today, we passed another milestone – week 26!! The next two weeks are the most critical two weeks we’ve had to date…statistically, the survival rate skyrockets and the defect rate plummets during these next two weeks…say your prayers, please!

– The producer for A Baby Story called today and said that it looked like they were going to get the green light and that she was planning on flying in on Monday with a film crew to do two days of interviews and filming for “Act 1” of the story they were going to do on us. Very exciting!! However, at the end of the day, she called back and said that a last minute legal glitch has put everything on hold for about a week. She still thinks everything will work out fine, but can’t risk spending the money on flights, etc. until she knows for sure. Bummer, big time, but we think it will happen. Hopefully they’ll get it worked out and get a crew down here before Casey goes to the hospital!!

– We were surprised today by a friend of ours who has been collecting baby stuff for us through her work, the good folks at Humana! She brought tons of diapers, wipes, and other cool stuff! Not only has she been collecting from her co-workers, but she also sent out an email to one of their vendors who were hosting an office party at Humana’s headquarters, Austin Radiological Association, and asked them to donate. Apparently, someone at Austin Radiological knows Casey and rallied up three huge baskets of clothes, blankets, bibs, burp rags, etc…so awesome! Unfortunately, however we do not know who it is so if you happen to be reading this and you know who this incredible person is, please let them know how grateful we are! Thank you also, Ginger, for organizing this and bringing everything out to the house!!

– I had my paint crews start today on the nursery. They got the first coat of paint on everything and will be back on Monday to finish up.

– Another friend of ours called today to say she was headed our way with a high chair for us. That makes four high chairs…only one more to go!
– This weekend, my honey-do list includes cleaning and organizing the garage and a trip to Babies’R’Us to buy the cribs and bedding so we can start putting them together…yippy ;-)

– Eliot has had a great week topped off by two sleepovers at her friend Maddy Brown’s. Our friends, Stacy and Mike Brown have been so incredible and have taken care of Eliot several nights in the last month when I had class. They picked her up Thursday after school and will be bringing her back tomorrow morning. Lots of fun with the little girls, but I’m guessing the Brown family is worn out!!
I hope everyone had a great week and is looking forward to a relaxing weekend!!
God Bless,
Ethan

The Pregnancy

Waiting for the Call – Update on Casey, 25-1/2 Weeks

4 Comments 16 December 2008

I get asked every day several times a day how Casey is feeling and my typical answer is that “she’s hanging in there.” Lately though, I’ve had to hesitate before I can say that. It’s becoming more and more difficult for Casey to hang in there as her body just continues to grow and change so rapidly and the babies run out of room in her womb. She has been experiencing near constant Braxton-Hicks contractions and sleep is very difficult to come by these days (thank God for the Ambien she gets to take every other day!). Despite all of this, her spirit does remain strong and she continues to amaze me with her positive attitude!!
We went to see Dr. Berry today and check in on the quints and as usual, all went very well. The babies are all growing as they should be and Casey’s body is doing as well as can be expected. However, Dr. Berry put me on notice that I am officially waiting for the call, probably an anxious one from an anxious wife (and hopefully not a panicked or hysterical wife) telling me that it’s time to go to the hospital. Don’t get me wrong, delivery is not imminent, but a hospital visit is expected soon.
Let me explain. Dr. Berry fully expects that Casey will go into active labor in the next 2-1/2 weeks. We will know this because she will start having serious contractions, she may start bleeding, her water may break, or any of the other normal signs of active labor will appear. The only problem with this is that we are by no means ready for her to deliver. So, when I get the call, I’ll drop whatever it is I’m doing, I’ll head home to pick her up (assuming I’m at work), and we’ll be headed to the hospital for what will hopefully be an extended stay.
Assuming her water hasn’t broken (we really do not want that to happen), we do not expect the visit to the hospital to qualify as an emergency per se, but it will be a very tense time as we wait for the drugs that are administered to stop her labor from progressing to take effect and quiet her body back down. Because it is so critical to get the babies to at least 28 weeks, we will all be tied up in knots until things settle down and labor is stopped. Dr. Berry said that once labor has been stopped, it is typical for the body to relax for about two weeks before it tries to labor again. From that point on, Casey will reside at Seton on 34th until her body decides it will be put on hold no longer and the babies are evicted.
So, the good news is this: we expect that making it to 28 weeks will not be a problem at all. 28 weeks is the second major goal we’ve had (the first coming at 24 weeks) and it means that the babies likelihood of survival is very high and the risk of defects is very low. Week 28 arrives on New Year’s Eve!!
And here is the challenge: we really don’t want the babies born before 32 weeks and the time Casey spends in the hospital will be incredibly difficult for her. Every day that the babies stay in her womb removes three days of time they will have to spend in the NICU. However, the drugs that they will administer to prevent the progression of labor will exact a painful toll on Casey’s short term health. On top of all of that, being away from home will make it much more difficult for Eliot and me to be with Casey to love on her as she is going to need through this incredible battle.

So as I wait for the call, I also ask for you to pray for Casey and the babies and the rest of the people involved with the big event. We are excited, we are anxious, we are a little scared of what lies ahead. No matter how you slice it, this is a tough hill to climb, but we’re not alone in the fight and we are confident of the good life that awaits us when we get to the other side. Please pray for Casey’s body to remain calm and for her spirit to remain strong as we enter the final phase of the pregnancy! Please also pray that we can stay out of the hospital until after Christmas – this has also been one of our major goals!! Thank you all so much for your love and support throughout everything we’ve been through!!

God bless,
Ethan

Giving Thanks

Ready or Not, Part 2

Comments Off on Ready or Not, Part 2 13 December 2008

A few of our everyday heroes and angels came by today to organize the stuff in the gameroom. They got here around 9:30 and didn’t leave until every last onesie, burp rag, diaper, bouncy seat, and all of those clothes were put in their proper place. They organized, they folded, the labeled, and they did it all with a smile on their hearts! Thank you, guys, for all of your help – my sanity is safe thanks to you…at least for now!
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