Week Two - April 8th-14th

Day Seven

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope everyone had a nice holiday today.  We had a nice quiet Easter.

Since I couldn't go to church I decided to see if the hospital got BYU TV.  I was pleasantly surprised to find they did.  I checked the programming and found out they broadcast a sacrament meeting every Sunday.  I decided to check it out.  It is pretty dated.  I almost thought I was in high school again!  It was like memory lane seeing the 80's hairstyles and outfits.  Luckily, the message of the gospel never gets dated!  Even though the meeting was older I was glad to have some familiarity on my first Sunday in the hospital.

Today for lunch the hospital gave me a special treat.  They gave me a bunny cookie with a note that said, "We wish you and your family a happy Easter. Thank you for spending this Easter with us." That just made me smile and laugh!

Chad and the boys brought Easter dinner over to the hospital and we all had dinner together.  They were a sight to see walking into the hospital with the cooler bag and food, dressed in their Sunday best!  They left a lot of smiles in their wake! 

Chad did a good job with dinner.  He made ham, scalloped potatoes and rolls.  It was all very good.  He even brought sparkling drinks for us.  It wasn't the fanciest Easter dinner we've had, but we were all together so it was wonderful!

We had to be flexible with our seating arraignments - Devon and Austin were the only ones who got to sit at the table.  Then again, the older boys probably thought eating on the couch was pretty cool! 

Before dinner Chad and Tanner blessed and passed the sacrament for me.  I feel very blessed and honored to have two worthy priesthood holders in my family.  It was a neat teaching moment for the boys.

After dinner we watched the new Bible video "He is Risen".  It is one of the new ones put out by the church.  I really liked it. Especially the part when the resurrected Savior talks to Mary.  He looks so happy.  What joy he must of had!  Austin learned about resurrection today, so while watching the movie, he kept asking if this is the part when Jesus was going to be resurrected.  Loved it!

After that movie we switched gears and watch the Muppet movie.  It was pretty funny and it brought back a lot of memories from my childhood.  The boys loved it!

Sadly, after the movie was over the boys all left.  It was nice to have them here for several hours though.  They needed to get home so they could get to bed early - it has been a tiring week.

I enjoyed talking to Lindsay and Mom and Dad over Skype.  Sorry I didn't get to talk to everyone, but luckily I have some free time this week!

Ashlyn and I are looking forward to another low-key week! We love you all and thank you again for your love and prayers.

Day Eight

Wow, today was a busy day.  I didn't expect it to be, but it was kind of nice.  It made the day go by quicker.

It started off with my ultrasound to check the fluid levels.  I now have 5.1 cm of fluid left. I previously had eight.  The doctors say that it is on the low side, but they still don't seem too worried.  I will have another ultrasound on Thursday.  From then on I will have a biophysical profile test done.  It is done using the ultrasound.  They will check the heartbeat, muscle tone, movement, breathing and the fluid level.  Each of these sections will be given a score as high as 2.  They start doing this test around 28 weeks, to keep a better eye on the baby.  10 is the best score the baby can get, but since my fluid levels are already low, Ashlyn will probably score around and eight at the highest.  They tend to get worried if the score goes below four. The nurse told me that usually a 2 or below would call for an emergency C-section. So we are going for an 8!  They will do this test every Monday and Thursday.

After I got back from my ultrasound, I had a visitor.  It was fun to see her.  She was very thoughtful -  she brought me the handouts from church and filled me in on what I had missed. While she was here, the physical therapy department stopped by to show me some exercises I can do while I'm on bed rest. They gave me a resistance band to use while I am exercising.  The boys thought the band was cool and had to try it out. 

Then a little while later I had two more visitors! Near the end of their visit, two ladies from NICU came by to tell me about the mobile library unit they have.  I was able to check out a book on preemies. I am grateful to have the book.  There is so much I don't know about preemies.  The book is rather large, but I hope to have plenty of time to read it!

It was nice to have so many visitors this morning.  By the time everyone left it was 1 o'clock.

I was also able to take a little nap this afternoon.  That doesn't happen very often.  Then I was able to Skype with Layne for little while.  After dinner I was able to see Chad and the boys.  They were only able to stay for a little while, but I enjoyed every second of it!  They brought me a care package from Misty.  She sent me some fun things, one of which is a learn how to crochet kit.  She said a lot of people she comes in contact with at the hospital knit or crochet to pass the time.  I will have to give it a try - Ashlyn may want to learn one day and it would be nice to be able to teach her!

At the end of each day my nurse comes in to monitor Ashlyn.  She's usually pretty active at night so it's kind of hard to get her on the monitor. Tonight was no exception.  The nurse even had to hold the monitor in place for while. But Ashlyn's heartbeat is still very strong.  In fact tonight she sounded like a galloping horse!

I am thankful once again for another low-key day.  We continue to pray that there will be many more.  We love you all and thank you again for your prayers.

Day Nine

Hello everyone! Another day down.  Today was another nice day. I lost a little more fluid than I would've liked to today.  It is making me wonder if she will come earlier than we want her to.  I'm trying to prepare myself for that, but I'm taking it one day at a time.  I still feel good about how things are going.

Chad and I talked to my doctor this morning.  Chad asked him what he thought the time frame might be.  My doctor said he thought probably another week.  It could be longer or shorter, it's really just a guesstiment.  It will be interesting to see what the test results are on Thursday.

Today I was blessed to have several visitors. Some during the day and some this evening.  I've got a lot of good people around me! They continue to bring me things to cheer me and my room up.  One friend brought a dozen red roses and another brought a Easter basket full of goodies.  I hope I don't gain a ton of weight sitting around here, but I must say the treats are nice to have around!  It's a good thing the boys love the candy just as much as I do!

I was also able to have a nice conversation with my nurse.  She saw me reading the scriptures and asked which book I was reading from.  When she found out it was the Book of Mormon, she said," I have a Book of Mormon." She said she knew a little about the Mormon church. I told her if she had any  questions I'd be here and she could ask me.  After lunch she came in and did ask me some questions.  It was a really good conversation. I was surprised at how long she stayed in my room and talked to me.  She was really nice. I don't think she'll run out and get baptized or anything, but I think she understands a little more about what we believe.  It's kind of interesting that I had that experience, because my friend told me she thought I was here partially to touch the staff.  I told Chad yesterday I didn't know that that was the case, but then I had this experience today. I'm just glad I was able to have the experience.

Yesterday a friend of mine brought over little activities for the boys to do while they are here at the hospital - so thoughtful!  Tonight when they came over they got to actually play with the stuff.  It was nice for them to have something to do.  I'm sure they get a little bored while they're here.  I got to read with Devon for a little while.  I think everyone is getting used to this new schedule.

That is all for tonight.  Thank you again for your love, support and all of your prayers.

Day Ten

Wow, 10 days, it doesn't feel like it's been that long.  Today was another quiet day. Probably quieter than most have been.

Ashlyn is doing well. Today she exercised a lot. It seemed like she was kicking more, but maybe that was because I had less going on.  I had more time to notice.

Chad was able to come this morning, at lunch and after dinner with the boys.  I enjoyed having him here so much.  At lunch we watched a video on the NICU. We thought it was good, so Chad decided to show it to the boys tonight. He played it in the car while they were traveling from place to place.  He said the boys seemed to really be interested in it. We are trying to prepare them for the fact that they won't be able to see the baby for a while after she's born. We did find out, though, that the NICU has a WebCam for each baby. So after she's born you will all be able to see her over the Internet in the NICU! We thought that was pretty cool feature.

I thought today might be my first day without any visitors (besides family, of course), but I was pleasantly surprised to get two visitors this evening. One was my friend who has come almost everyday to see me.  The other one was my friend who works with me in Young Women.  She brought me a little care package from the Beehives. It was cute, they all made me nice cards and included a couple of gifts. Such sweet girls!  My friend also gave me a nice foot massage! I am getting so spoiled!

I feel very loved and blessed. Tomorrow is the biophysical profile test. I pray that it comes out well. I'll let you know the results when I find out.

Thank you for your love and prayers.  We love you too!

Day 11

Today was a very good day. I had to wait a while to take the ultrasound test this morning.  I didn't go until almost lunchtime. The test went very well. Ashlyn scored 10 out of 10!!  I was very excited to hear that and to find out that my fluid levels had gone up instead of down. My fluid level today was 6.1.  If you recall on Monday it was 5.1. I was surprised and amazed to find out that my levels had risen. Needless to say I've been in a good mood all day!

Chad came to lunch and I was able to share the news with him. We are both very happy with results. So hopefully Ashlyn will stay put for little while.

After lunch I got to talk to a couple of different people on Skype and I had several visitors. It was a nice afternoon.

This evening I was made aware of a nice benefit of being a resident of the Anti-Pardom wing - massages.  Every Tuesday and Thursday a massage therapist comes through the wing and give a 15 minute massage to whoever would like them (who wouldn't??)  I definitely took advantage of the opportunity.  Not only was it relaxing, but it was nice to visit with the lady who does the massages.  She does this on the side.  Her day job is an elementary school teacher.  It was fun to talk with her about the kids at her school.  She was great!

Chad and the boys came over after baseball practice. It was fun to have them here for little while. They're really good kids.

We love all of you and thank you again for all of your prayers.  I think you can see from today that they're working!

Day 12

Today was another good low-key day!  Not much went on today. My only visitors were Chad the boys.  Chad brought the boys over after dinner and we watched Princess Diaries together in honor of Ashlyn!

Tonight my nurse told me that Ashlyn is an over achiever. When the baby is on the monitor, the nurses look for accelerations in her heartbeat.  Accelerations happen when she moves. When the baby moves her heart rate goes up. Ashlyn is an over achiever because after she accelerates she slowly goes back down. The nurse said they usually start to see this in 32 week old babies. Way to go Ashlyn!

We hope everyone is going well. We love you and miss you. Thank you for all your emails, phone calls, thoughts and prayers.  They really mean a lot to us!

Day 13

Well it was another quiet day here today!  I got to start the day off by Skyping with Chad and my boys.  They had a busy morning this morning. Kaden, Trevor and Devon all had games. Kaden and Trevor both had soccer games and Devon had a baseball game and, of course, they all overlapped. I haven't felt too bad about being in the hospital, but this morning I was a little sad I couldn't be at the boys games.  I will probably miss the whole season. 

(Chad was great - he took pictures of the games so I could see how the boys did!)

I am been blessed though, because right about the time their games started my friend came to see me.  We had a nice visit and she stayed until the boys games were almost over.  Just another tender mercy that we are being blessed with!

Tonight Chad and the boys brought over pizza and a movie.  We have always had pizza night tradition and my being in the hospital didn't stop that!  I love being able to keep up some of our traditions even though I am here.  For the movie Chad brought his iPad and we hooked it up to the TV.  It worked great.  The boys think it's pretty cool to come watch a movie at the hospital.  I hope they don't get tired of coming because I love having them here!

Ashlyn continues to do well. Today she was moving around a lot. That is a comforting feeling because it lets me know she is still doing well in there.

Tomorrow I will be 29 weeks. Thank you all for your continued prayers. They are truly helping us in many ways!  We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Sabbath day.