A New Day

This is Brittany by the way. Yesterday was a pretty hard day for me so I left all the posting to Beau. Today however I have a new outlook. I was doing fine yesterday until the NICU doctor came in. She didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know from our experience with my neice Kathryn but having someone say it to me about my child really hit home. From there I got really upset and wanted to find out what the possibilities of transfer to a Birmingham hospital would be. After an ultrasound and a talk with the Chief OB here I was told that wasn't going to happen. That brought on a brief cry...I was devastated but at least that was pretty short lived. One of the hardest parts of this for me is not being able to be with Reed. I can't talk about that too much without crying still. That is so hard. The super good news and probably the reason for my new outlook is that my parents will be bringing Reed up for a visit very soon. I know that I'll have to be careful with him and will be in bed and can't play with him the way I'd want but I cannot wait to at least see that sweet face.

Moving on...Gaines is still where he needs to for now. I decided last night that he his staying where he is until 28 weeks. I don't know that the doctors really believe that will happen as they are very cautious to call that the best case scenario. I think they believe it will be 7-10 days until delivery...well 6-9 now. One of my doctors yesterday really kind of hit home when she said, this is going to happen...he's going to be here very early. Anyway, the prayer is that we make it to 28 weeks. My doctor from home called last night and he thought that would be huge if I make it that far...huge for the baby. Basically the reason they think it will be sooner is that they expect an infection to set in around the 7-10 day mark. From what I understand, and infection will happen its just a matter of when. So prayers against infection too please.

I've had my two steroid shots for his lungs and I'm on antibotics now to prevent (or postpone it seems) infection. They do know from ultrasounds that the baby is breech so unless labor comes on really quickly Gaines will be here via c-section. The NICU doctor said the more he fights them when he gets here the better. She also said weight plays a big role in that. I keep asking the doctors if I should load up on the high calorie foods to help him pack on the weight...I'm waiting on one of them to tell me thats a good idea. Chocolate cake three times a day please...

Speaking of food that is one of the nice things about this hospital. I order my meals from a menu whenever I want. Also, I feel a little like I'm on Grey's Anatomy (which I don't think I've watched since Reed's been here). This is a teaching hospital so I've seen about 7 doctors...residents, attendings, chiefs. I have to think back to that show to figure how who ranks what around here. The good news about so many doctors is that you get a lot of different perspectives. So far they all seem to be right on track with each other.

I'm not constantly hooked up to a monitor of any sort but they check Gaines heart beat every so often. This morning it still sounded great and I still feel him kicking around. That's a big deal to me because it reminds me on days like yesterday when everything seems insurmountable I know that he's there and wants to fight this with me. I hope that's an indication of the fight he's going to put up when he gets here.

Usually when you wait on something you are impatient for it to get here. It's weird that that isn't the case this time. We want to wait as long as possible. That said, I think our goal today is to figure out or start looking at options on where we'll stay once Gaines gets here and I get released. If anyone has ANY ideas on this please let us know. Hopefully once he gets stable Reed can move up here with us and we can get into some sort of a routine.

I know this is long so I'll finish up here with a few thoughts. I have know idea why this has happened to us and it is SO hard but I know that God has a reason for this. We'll get through it and come out better on the other side for having to grow through it. Pray that I keep that in mind on the hard days. Also a huge thank you to so many people already...Beau for being here with me. He's been awesome and his presence has really calmed me down. My boss David for getting me here twice and staying all night with me the first night while we waited on Beau, Kelly for setting up this blog for us, my parents for taking on a 17 month old and bringing him to me, Kathryn who gives me faith in miracles, friends, family, co-workers for kind words, gestures and genuine concern. It really warms our hearts to know everyone out there who is praying for us. Especially since that is all we can do right now. Pray unceasingly.

Thanks to all who have joined us on this journey. You have no idea how much your support means.