Baby Surprise!

I got a bit of a surprise on Friday when I was called in by my OBGYN for what I thought was just a routine non-stress test.  After monitoring the baby's heart rate for a while, my OB deemed it normal but then said, because of her IUGR diagnosis, he would like me to be induced...today (at 37 weeks, 2 days).  A week earlier I had had my final ultrasound and her growth had significantly decreased again.  The doctor mentioned this later, while I was in labor, but it seemed he had had a change of heart about our baby and been inspired to have me come in and deliver right away.  He was worried about losing the baby.  And I appreciate his vigilance.  But I was very surprised.

After freaking out for a while and then getting all the details in order, Scott and I were in the hospital to be induced that evening.  It wasn't the way I really wanted things to go, but most of this pregnancy was not the way I wanted things to go.  But that's not really what matters.

Here I am ready to leave the house and head to the hospital to be induced.

And just under 24 hours later (yadda yadda yadda), baby Emma was born.  The induction was not great.  Nothing really went wrong.  Things proceeded slowly, but not terribly so.  I had to be hooked up to LOTS of machines.  So many cords and tubes and things.  And because of the circumstances of the pregnancy and coming in to have the baby so unexpectedly, I was an emotional wreck.  But soon enough the pitocin did its work and I was ready to have the baby (20ish hours after getting to the hospital).  Emma was born pretty easily after that.  She had the cord wrapped around her neck two times and a true double knot in her cord that looked like a square knot, which the doctors and residents all oohed and aahed about because they had never seen one in a cord before.  We wondered if that could have been the reason for her growth problems but they said it could be but not necessarily.  They saved the knotted portion of the cord (and other doctors came asking about it over the next few days) and sent the placenta off to be tested, since it was another likely reason for Emma's growth problems.  Some of the doctors said we were lucky she made it here safely with the cord the way it was.  We are feeling very blessed.

 She was tiny (5 lbs 8 ozs) especially when compared with our other children.  But other than being small she appeared to be healthy and happy.

While we were in the hospital she had trouble regulating her blood sugar and had to be continually monitored for that.  This was an effect of being so little.  By the end of our stay she started doing better and regulating her blood sugar levels.

She is nursing well, but because of the blood sugar issues the doctors are having us supplement with formula for a few days.

 Here she is with Scott

With me.  She is not a loud crier and made cute squeaky sound when she cries and in her sleep.  It kind of reminded me of a little monkey.  Here is our little monkey.  That's her tiny knee sticking out from under the blanket.  So little.

 Sleeping

 Scott got a better picture of her.  Cute.

Mom and Emma's first selfie

My emotional state about this pregnancy/child can (and has) filled up many a long blog post.  But to sum it up, I was worried.  Even during and after the labor and birth I was very worried and emotional.  These are big life events linked to strong emotions anyway.  And there were lots of ups and downs along the way with this one.  But finally today I stopped feeling so anxious and was able to feel just happy and grateful that she is here safe and healthy.  Babies are a miracle.  And I'm grateful for our little miracle.  I think she may have been prayed to safety by people who care about us.  I don't know. We're so grateful for our early Thanksgiving gift.

Her vital stats:  Emma Ruth Guptill

born Saturday, November 8th, 5:37 pm.  

5 lbs, 8 ozs, 18 1/2 inches.

34 weeks

Anna drew this picture of me today.  I like how she made my tummy just sticking straight out.  I also like that I am wearing red heels.  :)

I am 34 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  And I feel sooo HUGE!  It's funny to me because the baby has been measuring small for a while and yet I am so big.  :)  For the past three weeks I have been taken off my "high risk" pregnancy status, which is good.  The baby has grown big enough recently to be in a normal size range.  I'm going in for another ultrasound in a week and a half and depending how baby is measuring then I may be induced early (37 weeks if she is too small again) or may be left to go the full 40.  Sooo, right now I feel like I'd rather just be left to go full FULL term, but if I was going to be induced in 2 weeks or so for medical reasons, I probably wouldn't be too sad about it.  Cause I am already SOOO uncomfortable and still looking at 6 more weeks.  How is this baby too small? Seriously?!? I'm hoping baby is still doing ok and there aren't any problems, but I'm looking forward to this being over.

Here's an actual picture of me today.  I was not feeling great today.  Nauseated, uncomfortable, ginormous, TIRED!!  I feel 40 weeks pregnant already.  Six more weeks...six more weeks.

Baby Update at 7 months

I am just over 32 weeks along now.  Last week I had a growth ultrasound at a hospital in St. Louis and the baby is up to the 18th percentile in size now.  The cutoff for IUGR or high risk is 10th percentile and last time the baby was only at the 9th.  So now she is in the "normal" size range.  My doctors in St. Louis said they don't need to see me any more and my doctors here, for now, say we can stop with the 3 and 4 a week appointments.  I'll go in every two weeks for a regular OB appointment and in a couple weeks to get another growth scan to make sure she is continuing to grow.   If her growth has slowed down then they may want to resume all the appointments.

So I'm happy for now that things are looking good enough for me to not go in to the doctor every day.  And I hope she continues to grow so I can have a semi-restful end of the pregnancy.  Next time I'll be seen I'll be at 34 weeks, so I'm really getting to the endgame here.  Phew!
I'm due November 26th, the day before Thanksgiving, and I've got plenty of other things to do and worry about between now and then.  Glad I don't have to go to all those appointments for now.

Baby Update

Baby Girl Guptill - 28 weeks

I'm just over 28 weeks now and the baby has just been diagnosed with Intrauterine Growth Restriction.  It's nothing that we didn't know before, pretty much it just means the baby is small but they wanted to have several ultrasounds at different times to gather different data points before they actually diagnose as IUGR.  8 weeks ago the baby was under the 1st percentile (less than 1%) in size.  4 weeks ago she was just under the 5th percentile.  And yesterday she was at the 9th percentile.  So she is catching up. The cutoff for IUGR is 10th percentile, so she just missed it.  Her head was actually measuring normal, but her femur was smaller so it threw things off.
So now I will go in for monitoring three times a week and at least one of the weekly appointments will be in St. Louis, which I'm not that excited about.  They will be checking her all the time to make sure she is getting enough oxygen and nutrients and continuing to grow.

I've done a lot of testing over the past 8 weeks and they haven't found anything wrong with the baby other than that she is small, so that is good.  And my placenta is now a normal size (it used to be slightly large which is bad and could indicate its not working properly - normal size is good).  I'm told if the baby gets up to over the 10th percentile I may be able to stop the close monitoring (3 weekly appointments), so I'm hoping she can grow just a little bigger.  Mostly I'm hoping nothing is really wrong with her.

The doctors will be watching closely to see if I need to deliver early.  Since I'm over 28 weeks now I'm in a relatively safer timeframe for early delivery.  Still not ideal to have a baby so early, but the baby has a much better chance now if we did have to have her early.

So we are still hoping she will grow more and everything will be ok.  I feel her moving all the time now so that is good!!  Thinking good thoughts!!

Baby Update

Sorry, this is a wordy baby update:
(scroll to the bottom of this post for a VERY SHORT version of the Baby Update)

This picture has nothing to do with our baby update...a picture of the kids on our crazy road trip!

Things have been a little intense around here as we waited to find out more information about our baby. We are currently expecting baby number five but I have been nervous about this pregnancy for various reasons.
Three weeks ago I found out I screened positive for Down Syndrome on my quad screen (serum analyte blood screen) for this pregnancy and we've been very stressed about it ever since. The only way to find out more was to get a stage two ultrasound or some kind of further testing.  We had to wait about two weeks to be seen by a specialist that could offer up any more information.  The only day they could get us in was the day we were planning to leave for our two week road trip vacation.  And we had already booked hotels along the way so we didn't have a lot of wiggle room.  We went to the doctor that afternoon (Wednesday) and had a bunch of testing done before we left on our road trip.  It made for a strange and stressful beginning to our vacation.

First I met with a genetic counselor.  I have met with this counselor a few times already for this pregnancy and the previous one.  So she already knew my whole history.  It was a short visit and I decided just to get a genetic test done that only involves a blood draw and would not pose any risk to the pregnancy, but that would tell us if the baby had Down Syndrome.  I went ahead and had the blood drawn and they also did a more in depth ultrasound.

During the ultrasound they found that the baby is measuring quite a bit small - I'm 20 weeks along and the baby was only measuring about 17 1/2 weeks.  And the growth had been on track at 12 weeks.  

A group of doctors came in and strongly recommended that I now get the amniocentesis done, even though I wasn't planning to before, because it could help us learn what may be causing this growth problem.  So I ended up getting an amnio too.  It was unpleasant.

From what the doctors told me and information I learned on my own via the internet I found there are four main reasons for a growth problem like this.

1) a chromosomal abnormality (like Down Syndrome or something else)

2) an infection

3) a problem with the placenta or preeclampsia causing a problem with the placenta

4) the baby is fine, but just small

After a very stressful two days of waiting (while on vacation) on Friday we got the initial results of some of the testing.  The good news is I tested negative for Down Syndrome and a few other chromosomal defects that they checked for in the initial amnio screen (they are getting full up results that will be available later).  I also tested negative for an infection.  The bad news is we don't really know what is causing the growth problem.  My non-professional opinion is that something is wrong with the placenta because they also said the placenta looked large and abnormal during the ultrasound.  From what little I know, if there is a problem with the function of the placenta it could lead to losing the baby or having to deliver VERY early, like as early as possible (27 weeks or so).  If the placenta is not functioning right, the baby just doesn't get enough nutrients to continue to grow.  The doctors I saw for the testing now want me to come in to St. Louis every three weeks for the remainder of the pregnancy so they can monitor the growth of the baby and determine if drastic steps need to be taken.

So, this is all a lot to take in, but I am feeling hopeful that we will still be able to have a healthy baby at the end of all this.  And I'm glad that at least some of the most common genetic defects are now ruled out.  We're just hoping and praying the baby can continue to grow and the pregnancy can continue. Part of me wonders if the stress of all this uncertainty has played a part in any of this.  The baby is measuring 17 1/2 weeks and that's how far along I was when I found out about the positive Down Syndrome screen.  And I have had no appetite, had trouble sleeping and been generally beside myself with worry since then.  I know that's probably crazy - like I really don't think the baby would just stop growing because of stress - but I am now going to make a concerted effort to take better care of myself and make sure I am eating and drinking enough.

On one last positive note, we were able to find out the gender of the baby and we are super excited to know that we are expecting a baby girl!  We're hoping and praying she makes it here safely!!

***VERY SHORT Baby Update***
We are expecting a baby in November and have been worried that the baby would be ok.
Three weeks ago we found out I screened positive for Down Syndrome.
Last week I had an ultrasound and amnio and found out the baby doesn't have Down Syndrome but is measuring very small.  The doctors want me to come in every three weeks to check and make sure the baby is continuing to grow.  We also found out we are expecting a girl and are excited about that!

We're Expecting

 

We are expecting baby number five, due right around Thanksgiving.  And we are excited, but because of two previous miscarriages and some soft markers they saw for Down Syndrome with John (and told us he had a 1/15 chance of having Downs), I have been very freaked out about this whole pregnancy.  We finally made it past the high risk miscarriage zone (the first trimester).  And then we just found out this past week that I screened positive for Down Syndrome on my quad screen.  My doctor told me there are a lot of false positives, but I'm a numbers person and really wanted to know how many is "a lot."  

After doing a little research this is basically what I found out.  Out of 1000 women, 50 (about) will test positive for Down Syndrome.  And out of those 50, 1 will actually have the defect (that's 49/50 false positives).  Those numbers did make me feel a little better, and obviously we are hoping for the best.  I'm going in in TWO WEEKS for some diagnostic testing and an ultrasound.  They couldn't get us in any sooner.  And it will still be a couple weeks after that until we know any results.  In two weeks we will also be able to tell the gender of the baby, as long as he/she cooperates.

Soooo, we're excited, but sort of unsettled about the uncertainty.  Like I said, we are hoping for the best and trying not to think about it in the mean time.  It's still kind of hard for me to accept that everything COULD be ok with this pregnancy - part of me still doesn't think there will be a baby at the end of this all just because of the miscarriages I guess.  Pregnancy (and parenting for that matter) is not for the faint of heart.

I put off posting about this for a while but finally wanted to say something - for one thing I look pretty pregnant now.  :) And maybe it will help me feel more positive about everything.  More updates to come.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Anna and Matthew like to play a card game called "Top It."  It's pretty much just War and helps them learn about which number is bigger and which is smaller.  Here's Anna winning a hand.  I like Matthew's expression as he gets beat.

 She won a lot of hands, but Matthew did too.  They had fun.

 After each hand she had to record the score, or the different numbers that came up.

She kept a good record of the game.  Maybe she has some accounting genes, like her Daddy.

Here is her record.  This kind of looks like a mirror image.  She likes to write numbers backwards a lot.  She will write the numbers forward too, but she seems to think it doesn't matter which way they go.  I think she's ok for a preschooler though.  I liked her record keeping too.  :)

A Visit from Grandpa

 

My mom has been here helping us almost continuously since John was born, which leaves my dad all alone back in Rhode Island.  My dad came out to visit us all in Colorado for a week.  We were excited to have him visit.  Here he is holding John.  My dad has blue eyes and so does John (at least for now) so they have that bond.  :)  Here is John meeting Grandpa Keeler.

 A little smile?

 And all the kids crowding around!

These other pictures don't have a lot to do with Grandpa's visit, but happened during our week.  :)  Here is Grant trying to wipe John's face after he spit up.  Grant is a nice helper, but still has to be closely monitored around John.

Here are the kids after family night having teeny tiny ice cream sundaes...a recurring family night treat at our house.

 And my mom with Johnny.  John is making a funny face. :)

 And here's Scott.  We've been able to skype with him a once or twice a week so that's nice!
Wow, my computer looks really dirty.

John had his two month check up this week.  He is up to 13 lbs 10 ozs - about 95th percentile for weight.  Good growing Johnny!!  He had to get a bunch of shots at this visit and got a little bit of a fever in the afternoon.  He was feeling pretty miserable later that afternoon.  He cried and cried and wouldn't eat so we ended up swaddling him up  to help him take a rest.

 He felt better after he got a little rest.

Anyway, it was fun having Grandpa come visit.  More pictures of our week to come!

Happy Father's Day

 

This Father's Day we were traveling back from our vacation so we didn't do anything special for Scott.  I told him we would celebrate next weekend, 'cause I am lame.  In any case, Scott is a great Dad and deserves to have a nice Father's Day, so hopefully we can make up for it next weekend.  Here are some questions I've asked the kids for a few years now about Scott.  Grant is not yet up to giving answers beyond "baba" or "SQUEAL!!"  So we'll try with him next year.  I asked the kids these questions separately but they still gave similar answers for some things.  :)  Here are the kids answers from 2010, 2011.  Happy Father's Day Scott!  We love you!!

About Daddy
by Matthew (age 5.3) and Anna (age 3.8)

What is something daddy always says to you?
Matthew: "Reel it in!"
Anna: "Thank you" and "I love you" and sometimes he kisses me and sometimes I hug him.

What makes daddy happy?
Matthew: When I give him something for his birthday.
Anna: When I give him a hug

What makes daddy sad?
Matthew: When I hurt his feelings like when I say "Oh, I don't like you."  But I will never say that.
Anna: When I do naughty things at him

How does daddy make you laugh?
Matthew: When I'm in a burrito [blanket] and he eats me.
Anna: When he does silly things like when he throws me up in the air and makes silly sounds.

What was daddy like as a kid?
Matthew: He was small and he lived on a farm with Grandpa. (actually not true, so don't know where the farm came from)
Anna: Candy!! (still not sure she understood that question)

How old is daddy?
Matthew: I don't know.  How old is he?  I don't know.
Anna: (whispering) Give me a guess, mom!!

How tall is daddy?
Matthew: He is as tall as to reach the high games on the shelf.  As tall as Yahtzee.
Anna: About 80 inches.

What is daddy's favorite thing to do?
Matthew: Work on his computer.
Anna: Go shopping

What does daddy do when you're not around?
Matthew: He's at work when I'm not around.  He works.
Anna: Look for me!

If daddy was famous, what would it be for?
Matthew: Flying an airplane.
Anna: Books?

What is daddy really good at?
Matthew: Driving a car.  I mean, he's really good at driving our car.
Anna: Baseball

What is daddy not really good at?
Matthew: Umm... (thinks a long time) ...parachuting.  He can't jump out of a plane.
Anna: T-Ball

What does daddy do for a job?
Matthew: He does the finance.
Anna: He goes to work for a job.

What is daddy's favorite food?
Matthew: Vegetables??
Anna: Sandwiches!

What makes you proud of daddy?
Matthew: When he gets up in the far high mountains in our car.
Anna: When he likes me.

If daddy were a cartoon character, which one would it be?
Matthew: Harry Potter.  He's good at doing magic and fighting.
Anna: Mickey Mouse.

What do you and daddy do together?
Matthew: Go camping and fishing.
Anna: Go fishing.

How are you and daddy the same?
Matthew: We just sometimes match clothes.
Anna: When Daddy and me do things together.

How are you and daddy different?
Matthew: Our hair.  My hair is blond his is black.
Anna: 'Cause we don't have the same hair.

How do you know daddy loves you?
Matthew: 'Cause he's my daddy!
Anna: 'Cause with his heart!

Where is daddy's favorite place to go?
Matthew: To his work I think.
Anna: To the baseball field.

The Mighty Magnus

One fun thing about visiting Oregon to see Scott's family is that my sister lives only a short distance away in Vancouver, WA.  So we got to visit with her a few times.  Here are Grant (on the right) with my sister Ruth's little boy, Magnus (on the left).  Magnus is about 4 weeks younger than Grant.  They were cute together. Coincidentally the names Magnus and Grant both have similar meanings:  they both mean GREAT!!

 Magnus is pretty tall and a very good walker.  Here he is giving Matthew a nice hug.

 

Here are Ruth and I with our respective little ones.  Does Magnus look a lot bigger than Grant?  He is.  By about six pounds and I don't know how many inches in height.  Grant is still small for his age, but I'm hoping he'll start catching up.  Also I think I look about 10 months pregnant in this picture...and in real life.  I'm only 7 1/2.  Unlike my hopes for Grant, I'm hoping I don't get much bigger. This picture was bloglifted from my sister.  Thanks Ruth!

 And here is Uncle Dana with Magnus and Grant.  Magnus and Dana look alike, wouldn't you say?

 Here are all the cousins hanging out.  They were even looking in the right direction.

Magnus was wondering why everyone was laughing.  Magnus also seemed perplexed at the amount of noise the three of my kids could make together.  Grant was very loud compared to Magnus, maybe out of necessity being the third child.  They had fun playing together!  It was good seeing you Magnus (and of course, you too Ruth and Dana).  Hopefully we can come visit again soon!

All About Anna

Here's Anna trying to give me a "kiss."

Anna is just a little over two years old now. She's small for her age, but has a big personality. Some people might call her bossy (she certainly doesn't get that from me ;) ), but I like to think of it as maternal. :) She has a fighting spirit too, which can be challenging for her mother, but I think it's good for her. She is very determined.

She likes to take care of all of us. This past weekend, when I was having a bad day, she brought me a bunch of pillows and a blanket so I could lay down. Then she brought me some tissues, so I could "cry if I want to." Then she crawled up and sat by me, patted my back and read me Sammy the Seal from memory (one of our library books). All of her fussing over me made me laugh and really cheered me up.

She will also fuss over Scott and Matthew in a similar way, as she sees fit. It's very funny to me to see her do it, 'cause she is so little. One of her favorite things to do is to try and feed us. She will try and force feed us food. When I told her, the other day, I didn't want any more of whatever she was forcing on me she said, "It's not for you, it's for the baby!" She's like the pushy Italian grandmother I never had.

She likes to run into the bathroom while I'm in the shower and shout, "Is everything ok in here?" I can definitely see her mimicking a lot of the mommy things I do.

Our real estate agent is very impressed with how well Anna can talk. And she is a good little talker for her age. Our agent called Anna, "a precocious lady," to which Anna replied, "NO, I'M ANNA!" Lately she has been announcing randomly, and often that she is Anna. Maybe she is developing a good sense of self. She's definitely her own person and we couldn't do without her. I hope she is still eager to help when the new baby comes. :)

Our big brother and big sister to be!

Me (To Anna): What's your brother's name?
Anna: Matthew Scott Guptill

Me: What's your Daddy's name?
Anna: Daddy Scott Guptill

Me: What's your Mommy's name?
Anna: Mommy Scott Guptill

Me: What's your name?
Anna: I'm Anna! Anna Rose.

Taking Care of Daddy

Scott has a tendency to fall asleep on the couch - it might be hereditary. ;) Last weekend he fell asleep and Anna wanted to make sure he was comfortable. She brought him the special duck blanket and put pillows all around him so he would be able to have a nice nap.

He napped for a long time without waking up, so Anna must have done a good job. If only the kids napped as well. Here she is bringing Matthew some blankets.

Related

I think kids just come with their own little personalities and it's so fun (most of the time) to get to know their likes, dislikes and quirks. Mostly I think Matthew is just his own person, but he does have some qualities like his dad. He's observant, kind hearted and tidy, like dad. He's also become very talkative lately. We don't know where that comes from.

Here are a few recent Matthew-isms that reminded me of Scott.

Matthew: It's kind of dirty in the kitchen, mommy. I need to vacuum the floor in there.
Me: No, you don't need to do that. You can go play with your trains.
Matthew (starting to cry): But I just NEED to clean the floor in there. It's too dirty!
*Disclaimer: Scott never cries about our house being dirty, but he is always eager to vacuum if needed.

Matthew: Thank you mommy for making this nice dinner for us.

(while I was cleaning up a potty training accident of Anna's from the bathroom floor)
Matthew: That is just making my stomach kind of hurt. I think I have to go away.

And one that reminded me of ME as a kid:
Matthew: My name is Peter Pan. Call me Peter Pan now.

Anna is her own woman and always seems to know what she wants. She was happy to kick the soccer ball around for a while, which made me happy since I also like soccer. She doesn't like getting her hair done, which I never did as a kid either, but I think that might be a pretty common thing. She is also very strong willed, which I think is just her. Sometimes I find this quality a bit exhausting, but overall I think it's good she knows what she wants. I'm hoping it will serve her well later in life.

What we've been up to: Part 1

I haven't been posting much lately, mostly because nothing interesting has been happening...so here, for your enjoyment, are some pictures of our non-exciting late summer adventures.
Here Anna gets a driving lesson from Matthew...and has a collision with a much bigger vehicle.

Anna eats some tempura vegetables and seems almost surprised that she likes it.

Matthew uses trainer chopsticks to pick up his chicken. We're getting ready to go back to Japan! He can also say Ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) and Arigato (thank you). We are going to be all set for Okinawa.

Playing in a box is always a good time...and as it turns out, the size of the box is not that important. Matthew and Anna both tried to climb inside this smallish box and thought it was great fun.

This is what Anna was doing while Matthew sat in a high chair and pretended to be a baby (he's not doing that so much anymore). She carts the phone around making important calls to people. So grown up.

Anna vs. Bedtime

She's not big on sleeping lately. Naptime, bedtime...whatever. She's not that interested. There is just too much excitement to sleep. I had to get her these pajamas when I saw them at Target. Somehow it makes me feel better about the whole thing. :)

Matthew is growing more hair and it's all very exciting for me, since he has been pretty minimalist in the hair department so far.

Here he styled his new crop of hair with what I believe may have been teriyaki sauce.

And I had to take a picture of this for Scott. Matthew has been doing so many Scott things lately, which amazes me since Scott has been gone for the better part of 7 months. It has to be genetics. Matthew has to wind the glue WAY down in the tube before putting it away...just like Scott. They are so related!