EKG

Things went great today at U of M. They decided not to do a sedated echo or chest x-rays at this point. Grant will get chest x-rays in the early fall and if all continues to go well they will wait to do an echo for another year. They are hoping by then he'll be old enough to sit still and not need the sedation.

They did check his oxygen saturation levels (99%, which is great) and did an EKG. They EKG looked excellent. Grant had to sit very still for his EKG for a significant length of time. Grandma sang and danced for him while I sat with him on the exam table and rubbed his hand. I really didn't know he was capable of sitting still for that long. I was so proud of him.

He didn't really want to sit still while the two doctors examined him. By that time we'd been in a small space for too long. At one point he looked at the cardiologist and said "all done. bye-bye. home." Then he proceeded to walk to the door, opened it and left. I finished the rest of the visit with the doctor while Grant pushed his stroller around the halls of the cardiac wing.

It was so nice to have such a brief visit to the hospital. Grant's cardiologist, Dr.Cotts, said that at this point the statistical chance that something could go wrong with his heart is small. That is why he wants to wait to do the echo when Grant can be awake. As far as the lungs go, we have a few more months until we'll know more.

Dr.Cotts wants to do an echo on baby girl a couple of weeks after she is born just to be sure her heart looks good. I hit 37 weeks this week and am ready to meet her!

Prayer Requests for Thursday

Thursday we'll be at U of M for a series of routine tests for Grant. He's doing great, so we expect a good report, but we'd appreciate being covered in prayer. Here are some specific things to pray for:

1. That Grant's heart would continue to look perfect and that the veins would not be narrowed.
2. That Grant's lungs would be miraculously healed and the x-rays would show it. (This would truly be a miracle and would greatly impact how careful we have to be of germs, especially next winter.)
3. That Grant would react well to the sedation and would wake up easily with no side effects.
4. That our day at U of M would not trigger any painful memories or induce any anxiety in me.

Thank you! It is always so comforting to know people are praying for us.

36 weeks

I went to see my midwife this morning and all is well. I am officially off bedrest! She said she's totally comfortable with the amount of amniotic fluid that I have because I'm so far along. It has been a delight to chase Grant around the last couple of days. He's been super happy and snuggly with me. I'm dilated to one, so the process has begun, but it still looks like I'll have some time to enjoy Grant and get things ready for our baby girl. I'm continuing to get a lot of contractions now that I'm more active, but they don't bring any anxiety because I know it is safe for her to come out now.

Speech Evaluation

Today Grant had a speech evaluation through Beaumont Hospital. His pediatrician recommended speech therapy back in April when he was not really talking. The first appointment we could get for an evaluation was today. It was a good thing that we didn't get in sooner, because Grant's talking has really picked up in the last month. He's just starting to put two words together and names every object he sees. It was music to my ears to hear that he scored above average in both comprehension and expression. This means that we have no therapists to see for the rest of the summer.

Grant's next big appointment is next Thursday in Ann Arbor. They'll do a full workup on his heart and lungs. It will take much of the day and he'll have to be sedated. I'll post with the results when we get them.

A day at the Park

We recently took Grant to the park with our friends, the Korals. They have a son a little younger than Grant. The dads had fun chasing the boys around while the moms laid on a blanket in the sun. What a fun day!

Storytime

One of my favorite parts of the day with Grant is reading books in his room when he wakes up in the morning. He is a great sleeper, usually sleeping from 7:15pm-7:30am. After he gets dressed I sit in the rocker and he brings me books to read to him. There is a farm book that Grandma Niedzinski gave him that he loves to look at because he likes me to count the eggs on the pages. Yesterday he did the counting for the first time. He says, "one, two, free, four," and then he goes back to "free" again. :) Now he wants us to count everything.

He loves the interactive books best, like the ones with flaps and doors that open with pictures behind them. Unfortunately, he sometimes rips the flaps off. Whenever he does I tell him that daddy will fix it when he gets home from work. (Anytime anything breaks, rips or gets stuck under the couch Grant looks at me as says, "dada?" I tell him that yes, daddy will fix it when he gets home.) The other day he was really missing daddy (he has become VERY attached to Jim lately) so he started going through his books, ripping them and asking for dada. I soon caught on that he thought if he kept ripping them daddy would come home and fix them immediately. He was not a happy camper when he learned that not only was daddy not coming home to fix the books, but he had earned himself a "time out".

35 week ultrasound

Today I had an ultrasound to check on the fluid levels. The first time they checked (a couple of months ago)mine was 6, then a week later 11, then 2 weeks later 14. Today the level was at 7.2. Some doctors consider it safe to have a level above 7, but others want a level above 10. So, the ultrasound people are checking with my doctor to see if she feels comfortable with a level around 7. If not, I'll go back for another ultrasound next week. If they find it is low next week they would probably induce me for the safety of the baby. But, hopefully, the level will increase like it did last time. Please pray for this.

They also measured the baby today and found that she was 6.1 pounds. This is big for 35 weeks. So, maybe she's almost ready to make her appearance.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

This weekend uncle Bryan and his fiance, Kristen, came into town. Today uncle Bryan and Uncle Hal were singing and dancing to nursery rhymes with Grant. Grant loved the attention and the silliness that only uncles can provide.

Happy 4th of July

Normal life?

Well, life is as close to normal as it has ever been. I'm still on bedrest (almost 34 weeks!), but in spite of that we are spending a lot of time doing fun stuff, we just have to make sure there is somewhere for me to sit. Last weekend we went to a Niedzinski family party and Grant met most of his 19 cousins for the first time. He loved all the attention and had fun following the big kids around. On Sunday we went to a bbq at a friend's house and sat outside while Grant played in the yard with their kids. Grant even went to church on Sunday and had a blast dancing to the music and running around. In spite of all the interaction with others Grant has stayed super healthy and is learning many social skills that he missed out on staying inside all winter.

Don't get me wrong, I still go through a pack of wet wipes a week, but that is so different than being consumed with medications, feeding struggles and doctor appointments. I am feeling really thankful. Grant has come so far. Everyday now he pulls up my shirt and says to my belly, "hi baby, bye baby." For the first time since Grant has been born I feel like I have something to give again. God's timing is perfect.

Gas Station

Grant is so much fun these days. He is talking a lot and is starting to have an opinion about everything, whether it is what to eat for breakfast or which shoes he wants to wear. One struggle we have everyday and night is getting dressed. I tend to take a more forceful approach and just wrestle him into his clothes, but recently Jim came up with an interesting bribe. Grant's favorite part of the day is when daddy cleans his ears after his bath. So, last night when Grant refused to let Jim put on his pajamas, he said, "If you let daddy put on your pajamas, then I'll clean your ears." Grant got a big smile across his face and yelled out, "OKAY!" He totally cooperated for the rest of the dressing process. Who knew?

Tomorrow I'll be 33 weeks pregnant. I'll probably be on bed rest for another 3. Even though it's far from ideal, we're in somewhat of a groove. Ever afternoon after his nap Grant goes to Grandma and Grandpa's house until dad gets home from work. In the mornings we often go to a friend's house so that Grant can play and I can stay off my feet. The pictures below are from a play date last week with Grant's friend, Jack.

More Water Fun

Grant in a hat

The closet game

Water Baby

Grant has been keeping cool these days by playing with water. He's also very into telling us the temperature of things. So, much of the time he's playing in the water he's also saying, "hot, hot" or "burrrr" if it is too cold.

He's talking a lot more lately. His new favorite word is heavy. I think that he must have picked up something heavy recently and gotten some praise for it because now he walks around trying to pick up chairs, buckets, stools and everything else. If he manages to get it off the ground he'll smile and say, "heaby, heaby."

Animal Sounds

Grant loves to look through his farm book that Grandma Niedzinski made him and make all the animal noises. Here's a peek. He does have a favorite animal noise as you can see.

All things adult

Grant wants to do all things "grown-up" these days. Here's what happened when he got his hands on my friend Laura's blush brush.

Growing and Changing

Grant is adjusting really well to my being on bedrest. The first few days he was throwing tantrums and trying to shove me off the couch. But, now he is learning to play independently and has even stopped asking me to pick him up. This makes me a little bit sad because I am used to being the go-to person but it shows me he is no dummy. He goes to someone who can get the job done. He has learned to climb into the kitchen chairs and pushes a chair over to the sink by himself to get up and wash his hands. (You don't think that just because I'm on bedrest we slack on hand washing, do you?)

His favorite thing these days is to go to the park or really do anything outside. When dad gets home from work they go outside and do what dad refers to as "baby parkour." (This involves climbing walls and jumping off and lots of other things that scare mom.) Grandma and Grandpa Koss bought a sandbox and water table for their cottage and Grant could stay outside all day and play. He doesn't really seem to care that he's soaking wet and it's only 55 degrees. He actually says, "burrrrr" and then laughs.

Grant's eating is getting better. From the beginning feeding has been a challenge for Grant and until recently he needed books/toys/songs to distract him while we shoveled food in as fast as possible. (After 5-10 minutes he always said he was done regardless of how much he has eaten.)But, he's recently discover ketchup and that seems to make mealtime much more enjoyable for him. This morning he dipped his waffles in ketchup. Whatever works!

Another ultrasound

Good news! The ultrasound today showed that my amniotic fluid has almost doubled since Monday. Thank you for praying. They are still monitoring me closely because of the contractions, but now that the fluid is within normal range I'm feeling much better. I have another appointment on Thursday.

Trip to the ER

We had an emergency trip to the ER last night because of some pregnancy complications. I will spare all the male readers the details. It turned out fine and they think that there is more amniotic fluid than there was on Monday. We'll officially know tomorrow because we have another ultrasound. The current concern is that my stomach is measuring smaller than it was last week. (It is measuring at 25 weeks even though I am 28 weeks.) It is not a concern if someone is measuring small all along, but I have been right on target until recently, so it is a bit puzzling. Tomorrow when they measure the fluid levels they will also measure the baby. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime please pray for peace and sleep for me.