Picture Update

Inconveniently enough, the Costco photo website is down for maintenance until May 31. The link below should work after that. Sorry!

Jake had a great day today and Jeff and I both got to kangaroo tonight - about an hour and a half total! Jake is also back on feedings (meaning he's getting breastmilk through a tube). Don't worry -- they give him IV fluids and lipids even when he's not getting true "feedings."

Pictures of Jake

With help from Jen, pictures of Jake are now uploaded to Costco.com for everyone's viewing pleasure. They are raw and uncut and without captions (we couldn't even find time to upload them, so captions will have to wait!) As I looked through them, I realized that some of the images are going to seem really strange and maybe even disturbing if you haven't seen a preemie in a NICU before. Sorry about that! But trust us, it's all standard procedure and he's doing well. I emailed the link to everyone's email address I had stored at costco.com. I'll also post the link here, but I'm not sure that will work. If it doesn't work, send us an email and we can email you the link to view the photos.


We've had true roller coaster days the past few days, but the positive news tonight is that Jake is doing well again. Much to Jeff's relief (and mine of course, but Jeff was particularly worried), is that his head ultrasound came back and showed no bleeding on the brain (also known as IVH - intraventricular hemorrhage). This is truly great news, as IVH can lead to cerebral palsy and other things.

As always, thanks to everyone for your positive thoughts and prayers.

The Cubby Chronicles XIV

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Its Memorial Day & the Cubby has been with us for exactly one week. Today was quite a wild ride & a good reminder of the roller coaster that the ICN can be. When we arrived this morning the nurses were in the process of changing his incubator. Apparently they get a new one each week so they can clean them & reduce the chance of infection. The incubators themselves look like the picture above & are made by a German company called Drager. When I examined one I figured they'd be expensive but never guessed how crazy expensive they are--according to a nurse involved in purchasing each one costs ~$30,000!!!

So they pulled the Cubby out when changing the incubators and he gets cold (premies can't manage their own body temperature) & his heart rate goes down to around 90 beats a minute (because he was on a beta blocker drug he was ~ 110 a minute). We're freaking out but slowly as he gets warmer his heart rate comes back to normal. It was a tense hour or so as the temp & heart rate slowly raised but the rest of the day was okay & he was doing well when we left the hospital tonight.

He's also back on the CPAP machine, which helps him breathe by keeping his lungs constantly open (he's still actually breathing on his own). The good news is his bilirubin levels are now normal so he's off the photo treatment of having the blue LED lights on him all day which not only means he doesn't have to wear goggles but that we don't have to look at them. We'll keep everyone updated and as always, thanks for your thoughts & concern.....

The Cubby Chronicles XIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a quick update on little Jake. He's still doing very well overall though his blood pressure is still high & the doctors aren't quite sure why. They've scanned his kidneys three times & his heart/arteries twice and everything looks normal. His left kidney is a little smaller than the right & sits a little lower in his pelvis but the ultrasounds show its working just fine. They've also called in the endocrinologists to look at his thyroid & hormone levels but the early results show they're fairly normal.

Besides the higher blood pressure he's doing great--the ICN nurses say he's a rock star. He's still breathing on his own which is very impressive for a guy his age. His heart is also very strong and he's had minimal bouts of apnea (essentially forgetting to breathe--all preemies have this) & he quickly gets back on track with a gentle nudge. As you can see above, I got to try out the 'Kangaroo Care' yesterday and like all parents it was awesome to hold my son for the 1st time.

K & I have been at the hospital almost as much as we were when she was a patient, going to see the Cubby in the morning, then coming back in the late afternoon. The Duke ICN is actually open 24 hours but there's a shift change from 6:30 - 7:30 so in the evening we grab dinner & then head back until 9:30 or so.

A couple of non-Jake items for the Memorial Day weekend:

• My best buddy Ben passed the Georgia Bar, congrats!!!
• Our good family friend Dave is getting married tomorrow; we're very excited for him & his fiance Becky

First Kangraoo Care!

Last night and this morning we went to visit Jake and both visits went really well. Last night we watched as he got taken off the CPAP and started breathing on his own - a major milestone. This morning when we got there at 10 he was still breathing on his own! However, his nurses have let us know that it's not unlikely that he'll have to go back on at some point, but for now we are really happy with this development.

This morning I also got to do our first "Kangaroo Care" which means Jake got to come out of his isolette and I got to hold him to my chest for about 45 minutes. He cried quite a bit at first (probably all the stimulation) but Daddy's voice seemed to be the trick to calming him down. Apparently all that talking Jeff did to my belly over the past few months made an impression.

This afternoon while Jeff's at work I'm hoping to have time to post a lot of the pictures we've taken. Once they're up I'll post a link.

Thanks again to everyone for your concern and positive thoughts.

The Cubby Chronicles XII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

We're pretty sure that everyone that's been monitoring the blog has seen the following announcement e-mail but we're putting it up just for the official record. We know its been awhile since we've posted an update but things have been so crazy the past couple of days. Expect some more content (including the birth story) in the coming days.

At the moment K & I are back home from the hospital & Kristin is doing well. Little Jake is hanging in there; he's still in good overall shape though his blood pressure is a little high (but not dangerously so) with no apparent cause. He also has a common condition called bilirubin that's he's being treated for with success. Otherwise he's doing well and the Intensive Care staff are especially impressed with his respiration/breathing levels.

From: Jeff Walker [mailto:jeffrey.allan.walker@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 3:58 PM
Subject: Answer: This little fellow's more common alias is "The Cubby"

Question: Who is Jacob Raymond Walker? (Sorry, we've watched a bit too much Jeopardy in the hospital.)

Kristin gave birth to little Jake at 7:25AM this morning, 12 weeks early. He's currently sitting pretty in Duke's world-class Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the doctors all agree he's in good shape for a guy his age. He weighs in right at 2 pounds and is a long 13.5 inches with huge feet. All his vitals look good and his Apgar scores were 6 @ 1 minute & 7 at 5 minutes which aren't too shabby for a preemie.

Once again thanks to everyone for their thoughts, prayers, favors, & gifts. Look for more detailed entries in the continuing Cubby Chronicles on the blog. Kristin is doing well and should be able to go home on Wednesday. Love,

Jeff & Kristin

The Cubby Chronicles XI

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Its Sunday & K and I are watching some Reno 911 while waiting for game 7 of the Celtics/Cavs series. We're still in good shape; Kristin hasn't shown any contractions for the past few days and she's feeling pretty good. The weekends around the hospital are quieter than the usual hustle & bustle during the week and sometimes that's good (relaxing) & sometimes that's not so good (time can drag).

As the picture shows, we're pretty close to the medevac helicopter pad & every day we see different copters take off & land. I have to admit I'm impressed by the room's insulation--while we often see the copters we don't hear them too much. We've already covered the big topics of the week but figured a lazy Sunday afternoon would be a good time we'd give a rundown of some overdue thank-yous....

• My parents were here last weekend & K's mom was here almost all of last week. We can't thank them enough for washing clothes, watching our dogs overnight, & allowing us the flexibility to get take out some dinners as well letting me get out & run during the day.
  
• Speaking of our dogs, we have an entire phalanx of friends who have been walking them, feeding them, & watching them overnight when we don't have family in town. We're sure Ben & Chloe are quite confused at this point but they're really benefiting from the generosity of the Russo-Pooles, Cherry-Bizzells, & McReavises.
  
• Our friend Hallie works at Duke (literally a block away from the hospital) and she stopped by on Thursday with some tasty homemade strawberry cake. We liked it so much we had to cut it up & parcel it out so we could savor it for a couple of days.
  

Another Good Day

I want to start today's post with a thank you to everyone for all your care and concern. So many people are doing so many nice things for us. It really makes a difference and helps keep our spirits up. We can't even imagine how many people are praying for us, thinking about us, and sending positive thoughts our way - all of it must be working because we are still here with no baby and no labor!

Yesterday continued to be uneventful. We had our Friday ultrasound in the afternoon. We learned that the Cubby is still looking good, but he is now pretty cramped up. We went from an AFI (amniotic fluid index) of 45 on Tuesday to 3.5 on Friday. For those of you familiar with low amniotic fluid levels, you'll recognize that 3.5 is really low. However, it's not unexpected given ruptured membranes, and we've been assured that the Cubby is better off inside the womb with low fluid than outside the womb at such an early gestational age. They monitor him every 4 hours, so if he appears to be in distress, they will be able to take action. Our ultrasound technician told us that she has known several women in my condition with this level of low fluid who went another 4-5 weeks, so we are hoping that will be us. Last night brought on some more cramping but no contractions. I think Jeff and I both got some of the best sleep we've gotten in several days.

Today my mom flew back to Indianapolis (a huge thank you to her for all of her help this past week). Jeff and I toured the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) this morning, and we found it reassuring. The OBs have told us that if we make it to 34 weeks, they will induce labor. Even at 34 weeks, the Cubby will go to the NICU at least for a little while. It's somewhat comforting (even if it's scary at the same time) to see where the Cubby will be next. The NICU charge nurse said that the rule of thumb they use is to tell all parents that their baby will go home/leave the NICU on their due date (August 13 for us). Of course, it could be earlier or later depending on how well he does.

Thanks again to everyone! We're hoping for another uneventful night...

The Cubby Chronicles X

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Welcome to the tenth anniversary post of the Cubby Chronicles; since I'm here at Duke writing this it's safe to say we're still around & stable. However, it seems like it's always a tenuous existence--exhibited by the events of the past couple of days. Not only did K lose a lot of amniotic fluid a couple of days ago, we had another evening of too much excitement last night. After 8, Kristin had some cramping and after awhile she started to worry that they were actually contractions. Despite trying to stay optimistic, we were getting resigned to the fact that she actually was heading towards labor.

At midnight (after a few hours of observing/counting the cramping) we had the nurse come in & put her on the Fetal monitor for an hour to see what was going on. The picture above shows what a the monitor's output screen looks like--it essentially shows 3 different lines (you might have to click on the picture for a bigger version).

The top red line within the grey band is the Cubby's heart rate & the number displayed in the upper right is the exact rate at the moment (the rate should be between 130 - 160). You might notice that the the line is a bit scatter shot & this is because he's quite a mover & shaker--its hard to get a lock on him for long periods of time. The middle pink line is Kristin's heart rate and the flat black line near the bottom of the screen is the uterine contraction line. As you can see, its flatter than Florida, which meant she wasn't having any contractions at all. We were relieved beyond belief....

We were so excited it was hard for us to go to sleep even though it was 1 in the morning. Today the doctor came in & said he wasn't surprised she was feeling the cramping after losing all that fluid yesterday. She also didn't have any contractions at all during the morning monitoring (when the above pic was taken).

She's still doing okay and has only felt some slight cramping this afternoon; nothing like last night. So once again we're cautiously optimistic but as previously mentioned, every day is a roller coaster ride. Plenty of hills, valleys & unexpected turns and you never know when you might hit a curve....

The Cubby Chronicles IX

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Well, after a few days of relative quiet here at Duke we had an adventurous night. At around 2AM Kristin woke me up asking something about cleaning up all of this water that spilled on the floor. In my groggy state I panicked & assumed that she meant she had leaked out more amniotic fluid so I jumped up & grabbed a towel. Turns out she had taken a sip of her water cup and missed putting it back on the tray table so it splattered. Relieved, I dutifully cleaned up & went back to bed.

Of course 3 hours later Kristin woke me again with a similar request. This time, however, she really was leaking tons of amniotic fluid. Her pants, sheets, & bed were completely soaked. While K stayed amazingly calm & still I called for the nurse over the intercom. After 5 minutes passed without a nurse (& K leaking even more) I went down to the nurse station & again requested (maybe more demanded) that our nurse come. When I returned to the room the intercom said the nurse was on her way & I also requested/demanded that a doctor come along too.

The nurse did some initial drying & the resident gave her an internal exam to make sure we didn't have a cord prolapse and to check how dilated she was. Thankfully the cord & baby were all right & her cervix was still around 1cm (the same size as last week) which was great news. The bed was changed & we got her in new clothes & back under the covers. They put her back on the fetal monitor to check for contractions (none) & to watch the baby's heart rate (strong). When the attending physician came by this morning he requested for her to be on the monitor all morning.

The whole ordeal was quite a scare but I think we're looking pretty good at the moment. Kristin has stopped leaking & she & the Cubby are still monitoring just fine under the watchful eye of Ben & Chloe (or at least their stuffed Webkinz avatars). In fact her contraction line is looking better than it has since we arrived--probably because her uterus isn't as agitated without all the extra fluid. The doctors say she's still has a good amount of fluid (the resident's best guess was she lost between 1 -2 liters) & we're fine to wait until tomorrow's regularly scheduled ultrasound to measure it.

Just yesterday the attending doctor mentioned they might need to do an Amniocentesis procedure if we're still here in the coming weeks just to empty much of her extra fluid but clearly now we don't need it. Kristin feels a lot better without all of that extra weight & girth--she looks much smaller & her belly isn't tight & distended. Hopefully it'll also translate into better sleeping for her as well.

We're grateful that everything looks good but it was also a somewhat scary reminder that the situation here can change in an instant. Still, as we've said before we're just happy to have another day; thanks for all your continuing support.....

Addendums:

• Regarding the wastefulness of the hospital--The other day I actually got told to to get a new styrofoam cup when I tried to re-fill mine with ice & water in the staff lounge
• Kristin's food saga may finally be turning around. Last night she received her Amy's Vegetarian bowl and she's getting new menu options to choose from.
  

The Cubby Chronicles VIII

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Its Wednesday which means that the Cubby has grown another week. We're currently sitting right at 27 weeks and as the doctor said this morning, every new day makes a difference to a potential preemie. So we're happy & thankful to have today even as we dream of being here for many more weeks.

Living at Duke day by day means settling into a routine and doing a fair amount of clock watching. Hospitals seem to be in a unique world line where the principles of time operate independently from the rest of the world. Occasionally the minutes crawl by while at other times you'll look up and can't believe that so many hours have passed.

The hospital really slows down at night with much of the staff & visitors gone. The security lights dot the halls and after dinner we usually end up going to bed pretty early as there's not much going on. We don't watch much TV (Kristin finds that shows like American Idol aren't nearly as tolerable when one can't fast-forward through the fluff) and we learned the hard way that we're not ideal Scrabble players. However, being here at the hospital has allowed me to watch almost every game the last 10 days or so of the NBA Playoffs which has been nice. We're hoping that the Cubby will be 'The Playoff Baby' and stay in there at least until the finals are over....

Hospital Food

Today has been another great day - no baby and no labor. Tomorrow the Cubby will be 27 weeks gestation which is a good milestone, but we are of course hoping for more. Today we had another ultrasound and everything still looks good. I still have way too much fluid, but it hasn't gone up since the last ultrasound on Friday, so that's also good.

Yesterday the dietician stopped by because I've been underwhelmed by my vegetarian choices of 1. peanut butter and jelly or 2. cottage cheese and fruit plate. She let me know about the "Or you may prefer" menu which does include a few better options, so hopefully things will improve. I also let her know that I was writing things in on the menu (very complicated things like "strawberry yogurt") and wasn't getting them. So, for now I've been getting what I asked for - basically. Over the weekend one of the food tray deliverers (I have no idea what their actual job title is) told me that I could get Amy's Organic Tofu and Veggie bowls if I wrote them on the menu, but she said to call it "Asian Tofu Bowl" not just "Tofu" or I would get "noodles or something." So, I dutifully wrote "Asian Tofu Bowl" on the menu for today, and here's what I got...


The vegetarians will instantly recognize that that is just a block of tofu straight out of the package. Was it soft? firm? I have no idea. I don't even know if they heated it up. It's pretty clear they didn't season it or prepare it in any way. All I did was take the cover off the dish, stare in disbelief, take the picture, and ask Jeff to put the tray back in the hall.

The Cubby Chronicles VII

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

We've achieved a pretty big goal this morning of making it past one week since Kristin's water broke.  In a couple of hours we'll make to a full 7 days here at the hospital.  After a first night that was quite action-packed we've settled in and for the most part the days are getting calmer.  Kristin's now wearing regular clothes and this morning the attending physician gave her permission to take short trips in a wheelchair (even outside).  Of course with this more relaxed state of mind we seem to be sleeping better too.

One thing that's surprised me in my week at Duke Medical is how wasteful hospitals are. Everything they stock the room with, serve Kristin during meals, and offer patients & visitors in the cafeteria are single-serving & not exactly recyclable.  Its amazing how much trash just the two of us can generate in a day & its surprisingly easy to just go along with it.  

A good example are these 16 oz styrofoam cups (after all, it is the south) that we can constantly fill up with ice & water.  Of course the nurses bring in new cups every time K needs medicine and we have different cups for the soda & juices too.  Then the room gets too crowded with cups & they've got to go somewhere so the trash can looks mighty tempting.  The next day the cycle starts over again....

Otherwise we're doing well.  In between the two of us watching bad daytime TV Kristin spends some time working on a cross-stitch and I'm reading The Big Book of Birth in preparation for the big day.  Also congrats go out to our good friends Kathleen & Omar, who recently went into labor with their 3rd child.  Since she's close to her due date, much better for them to go before the Cubby....

The Cubby Chronicles VI

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Its 5:00, the rain is coming down here in Durham, & we're between mothers.  My parents gamely flew into Greensboro yesterday ~ 1:00 and drove the hour over to Durham.  They brought some Elmo's for lunch, saw the room for a bit, & my dad & I drove back to Raleigh to get our Outback (which was left at our OB's office in Raleigh on Monday--I guess Dr. Mohr was right when she said it wouldn't get towed).  We then stopped by the house, saw the dogs for a bit (who were understandably quite confused), & grabbed more clothes & supplies for the hospital days ahead. 

We spent our 5th anniversary dinner eating takeout food from Cinelli's & for the record Kristin had shrimp fra diablo pasta & I shared some pizza with the dad.  They got up early, stopped by the room to have some breakfast with us, then drove back to Greensboro for their flight at 9:45.  We've had most of the day to ourselves and Kristin's mom is flying in ~ 7:30 tonight.  She's actually staying for the week and her presence will allow us to ferry more goods back & forth from our house as well as rescuing our friends the Pooles from another week of watching our dogs.  

We've passed another goal of staying just a couple on our 5th anniversary & we're doing fairly well on the next goal--Kristin staying a mother-to-be today.  She continued a recent trend of having some lower-level contractions show up on her morning monitoring but they passed like they have the past few days.  The doctors & nurses remind us that just like we've read pregnant women have many non-labor contractions.  Still, whenever they show up it still puts us on edge.  We're still stable and Kristin's doing well so that makes it another successful day.  

As promised, here's a couple of the '3-D' Ultrasound shots so you can see the Cubby in action.  Note he moves around quite a bit so the images (& thus his features) might look a little distorted....

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!    I think Cubby is on board to keep me a mom-to-be today and not a full mom yet.  Hopefully we'll be saying the same thing come Father's Day for Jeff but that seems like a long way away.  For now, we're taking it day by day.  We're grateful to be 6 days past when my water broke - almost to one week.    Look for a post later today from Jeff with pictures from the 3D ultrasound we had on Thursday.

The Cubby Chronicles V

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Well, we've made it to the weekend.  Kristin is still stable which is always a good sign.  She had a little cramping over night but nothing too serious.  The baby is still looking good which we know because we had another ultrasound yesterday.  Assuming our weekly schedule stays constant, we'll have general ultrasounds on Tuesdays & Fridays as well as a heart-specific echo cardiogram on Thursdays.  We'll try & put some 3-D ultrasound pictures of the Cubby up on the blog.  I might be a tad biased but he seems like a cute little guy.  The picture above is my bed/couch combo where I spend a fair amount of my hours.

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary so we're thinking of ways to celebrate.  We might take out some food from Elmo's Diner, a favorite spot from Kristin's grad school days. As one might imagine, we're nearing the end of our honeymoon with hospital food, especially what they serve Kristin.  There's not a whole lot of vegetarian offerings, though considering how some of the food tastes, not trying the meat might be a good thing.

Today we'll also have the arrival of our first guests (my parents).  They're flying in from Detroit though because the big 3 schools (Duke, UNC & NC State) have graduation this week they had to fly into Greensboro, about an hour away.  Hopefully they'll be able to help us ferry some things from the house including getting us some clean clothes.  Trust me, they're certainly needed.  My parents will fly out tomorrow evening so we appreciate their willingness to bear the 'short weekend' to help us out.  Kristin's mom is also flying in tomorrow & will stay all of next week.  Thanks again for all your continuing support, we appreciate it.    

   

The Cubby Chronicles IV

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

I'm sitting here in our room typing this out on a laptop while Kristin is napping.  Thanks to our buddies Steph & Nate we have a MacBook for the weekend to post updates on the blog.  I think they're covertly trying to convert us over to the apple side of things but its helpful nonetheless (though I can't figure how to delete things forwards as opposed to backspacing).

The bottom line is we're still stable & looking good.  We've reached a couple of goals recently including the Cubby not sharing my mom's birthday (5/8--happy birthday mom!) & making it past the 4 days/96 hour mark since Kristin's water broke.  The best way for us to wrap our heads around this whole thing is to take it one step at a time & focus on what we think of as reachable milestones.  We don't really have anything specific for Saturday other than 'make it to the weekend' but that'll do for now.

Strange as it sounds we're adjusting pretty well to the routine of hospital life.  Some of you think that we'd be bored out of our minds by now but actually our days seem quite full even if they only are made up of small events.  The nurses come in every 4 hours, 3 meals are brought every day (& she gets to plan her next day's meals) and we always have some other obligation.  Yesterday it was having an echo cardiogram to make sure the Cubby's heart looked good (thankfully it did).  However, it was almost a 3 hour ordeal though Kristin got to go in a wheelchair & saw something other than the view from the bed.  

We hope to be comfortable here because we'd like to stay awhile.  We've received some questions regarding when Kristin might be allowed to leave the hospital but just to be clear we're essentially here until the baby arrives, one way or another.  That could be today, it could be in July and its just a waiting game.  What keeps us (& me especially) on edge is that labor could start at any moment.  A good friend of mine at work was in a similar situation recently & she told me the first week in the hospital is the hardest.  Its certainly been a roller coaster so far but we're not ready to get off yet.  So our intention is to make it through a few weeks but while that's the overall goal we try to focus on each day.  Thanks again for everyone's thoughts, prayers, & encouragement.....

Thank you! and the background on our roller coaster ride...

We really cannot express how much we appreciate all the care and concern everyone has shown.  We're pretty sure we're not reaching everyone when we send out email updates, so we've decided to go to the even less personal option of posting to our blog.  It feels a little cold to do things this way, but we want to make sure that everyone that would like information can access it.  Thanks so much for all the calls and emails, even if we can't reply or call you back, we really do appreciate hearing from you, so please feel free to keep calling and emailing. It means a lot to hear/read your messages.  What follows is my attempt to tell you about the roller coaster we've been on for the last week and a half....

Last Monday (April 28) my uterus was measuring too large at my monthly prenatal checkup, so my OB sent me to have an ultrasound to see if I had a huge baby (as Jeff said at the time - maybe the cubby is just the Hulk) or too much amniotic fluid or what was going on.  On Thursday, May 1, we had the ultrasound and learned that I do indeed have too much amniotic fluid (a condition known as polyhydramnios).  I was allowed to continue to work but told to rest when I got home (no cooking, cleaning, walking the dogs, etc).  I was told to call my doctor if I thought I felt contractions or if I thought my water broke.

On Monday, May 5, I had a feeling that perhaps I was leaking amniotic fluid.  I went to my regular OB that afternoon, and she confirmed that I was leaking fluid (meaning my water broke).  She sent me immediately to Duke University Hospital and told me that I could have the baby that night or several weeks from now.  When we got to Duke, they immediately gave me a steroid shot (to help the cubby develop - particularly his lungs), put me on magnesium (to inhibit labor and contractions), and started giving me antibiotics.  Over night I had the fun joy of getting a catheter and dealing with the effects of the magnesium.  I also had some contractions and it was really touch and go on going into labor.  Needless to say, Monday night was pretty difficult.

Mid-day Tuesday they took me off the magnesium.  I had a few more irregular contractions that afternoon.  But I made it to the second round of steroid shots that evening.  Apparently the two steroid shots are really a key to making sure the baby has the best chance if he is delivered prematurely.  We also had an ultrasound which showed that the cubby looks good (and we got some 3D pictures of him).  Even though I am leaking fluid, at Tuesday's ultrasound, I still had way too much fluid (even more than at last Thursday's ultrasound)  And I continued to get antibiotics.  The antibiotics are to fight off infection.  Apparently infection is the biggest concern right now and is what will most likely send me into labor.

On Wednesday, we made it to the 48 hour mark (48 hours after my water broke Monday morning) which is a real milestone as 50% of women who have premature rupture of the membranes (water breaking) will deliver within 48 hours.  The next big milestone is 2 weeks - 80% of women deliver within 2 weeks.

Right now, we're doing well.  I slept well last night with some mild abdominal cramping but nothing I couldn't sleep through (it seems as though as long as I can sleep through any pain/contractions the doctors don't care too much).  This morning the monitors (I go on every 20 minutes once a day) picked up some more low level contractions that I couldn't really feel (the same thing happened yesterday).  I also took a shower for the first time!  Woohoo!  After that we went down to pediatric cardiology for our echogram.  The attending OB wanted to do a more detailed ultrasound of the heart just to see if there is anything wrong (although the standard ultrasound wasn't picking up anything).  Anything they can detect now we'll help the neonatologists immensely when the cubby is born.  Anyway, the cardiologist thinks the cubby's heart looks good.  He might have a small-medium hole between his upper chambers but from other views the doctor said he couldn't see it.  The doctor said it is something that would probably close up after birth and/or be something we'd worry about a few weeks after he's born. The doctor also thought his heart looked a little stiff when it releases blood (something like that - we can't remember the exact terminology) which is probably from the pressure of the excess fluid.  But overall, he thought everything looked really good and those were very minor problems - if problems at all. 

I'm sure that I'm forgetting some things and may have to come back and update this with some more background information, but hopefully that is enough to bring people up to speed. 

The Cubby Chronicles III

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. Before access to a full computer we sent out a few 'K Updates' via Gmail on her BlackBerry.  They have been copied here for easy access and posterity.

From: Jeff Walker <jeffrey.allan.walker@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 10:27:23 -0400
Subject: K update 2

Hi everyone, first off thanks so much for all your kind thoughts and
help.  We really appreciate them.  We've achieved our 1st 2 goals so
far: make it so K could take her 2 steroid shots and make it past 48
hours without delivery.

Essentially all the docs say is if you can make it past the 1st 48
hours you've got a shot at making it a week.  Once you've gone that
far you can make it multiple weeks.  Currently K is doing fine though
the  monitor is picking up low level contractions. However, she
doesn't really feel them and they could just as easily go away.
While we're a little scared we are just trying to stay positive and
we'll keep you as updated as we can.

Since so many of you asked we're at Duke University Hospital, room
5715.  Thanks again for all your support, love,

Jeff and Kristin

Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

The Cubby Chronicles II

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. Before access to a full computer we sent out a few 'K Updates' via Gmail on her BlackBerry.  They have been copied here for easy access and posterity.

From: Jeff Walker <jeffrey.allan.walker@gmail.com>

Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 14:33:23 -0400
Subject: Fwd: K update

- Hide quoted text -

Hey everyone! Sorry for the group e-mail but Kristin was admitted to
the hospital last night.  She was leaking amniotic fluid so her doctor
sent her over to Duke hospital.

As the forwarded message says it was a rough night but she and the
Cubby are doing good today.  They took her off the labor inhibitor
drugs and she's getting another round of steroid shots at 6.  The
bottom line is she could go into labor at any time but she could also
wait weeks (which is what we want).

For the detail-oriented she's not having any noticble contractions now
and she's only 2cm dialted.  We're right at 26 weeks along. We both
have our cell phones and we'll keep you updated.  Love,

Jeff and Kristin

Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

The Cubby Chronicles I

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. Before access to a full computer we sent out a few 'K Updates' via Gmail on her BlackBerry.  They have been copied here for easy access and posterity.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jeff Walker <jeffrey.allan.walker@gmail.com>

Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 10:01:52 -0400
Subject: K update

- Hide quoted text -

Hi everyone-just wanted to send out a quick Kristin update.  She had
some low level contractions last night around 3 but they subsided at
about 4:30.  She also had some catheter issues and back pain but
they've passed.  K's doing well now and doesn't have any pain.

We'll keep you updated, love,

Jeff and Kristin

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com