Update on Baby #3!

Monday I went to see the high-risk specialist to have our baby checked as well as my cervix length checked. The baby is looking wonderfully well. The baby is really low and head down. That is not normal for this gestation. But we are happy to say that baby is looking perfect.

My cervix is actually a little better measuring at 2.5 cm (last week it was 2.1 cm). Which is good news! However, the high-risk specialist wants to see if the change in my cervix length is due to the medication (Procardia and Progesterone shots) or the bed rest. So I am off of bed rest until Friday! Yay!!! Paul is doing a wonderful job at giving me my shots. He did his first one at home last night and it could not have gone better! Thank you Paul!!! I ♥ you!!!

I will go back for another ultrasound to check cervical length on Friday. If my cervix is not shortening then this will tell the high-risk specialist that the medication is working and that no further intervention will be necessary. I would not have to go back onto bed rest. If it has shortened then they are going to want to do the cerclage. It has to be done before 24 weeks gestation and I am almost 23 weeks. So if it has shortened then they are going to do the cerclage either Friday afternoon or Monday. I am really hoping that they can do it Friday afternoon because Paul leaves to New York on Monday. I would really like him to be there.

If I am to have the cerclage done it will be an out patient procedure and I will have an epidural. Then I will most likely have to be on bed rest for about a week until the stitch heals. After that I would be able to get up and resume normal (not crazy) activity. The high-risk specialist is really trying to make it so that I do not have to be on bed rest so I can be a mommy to JP and Rachel. I really liked the high-risk specialist and like the course of action that we are taking.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

God bless,

Preterm Labor/Baby #3 Update

Today I went for another ultrasound to check my cervix length. Last week it was measuring 2.8 without compression and with compression it was measuring 2.5cm. Today it was measuring 2.2cm without compression and with compression 2.1cm.

I have officially been put on bed rest. I am allowed to get up to eat, go to the bathroom, and take a shower. I am also allowed to get up for an additional 30 minutes. Other than that I have to stay laying down. I have also been prescribed Procardia to help stop the uterine contractions. I am continuing the Progesterone shots. I had my second one today. Paul gave it to me. He did an amazing job! I was very impressed (Thank you Paul! You are my hero!!!).

I am going to see a Perientologist (high-risk pregnancy specialist) Monday to have an ultrasound to check my cervix length. Based on the results of that ultrasound it will determine what our next course of action is to be. If my cervix length gets below 2cm than they are going to look into doing a cervical cerclage (stitch to close the cervix). If they do that I may need to spend a night in the hospital for observation. I would be on bed rest for about a week then I would be able to get up and be on light duty (no picking up JP who weighs over 30lbs). But I would not be on the bed rest that I am on now. They use spinal, or epidural anesthesia for pain control during the procedure. A doctor will stitch a band of strong thread around the cervix, and the thread will be tightened to hold the cervix firmly closed. Generally the thread is removed at the 37th week of pregnancy. The procedure is successful in 85% to 90% of cases.

Some of the risks include:

• Premature contractions
• Cervical dystocia (inability of the cervix to dilate normally in the course of labor)
• Rupture of membranes
• Cervical infection
• Cervical laceration if labor happens before the cerclage is removed

We are having family come Thursday for JP's birthday and they will be staying until the following Wednesday when Bea will come and stay with me for a few days. After a few days my dad's wife, Debbie will stay almost two weeks and Bea will go home. After that we have not scheduled anyone yet. We will assess the situation next week and see if Bea will need to come back out.

Please continue to pray for us!!!

Rachel is 10 months!

This has been one eventful month for Rachel! Her two front teeth have poked through, she's been crawling everywhere and gets into trouble, bangs her toys together, gives high-fives, lets us know when she doesn't want something, swallowed an Ace bandage clip (and subsequently threw it up), caught the stomach flu, and had a bladder infection (to name a few). But we're all still smiling!

















Jeremiah dislocated his elbow (nursemaid's elbow) earlier in the month. We didn't know what was wrong with it but he was indicating to us that his wrist hurt. This was during the holiday weekend so we had to wait to see the pediatrician and it didn't seem bad enough to warrant a daylong trip to the emergency room. We wrapped it in an ACE bandage to help keep it protected and he seemed to be comforted by it being there. Well, when Elizabeth was making the phone call to the pediatrician to schedule his appointment apparently one of the clips that holds the bandage on fell off and Rachel ate it. She started screaming and crying immediately. Elizabeth went back into the room, picked her up to see what was wrong, and noticed that she started retching with some blood. Elizabeth turned her face down so she wouldn't choke and when she retched a second time out came the clip with a minor amount of blood. She decided that she was going to the pediatrician right away anyway, so while she was there for JP she had them check out Rachel too to ensure that there was no damage done. Thankfully the PA on duty was able to properly diagnose Jeremiah's dislocation and reinsert his elbow. She also determined that Rachel sustained very minor injury from the clip and to only bring her back if she threw up more blood.
Even with all that, the BIG adventure this month was our vacation to Breckenridge. Grammy Linda donated some of her timeshare points to us and got us a weekend at the Hyatt. The rooms are amazing. We had a two bedroom with full kitchen, dining area, fireplace, and in-room laundry. Anyway, Rachel had been acting fussy starting the day before leaving and we had chalked it up to teething (her teeth were nearly out at this point). However, during the second day she took a turn for the worse and we could tell that her temperature had climbed high. While we were trying to figure out what to do she decided to emphasize to us her discomfort and threw up all over Paul. Luckily he got her to the kitchen sink in time and most of it went down the drain. At this point we decided to check her temperature and realized that we had forgotten the thermometer at home. Paul rushed to the nearest Safeway (30 minutes away) and bought a thermometer 15 minutes before closing. While Paul was at the store Rachel threw up again, this time all over Elizabeth and the carpet. When Paul returned with the thermometer it measured 103.1F. We immediately stripped her out of her cloths and started to cool her off. Half an hour later her temperature was 99F, much better. We were able to control it with Tylenol. This was about 1AM. She slept through the rest of the night and woke up with her brother around 6AM very hungry. We fed her just a little bit of milk at a time hoping not to upset her stomach. However, two hours later she threw everything up again and we knew it was time to go home and call our Pediatrician.

The pediatrician checked her out and determined this was not a complication from her earlier swallowing and regurgitating the ACE bandage clip, not an ear infection, nor Roseola. He guessed it was either a stomach flu or bladder infection. He said to bring her back if she didn't have a loose stool within 24 hours. The next day Elizabeth had a prenatal appointment in the building next to the pediatrician. By the time her appointment was over it had been 24 hours and no loose stool. So we went back to the pediatrician and he had her urine checked for bacteria. He did not see bacteria but did note an increased number of white blood cells, which is a sign of infection. He sent the urine sample to a lab and prescribed Rachel an antibiotic medication. He said, "If it's the stomach flu then the antibiotic will do no harm, but if it is a bladder infection we'll get a head start on it by giving her the antibiotic now." So that's what we did. The lab results came back with a positive culture, confirming that there was some infection.

*Special note to moms with little ones: They now make ACE bandages that Velcro closed instead of using clips*

We're hoping for fewer trips to the pediatrician next month!

Preterm Labor Baby laufer #3

I have a prayer request for the Laufer family. For those of you who do not know (you must be living under a rock) I am pregnant with my 3 baby. I am 20 weeks 2 days pregnant now and it looks like I may be put on bed rest due to the fact that my cervix is shortening, often called an "incompetent cervix" (which is an indication of preterm labor). Right now my cervix is measuring 2.5 cm (normal is 3-5 cm) Two weeks ago it was 3.5 cm. So it's a concern that it went down a whole cm in two weeks. Plus my history of preterm labor with Rachel.

Right now I am on self imposed bed rest. I also have started Progesterone shots once a week. My first one was today and they showed Paul how to do it and he will do do the next one with the nurse then he will do it on his own from then on. The Progesterone is supposed to help with the preterm labor. They cannot give me Procardia yet (what I had last time when I was pregnant with Rachel) because the nerve receptors that the medication works on are not developed yet. They are developed around 24 weeks. I will go back next Tues. July 6 for another ultrasound to check the length of my cervix. If it has gone down further then I will probably have to go on bed rest. The other thing they may want to try is what is called a cervical cerclage, in which the cervix is sewn closed during pregnancy to prevent preterm labor from happening.

The good new is that the ultrasound I had yesterday indicated that the baby is doing wonderful and that there is nothing wrong with the baby itself. The baby is beautiful and healthy. As long as the baby can stay inside for 16 more weeks (i would be at 36 weeks gestation) then we are in the clear.

Please pray that my cervix would not shorten any further and that the baby would continue to grow healthy and strong. Also for Jeremiah and Rachel that they would not be affected by this. Jeremiah's birthday is coming up in two weeks and I would really love to be able to be apart of it. Our baby #3 is in God's hands and we believe that He has great and mighty things in store for this child.

Thank you for your prayers,

Rachel turns 9 months

Our beautiful baby girl is already 3/4 of the way to her first birthday! We are just amazed at how much she has changed this past month. She weighs 18lb 5oz. (45%) and is 27 1/4in long (30%).

Rachel is crawling now but prefers to army crawl. She can go from the crawl position on all fours to a sitting position without any assistance. She loves to pull herself up to a standing position. She will stand for the longest time before getting tired. She is starting to wave bye-bye, give "five", and walk while holding onto our hands. She says "mama" and "dada" all the time now. Rachel still has no teeth yet, but her bottom gums are swollen so we should have some teeth coming real soon. Our doctor told us it's better when they come in later. Even though we have no control over when they come in.

Rachel loves playing with all of JP's toys which he doesn't like to much. We are working on the whole share, sissy had it first type of thing. JP loves telling his sister what she can and cannot do. He tells her "no sceam sissy" or "no sceam Rachel" (he cannot say the letter "r"), "no spit sissy" (when she blows the raspberries), "no touch sissy" (especially if it's one of his toys). He often gives his sister the same rules that apply to him, even though she does not understand. At some point we will have to put a stop to it but for now we think it's cute.



















Our cute "Princess Angle Eyes!!"














She loves bath time!

Mother's Day/Aqarium

For Mother's Day Paul took me and the kids to the Aquarium in down town Denver. We had a lot of fun. JP really loved seeing all the fish, sharks, stingrays, and turtles. Rachel loved seeing all the different colored fish.

This is supposed to simulate a flood. The water comes over the wall and gets you wet.








Happy girl enjoying seeing the fish with her Daddy!












JP next to a shark!















JP was ready to dive with the sharks!




We were going to eat in the restaurant at the aquarium but it was all booked up. So we went to PF Chang's instead. It was really good food. We have not eaten there in a while because it costs lots of money. We had a great day and JP loved it so much!

Rachel is 8 months old!

Rachel is such a big girl now! She has crawled a little and then falls. She is so close to crawling across the room. She is scooting like crazy to get to the things that she wants. She got into our DVD's, scooted to the cords and started chewing them.













(The blanket that Rachel is on is the one I made for her)




Rachel is doing much better at eating and she really loves her bananas. Rachel is standing now (with some help of course). She is working on pulling herself up by herself. She has not quite got it down yet. She is also working on going from a laying down position to a sitting up position. She is so close. I think this next month she is really going to put all these things together.

She has started really saying "Dada" a lot. Although she said "Mama" first she does not say it as much as "Dada". She also says "baba". She loves to hear herself scream (just like her mommy at that age).

Rachel loves to be outside. She sits in her jumper and watch's JP play. JP gets real deep chuckles out of her all the time. She also wants to a ballerina...




















She is such a joy to have around. We are really trying to enjoy these moments with her. We know that they will not last long.