So, would you like to read about our adventures last weekend?

What a crazy weekend!

Good news first...Kim's mom came out on Friday evening. We were glad to see her. The baby shower Johnna and Robin threw was fun and everyone seemed to have a great time. Little Zachary got lots of cool stuff, including a pack & play, a crib mattress, a handmade blanket and lots of clothes and books, just to name some of the stuff and, of course, the food was delicious. Johnna took pictures and as soon as we have them, we'll post them here.

Okay here's the weird stuff from the weekend. Sit back and take a big breath, this may take a looooong paragraph to explain.

Last week Kim's mom had a toenail infection and they gave her an antibiotic she hadn't tried before. Unbeknownst to anyone, Mom was allergic to it. When she flew to Houston on Friday she was red and covered in hives. So we all visited for awhile, Kim proudly showed off her impressive tummy and Mom got to feel little Zachary move. All the while, Mom got redder and more full of hives. We convinced her to go to the Women's Hopsital treatment room (their version of an ER) and she was given an IV of steroids and benadryl. She looked better when she got to Kim's room. Unfortunately, Saturday morning Mom woke up at 6 and was covered with hives again. Her ER doctor actually came up to the room to check on her and told her she needed to go to Methodist Hospital and have the ER doctors there check her out. So off Mom went by cab to Methodist (yes, this is ER trip number two). The ER doc at Methodist gave Mom an IV of adreniline, benadryl and steroids and back mom came to Women's. Thankfully she was looking lots better and was able to attend and enjoy the shower. Towards the end of the shower, Mom was red AGAIN! Stephen's Mom took Kim's Mom to get her new prescriptions filled and they came back and Kim's Mom took the meds, but unfortunately didn't get much better. So off they went AGAIN to Methodist (are you keeping track, this is the third ER trip in 24 hours!). This time the ER doc at Methodist noticed Kim's Mom was having trouble breathing along with the rash and hives and admitted her to the Medical ICU unit. And there she stayed for a day and a half!!

Thankfully they discharged Kim's Mom on Monday at noon and she was looking much, much better, felt good and was able to enjoy a quiet afternoon with Kim before she had to fly back home. Many, many thanks to Stephen's Mom for spending lots of time at Methodist consoling Kim's mom and keeping her company since Kim couldn't be there. Again, the good news is that Kim's mom is now doing fine, she was able to attend the shower and even got to meet our fantastic doctor (who came back especially to meet her). We swear, the back-to-work Hollywood writers couldn't write this stuff...it all really happened!

Oh, and more bad news. Kim's cousins from Louisiana couldn't make it out this weekend because someone in the family got some bad news, medical wise. It was really sad and we were sorry to hear the news.

As for all of us, we are doing good. Stephen got to work on the clearing out the nursey this weekend and picked up the nursery furniture we ordered. Kim had some bleeding issued over the weekend, but the doctor says it is due to the placenta previa and is not alarmed as it is not impacting Zachary. Zachary gave us a bit of a scare earlier today when his heart rate dipped kind of low for two minutes, but after three and a half hours of additional monitoring, it didn't happen again and he resumed his usual impressive heart rhythms. Dr. Pinell told us that it is not unusual for babies with no (or little) amniotic fluid to have decelarations in their heart patterns, but Zachary hadn't done it so far so they wanted to watch him more carefully. I just got off the monitor again and he was just fine. Thank goodness! We were saying lots of prayers today.

For those of you keeping track, we are on Week 26 (our new weeks start each Saturday) and we have been living here at Women's Hospital for just over a month. Dr. Pinell told us last week that if Zachary hadn't made an appearance on his own by week 34, they would take him via C Section between Week 34 and 36 . So we will have an April baby (hopefully). This Thursday Kim gets some blood work done and we get another ultrasound. We'll post and let you know how it goes.

So until then, love to all!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day folks!

Sorry for the delay in posts, but be assured that no news is good news! We've made it to over 25 and 1/2 weeks! We are so happy to have come so far and are praying that there are many more weeks to come up here at Women's Hospital. All the nurses tell us that the fetal monitor reflects a very healthy baby with an advanced heart rate and no inidication that the lack of amniotic fluid has affected little Zachary. Thank God for good news!

Last Saturday Stephen was able to put his hand on my belly and felt Zachary move, kick and he even felt a hiccup or two. The look on Stephen's face almost made me cry. He was looking at us with such awe. I just love it that he can feel our son's movements now. Yesterday my nurse taught him what to look for and now Stephen can tell by just by looking at my belly where Zachary is laying. Speaking of my belly, it seems to have doubled in size practically overnight!

Since I obviously can't get to the neighborhood Hallmark store, I got out the markers and paper (thanks Deanna for sending them to me in that sweet care package you sent) and made Stephen a homemade Valentine. Shhhh! Don't tell! I haven't given it to him yet. We are preparing a little basket of chocolates to give to the nurses too. They have been so great and taken such good care of us up here.

It's a big, exciting weekend for us! My mom is flying in for the weekend and I can't wait. Also, my cousins from New Orleans are talking about coming in too. You guys are going to laugh at me, but both my mom and my cousins are bringing me food that I am craving that I just can't get here. My mom is brining Chocodiles (chocolate covered twinkies) and my cousin is bringing crawfish and corn bisque from their restaurant. It's sure going to beat hospital food!

The other exciting thing this weekend is that Stephen's and my nieces, Johnna and Robin, are throwing me a baby shower up here Saturday afternoon. This unit here at the hosptial is used to such things and are bringing a table and ten chairs into my room. This room is going to be crowded and full of love! I am so excited! Plus this weekend we start Week 26, which is a mini-milestone. My doctor says that every two weeks is mini-milestone as far as little Zachary's development.

Well, that's about all in our world. Have a wonderful day, week and weekend. Love to all!

Now I lay me down to sleep...

Look at what my sweet hubby bought for us! It's the cutest little boy who says a little prayer. Here's what he says...

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and angels watch me through the night, and keep me in their blessed sight...Amen."

We have him so he is looking over Zachary and I. All is well with the three of us.

Love to all!

Ultrasound Results

Hi folks!

Yesterday's ultrasound went well, even though Zachary was acting shy and covering his face with his hands and turning away from the ultrasound wand. He has such personality already! The doctor told us that he looks great! Everything is where it should be. He now weighs 1.3 pounds and is in the 27th percentile for weight. He gained five ounces in two weeks, which my doctor says is good. It means I'm doing a good job getting him proper nutrition so he can grow, grow, grow!

Here's a cute picture of his profile.

Oh! Last night while listening to his heart beat on the fetal monitor, we discovered he had the hiccups! It was so cute! I could feel them a little bit, but mostly we heard them on the monitor. Listening to him is our favorite parts of the day.

That's about all that's new here. We hope all of you are doing well and are enjoying life. Love to all!

Week 24 - we made it!

YEAY!!! When we first got to the hosptial after Kim's water broke, the doctor gave us two goals to work towards, one was Week 24 which they call "the age of viability" and the other is Week 28 where Zachary's risk of having complications from a premature birth significantly decrease.

Yes folks, on Saturday, February 2nd, we made it to Week 24 and boy were we thrilled!! Our doctor came in and joined in on the excitement since it is such a HUGE hurdle we conquered. Things remain good. The placenta previa is causing some bleeding but since there are no contractions (can we get a 'Whoo hoo' please?) the doctor isn't worried about it. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday where they are going to measure little Zachary again. They monitor Zachary's heart for half hour increments, three times each day. They are very pleased by his heart rate and Dr. Pinell has even called Zachary's heart rythms "advanced" for his age. That's our boy!

We are so blessed to be in such a great hospital with a wonderful doctor and great nurses. Many of the nurses request to be Kim's nurse for the day only to discover someone else has already requested her. We think it's funny that they fight to take care of us.

We continued working on our registry (online) over the weekend and bought Zachary's furniture online on Saturday. That was how we celebrated our wonderful milestone.

We hope life is treating everyone well and thank you all for the prayers, calls, care packages and visits. They all mean so much to us. We'll try to update more frequently, but there's not a lot of news when you all you are doing is laying in a bed, growing a baby. ;)

Love to all!!