Our Date Night!

Here is just a quick peek at a few of the photos I took last weekend when Charlie and I attempted to take a day trip (we only made it about 15 minutes from our house) to get out together one last time before the little bean arrives!

At Lake Washington

Cooling off my swollen feet in the Lake :)

After stopping by a small park on Lake Washington (OO Denny Park) we headed up to Mill Creek to find lunch, coffee and wander through some bookstores! It was a nice quiet day, by the end of which I was completely exhausted!!! We ended up home by 6 and in bed by 8, we're not even parents yet and our bedtime has already become seriously compromised!

Charlie. 

I was trying to get a cute photo of the two of us but could never get out into the water fast enough,
this was the best I could do!

This weekend we went to our Church's retreat up at Fort Casey. I'll try and get some photos up of that soon!

-Cait

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32 Weeks, FINALLY!!!

This Thursday (yesterday) we officially hit the 32 week mark!!! I know for most pregnant women this is not a huge milestone but for us it's BIG for many different reasons! First of all, during my last hospital stay and month of bed-rest 32 weeks was the ultimate goal (originally it was 28 weeks but we blew past that one so 32 is the next big marker). The second real reason we (I) have been waiting for week 32 is that starting yesterday I have the official okay from my doctor to deliver at MY hospital! She told me that if I could make it to 32 weeks she would manage my labor at Northwest (barring any major unexpected complications). I know that this may seem minor but it is such a huge relief for me knowing that if anything happens, or I have complications, or questions, or go into labor I can call MY doctor, and be evaluated at MY hospital and not have to face the uncertainty of figuring out which doctor to call, which hospital to go to, and risk going to one hospital and then being transferred by ambulance (again) to a different hospital!

In all the uncertainty that we have been faced with lately it is so comforting to me to have one piece of the puzzle that feels like it is certain, something I can count on! As most of you know, this hospital is also the one that I work at; my unit, my co-workers, delivery rooms I've spent countless hours in, and doctors I work with on a daily basis. I know this is a luxury that most delivering mothers don't have, and they do just fine, but with everything we've gone through over the last few months you it is so nice to be able to take advantage of a perk of the job!!!

Okay, enough with my ranting and on to photo updates like I promised. A few weeks ago (at 29.1 Weeks) we had another ultrasound to monitor Asher's growth and he is HUGE! He is head down like a good boy but that made it difficult to get a good photo of him so I only have one (see below). But he looks like he is doing well. Overall he is measuring in the 98th percentile, most of the measurements they took put him at the size of a 32-33 week gestation infant. As far as his weight goes, he was supposed to be measuring at about 2 pounds 10 ounces (to be in the 50th percentile with most other infants his age) but they estimated his weight at 4 pounds 7 ounces!

Here's our 'little' man, sucking on his wrist!

The ultrasound tech was a little nervous and kept redoing the measurements, finally she told me that she was going to have to go get the doctor because Asher was measuring too big for his age and she just wanted to double check. I told her that he had always been big and she asked if they have ever given me a percentile for his growth and when I told her that last time he was in the 95th% she gave out a huge sigh of relief and said "Oh good, because I can't get his measurements to give me a percentile below 98% and it was making me think something was really wrong." Needless to say there is nothing majorly wrong with him, he is just very big, like always!

Two last photos I want to put up (mainly for my sister) are of my fetal monitor strips from the last two weeks. To avoid having to go in for Non-Stress Tests weekly my doctor has agreed to let me put myself on the monitor during my breaks at work and show them to her at my appointments (another nice perk that is saving us thousands of dollars). So below are my strips from week 30 and 31. The squiggly line on the top is Asher's heart-rate (he has been looking great) and the hill shaped mounded line on the bottom are monitoring my contractions. The dark red lines each mark 1 minute with 5 lighter lines in between each marking 10 seconds.

Week 30

Week 31

As you can see I'm still contracting pretty frequently (irregularly but frequently) usually when I'm at work the contractions come about every 3-5 minutes, in the 31 week strip above they were coming about every 2-3 minutes. This, as you can imagine, is super annoying but they are not doing anything (aka I'm not actually in labor) so there is nothing much the doctors can do about it. Needless to say we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little man. It has been a long journey for sure but he needs to cook a little bit longer so he can be our 12 lb Thanksgiving turkey like he's supposed to be! I will try to be patient (Charlie's doing better than I am most days) but am really looking forward to posting ACTUAL photos of him sometime in the next 5-6 weeks!

I hope you're all enjoying the fall weather. Charlie and I are going to try to make it to our church's All Church Retreat next weekend up in Camano Island at Fort Casey so I will hopefully be able to post some pictures of our time there when we get back next week!

-Cait

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Week 21 and beyond...

Alright all, I'm sorry that I fail miserably at this repeatedly but I'm trying to do a little catching up. So this is my attempt at filling you in... on the last trimester!

It has been a busy summer for sure; lots of travel, new experiences and unexpected complications! Charlie and I are doing well but I have definitely put him through a lot these last few months. Below is an ultrasound photo and update of Asher at his 21 week check up:

21 Weeks and 6 Days

 This week Asher had a detailed fetal growth ultrasound and a fetal echocardiogram to check the growth and development of his heart. He passed (for the most part) with flying colors! His heart looked great, it wasn't enlarged like they were worried it might be and it was pumping just how it was supposed to be for his age. They noticed a slightly enlarged spacing between one of the valves that they said he might be slow to close (meaning he would likely have a heart murmur at birth) but that shouldn't cause him any significant problems and would likely resolve by the time he was a toddler. As far as his growth was concerned he was big for his age (surprise, surprise). He was supposed to weight about 1 pound but was measuring at 1#5oz putting him in the 95th percentile for his age. Overall things were going well!

At the 22 week mark I changed my work schedule to part time which was really helpful. It gave me time to finally feel like I could get things at home organized and cleaned. I spent a long time fixing up our apartment but by the end of the week I had started contracting a lot! It wasn't too bad, I would just go home and lay down and they would go away. But once I hit the 23 week mark I had to go back to work, I was scheduled to work 52 hours in 4 days which made me a little nervous! I wasn't feeling great Friday night when I went in and things continued to go downhill from there!

It was a crazy shift by 10pm I was already contracting every 3-5 minutes and things were getting worse. I had to take an active labor patient who was going natural at midnight and by the time I got her admitted and her IV started I was unable to stand up straight or talk through the contractions that were now coming every 3 minutes. Thankfully my co-workers noticed and took over (aka they talked to the MD on call and had me admitted to our last room), my poor co-workers, not only did they loose a nurse but they gained another patient, and not an easy one at that!

They tried all different meds and IV drips but nothing worked to stop the contractions, by 6am the doc had done all she could for me at my hospital and they decided to transfer me by ambulance to a high risk hospital just incase I was actually going into labor. By this time Charlie was there with me and we packed up our stuff and headed downtown. Long story short we were admitted to a few different units at the high risk hospital until they finally determined that although I continued to contract I wasn't actually in labor (no cervical change). So they gave up trying to stop the contractions and just ensured that they weren't going to get worse without the medicine and finally let me go home on bed rest!

I spent the end of July and the beginning of August at home trying to take it easy but finally got the okay from my doctor to go back to work at 27 weeks but only doing 8 hour shifts with no labor patients! Needless to say the end of the second trimester was long and stressful for both Charlie and I so we were both very glad to get into the third trimester! Below is a photo of our fridge and our daily reminder of how big our little man is getting!

Our little guy!

I've since had another ultrasound but the little man was being a stinker and we didn't get a great photo but I will post that next time. I hope you are all enjoying the end of your summer, we here at the Akes' household are but I think we are both eagerly anticipating the arrival of Fall!

-Cait

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Long Overdue... Update

I have been informed by my youngest sister (and various other family members) that I am the worst blogger EVER!!! (I do believe you were all forewarned however  See original post. so I don't feel too guilty). But I decided to post a few photo updates of our summer so far.

Up until last week it has been a crazy busy summer for Charlie and I; lots of work, travel, weddings and family time for both of us! It was good but it has also been very nice just to be home for a week. I just started my new work schedule (major cut backs) which has been a huge blessing for both my health and sanity (I think Charlie would agree)!

Charlie and I took a day trip up to Fairhaven for our 6 month wedding anniversary in early May. 

Ezrah and her uncle Charlie in Wisconsin for Kier and Jacob's Wedding at the end of May.  

Charlie and his brothers (doing boy things) down in Alabama in June. 

Charlie and I in DeSoto State Park
I went off-roading for the first time, it was stressful, Charlie loved it!
(P.S. Driving around in our Toyota Camry rental car on a dirt road probably doesn't actually qualify as off-roading but it was enough for me!)

Walking Charlie to work we saw the Jeep he thinks is cool so I decided to take a picture of it with my new camera that he got me for my birthday!

Taking a break during walk around Green Lake on the 4th of July.

In Colorado for my mom's wedding in July. 

Okay well that's all I have for now. I'll try and get a little more on top of things in these next few weeks and maybe get you some updates about our little one soon too!

-Cait

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Anatomy & Gender Ultrasound

In-spite of all the craziness I was able to get to my ultrasound before they admitted me to the hospital. They didn't go through the results with me much before they shipped me over to the main hospital but they told me that the baby looks good and all of the 16-week checks they did were normal. One other important piece of information that I did get from the ultrasound however was the gender! 

SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know the gender of our little one please don't keep reading, or do,  just be warned...

I did get some cute pictures of the little guy! He's getting too big to fit all in the same screen but I think I have a cute profile shot to post. Enjoy!

This is apparently a photo of his feet, they looked much clearer on the ultrasound. 

P.S. Charlie was right all along, it is a BOY!

Look at him! He is getting so big. 

...and I might be biased but I think he's pretty cute!

STRETCH!

 That's his left hand across his face looking down from the top of his head.

That's all I've got for right now. I'm still hoping for an early discharge but it looks like I might have to be here till at least 8pm... sad. 

-Cait

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A rough start, Week 16...

Well... it's been a busy 48 hours since I've hit the 16 week mark. It started Wednesday night with projectile vomiting that continued into the early morning hours! Poor Charlie, I couldn't make it to the bathroom in time no matter how hard I tried so finally he just slept on the bathroom floor with me so that he could help me. I had a difficult time keeping much of anything down, which makes controlling my diabetes even more difficult because every time I would get sick my blood sugars drop very quickly so I have to eat and drink to keep them up (well this would usually just make me throw up more... you see the problem.) Anyways be morning I had stopped getting sick but still had a severe headache and was very dehydrated but I managed to make it downtown for my 16 week appointment.

Unfortunately because of the dehydration, and messed up blood sugars, I was spilling ketones in my urine by the time I got to the office (my bodies last resort to try and compensate for elevated blood sugars when not enough insulin is available or able to be used). Due to the dehydration, and ketones, and my inability to stand up straight without having my heart race and getting dizzy and out of breath my doctor decided to start an IV to rehydrate me. Well after 3 failed IV attempts and 3 failed attempts by lab to draw some blood work that IV turned into a full hospital admission... 24 hours later I am still here, hooked up to an IV, continuous EKG monitor, and hourly blood sugar checks (I thought I looked crazy and bionic before, now there are more wires and tubes attached to me than I can count). I was hoping to be able to leave this morning but the nurse I talked to told me 24-48 hours, which means maybe if I'm lucky later tonight but I will definitely be here for a while still.

Charlie has been amazing, he came home early yesterday to bring me the things from home I needed and stayed with me here last night (which involved eating hospital food, sleeping on the floor next to my bed for an hour or two before we got a guest bed pulled out, and hourly wake up calls through the night by my nurses, poor guy). The good news is I'm feeling much better now, just tired but I'm really hoping to get out of here sooner rather than later but I'll keep you updated once I see the diabetes educator and the cardiologist this morning.

-Cait
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P.S. Stay tuned for a new photo and some exciting news about the sex of our little one!!!

Electronic Upgrades

This post could also be called "Turning me into the Bionic Woman" because sometimes lately that is what I feel like!

It's been a busy weekend around here at the Akes' household... well kind of. I have been working most of the weekend which means I sleep all day and am gone all night, but that feels busy to me. The exciting part though is that I had a doctors appointment last Thursday and found out that my insurance approved me for a new pump and continuous glucose monitor!!! This is a big deal!

The first time I talked to the MiniMed rep about getting a new pump he told me that in all his years doing this he has never seen my insurance company approve a new pump when the old one was still in warranty. But, thanks to a well written letter from my diabetes educator and my high risk OB explaining my severe lows resulting in multiple 911 calls they approved me for both (probably because in the end it's going to be cheaper for them than continuing to have to pay ambulance bills). After a long day stuck at home on Friday waiting all of the new supplies got delivered to our apartment.

Multiple boxes, books, computer updates and supplies... a little overwhelming!

It took me about 2 hours to set up my new pump. After reading the updates and checking out the new changes I got started on changing all the 8 million settings to be the same as my old pump. I was really surprised at how long it took me because I know how to use the pump and I've been doing this forever, so you can imagine how long it took me to go through all the sensor information!! 

My new pump, much darker than my old one.  

Charlie likes it though because I didn't pick the pink, purple or neon blue option!

I started reading through the instructional booklets on Friday (240 pages long, I skipped a few sections), then on Saturday I found the Sensor Startup Folder and the two page long to-do list which included an online training class (to be completed prior to attending the training with my diabetes educator). So I spent the next two days reading through that class online and taking the tests. My initial plan was just to read the instructions and put the new sensor in, but after reading huge warning signs on every other page saying: 

Do not attempt to enter your insulin pump or glucose sensor settings without the direction of your health care provider.

Warning: DO NOT start using the system until medical personnel trained on the system teach you how to use it. Your health care provider will provide you with settings to program into the system.

Over and Over and Over again it warned you not to put the sensor in without your provider present! So... much to my dismay I decided to wait until my appointment on Friday to start using the sensor.

Well, that was the original plan. Then I went to work last night and it was kind of overwhelming, I had so many patients and so much to do, I was running around like crazy! I had checked my blood sugar and it was okay but by 9:30 at night things started to get even more overwhelming for me. I kept dropping things when I was in a patients room so I knew I needed to leave, I went out to the nurses station and I don't remember much of what happened after that. One of the midwives I don't know well came up to me, as I sat staring blankly at the clock on the wall, and apparently started talking to me but I was unresponsive so she got one of the other nurses. Within minutes half the nurses on the floor were surrounding me trying to get me to eat or drink something, test my blood, and wipe the sweat out of my eyes. This, while you think would be helpful just overwhelmed me more and I shut down (not like I was really with it in the first place). But they got me to eat and drink finally and one of the nurses had called Charlie to come get me.

By the time I had gotten myself together and changed out of my wet clothes a few doctors had showed up each with their own opinion about what I should be doing (most of which was ignored... sorry). But the general consensus between all the nurses (And the midwife, And the doctor) was that I needed to have my sensor in place before I came back to work. So... that is what I have spent most of today doing!

For those of you who don't know what the Sensor is (also called a Continuous Glucose Monitor) it is another small device with a sensor that I inject underneath my skin and wear on me at all times. It communicates wirelessly with my insulin pump and checks my blood sugar level every 5 minutes. I can set parameters for it on my pump and it will alarm if my blood sugar goes above or below a certain level. In addition to that, it also has more emergent alarms that sound if my blood sugar is dropping too quickly (even if I am still within the 'good' range) notifying me in advance of possible severe lows. The idea is that this will give my doctors a much better idea of what is going on inside my body before and after meals, severe lows, highs, and while I'm sleeping. This will also give me the ability to know when I am going low and to be able to do something about it before I get to the point where I am so disoriented I am unable to take care of myself.

So... here it is:

The sensor injected under my skin, and the transmitter (white part) attached to it. 

It takes two hours to get set up initially before it will have any readings to display on my pump, so I am still waiting to calibrate it for the first time (hopefully in about 15 minutes) then it will start working. I will get a continuous reading and graphs on my new insulin pump (this is why I needed the new pump) showing what my blood sugar is and what direction it is trending in! It's exciting and will hopefully be very helpful for me and it will allow Charlie to breathe a huge sigh of relief while I am home sleeping and he is at work all day!

We'll see how it goes and I hope to have an update later in the week to show some new graphs and charts and such (the really exciting part for me!)

-Cait

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