Home Sweet Home....

Well, we would have never thought it but we are home and this baby is still in my belly! It was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make and it took a lot of convinving from BOTH of my doctors but I decided to come home. I completely trust both of my doctors and I know that they would never recommend I do something that would put Eliza in harms way - so here we are - 400 Bayfield Drive, laying in a king size pillow top bed. Praise the LORD! I asked what I should be watching out for and they said kick counts 1 time a day and if contractions are so bad that I can't talk through them and there are more than 6 an hour. Well let me assure you if I haven't felt Eliza move and I have 1 contraction that I can't talk through - we are outta here!

We will continue to be closely monitored - we go in tomorrow for a fluid and blood flow check and we will continue to do that every 2 days and I think they are going to send me home with a doppler to monitor her heart beat - feeling her move is just as reassuring! So that is where we are ... home and happy!

I know Eric will sleep so well tonight - I will too - no 6:00AM blood sugar checks! We were so fortunate to have received the care and attention we got while in the hospital for 2 weeks. Everyone was sooooo unbelievably good to us and it was an experience we will never forget.

For your viewing pleasure and my embarrassment, you'll see a picture above of our favorite nurse and new friend Lindsay as well as 1 of the 3 cart loads of all of our stuff ... let's just say that 2 laptops, 2 cameras, Eliza's clothes, my clothes, and Eric's clothes, 1 sound machine, 1 cd player, 5 pillows, 3 plants and Lord knows what else - it all adds up! Thank goodness we left when we did otherwise we would have needed a UHaul!

Suzy should be arriving home shortly. She went to the Spa this AM in Whiteville and may or may not be happy to be home. Apparently, daily trips to different Grills around town have made her quite the hotdog expert. I wish I could attach the picture that Cynthia and Charlie took of Suzy eating her first formal meal AT THE TABLE! Does anyone else wonder if our dog is this spoiled what will happen to Eliza -

Well I guess that is it for now - your prayers are what got us home and your prayers will keep us home - can you believe we will be 35 weeks on Sunday??? Eric and I say that like 1000 times a day we just CAN'T beloieve it - I almost for the first time in 9 months feel like a normal prego ... PRAISE HIM for all his many many blessings. Oh yeah - I have asked for a lot of prayers from you guys the last 5 months and I just want you to know that Eric and I pray for all of you each night and thank God for you - our wonderful friends and family.

We love you.

Caroline, Eric and Eliza

Expecting the Unexpected....

Well what can we say … the girl has a mind of her own. Eric, me and all the doctors have decided to stop making any assumptions about Eliza because she is going to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it – guess she is getting us ready for the teenage years.

Well the latest on Eliza is that she is a “new baby”. Yesterday we had a growth scan, more Dopplers and a check on my amniotic fluid level – happy to report that my fluid is now a 10 (who would have thought) and blood flow to the baby is within normal ranges and she is an 8 out of 8 for activity. She even gave us a few winks and opened her mouth – so neat! In my non-medical opinion, although I feel like I could be an OB at this point, I think she LOVES all the fluid! She continues to be a peanut but growing nonetheless. They estimate her weight to be 3lbs & 12oz. This means she has gained 8 oz in 2 weeks … not ideal but at least she is GROWING!! All this news means we can keep her in a little longer. We will do another scan on Thursday to check fluids – if they are still up we might talk about going home for a little bit – SOMETHING NONE OF US THOUGHT POSSIBLE A WEEK AGO!

I attribute all of this positive news from your prayers – my belly has been wrapped in a prayer shawl, made by our church, for a week – we can feel God’s work everyday – thank you!

Eric and I are doing well – we are really getting excited about meeting Eliza. We have it all planned (haven’t we learned anything yet). We have asked all the questions about what to expect from a C-section, Eric knows where to sit and stand in the operating room, the camera is ready and her preemie clothes and blankets are washed and here! I smile at the thought of her making us wait 5 more weeks – who knows!?

I am getting another prenatal massage today. I so wish Eric could get one. Twelve nights on a pull out chair are starting to really hurt his back. He is so loyal and good to me – how did I get so lucky???

Oh yeah - I almost forgot to tell you about Sunday – well in addition to Eliza being 34 weeks I had a very special visitor – to my room – for 4 hours. SUZY!!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME. We snuggled in bed just like we were at home. I think Eric will attach a picture.

Well that’s all the news for now – thank you for your continued prayers and support!

We love you

Caroline, Eric and Eliza

Weekend Update

Hello everyone in blog land. I wanted to give you a quick update. Well, no baby yet. Caroline and Eliza are still doing well. We had a little more eventful day yesterday. Caroline had her morning monitoring session and she had a few contractions and the baby's heart rate was up a little. So she got an IV and everything calmed down. They were not too concerned with the elevated heart rate. Eliza's just more active.

We also had another ultrasound yesterday. Happy to report that Eliza looked good and Caroline's amniotic fluid actually was up around a 7. It was a 3 earlier in the week. Anything less than 3 and they'll go ahead and do the C-section. So 7 was awesome! She also got an 8 out of 8 on a test they do as far as movements in utero.

Tomorrow we are at 34 weeks! Yahoooooooo! That's the big milestone. Of course our favorite doctor (Dr. Lydia Wright who's the high-risk OB-GYN, Perinatologist) told us now we are going to shoot for 35 weeks. At that point we'll re-evaluate but more than likely they'll do a C-section unless her fluid is up to a 10 or so. Oh yea, I posted a picture of Caroline and Dr. Wright. Caroline had just gotten out of the shower.

We decided Eliza's baby clothes (0-3 months) would be too big since she'll be around 4 pounds. So we got online and ordered preemie clothes. We got them yesterday and they are sooooo small. A onesie literally is the size of my hand. They are really sweet.

Our next thing is another ultrasound on Monday. We will also get a growth scan on Monday to determine size. Let's hope that all of the bacon and eggs Caroline has eaten has fattened Eliza up!

Last, we cannot access our blogsite or hotmail from the hospital. So, I'll try to update as often as possible when I'm in the office. Caroline does have access to her work email: caroline.lytle@nmfn.com.

Take care to you all and thanks again for your calls, gifts, and most importantly, prayers!

-Eric for the family

Update from Room 343

First, let me say THANK YOU! Thank you for all your prayers, blog posts, emails, phone calls, flowers, magazines, food, hospital mail … and the list goes on. Eric, Eliza and I have never felt so loved - so thank you!

Since I am not able to blog in the hospital I’m going to write a post and let Eric “post” it to our blog once he gets to the office. I know there hasn’t been one in 2 days and the troops are getting restless.

Well happy to say at the moment there is not much to update. Everyday we do a stress test in the AM - I think they should call it a stress test for me and not the baby. For those of you unfamiliar with a stress test - they just put a monitor on my belly and it prints out a 30min heartbeat scan - Eliza is completely oblivious to any stress and sleeps through it most of the time which stresses me out! Oh well - the girl likes to sleep. We are pleased that she passes every time despite her lack of activity! Eric and I normally request a second one in the PM - which she seems to be more awake for. I am thinking maybe it the bacon, eggs and grits every morning that are putting her to sleep. It sure is yummy though! This morning she was actually very active and responsive – might be the sausage – good grief if Eliza doesn’t fatten up – I am!

The rest of the day I just hang out and wait for whatever might come my way. You wouldn't believe all that goes on around here. The craft cart comes by daily and then there is “mail call” which I love and thank you for all the emails. Get this – I was able to get a prenatal massage yesterday. It was WONDERFUL and all provided by the hospital. When the nurses told me about it I thought it would be just so so but happy to report it was no different then one I would get at the spa – except I didn’t have to pay for it! Too bad Eric couldn’t get one.

All of the nurses are wonderful and take such good care of all three of us - they even make Eric's bed and Miss Mary brings him a plate of food - every meal whether he is here or not. Housekeeping takes care of cleaning the bathroom daily …. Fresh towels - clean floor and lots of TP ;) One of our favorite nurses is Lindsey and although she is not always our nurse – she’ll always stop by for a visit. I think Eric will attach a picture of her. We call this place the Hanover Hilton.

The only thing missing is Suzy. I cry at the thought of not having her in bed with me to snuggle but I think I am going to have some four legged visitors later today! Now if you are wondering how Suzy is handling all this I would say just fine. She had a 4 day slumber party with her best friend Rylee and then went to Whiteville to stay with her grandparents … yesterday she had a babysitter who threw the Frisbee to her for an hour and a half! Last night when we called she had just finished her Chick Fila and was eating ice-cream in the den - can you say SPOILED!

Well I guess that is all to report for now. As each day passes I get more excited and nervous. We have tried to prepare ourselves as best we can (the NICU tour helped) and we know that without a doubt we are all three in the hands of the Lord and feel his presence everyday as we go through this wonderful experience!

Take care of yourselves and thank you again for ALL that each one of you has done for us!

We love you -
Caroline, Eric and Eliza

Update from new Room 343

Ok, we are still have internet problems at the hospital and hopefully we'll have that fixed today. We are now in a private room which is nice.

We had a pretty calm weekend just getting monitored, but yesterday Caroline had a contraction and the baby's heart rate when down, which they didn't like. So we went ahead and had an ultrasound which showed her amniotic fluid levels around a 3 (no change). The baby was moving a lot on the ultrasound which reassured the Doctor. If we have repetetive contractions with drops in heart rate, then they'll go ahead and bring Eliza out. So we'll just continue to be monitored.

Caroline is doing well and is NOT a wreck. I think she is comforted in knowing that we are now at 33 weeks which is so much better than where we were at 17 weeks. I don't think we would have thought we'd get this far. So we know that all chances are that Eliza would be fine with a short stay in the NICU if she came now.

Also, your support and prayers help Caroline and me and Eliza of course. She really does feel the concern and support that you all provide. So keep it up! Doctor's orders!

We did take a tour of the NICU last night and they tiny babies. Some were good in size but one was no more than 2 pounds and really small. It's sad to see but they really are fighters!! Miss Eliza is too!

Love and thanks to you all!
Eric

Internet problems

Ok everyone, my laptop is no longer working in the hospital. We can get on the internet, but not blog sites or hotmail. It must be our work security features or something. I ran home to pick up a few things so making a quick post to let you know what's up.

Caroline is about the same today. Stess test was good but she had a few mild contractions on there so we'll get another one around 3:00 today. I think we will take a tour of the NICU after dinner tonight.

Hopefully I can post again tomorrow. We are going to call tech support and try to get it worked out. Caroline can check her work email which is caroline.lytle@nmfn.com.

Eric

Live Update from Room 303

Internet update: Ok Folks, We are back up and running with internet and blog capability. Yahoo! I brought my laptop since Caroline's quit working. If you need to email her, use her hotmail which is lytle_caroline@hotmail.com.

Room update: We moved to room 303 which is a semi-private room but we do NOT have a roomate which is nice. Caroline and I have shared a twin bed the last 2 nights. Me, Caroline, a big belly and a body pillow all on a twin.

Baby update: No baby yet. We continue the baby stress tests (twice/day) and so far she seems to be doing fine with very little fluid to move around in. This morning we had another ultrasound to look at Caroline's amniotic fluid levels and the blood flow to the baby. As we told you on Thursday, she was a 3. Today she was a 3 again and the blood flow looked good. So, no C-section this weekend which they were starting to discuss with us.

So, our new goal is 34 weeks. Eliza will be 33 weeks tomorrow. We'll continue to do stress tests everyday and ultrasounds every 2-3 days to measure fluids. The FFN test was negative this week so she wants to stay in there for 2 more weeks. A NICU doctor came down today to tell us what to expect when she comes. He said that if she comes at 34 weeks, then she'll probably be in there 2-4 weeks. Regardless, if Caroline somehow makes 35 weeks they will automatically do a C-section. So we will for sure have a baby within 2 weeks. We will be in the hospital until Eliza comes.

Caroline is doing well and she even got her nails painted pink tonight. Our room phone doesn't work for some reason so cell phones will be the best way to call. And hopefully we can keep blogging!!

Thanks for all of your prayers for the baby, Caroline and me too! We are really blessed b/c we have 2 great Doctors and the L&D (that's Labor & delivery) nurses are awesome!

Tomorrow, we have a tour of the NICU to look forward to. So, goodnight to all and hopefully we can post tomorrow.

-Eric for Caroline

Valentine's Day Update

Well looks like I have a roomie ... hmm ... I don't know about this .. sounds like she will only be here 24 hours - lucky her. Maybe we'll get our own room soon. I hate it for her tonight since I go to the bathroom EVERY hour ON the hour during the night.

I just got my first steriod shot - not bad - I am pretty used to those big 'ole needles in my hiney. Let's hope it doesn't cause my bottom muscles to get big - I have been assured it's not that type of "roid."

Well Eric has run out to get some real food - let's just say the maple glazed pork chop with sweet potatoes wasn't like me momma's -

Ok that's all the new news - thank you for your continued prayers for Miss Eliza - may want to add one for my roommate if she is still here when all my family starts rolling in ;)

Good night ...

VALENTINE GREETINGS FROM ROOM 306

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Ok so the day has brought a few surprises .. we had a doctor's appointment this morning to make sure the blood was flowing like it should to the baby and again measure the amniotic fluid - well the blood flow is great - baby appears healthy. The bad news is my amniotic fluid is now at a 3. For reference 15 is normal - I was at an 8 on Monday. So we were sent over to the hospital to be monitered and start steriods for Eliza's little lungs. They will administer 2 shots - one tonight and one tomorrow night and Sat. we will do another ultrasound to see what the fluid level is. There is a chance that it could go up but Eric and I don't expect it. The most important thing right now is for me to get the steriods in case of an early arrival so she can breath on her own ... I want a BIG cry from her. She is still breech and doesn't have enough fluid to turn so a C-section it is!

So we will def. be here through Sat. but hopefully will get to go home ...

Eric and I are cozied up in our hospital room which happens to be a shared room. Luckily no roommate at the moment. We've asked for a private room and maybe we'll get one. We currently have a lousy window view but it beats being on the side of the room with the toilet.

This seems a lot like being on bed rest at home, just a different view. But I don't have Suzy laying on my feet which I miss. I do have my laptop here so feel free to email me or post comments as always. Eric and I will be here all night. He bought some cards so we'll play some Gin Rummy. Eric's got a nice pleather recliner to sleep on tonight. MAybe I'll share one of my 10 pillows.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your sweeties. We'll post again tomorrow.

A Comment on Your Comments

Well I thought I would clear a few things up because I have been thinking a lot about it lately ... Over the last 4 months I have received many emails from you, my friends and family, about what a great mother I will be and how you have been amazed by my optimism and humor. Well I just want to say that I strongly believe that I am not doing and have not done anything that each one of you wouldn't do for your child. Its just one of those things you do when you love someone - whether you have met them or not :)

Regarding my optimism - I think I have always been a "happy" and "positive" person. The hardest thing I have struggled with over the past 4 months is that I have lost that. The truth is a cry a lot - there are days that I am not ok - just ask Eric, mom, dad, Sutton, Deborah, Tracy, Holly and every nurse at Wilmington Maternal Fetal Medicine.... lord how can I forget Suzy! I made a promise to Eliza about a week ago that I was going to get over myself and stop this mess. She deserves a mommy that laughs and dreams about what life will be like when she is walking, driving and God forbid dating! So my point to all this is I am not as "together" as it may appear but I am so grateful for EVERY day, EVERY kick and EVERYone of YOU!

So - let's talk about exciting things - Eric picked me up 3 new mags from the grocery store .. speaking of grocery store - Eric has decided that all the hot women in Wilmington are hanging out at the grocery store - interesting never experienced that while I was looking for firm broccoli or organic pasta sauce but maybe I wasn't looking ... not sure about todays line up on the TV but I am anxious for American Idol tonight - ok I am sure you are tired of reading my blog - I mean y'all don't just lay around and read blogs all day???

Grow Baby Grow!

Well Monday is here and that means doctor day! We had two appointments, one with the regular OB and the second with our high risk OB. The great news is Eliza looks good - heart rate in the 130-140s. I say she looks good but she is not too much into the face shots with her feet and hands covering her face. She definitely does not take after her mother or father who have never met a camera they didn't like - did I admit to that? That makes her still breech but I knew that before we went in. The other great news is my cervix is longer than it has been in quite some time!

The not so great news is she is a teeny, tiny baby and they are not quite sure why. Her gestational weight has always hovered in the 15-20% percentile but today she is in the 3% percentile - 3lbs 4oz. I would like to say that I am ok with this but the truth is I am sooooo not! I can't understand why I can't give this baby what she needs to grow. For Heavens sake I even have gestational diabetes - that supposed to make for a big baby! We will continue to keep a close eye on her growth and the amniotic fluid - that is on the low side too.

God doesn't give us anything we can't handle right? God is good and we have come so far! Please if you will, continue to keep Eliza in your prayers and please pray that she gets the nutrients from me so that she can grow!!!

TGIW

Now I am sure you are all thinking why does she care? Are weekends really any different then the weekday to someone who doesn't work and lays around all day watching TV, shopping online and reading the occasional US Magazine - well the answer is YES! There are several reasons that the weekends are exciting ..
1- Eric is home!!
2- Suzy can get out of bed and play outside
3- 2 hour stretch of 90210 reruns
4- The Marathons of Top Model
5- Maybe a quick outing to Starbuck's for a sugar free, decaf, skinny carmel latte
6- SUNDAYS are the best days of all - the Lord's Day and Eliza's weekly birthdays - 32 weeks tom!!

Last night Eric encouraged me to venture upstairs - something I have not done in almost 4 months. We had the upstairs painted about 3 months ago and I finally saw it - it was so great to have a change of scenery! It was a fun getaway even if it was in my own house.

Well I think I'll jump in the shower - it is hair washing day -- yeah!!!

Have a wonderful weekend - until Monday .... (we have a Dr. appointment at 9:00 and 10:00 so Monday should be an informative post - pray for more good news)

So maybe I'm not quite the blogging expert I thought I was ...

Interesting ... I wrote a post yesterday to tell you all about my wonderful day and where did it go? Hannah you are indeed the expert, any ideas?

Anyhoo no need to cry over spilled milk - even though it was quite witty and took me an hour to type sideways but whatever - there is always today.

Suzy, Eliza and I did have a good day yesterday. Mom, Grandma per Suzy, Barboo per Eliza, came over for a nice lunch on the porch - she brought my favorite Thai salad from a local dive here in town - it was sooooo yummos! We also enjoyed soaking up some much needed vitamin D. The truth is mom and I had a date to go out to lunch but I chickened out - as much as a whine about being in the bed - it sure does feel a lot safer for Miss Eliza. Thanks for understanding mom!

Cynthia stopped by and dropped off some good 'ole county cookin' for dinner. Eric and I enjoyed it very much and then settled in for a good game of Gin. Well you would think I would be pretty good since I lay around and play solitare all day but nope he won all 4 rounds - there is always tonight! Watched American Idol and then of course the Heels - what happened? Such a bummer. Hope 'ole Roy is ok today -

And that about sums up yesterday. No telling what today will hold - went to the Dr. this AM - no biggie everything is fine just a worried momma. The places Eliza finds comfortable couldn't be any more uncomfortable for me - oh well what do you to ... chat soon or as Clyda says Ciao - or something like that :)

Happy Super Tuesday and Happy Mardi Gras - Part 2

Wow - I am worn out! So this will be short ... thought I might be able to stay up long enough to get the results from Super Tuesday but looks like it will be an early night for me and the babe - Suzy fell asleep about an hour ago and she is not budging - guess that makes us worthless. Not sure where Eric is at the moment - probably cleaning a toilet, fixing a camera or redecorating Eliza's room ... no telling!

I hope you all enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day and sweet dreams ... until tomorrow ...

Happy Super Tuesday and Happy Mardi Gras - Part 1

Well I thought since I had a little extra time on my hands (imagine that) that I would go ahead and write about the first half of our day - Well it started about 8:30AM with a bowl of cereal, 5 minute shower and then a quick blow dry and back in bed. Today Suzy and I enjoyed the company of our fabulous neighbor Tracy and Rylee. Tracy brought over Mahi Mahi sandwiches - yummy and the dogs played! Fun for all. Tracy asked that I help her make a wreath for her front door. So she got the supplies and I headed to the couch on the porch. Who knew you could decorate a wreath horizontal and sideways. All in all I think she was happy with the final product!

Now we are settled back in the bed. Eliza is busy rolling around - might have something to do with the juice I just drank, Suzy is sacked out on the bed - of course and I am getting ready to gear up for Oprah! Speaking of TV - anyone see the Today Show this AM? Hoda was wasted - one too many Hurricanes for her (no I'm not talking about wind and rain). It was funny and I'll take a drunk Hoda or Ann Curry any day! Seriously what is Ann's deal -she drives me crazy - maybe its just the prego hormones - whatever ... ok well that's all I got for now ... until next time ...

Well we have finally made it to the land of the blogs. We hope that through our blog we can keep you informed about what is going on in our part of the world ... so here goes.

Today was no different than any other weekday the past 3 months - Eric got up early to make a 7:30AM meeting and Suzy and I slept in. Around 9:00AM we both stretched and decided we would start our day. Our day went like this - Today Show, Matha Stewart (which I tend to tune out but its on none the less), at noon the terrible local news, and then a 3 hour stretch of Ellen, Dr. Phil and Oprah. I really couldn't tell you anything about what I saw today - its on but I think I tune it out. I did some blog reading, talked on the phone and wrote a few thank you notes. Suzy was able to get out and play with her bestfriend Rylee for awhile but was tired after an hour of play and anxious to get back into bed. Hmmm what else fun happened today ... well dad stopped by today - no cards games this time just a visit. Eliza has been a little sleepy today maybe we kept her up too late last night watching the SuperBowl. Oh yeah - we went over to some friends house last night for a great party - it was so nice to get out and see people!

And so our day comes to a close ... until tomorrow