The Terror Continues...

Sunday May 9, 2010

On this morning, I woke up, obviously still in the hospital, but feeling just fine. Dr. Strebble (the on -call doc that was watching over me all weekend) was planning to review my latest labs as soon as they were back and then we would discuss the best plans for me. I decided that I wanted to take a jacuzzi bath to relax but decided to wait until I talked to the doctor. I knew as soon as I got in the tub he would come and want to talk.

In the mean time, Nate's parents arrived to visit and then Nate came up shortly thereafter. Because my labs had been so steady, he decided to sleep at home and get a full nights rest. Well, after just a little bit, Dr. Strebble came in and discussed my labs with me. He felt that the best plan was to transport me to Ogden to McKay Dee Hospital and have them monitor me because my toxemia was not getting any better and my blood platelets were still low. (Normal platelet level is over 200 and I was in the 90's). He wanted to speak with the specialist in Salt Lake City, then also with Dr. Ahlstrom who would be my physician in Ogden. He left momentarily, then came back saying that they had ordered for an ambulance ride to Ogden and I would be on my way within the next few minutes. Me and Nate both had a look of fright in our eyes, but we knew everything would be okay. I knew that if they were tranferring me to Ogden, it was the best thing for me and for Kamry so I had to trust their judgement and know that the doctors know what is best. At this point though, I decided that I'm glad I'm a social work student because it came in handy trying to keep myself calm and not freak out. All the lessons my teachers have taught me over the years really paid off.

When the ambulance guys got there, they were great. Making jokes and keeping a smile on my face. We had a nice ride down (even though you feel like you're riding in the back of a dump truck). Me and the one guy (I think his name was John but I can't remember exactly) sat and chit chatted about my work and the differnt things that I do up at school. He seemed very impressed with my career goals, and the fact that even though I was most likely going to be having a premature baby within the next few days I was keeping very calm. He was relaxing to talk to and it made the trip down really comfortable. All I can say is that I truly appreciate the men and women that are willing to do those jobs because they can really make or break the sitaution and this guy totally made mine.

When I got to Ogden, the nurses that were working were very surprised because apparently they had heard that a 28 week pregnant girl was coming in and they were expecting the worst. They had the NICU team ready to go and were prepared to take me straight into surgery. Much to their surprise, I was smiling and talking to them as if nothing was wrong. About 20 minutes after I got to the hospital, Nate arrived. He drove down seperate so he would have a vehicle, and could stop by the house to get some items for us.

After having even more labs drawn, I asked Dr. Ahlstrom if I could take a shower. He said that would be okay if it was kind of a quick one. That was fine with me, a shower just sounded really good. Nate left to run down to the car to get my shower stuff, and forgot the keys. So he came back in, grabbed the keys and left again. Right after Nate left to go get my shower stuff out of the car, Dr. Ahlstrom came back in and said that they were going to take the baby and to begin preparations for it. I wanted to cry. I asked him if I could still take a shower because I wasn't going to get one for a few days. He said that was okay, but still to make it quick. While waiting for Nate, I got in the shower and began to wash. He came in and helped me with my hair and helped me dry off. We said a quick prayer to ask for strength and for me and the baby to be safe. Then I was loaded onto a bed and began to prep for surgery.

The nurses and sugical tech's were great. They gave me some pills and a "shot" of some grape crap drink to help with nausea from the anesthesia. I've never gotten sick before, but this was a new experience because I've never had an epidural before. As they wheeled me back into the operating room, I suddenly got very hot and just knew I was going to throw up. Luckily I said something fast enough and the speedy tech got me a puke bag. I threw up in it and of course, threw up the nausea medication they had just given me.

I was moved onto the operating table, and was told to lean forward as far as I could while they placed the epidural. Nate sat there with me and held my hand. The first needle just took me off guard because I wasnt expecting him to stick me right then, but as he was preparing the epidural, all the little "local anesthetic" shots is what really started to hurt. Needles normally don't bother me, but this time I was squeezing Nate's hand. He said I wasn't putting any pressure, but I felt like I was squeezing as tight as I possibly could so apparently I was very weak from this whole experience.

They laid me back and put the curtain up so I couldn't see. Nate was seated right by my head and told that they would say "Baby Time" when he could snap a quick picture before they whisked her away. He didn't watch any of the surgery, but we both laughed at the doctors. They had such great humor. One of the nurses had her IPOD in her purse, so they hooked it up and let me choose the genre (country of course). I laughed because when I was getting stuck with the needle for my epidural, the song "Some Beach" by Joe Nichols came on and it was just too ironic.

During the surgery, I felt a lot of pressure right under my chest bone, and the anesthesiologist said that is normal because that is where the epidural begins. But of course, instead of just answering, he told me "oh, the doctor is just taking a break and is leaning on your chest bone for support". They teased about "who brought the 12 pack?" and "i think I'll take a smoke break now and finish this later". It helped keep the mood light and kept me smiling. I think truly talentd doctors know how to make their patients comfortable, and these guys did great.

Directly after surgery right when they were about to wheel me out to recovery, I threw up again. This hurt so unbelieveably bad. The muscles that had just been cut into now felt like they were shredding apart in my belly. Even though I had an epidural and was still numb I couldn't believe how bad it hurt.

Once in recovery, they let my family come see me. I didn't realize that almost my entire family came down when they heard I was being transferred to Ogden. My parents, Brent, Deanna, and Melanie came. Nate's parents, Ben, Cori, Kade and Kallie all came too. So 2 at a time they shipped them back to see me, and then of course the grandparents got to see Kamry. After I was finished in recovery (about an hour later I think) they wheeled me in to see Kam before they took me to my room. I got to see her for a minute, and of course, what happened. I threw up again. This time it hurt even worse! The nurse had told me that I should take a pillow and push down as hard as I could. I didn't have the strength, but luckily my dad came to my rescue and pushed on my belly with a pillow for me. It really did help too so I'm glad he was willing to do it.

All in all this experience is one that of course I will never forget, but I am grateful for at the same time. You love this child so much before they're even born and then once they get here you can't believe how much you love them. Well when they're so fragile and small it seems like your love grows 1000 times more for this child. If you're not a parent yet, you will totally understand when you are, but it is the most amazing feeling in the world and nothing could replace it.

Here are some pictures from her first few minutes of life:

Sunday May 9, 2010

7:26pm

Kamry Ann Lundgreen

2 lbs. 3 oz. 14 1/2" long

Welcome to the world little one!

Proud daddy

28 Week Terror

On Friday May 7, I went to the doctor for my 28 week appointment. I was all prepared, I drank my glucose orange drink for diabetic testing perfectly, I arrive the 15 minutes early to my appointment like I was supposed to and then I got called back into the office. Everything was going smooth. I had planned to talk to my doctor about swelling because my feet and ankles had been swelling pretty bad, and the past week had been a lot worse than before. So I get weighed, and I gained 11 lbs. from last month!

Let me give you a quick picture, and I'm going to give the actual numbers here so please no judgements. I know I need to lose weight, but at this moment... I don't care. So when I got pregnant, I weighed 212. Then because I was sick in the beginning, I dropped 5 lbs. down to 207. I held steady there for about 3 months. Well, then at my first weight gain appointment in April I put on 7 lbs, so technically now I'm only 2 lbs over my pre-prenancy weight at 214. Well at this appointment, I get weighed and I'm at 225.

So to continue the story... my urine sample came back with higher protein than they like to see, and with the swelling my doctor then proceeded to tell me that she is concerned with toxemia and/or preeclampsia. (here is a good website to learn more about that: http://www.preeclampsia.org/symptoms.asp). So she told me that they would run my labs and if anything was abnormal she would call me. Well, I get up to work and just about an hour later she called and told me that she wanted me t0 go check into the hospital for 24 hour surveillance.

Of course I immediately called Nate. He was headed home from work (this is about 11:30am) for his dad's surprise birthday party we were throwing up at the University (his dad turned 50 on saturday). So I told him the story and just said instead of going to the party, he needed to go the hospital instead. I drove to the hospital and checked myself into labor and delivery. About an hour later, Nate got here and we just got to sit around because they have put me on bed rest. I can get up to go to the bathroom, and shower and thats pretty much it. They are keeping my blood pressure monitored every hour. It was every 15 minutes, then every 30, but now we're down to every hour (which is nice) and they do blood draws every 12 hours, and monitor the baby's heart beat and whether or not I'm having contractions about every 3 hours. Lets just say its a lot of poking, prodding and noisy machinery. I tell you there is nothing better than hearing Kamry's steady heart beat on that monitor though. My favorite is when she kicks it trying to move it off of her (that's what I'm assuming she's doing at least). The little monitor just sits on my belly, and after a couple of minutes of it being there she starts kicking it, then she finally gives up. It's pretty funny. I'm glad my little girl is tough - she gets that from her daddy I think.

On Saturday: When the doctor talked to me on Saturday morning, he has decided that I am officially here in the Logan hospital until Monday, but possibly (most likely) further than that. It all depends on my labs and how my body responds to the bed rest. I'll definitely stay on bed rest until the baby is born, even if I get to go home. They have also officially diagnosed me with toxemia, and they're still monitoring preeclampsia. I asked if there is anything we can do to help with the swelling (like water pills or something) but he said when it's toxemia, the only solution is to deliver the baby - which we obviously don't want to do yet. They're hoping that we can hold off on delivering her until atleast 32 weeks (4 weeks from now), but preferably 34+ weeks. It will all depend on my body and how I respond. I'm really pushing for at least 32 weeks so she is further developed and weighs more. When they did my ultrasound on Friday when I got here, they estimate she currently weighs about 2 lbs. 4 oz. so she is very small. Average for 28 weeks, but still too small to feel good about delivering.

Nate got permission for me to go for a wheelchair ride and the doctor said it was okay for me to go outside. I just couldn't be gone for very long. We were only out for about 10 minutes, but it was a beautiful day and that 10 minutes was fabulous! Nate spent the whole day with me and we napped, watched tv and chatted. It's scary for both of us, but its so nice to have him here with me. Even when we're just sitting doing nothing, it means the world to me that he is here. He stayed through the night on Friday night, but last night we decided he could go home and get a better nights sleep since my labs had stayed pretty consistent.

I'm allowed to have visitors, but I have to keep them limited and I have to keep calm. My blood pressure spikes if there is too much going on, or even when I'm laughing too much so it's pretty solomn in here... but we make it work.

Well that is my current 28 week terror story. I'm trying very hard not to dwell on the thoughts of all the possibilities because I don't want to stress my body into having this baby, but it definitely puts your life in perspective and makes you really think about things. My dad gave me a beautiful blessing on Friday evening, and that made me feel a lot better.

I'm taking a few pictures here and there and will post those soon with updates of what is happening. Pray for the best, and lets just hope that this little girl can come into the world in a few weeks when she is stronger.

Me at 22 Weeks

Here is me from the side. Don't make fun of the relief society arms, and no my fingers aren't swollen... they really are just that fat! :)

It's a GIRL!

March 11 - the day we had been waiting for. It was a great day for us in two ways because March 11 is Nate's Birthday, so he turned the big 25, and we were waiting impatiently because we found out what we're having and yes, due to the title of this post you know that IT'S A GIRL!

We had our appointment at 11am. We get there and wait with butterflies in our stomachs to go back and get the ultrasound. My name gets called and we walk quickly but not quick enough to draw attention to the door. The ultrasound guy takes us back and we begin. He is really nice and as he goes through the babies body, starting with the head begins telling me that everything looks great. The baby is healthy, a good size and all the organs look good. WHEW! I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. Well, as he gets lower he goes "WHOA! Yeah, that's a girl! NO little boy parts there!" this is image that we saw:

Umm... yeah... pretty sure that's a girl!

I almost started to cry and Nate looked so cute. I had this kind of surprised look, but like a proud father look too. You can tell he's already wrapped around her little finger. She's definitely going to be a daddy's girl.

The guy was trying to get pictures of her face and she had it turned away from us. So he kept like jiggling my belly to try and get her to move. When she finally turned to face us she had her whole arm over her face (sleeping like her daddy already). We finally got her to move her arm enough to get a profile shot of her.

After the appointment, we went to lunch to celebrate (for both the baby girl and for Nate's birthday). We went to the Coppermill and there was these 3 girls there having lunch. Well one of them had like an 18 month old little girl (SO CUTE!) and me and Nate couldn't help but keep looking at her. She threw her sippy over by us and I gave it back and told the mom I was sorry we were staring, but that we just found out we're having a girl. She totally understood.

After that we both went back to work and finished out our day. It was definitely hard to focus and concentrate because of everything that went on, but we survived. Then we went to El Toro for Nate's birthday. Thank heaven the salsa didn't give me heart burn. That would have been a horrible end to a wonderful day. :)

Here are a few more ultrasound pics. It's so weird how alien looking they are at this stage, but these 3D ultrasound pics are AWESOME! I love how defined they are!

I think this one is my favorite because she's got her cute hand up by her face and you can see baby fingers. LOVE IT!







Well that's our beautiful little girl and yes, we have picked a name.... Kamry Ann Lundgreen

Pregnant on Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was really fun. First off - we found out on November 20 that we are pregnant. It was SO exciting. To start the story, we didn't tell anyone that we have been going to Salt Lake and working with the U of U Reproductive Medicine office because we wanted to wait until we found out any more information and see if we can even have kids. After 3 1/2 years of trying to have a kid you get really sick of questions all the time. Especially living here in Utah where people think we are nuts for being married 5 years and not have any kids yet. So the less questioning, the better.

Anyway, when we started going there in October and they ran a few tests on me and on Nate and decided they wanted us to try shots. (For those of you who don't know the history of our trying to get pregnant - long story short I have been on pills - first Chlomid and then Femara, for more than a year. We had done 3 Artificial Insemination's and none of them worked. Finally in a fit of fury I got off the pills earlier this year and decided we would just try on our own for a while. Anyway, so these shots I got on I had to give myself in the stomach every day for a little while and in the process I had to continuously go down to SLC and have ultrasounds done. So I traveled to SLC 2-3 times a week for almost 3 weeks. Finally when my follicles looked good, they gave me an HCG shot and I had to take that 2 days before my insemination. This HCG shot was what would force my eggs to release. The previous shots helped them grow and become ready. So then 2 days later we went down and did another artificial insemination. So then I just had to wait and see if I skipped my period. I know that I was supposed to start on November 20, and the doctor told me if I hadn't started that I HAD to take a pregnancy test that day.

So I had been spotting a little, but hadn't started bleeding so that morning I got up and took a pregnancy test. When 2 lines showed up I just stared. I had to re-read the instructions to be sure that 2 lines meant pregnant. (Even though I have read those instructions 1000 times before). So then I went into the bedroom and said "um... honey I need to talk to you" and he started to wake up and was like "what?" so i just said "I think I'm pregnant!" and he sat right up and went "WHAT?" After freaking out for a minute, we decided that I needed to go get a blood test at the hospital just to be extra sure. Man, that was the longest 3 hour wait of my life! But when I finally called and they confirmed that I was pregnant I was exstatic! I called Nate to confirm that I was indeed pregnant. We both freaked out a little again and then I had to call the Doc in SLC to let them know the news. It was such an exciting time! We have waited SO long for this and the feeling is indescribable.

After discussing it, we decided we didn't want to tell any family until Christmas. I had always had this little fantasy in my head about how I would tell them. I've always wanted to give them a picture frame with the ultra sound in it and have it say something cute. Well after trolling the internet for some ideas, this is what I came up with:


(I took this picture with my phone so it's not a great one). But it says "Under Construction" and has tools and stuff. I got a picture of each of the parents when we told them.

Anyway - for Christmas Nate got me a new guitar which was awesome because I've been using my brother Brent's for the last year and it was too big for me. So now I have one that fits me. I got Nate a nice 8 drawer tool chest on wheels for the garage.

Me after I realized my gift was a guitar:


Nate checking out his new tool box:


After presents we went to my Aunt Janice's for breakfast. Uncle Rudy makes a really good Mexican breakfast every Christmas with burritos and homemade salsa and stuff. So we went there and decided to tell my parents that morning that we're pregnant.


You can't see my dad because I'm sitting right next to him. But my mom instantly went " Oh my gosh- really?" and my dad stared at the picture and said "what is it?" he had no idea it was an ultrasound. So my mom told him it was an ultrasound picture and then he started to cry. My sister Deanna was pissed that I hadn't told her. I had gone to lunch with like 3 times since I found out and she was mad that I hadn't spilled. HAHA! I'm just a good secret keeper! I have to admit that it was SO freaking hard not to tell.


You can't hardly see Marie because she put her hands over her face and fell back into the couch. As you can see, Nate's dad was pretty excited. Marie and Kallie both started crying and were really excited, of course. Then Marie asked how far along I was and I said 9 weeks. She got mad and told me that it was mean to keep it a secret so long. HAHA! Again, good secret keeper!

It turned out to be a great Christmas and of course, everyone is very excited for us that we having a baby. I can't believe it's finally here. I'm due July 29th. Luckily it's during the Summer so that I don't have to take time off during the semester. My senior year in college is going to be busy as hell with my practicum, school, work and a new baby - but it's totally going to be worth it!

Here are just a few other pictures from Christmas:

Cooper and Kilee opening their gift from me and Nate


Allen with his new 9mm gun from Marie


Peytynne opening Christmas and Birthday gifts all in one (her birthday is Dec. 20 and she was with her mom, so we did them all on Christmas day)


My dad thinking he is so sneaky. He had my sister go to the dollar store, buy $30 worth of gifts and wrap them individually. He made my mom open them each up before she could open the envelope in her stocking. She opened the envelope and it was the description of the trip to Hawaii he bought her. This will be their 4th time going to Hawaii. They absolutely love it over there. This time they're going to the Big Island of Kona. My mom was definitely surprised and very irritated after opening $30 worth of dollar store stuff. (At least most of it was useful like dish soap and crackers and stuff.)


My mom on the phone next to dad's Globe. He has always wanted one and this year my mom found this and was able to give it to him for Christmas. He was definitely excited about it.


All in all Christmas was great this year and next year will be even better because we will have our new baby to share it with.

Halloween at Hawns

Halloween this year was definitely the best one ever! Simple as Suicide was playing at Hawns in Hyrum so a bunch of us went out and watched them. Afterwards, me, Nate, Becky and her husband Nate (fondly known as Nate and 5/8), Enis and Dallas came back to my house. It's amazing the things that happen after you go to bed. When I woke up the next morning - there were 5 people in my King Size bed (THANK HEAVEN I HAVE A KING SIZE!). And I guess a couple of the guys thought it would be funny to shave Dallas' eyebrows off and put steps in one side of his beard. HE WAS PISSED! It was definitely the highlight of my day though- waking up to that. I have pictures on my phone- so if I figure out how to send them to my email I will post them. But here are a few pictures from the evening at Hawns. I hope you all had a good time and really enjoyed your Halloween too!

Look at Nate's beard! He shaved off his Go-T. I actually kinda like it (even thought it looks a little white trash!)


Me and Megan


Bart and Jed (Bart is lead singer for Simple as Suicide and Jed plays the guitar)


Homer - he plays bass


My georgous friend Skye (she is married to Homer)


Oh Enis - only so many people can pull of this costume... and he is definitely one of them :)



This is the bed I woke up to (except I was in the very middle)


Oh Dougie and his mustache



Twiggy and Meg (we decided that twig was a Mafia guy and if you read Megan's name tag it says "Major Trouble" haha:) )


Cute Becky and Nate and 5/8. We love them!


As you can see - it was quite the event with great friends. I seriously have the most amazing friends and I wouldn't trade them for anything! LOVE ALL YOUR FACES!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

Well, yesterday, October 23 was our 5th Wedding Anniversary! We celebrated the day by going to work and Nate sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses to work too. They were pink and yellow roses. They were ABSOLUTELY beautiful! Once the work day was finally was over, we went to dinner at the new Elements restaurant here in town. There was a "Dine Around" special that I got from work so they were offering a 3 course dinner for 2 for $40. The food was great! I don't know if we'll go back any time soon (mainly d/t the price) but it was a very nice restaurant and just the ambiance inside made it very romantic. We enjoyed just spending our evening together. If we had our way, we would be going on a nice vacation (probably in December after finals) but because we can't afford it we are going to Wendover next month to see a show and gamble (with a very small limit of money mind you).

I find it a little ironic that it poured rain on our wedding day (and pretty much the whole month of October that year) and today I wake up, and it's raining. Interesting. And the one thing I find a little depressing is that 5 years ago today I was in sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I am so glad we took such a good honeymoon. We had so much fun and I was glad that I got to experience that with Nate. When we got married he had never been on a plane, been to Mexico or seen the Ocean. I showed him a lot very quickly and he loved it! My love for vacationing has worn off on him. He can't wait for our next adventure (and neither can I).

Anyway... I can't believe it's been 5 years already - but it's an amazing feeling. Nate and I have had some great times (and some not so great times) through out but he is an amazing husband. He is my best friend and I honestly don't know what I would do without him. He pushes me to be a better person and I can't thank him enough for it. LOVE YOU HONEY!