Tim & Jaelyn
- Dec 8, 2017
- 5 min read

7 Month Mark!! (28 Weeks)

We made it! Paetyn has been with us for 7 months now, (28 weeks in Pregnant Mom Vernacular) and we couldn't love her more! She has been especially active and loves to sit right up in Mom's ribs and kick, kick, kick all day long. It's awesome! She loves to tap her toes, and swim all over in Mom's belly, especially when Daddy plays music on the piano, or when any other music is playing. She loves music

Monday November 13, 2017

While at work today, Mom couldn't help but notice how tight her stomach was getting. She doesn't really know how to explain it, but it felt like a big long contraction that lasted for 3 hours before letting up a little and then starting again. She wondered if it was anything to worry about or not. She ate, drank, and moved from standing to sitting, but nothing seemed to help her stomach relax. At lunch she called her Dr's office and asked the nurses if it was something she should be concerned about or not. They told her to increase her water intake (which she had already been doing) and take a warm bath to try and get those muscles to relax (which wasn't an option because she was at work and didn't feel yucky enough to go home). If it didn't let up, they told her to go to Labor and Delivery where they would hook her up to monitors to watch for contractions and see if she was dilating at all.

By 4 in the afternoon, Mom decided that she just better go and see what was going on in hopes that they would say everything was fine and send her home. She really wanted to be able to sleep that night which is hard enough when pregnant, and having worries never helps that either. Daddy came and took her over to Labor and Delivery where we were blessed with some AMAZING nurses Carrie and Jenna that we felt we bonded with instantly. They took us to triage and hooked Mom up to the contraction monitor and sure enough, she was having contractions.

The nurse was trying to find your heartbeat, but you were squirming so much that she couldn't get it on the contraction monitor. We were all laughing because I could feel you squirming, and as they looked at my belly they could see you moving. That was really fun. She went and got the ultrasound machine to be able to find your heartbeat easier and we LOVED seeing you! You danced for us the whole time! You were laying on your back with your feet up and crossed over each other, just relaxing and squirming around as happy as can be. This is one of our favorite images that we hope we never forget! Next time we will be more prepared and get a video.

Through looking at the ultrasound, they were able to see that Mom has a lot of extra amniotic fluid in her uterus (Polyhydramnios) because Paetyn isn't able to swallow the fluid like most babies do. This is another reason why we had a hard time finding your heartbeat on the contraction monitor, because of all the fluid. We had read that this was pretty normal to cases like ours, so it didn't come as a surprise. The excess fluid is often what causes contractions to happen, and having contractions on and off and feeling very "full" and "big" will likely become the norm from here on out. That gave us a lot of confidence and peace to know what was causing it and that it's not anything we need to worry about at this point. If it gets to the point where Mom struggles to be able to breathe because that fluid is building up and pushing on her diaphragm, then they will draw some of the fluid off, but if they were to draw it off now, it would likely just re-accumulate. They checked Mom and found that she wasn't dilating which was good, and they also ran a test that tells us if it's likely for her to deliver in the next 2 weeks or not. Luckily that test came back negative. We are so grateful for the wonderful care that we have gotten from the nurses and doctors we worked with. We were released after a few hours of being there and were able to enjoy the rest of the evening at home together, relaxing.

Mom showing Dad what contractions and extra fluid build up feels like

Wednesday November 15, 2017

Wednesday we had an appointment with our regular doctor which was great! We hadn't been in to see her since the day we found out about Paetyn's condition so it was really good to talk to her and get some more questions answered. One of our main questions was whether she thought Jaelyn should do a C-Section. She highly recommended that she should and assured us that VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) would definitely be possible. She feels that this will be best for Paetyn since it is very possible that she will not be able to apply enough pressure on Jaelyn's cervix to be born vaginally. Also she feels that this will give Paetyn the best odd's for being with us as long as possible!

Oh, and of course, our very favorite part of every doctors visit is to see our Baby Girl on the ultra sound!!!

That night, Mommy made an adorable blanket for Paetyn!

We also took our doggy Champ to the vet because we haven't been able to get him to put on any weight. Paetyn was SOO active while we were there that we could see Mommy's belly moving

Thursday November 16, 2017

On Thursday we met up with Cindi and Amelia from Angel Watch for a tour of Labor and Delivery! Even though we had already gotten a bit of a tour of it on Monday night, it was great to get a proper tour! First we went and saw the regular delivery rooms! They were very nice, but since we had decided earlier that week to do a C-Section, Cindi took us over to a C-Section rooms. After that got to see the Operating Room where Paetyn will be born!!! We also got to see the postpartum rooms where we will get to spend 4-5 days after the C-Section while Mommy recovers.

We also were shown some really cute dressed that had been donated to the hospital that gave us some really good ideas for a dress for Paetyn! We still have Mommy's beautiful wedding dress, so Mommy and Great Grandma Gillett are going make a beautiful dress for Paetyn!!

The hospital also had several really nice Minky Couture blankets that are donated for NICU babies so we got this adorable blanket that we will make for some really cute pictures with our Baby Girl!

Friday-Saturday November 17th and 18th, 2017

Mommy got a call from Grandma Gillett asking if she wanted to join her, Aunt JoLee, and a few friends at Time Out For Women, since her friend ended up having an extra ticket. She was able to get off of work early and head down for the conference where she enjoyed hearing from motivational/inspirational speakers and music artists and sending girl time with her mom and sister.