Hello,


We went to the doctor yesterday to find out that all these contractions I've been having are not thinning me at all. I have been dilated for 3 weeks now with consistent contractions everyday and no thinning out. This is a good thing, seeing that I didn't want to have this baby early, but now the baby could come at anytime and would be fine. So I wish these contractions would start thinning my cervix. The doctor doesn't believe that I'll go into labor this week, but possibly the next if the contractions keep on, but then again they aren't thinning me! He's not going to make me move up there before i have the baby, i just have to go visit him once a week. In 2 weeks if i haven't thinned at all he's going to give me a pill that thins your cervix out, and then the next day will start the induction. This pill, and of course being induced does make labor harder, or lets just say more painful, so I'm praying that i don't have to take that stupid pill. All and all I'm doing pretty well. I just really want to have this baby because at this point I'm pretty helpless. I'm suppose to stay out of the heat and rest, rest, rest. This is because i pass out for some reason and anytime i do anything or am outside i start having contractions. Wow i don't ever want to be pregnant again! Gaw! I do thank God for this precious baby boy he has giving me and wouldn't trade it for the world. So I guess i just need to stop complaining and deal with it!


After my appointment rob and I drove to Parkland and got to visit Stephanie and Shawn Studdard. I met them through our CDH blogs. I mentioned them in my last post. Kamyren their baby girl with CDH is 2 weeks old now, and i thought she looked so good! I loved talking to stephanie and rob enjoyed Shawns company as well. I was able to go back in the NICU and see Kamyren. I got to touch her and talk to her, it was just an experience that I'm glad that i got to have before Jackson gets here. It was hard to see their little baby girl helpless like that because i just wanted them to be able to pick her up and love on her. I know we will be going through this same thing and it's going to be so hard. Just being there was a little heartbreaking knowing what we were about to face. I believe that little miss Kamyren is going to be ok, and I'm praying our little boy will be fine too.


I'm still having problems with people being able to leave me comments, so i took a few things off the blog to see if that would fix it. I think it did, so leave comments....this way I will know if it worked or not.

Keep the prayers coming....... Candice Brooke

6/30/09

Hey,

So I go to the doctor tomorrow to see whats going on with me! lol....I have so many contractions every day but they always seem to stop. I'm glad that they haven't put me into labor but they sure are a pain in the butt! For the past few days I've been having a hard time breathing. That usually only happens when i have contractions but it's been all day. They are going to run some test on me tomorrow to see what that might be. For some reason I think I will have Jackson on July 15Th, but yet I'm thinking if i dnt start feeling better I'll have him by the 4th! I would be ok with a little firecracker. So anyways I'll update everybody after i see the doctor tomorrow..............KEEP THE PRAYERS COMING!


LOTS OF LOVE CANDICE BROOKE

ALMOST HERE

Hey,

Well I had a doctors appointment on Thursday and all went pretty well. Rob didn't get to make this appointment, but will be there the next time for sure! Now when i go to the doctor they hook me up to the monitors to see how much the baby is moving and if I'm having contractions. So they put me on the monitors and guess what....i was having contractions! I had no idea. Jackson was moving like crazy and i had been feeling really uncomfortable but hadn't noticed the contractions. I have them everyday so you would think i would know. So since I'm already dilated and was contracting consistently they went ahead and checked me. I was still just a 1. YAY! This means the contractions aren't dilating me. During the sonogram baby Jackson was wide awake again. He was sticking his tongue out alot! He's already alot like his daddy Rob lol....He has some fat cheeks to! I go back to the doctor on Wednesday July 1st. This is the day i get to meet the Studdards! I can't wait. They are a family that i met online that were pregnant with twin girls. One was diagnosed with CDH and the other little baby was just fine. I talk to Stephanie the mom on the phone and by text all the time. Wednesday her girls will be 2 weeks old! Kamryn is the baby girl with CDH and is doing amazing, and Brooke is at home now doing wonderful. So needles to say I'm extremely excited about meeting them. Shawn the dad does a wonderful job of keeping their blog posted! Thanks Shawn! He is also a wonderful daddy taking care of those girls. Well until next time...................


WE STILL NEED ALL THE PRAYERS WE CAN GET! iT'S GETTING SO CLOSE!

Fast update

Hello,


Well I haven't posted in a long time so i figured it was time. I have been contracting for a week now and am dilated to a 1. I was so surprised to find out that i was dilated at all... i mean it was six weeks before my real due date. They gave me a shot and my contractions have been controlled for the most part. I'm so big now and i just can't sleep, but Monday I'll have 4 weeks until Jackson gets here, so i guess that's just what comes with it. My doctor was going to keep me in Ft. Worth for the remainder of the time but i looked so good and the contractions aren't dilating me anymore that he let me come home. I just have to take it easy. I go back to the doctor Thursday. We still need all the prayers we can get so please keep praying! I am getting sooooo nervous.

Candice

My doctor appointment (6-4-09)

We went to my doctor today, and everythings just the same. No news at all! I was kind of bummed. I guess it's good that it didn't get worse though. Everything about me looks great and everything about the baby is looking great. Well he still has CDH but he's growing and sucking the heck out of his thumb. We had a 3D sonogram today and the whole time he was sucking his dang thumb. It was really cute. Oh and while he was sucking his thumb his other hand was holding on to the cord! It looked like he was just hanging from a rope with his thumb in his mouth. There was one thing that was different at this appointment, instead of being head down like he has been for 3 months now he's head up rather then at my pelvic area. The doctor says he can still turn but he's really big and I'm not sure about that. Lets pray he does because i don't want a c-section. I will post some sonogram pics as soon as i get to a scanner that works. Thank you everyone for all your prayers. They are very much needed.

We don't have to go back to the doctor for 2 weeks, so that's good for us considering we have to drive almost 3 hours to get there and 3 hours back each time. After this next appointment i go once a week. Monday i will have 6 weeks left! Yay, getting close! We still haven't done the room yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes, what are we thinking?????! So much to do!
Lots of love everybody

To all my friends that want to know.......

So i have had alot of people asking me how long the baby would be in the hospital. Every CDH baby is different so there's really no way of knowing, but the average stay for them is 4 to 6 months. I know that's a very long time! We're praying that our baby Jackson will have a short stay. Our doctors seem to think it wont be 6 months but then they wont confirm anything. They say even if he's doing good that the feeding is a huge obstacle for these babies. So I'm praying he'll do great and wont have to many problems with this. Thanks again for all yall prayers and support.

Candice

GREAT NEWS!

We went to meet the neonatoligist Monday 5/18/09. She was awesome! She was so easy to talk to and just wanted to inform us on everything plus more. She will be the main doctor taking care of our little Jackson while he's in the NICU. Her name is doctor Whitbourn. I'm glad that Rob got to be there with me when i met her because most of these appointments he has to miss due to his work, although he has made all the important ones so far.

Dr. Whitbourn came in with our file and was very excited to read our situation. She had no idea that our CDh baby looked so good. Needles to say she was very surprised to see that the baby just had his stomach up in his chest and that my doctor has already seen the left lung developing since he met me at 20 weeks. She said that was just amazing and very very good news for us. She hasn't had a case like this in a long time. She said there are 3 cdh babies to be born there before i give birth in July, and 3 more after i give birth! I was shocked to find that out. I mean this is kind of a rare condition. Anyways out of all these babies she told us that our baby looks the best and is on the mild in of the spectrum, if there is a mild end. I mean as good as everything looks having a CDH baby is still a very serious and life thring defect.

I know i haven't talked about ECMO on my blog yet but it's a lung heart bypass machine that these babies get put on if the ventilator and everything else that the doctors are trying to do isn't enough for the baby. So ECMO is pretty much life support for these babies. I will write more about ECMO here in a bit. One out of three babies that are put on ECMO come off. This means 1 out of 3 don't survive. Not all the cdh babies get bad enough to be put on ECMO but alot do and thats why it's there. Dr. Whitbourn gave us some great news on this as well. She said by reading our babies case that she is almost positive that our baby will not go on ECMO. YAY! Then she said she wasn't God and things could change but everything looks very positive for us as of right now. I took that very well, just because she is the doctor that takes care of these babies and knows what to expect and i doubt she would tell us such good news when she sees everything she does. She also told us she would pray for us and the baby and i thought that was really neat.

So that's all the news i have for now. We just need to pray really hard that the left lung keeps developing and the stomach is the only thing that stays in the chest. My son Ty was praying for the baby last night and i tried to explain what lungs were and what they did and that we needed to pray for Jackson's left lung to keep on growing. This is what is prayer was " dear God please help my baby Jackson to be healthy and let his left lump grow sooooo big". It was really funny! Until next time.......................................

Candice