Transfusion #4 - So glad that went well. :)

Okay, late updating again, but it is what it is. Yesterday's transfusion was BEAUTIFUL. Not painless, but still beautiful. Her levels had dropped to 9.4, not too bad and they got her up to 17.5 which was fabulous. They transfused her with with 60 cc's of blood this time, and once again, she took it like a champ.

Every time they admit me down there they start an IV and run several labs. This time they also decided to run a liver panel screen to make sure everything is looking okay. I had my normal doctor's appointment the day before and we noted that my urine output wasn't what it should be and it was dark. When they did the little dip strip in the office it came back with 1+ protein. I had let them know this down in Columbus as well. So while there they decided to run some additional tests, including the liver panel, as mentioned, and a 24 hour urine to see what the protein levels were. Well wouldn't know you it, my liver enzymes are elevated. *rolls eyes* of COURSE  they are.

So today, I had the first steroid shot to help mature the baby's lungs in the chance that she will be born in the next two weeks. The shots usually last two weeks and then they wear off. I spoke with my doctor about that a little bit last night and asked if we were jumping the gun a little or if he thought we should just wait a week to give her a little more time. He said that he agreed, we should start the steroids now and in two weeks we will do a "rescue dose" if needed to go another 2 weeks. They won't do more than that. So she will either be delivered at the time, or she really won't need them and will be fine by the time we deliver. Oh, and those shots are intramuscular.... and they STING LIKE HELL!

I am not entirely sure what to think anymore. Part of me wants to keep this baby in there until at least 34 weeks and the other part wants to get her out now. I don't know what to hope for. I just want her to be okay. She is so quiet tonight. I can poke and shake the belly around and I will get a LITTLE response from her, but not a whole lot. I hope she is just resting up. She has been growing like you won't believe. Yesterday they estimated her weight to be around 2lbs 15 oz. AMAZING!

I bumped my appointment next week up to Monday and my doctor will re-run the liver panel and see how things are looking there. My hubby looked my lab results from the 24 hour test tonight and only part of it was completed. Luckily that part still looked okay, but we don't know what the protein level is. That is the part i am DYING to know about. Hopefully it will be in soon. I will be returning to OSUMC on December 2nd for the 5th transfusion. That one should get her to 32 weeks and then we will most likely do one more and can hopefully get her to 35 weeks. I sure hope I can make it that far. How nice would that be?

Oh, and the one big thing that happened this weekend..... my husband and I agreed on a name... kind of. ;)  We have decided to name our little girl KIARI ADDISON. I am still not entirely sold on Kiari, but my husband really likes it. He was so happy that he finally got to pick a name. And because of that I am not so sure I can take it away. I really like Kiara, which was my suggestion and he suggested the variation. Kiari is pronounced Key-Are-Ee. So we will have to see which she finally ends up with.

So for now, my job is to let the house get messy and hold the couch down. It is harder than it would seem. ;) I am keeping my chin up for now and hoping we last at least 4 more weeks. I am 28 weeks today. I am so glad to finally be at this point, and she is so big. My goals with pregnancy are fairly simple anymore, 30 weeks and 4 pounds, and it looks like we just might get both.