Thursday, January 31, 2008

Updates :( Not Great

So, I apologize for not updating the page this weekend. It got a little hectic; we had an appointment with a specialist yesterday. That wasn’t so great. We found out that Noah is a lot smaller than Ari, who is right on track. Ari weighs 2.5lbs and Noah only weighs 1.8lbs. The specialist has put Heidi on strict bed rest. She’s to get up only to go to the rest room and to take a shower other than that she’s not allowed to do anything. After some research I learned that this is called IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) most babies are OK as long as it’s caught and precautions are taken. - Dr. said that Noah is in the 5-10 percentile

Definition of IUGR
The most widely used definition of IUGR is a fetus whose estimated weight is below the 10th percentile for its gestational age and whose abdominal circumference is below the 2.5th percentile. At term, the cutoff birth weight for IUGR is 2,500 g (5 lb, 8 oz). Growth percentiles for fetal weight versus gestational age are shown in Figure 1. Approximately 70 percent of fetuses with a birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age are constitutionally small8; in the remaining 30 percent, the cause of IUGR is pathologic.

(http://www.aafp.org/afp/980800ap/peleg.html)

So the Dr. said lots of water and protein because that’s supposed to help blood flow. It looks like when he implanted he didn’t do a good job at it and so there for he’s small. His cord isn’t in the most nutrient enriched place so they have to find a way to push more nutrients to him. One way that was suggested was a LA Z Boy chair. Ours arrives tomorrow. Hopefully that will help him a lot. They say that it’s one of the best positions to be in because it actually allows blood flow to increase. Her feet will be up but she’ll still be in a reclining position. Her mom bought it for us. Well OK so she bought it for Heidi but still you get what I mean. I hated coming to work today because it was her first day on bed rest. It’s bothering me having to be here while she’s at home. I love her to death but I don’t trust her when it comes to this because it goes against everything Heidi has ever been taught. I mean I know she’ll do it but this is going to be the biggest challenge yet. So we’re just going to have to keep an eye on things and get lots of help from mom and dad and family. I’m working so I can’t be there during the day but her dad said that he’d be more than happy to bring her over lunch everyday and I’ll just cook every night. My issue is I can’t leave until I’ve seen her eat in the morning, I don’t feel comfortable leaving until I know she’s had something. I know it’s silly. She has a cooler of water and clear pop, crackers, peanuts, sunflower seeds. So hopefully she’s at home snacking. She said her and Noah had a talk last night and she explained to him that if she had to get fat so did he lol. She’s so sweet. She’s totally worried about me because she is worried about everything I’ve had to take on. But I think I can do it and if I can’t I’ll ask for help. So there is an update on Noah and Ari. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can I don’t have access to a scanner right now that isn’t totally out of the way and I don’t have enough hours in the day to go out of my way. Sorry. I’ll get them up soon I promise.

posted by Baby Fust @ 2:18 PM

2 Comments:

At January 31, 2008 at 8:34 PM, Heidi said…

I am keeping my fingers crossed and praying for you guys. Heidi, I'm sure this seems like a huge sacrifice and will be frustrating but think of it as the first gift you can give Noah.
At February 4, 2008 at 8:53 PM, Baby Fust said…

Thank you Heidi, you are so sweet. It's nice to know that she has great friends like you.