Kim and Aaron move into Evergreen

It has been an eventful 36th week of Kim's pregnancy, so we wanted to give our friends and family an update. Here's a timeline:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Kim had her 34 week appointment with the midwives. They found that Kim's blood pressure was fairly high during this appointment, so they had her go to the lab to draw blood and run some additional tests because high blood pressure is a sign of preeclampsia. The tests didn't show any additional warning signs, so they decided to see Kim at her next appointment rather than have her come in for additional tests.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Kim and Aaron went to the midwives clinic for a regular check-up and to go over our birth plan. While we were there, they found that Kim's blood pressure was pretty high again, so they sent us down to the triage area at the Evergreen Family Maternity Center. They took her blood pressure every 10 minutes, attached a fetal heart monitor, and also did some more blood work. Her blood pressure dropped and stabilized while she was lying down, and they didn't see any other indicators in her blood work, and Zach's heart beat was strong, so they sent us home and had Kim start modified bed rest, and also had her start a 24 hour urine test. They scheduled a follow-up ultrasound and appointment on Thursday, and asked her to check her blood pressure again on Wednesday to see how things were progressing.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Kim went back to Evergreen to drop off the jug for her 24 hour urine test, and the midwives checked her blood pressure again. It turned out to be high again, so they sent her back to triage. Aaron had taken the bus to work, so he caught a ride to Evergreen with Amy & Jeff and joined Kim there. The midwives consulted with the doctors and decided to admit her for observation for 24 hours because they were very concerned about eclampsia. She was given an IV of fluids and magnesium sulfate to control blood pressure, and had a fetal heart monitor attached, and we moved into a room. Aaron drove home to grab some clothes, Netflix movies, books, laptops, etc, then picked up a pizza for a dinner and came back to stay the night. This day was the hottest day in Seattle history (103 degrees!), so it was nice to have some air conditionining. However, due to the magnesium sulfate, the nurses had to come in hourly to check Kim's blood pressure, which made it a bit of a rough night overall.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Kim remained on magnesium sulfate and the fetal monitor. We had an ultrasound in the triage area in the morning, and Zach looked happy, healthy and normal for his age. We were told that the midwives and doctors would evaluate Kim's status and decide in the afternoon whether to proceed with an inducement immediately or continue with bed rest. Aaron stayed with her and helped however he could, and tried to stay out of the way of the wonderful nurses at Evergreen. In the early evening, the doctor stopped by and said that they wanted to try to give Zach a chance to get to 37 weeks in utero (which will happen around August 6, 2009), so they decided to keep Kim in the hospital for observation for the time being. The tentative plan is to do another ultrasound on Monday, then an amniocentesis on Wednesday to check Zach's lung development, then we'll figure out the exact schedule from there. Aaron went home and got some more clothes and food and checked on Phoebe - she's been lonely and roasting in the heat this past week, but overall she's in good spirits. We had a more restful night since we had a better idea what was in store for us the next few days, but we still had to wake up hourly for blood pressure checks.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Kim was able to disconnect from the IV this morning and only has to attach the fetal monitor for an hour at a time, 3 times a day. This has made her much more comfortable and mobile. We've been overwhelmed by visits and care packages from our wonderful friends - books from Michele; pre-washed baby clothes, diapers, a baby monitor, and milkshakes from Dave, Tiffany, Max and Andy; fresh fruit, snacks, magazines from Lori, Brett, Juliana and Brenna; a goodie bag with snacks, a movie, games, and other handy things from Candice, Pete, Kate and Jacob; not to mention the air conditioner that Michael lent us on Tuesday before we moved into our room at Evergreen; and visits, IMs, calls and emails from other loved ones.

At this point, it looks like Kim won't be leaving Evergreen until after Zach arrives. This weekend, Aaron is going to be running some errands and getting things prepared for when Zach comes home. Jessica is also going to stop by for a modified version of the maternity photo shoot that we were planning to have at our house this Saturday. We'll have to miss our scheduled trip to see Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince in IMAX at Lincoln Square, but we'll survive. After all, the rooms here at Evergreen are nicer than many hotels (large private room, fridge, DVD player, free Wi-Fi, comfortable companion bed for Aaron, air conditioning, etc), and everyone here is so friendly, helpful and professional.

We'll keep everyone posted as things progress. Thank you all so much for your kind words, positive energy and offers to help with anything and everything. We can't wait to meet Zach, and we can't wait for him to meet all of our wonderful friends and family members!