32 weeks and no problems. We keep labeling ourselves as "lucky" because we are 8 weeks away from a second child. As you might know, Lindsay has a chronic kidney disease that requires medication and her kidney doctor wants to keep tabs on her protein levels, especially while pregnant.
November 28 - 32 weeks, 6 days
Lindsay calls from the doctors office. Her kidneys are spilling too much protein. Almost 5x of what they were in April when we found out Lindsay was pregnant. Her doctor raises the red flag and suggests the baby to be delivered sooner rather than later. If we wait too long, Lindsay runs the risk of having preclampsia (high blood pressure that puts stress on the baby), an enlarged liver, or possible scarring of the placenta. We are scheduled for a ultrasound tomorrow to see how Finley is doing.
November 29 - 33 weeks, 0 days
The ultrasound looks perfect. Finley is moving the way she should and measures out exactly at 33 weeks. She's projected to weigh 4lbs 11oz. The pre-natal doctor is pleased with Finley's progress, but does want to do a biophysical profile (by ultrasound) and a non stress test once a week until she is born. Any spike in Lindsay's blood pressure could cause possible fatal problems in Finley.
The kidney doctor has advised Lindsay to collect 24 hours of urine to determine how much protein her kidneys are spilling. If the numbers aren't high, we will continue with the pregnancy and monitor along the way. If they are high, Finley will have to come out early.
To take our mind off of things, we take Bryson to the mall so he can build a bear for Finley to give to her after she's born. Meet Melody. Bryson picked out all of Melody's clothes and even her name. He also made a dog for himself named wags. Here's a picture of the 2 together. 
December 3 - 33 weeks, 4 days
Lindsay's numbers are in. They are even higher than before. Mike comes home from work early to take Lindsay to the hospital for a steroid shot. This is to help Finley's lungs get a head start for what's ahead of her. Finley will be born this week. We load up Bryson and take him to the hospital to show him the babies. Since Bryson is too young to be in the labor and delivery area, Mike and Bryson check out the babies in the nursery and go on a search for ambulances. Lindsay calls and says she's staying overnight. It's happening. Mike takes Bryson back home and Papa stays with him while Mike packs a bag for Lindsay and takes it back to the hospital. After a hour in the hospital, Mike heads back home to begin packing for the week.
December 4 - 33 weeks, 5 days
Mike takes Bryson to pre-school for the first time. He then heads to work to let everyone know what is going on. After 90 minutes at the office, he hits the grocery store for a few small things, Best Buy for a videotape for Finley, and Schlotzky's for a sandwich. Granna picks up Bryson from pre-school and gets him down for his nap before Mike gets home. After getting everything together, Mike arrives at the hospital around 4PM. Papa, Courtney, & Nick all stop by. Because Finley will be early, she will be required to stay in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Mike & Lindsay take a 20 minute tour to see where Finley will be spending some time. It's a very sobering experience to say the least. To see all of those little bodies with large amounts of tubes and cords coming out is quite tough. It hits us almost at the same time to realize our little Finley will be like that. The nurse advises us that it could be 6 weeks before Finley can go home, that would mean keeping her until her due date of Jan. 17th. Tears are already flowing. We are assured that everything is going to be fine. We are even shown a little boy that was born at 5 pounds at 34 weeks. He is tiny, but seems to be doing well. Granna shows up with Bryson and he seems a little confused about what is going on,but enjoys the ride in Mommy's wheelchair to the nursery window to see the new babies. Papa, Courtney, Nick, Mike, and Bryson head down to the basement to see what the cafeteria has to offer. We pickup some potato soup and a salad for Lindsay. Mike still has the NICU on his mind and doesn't have an appetite for eating. Bryson picks at the salad and locates some small carrots to his liking. Everyone heads home as Mike and Lindsay stay behind for the night in the hospital. Tomorrow is the big day. We took a few last minute pictures to show Finley in Mommy's tummy for the last time.
December 5 - 33 weeks, 6 days
We wake up at 7AM and after the usual prep work, Lindsay heads into the operating room while Mike waits to be called in. We are both excited to see what our newest little addition will look like, but also terrified what the next few hours will tell us about Finley's future. The operating room was full of people, 11 to be exact as there were many there for the surgery and also those from the Neonatal unit. Finley was born at 1:02 p.m. and came out crying loudly and strong. She also has a full head of strawberry-blonde hair. She sounded great, and we were able to get in a few good pictures before she was taken to the NICU and hooked up to her future home over the next few weeks. Mike was taken away with her to go to the NICU and get her settled in while Lindsay was finished up in surgery.
After surgery Lindsay was taken to a recovery room where she'd be kept overnight due to the magnesium sulfate medication she had to be on for close to 24 hours. This made her feel a bit sick while trying to get some rest. We had our family here, so they all were able to visit with Lindsay, and also get escorted one by one with Mike up to the NICU. That is a big experience in the fact that we can only take 1 person at a time back accompanied by either one of us, and you have to scrub up for 2 minutes before heading back. There are many, very sick babies back there and you aren't allowed to take any chances. Besides, we wouldn't want our little Finley getting sick either! It is no fun that there is no window for anyone to peak in on her at, but we appreciate the security of the NICU, and knowing that it has a restricted access. We are thankful that all of Finley's aunts, uncle, and both sets of grandparents were able to go see her. Poor Bryson won't get to meet his sister until she is out of the NICU and home with us. I'm sure this is extremely confusing for him, but he's going to be a great big brother, and has gotten to see pictures of his little sister, and has even sung Happy Birthday to Finley! :)
Before going to sleep for the first night, Mike made one final check on her. The nurse had upped the oxygen content to 30% to give her a little more. Her breathing was still a little fast, but nobody seemed concerned.
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