Dear Friends,
Here’s the latest information about Jennifer and Sophia. We met on Wednesday with the specialist and he understands that our desire is to do whatever works and will be helpful to see the baby come to full term. It was very different from the situation on Monday for which we are both very grateful.
It does not follow the normal pattern that being on an IV should have as dramatic of an impact as it is having. However, there is a possibility that the dexamethasone that Jennifer is taking somehow makes it less effective for her to hydrate orally and it have a direct impact on the amniotic fluid index (AFI). But there is a lot we don’t know about this particular dosing which is higher than for other types of difficulties in pregnancy so perhaps this higher dose has different characteristics than at lower doses.
Her AFI was at 8.7 on Tuesday and 8.5 on Wednesday. Today her AFI was at 8.2 which is still an acceptable reading. Since it seems to have stabilized with the IV we have scaled back taking the AFI every day and will only do it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays along with the p-r interval. That was great on Wednesday and today it was between 113-119, which is perfect.
Another amazing answer to prayer a friend from San Diego is going to fly out here and help us with the kids until Jennifer is released from the hospital or the baby is born. She has cared for her children and grandchildren and is wonderfully qualified to help us. She and Jenn are wonderful friends and our children know her from her time in the church nursery with her. She will be here in just over a week. I cannot even begin to express how blessed we are that she would be willing to minister to our family in this way. (We have warned her the winter is a little more brisk than San Diego.)
What are the possibilities that Jennifer might be able to come home under home bed rest? That is a good question and one that we will be exploring in the next couple weeks. We are hesitant to suggest another strategy which might put the baby at more of a risk especially when we have found a strategy that is working and would allow us to continue to full term (or a few weeks early with a c-section which is most likely).
If things continue to go well we might explore seeing if perhaps Jennifer could hold a good AFI without an IV or we might see if it is possible to have home nursing with an IV. Again, the concern is that we wouldn’t have the same level of care and it is much harder to have true “bed rest” when you are at home which we found out with our first child. Our first priority is doing everything we can to have a healthy full-term baby. It isn’t ultimately about our comfort or convenience if it means sacrificing our baby’s wellbeing.
We appreciate so much your love, prayers and practical support. For those of you from around the country and overseas reading this blog let me brag on the church family here for a few moments. They have organized daily meals for us since Jennifer went into the hospital, a few ladies have come over to clear, others have volunteered to help clean and another gave us gift certificates for several hours of cleaning. Also, they have lined up childcare every day so that I can be free to visit with Jennifer since taking the kids every time is difficult for the kids. I could go on and on sharing how our church family has rallied to our side during this trying time and you can imagine how much this has encouraged and helped us.
I’ll share more in a few days. We won’t be doing more tests until Tuesday so it is unlikely that things will change much between now and then but if they do I will let you know. Otherwise, look for a blog post sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
Thank you for your love and prayers,
David Monreal
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