Dear Baby Weeks 33-34

Our latest bloodwork gave us a pleasant surprise- our bile levels are down again and we have kept this baby girl in another week!! We are as confused as we are excited and hopeful that this trend keeps up another few weeks. Everything about this ICP stuff is new and baffling to us, but we are resting in the promise of Ella Jane's name- that she is God's gift and only he knows what is ahead these next few weeks. We just have to trust and take it day by day, week by week, and when it's hard- inch by inch. 

Ursodiol for ICP- a tiny update

Waiting. It's so very hard to wait. While we have been waiting my levels have dropped-be it temporary or be it permanent we don't know but they dropped. The Ursodiol Rx they have me on has proven to work at least for a little while, buying us a little more time. So for right now we keep on trucking and waiting. We will have to see if my bile levels stay down or head back up again, but for that we wait until Thursday. No matter how long it's bought us it has definitely curbed my itching. So if you have the ICP take the Ursodiol if offered. Then pray and wait and enjoy every minute of those heartbeats on the NST machine you get to hear however often. That sound is of pure joy friend! 

ICP in Pregnancy - an Ella Jane update

Okay, so this will be a little on the long side as far as posts go, but I wanted to write it all out anyway. We try to keep all of our family and friends in the loop as much as we can and this seems like an easy way to do it. Also, National ICP Awareness Day was last week and as you are about to read we are very aware and so should others be.  If one pregnant gal reads this and realizes her itchy hands and feet deserve a second look then I feel it was justified to write it. 

So to begin. 

We found out last week that the liver condition that I had during pregnancy with Liam has returned for this pregnancy. It is called ICP or Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy  and the best way I can explain it is this:

It is a liver disorder which occurs during pregnancy, usually only showing up in the third trimester or end of the second trimester. It affects the normal flow of bile- slowing it down and causing the bile acids to build up in the blood which results in the mother itching.  The itching can vary in severity but usually is worse at night and shows up most often as itching on the hands and soles of the mothers feet (though it can sometimes cause the mom to itch all over).

 NOTE: By itching I mean an INTENSE- want to rub sandpaper on your feet and hands- kind of itch! Some women will scratch until they draw blood that's how bad it can get. Trust me you haven't itched like this!

The risk:

ICP is associated with an increased risk of stillbirth, preterm labor, fetal distress, respiratory distress, maternal hemorrhaging and meconium passage in utero. 

The best way to avoid these risks seems to always be early delivery at 36/37 weeks of pregnancy. There are some medications that help with the symptoms (mostly the itching) but do not guarantee the safety of the baby. Everything I have read point to early and intense monitoring and delivery once certain bile levels are reached in the mother. 

(The best info I've found on it online comes from www.icpcare.org if you need more details.) 

The basic thing you need to know is that untreated or unmonitored it can be deadly for the baby- even with proper monitoring it is a very scary reality that stillbirth is still a "greater than desired" possibility. 

The day we discovered it with Liam we were induced immediately two days before hitting 36 weeks pregnant, but this go around we have caught it much sooner (30 weeks). So now we are playing the waiting game. We met with our doctor last Thursday and here is her game plan for now-

We will be monitored every Monday and Thursday by non stress tests for Ella Jane just to make sure she is doing okay via heart rate and oxygen levels. Every Monday they will do blood work to check my bile level and liver enzymes and each Thursday give us the results. (It takes that long at the lab to get the results.) 

My last level read 29.1 last Monday and my OB has stated it is not dangerous for the baby until the levels hits 40.0. That said, her plan is to give me steroid shots for EJs lungs when my levels reaches mid 30s and plan to induce early. How early will depend on how fast and how high my levels go and how EJ is reacting. Right now we have no idea how fast my levels are rising (we will have a better idea on Thursday when we see how much it rose in a weeks time).  She is hoping we make it to 35/36 weeks but if it hits 40.0 before then or EJ appears to be in distress at all we will have to readdress. 

We are currently at 31 weeks so our hope is we can squeeze out another 3-4 weeks if not more. No matter what she will induce at 37 weeks to air on the safe side as at that point the baby is in more danger by the day but considered to be full term if I'm not mistaken. We are taking it all day by day! 

 In the meantime we are doing kick counts each hour or two to make sure she is still active and taking a prescription which we hope at the very least will relieve some of the itching and hopefully slow my levels down some.  Also, Brian is on a dietary kick based off what he has read online that helps detoxify the liver of bile, so nasty hot teas and hot lemon water for me daily! (Someone save me and get me a Starbucks!)

Anyway, to sum it up, we are asking for prayers that EJ arrives safe and healthy whenever she comes.... And for peace for Brian and I in the stressful waiting. We know God's plan is bigger than medicine and we know no matter what he has it under control!

More updates as we learn things and get more results each week. 

-Amy 

Dear baby- Mother's Day 26/40

Dear baby- 25/40

Dear baby

Dear baby updates

Dear baby

Baby Girl Atkinson Has A Name

*****Warning: this is long and wordy! So if you just want the name, no story attached, jump to the photo ending!*****

Picking a baby name is like picking your favorite restaurant or food. As soon as you think you know your favorite, you over use it for a week or two and hate it (at least for a little while).

Maybe you don't have this problem but I sure do. From the time I was dragging around baby dolls I was giving them my "all time favorite" baby names that I thought one day I would use.....until I was pregnant with Liam and realized I hated them....all of them. 

So from the minute we picked Liam's name, Brian and I decided our children's names would require two things: a heritage name from a family member and a name with a meaning.

Example: when we chose Liam's name we wanted a name that had a meaning that would foreshadow his life. So we chose "Liam" meaning Strong and Brave. Everyday of his life he has shown this to be true of himself. We know this name was put on our hearts for a reason, and from the moment we found out about his vision we have noticed that he is completely these two things. Nothing, vision included, will defeat, slow, or hinder him- of this we are sure. (So when we call him LiamtheBrave we mean it!)

Liam's middle name, his inherited name, is "Robert" which is my father's first name (though he goes by Bobby). I could list a dozen reasons to why we picked my dad to name Liam after, but I would be rambling for a while so I will leave it at this- girls look up to their dads. (And so do the son-in-laws that get the permission to marry said daughter.)

Jump to present day.

From the moment we got pregnant for the fourth time, we just KNEW this baby would be a boy. 

The only reason being this: 

One day we sat in our kitchen discussing the chances of having a third miscarriage if we tried again to get pregnant. I remember telling Brian I wanted to wait until after Christmas to even discuss trying again. He jokingly said, "why? It would be a cool Christmas present." And I told him it would have to be a "gift from God" because I wasn't up for it. We laughed and joked about how funny that would be and then on a whim I googled baby name meanings meaning "gift from God" or "God's gift". Turned out the first one I found was Hebrew and I loved it! Better still, Brian loved it. 

A few weeks later we were staring at our 4th positive pregnancy test, and two days before Christmas we were listening to our baby's heartbeat.  Christmas baby announcement it was! 

Skip forward a few short months- our announcement and shock that this was not a baby boy but a little girl. All I could think was, "BUT our name!!! It was perfect!" 

And it still is.... Just not for this baby- which is why I'm not including it in this post ;) 

After we wrapped our brains around this new information, we started to discuss girl names. Both of us came to the same conclusion: THIS baby, this GIRL baby, is still just that perfect meaning-"God's gift".

So we found Jane. It took some convincing because at first Brian hated it, but I kept on. We struggled to try and name her middle name after my sisters, but we came up with more problems than solutions. 

So one day on my way to work, I pulled up a list of my family tree and zeroed in on the female names. I not only found that "Jane" was actually an inherited name, but I also found the name "Ella". 

Mary-Ella, called Ella, was my Nana's grandmother. She was my dad's greatnana. 

 I called Brian and this is (give or take) our quick discussion on it:

Me: "did you know that Jane is our name meaning name and an inherited name? So we can technically pick whatever we like to go with it!"

Brian: "Cool but what goes good with it?"

Me: "Well, I found Ella.... I kinda like Jane Ella."

Silence.

Me: "Babe?"

Brian: "I hate it.... But I like Ella Jane. What does it mean?"

Quick google search....

Me: "You won't believe this... It means "all or completely/utterly".

Brian: "So if we use it as Ella Jane instead of Jane Ella, together her name would mean "Completely A gift from God"?" 

And that was that. We both loved it and there was no other name it could possibly be. Two meaning names, two inherited names. The perfect combo for our little girl. 

So (now that I've drug this out long enough) the secrets out! Our sweet daughter's name will be..........

Dear Baby

I keep forgetting to post these weekly so here's a few to catch up (minus a few that I forgot). I love the idea of seeing weekly growth but I wanted a unique way to do it other than just in pictures. Since I've periodically written letters to Liam, when I saw this idea on Pinterest I fell in love with it and decided to give it a try.