Baby Jamie

My name is Tara and I am 32 weeks pregnant. I am married to a wonderful man named Joe, and we already have one daughter named Christie. She's four and a half. We definitely wanted to have more kids, and started trying after Christie turned two. Unfortunately, we had two miscarriages last year, one in July of 2010 and the other in December 2010. We were both really heartbroken and wondered if we were just supposed to have Christie. For the most part, I had resigned myself that she would be an only child.
In May of 2011, I helped chaperone a field trip. I work in a school for kids with learning disabilities, and we were taking them on a cruise to Mexico. I kept thinking that I was going to get my period on this cruise, and was all prepped for it. When it didn't show, I thought, "Well, it's been a hectic couple of months, and it's probably just stress keeping it away". After another month of not getting it, I took the preggo tests (6 of them) and all came back positive. I was really surprised, and a little apprehensive. Since losing the previous two, I wasn't getting my hopes up. Joe and I went to see my OB, and he put me on progesterone tabs, normally used for women undergoing IVF. He said that this would help to keep the pregnancy in place. Well, I had to insert them twice a day, and the extra hormone in my body made me pretty emotional. I kept wondering when I would miscarry. Occassionally, I would spot and then I would freak out. There were also a couple of times that I had cramps and would put my feet up, hoping that was enough to stop them, which it was. I even had a minor melt-down at a board meeting because I started cramping right in the middle of one.
Well, we managed to pull through. Joe and I were grateful, and we looked forward to our first ultrasound. We brought Christie with us, hoping that she would be able to see her new baby brother or sister.
When we had our first ultrasound at 16 weeks, we found out that our new little girl had omphalocele My OB broke the news to us, and I remember he had to spell the word out so that we could go home to look it up. We were in shock, and not sure how to handle the information. He referred us to a perinatologist, who we went to see about two weeks later. We were checked thoroughly, taking about 2 hours to do another ultrasound. When finished, we had an amniocentesis done and were told to go see a pediatric cardiologist. We also waited pretty anxiously for the results of our FISH test (early results of amnio). About a week after this, we saw our cardiologist. After another intense ultrasound (3 HOURS!) he determined that our little one had Tetralogy of Fallot. We had to ask him to spell this out as well so that we could go home to look it up properly. On the way home from that appointment, I told my husband that we needed a name for this little girl since there was so much going on with her. He came up with Jamie, which I liked and agreed to.
I have had to see one doctor a week since those initial visits. Thank God for my phone calendar, or I'd never keep them straight.
In Septmeber, my sister got married. I was supposed to be her maid of honor, but the day before I was supposed to fly up to see her, my perinatologist told my I was grounded. At 27 weeks, my cervix had shortened and funneled, and she was putting me on progesterone shots once a week. I was pretty devastated that I couldn't get to the wedding. My whole family was coming out and of course I wanted to be there. I was also reduced to working part-time, then bed-rest the other half of the day. I hated that part. Of course, nobody likes bedrest (not that I know of) and this was only partial!
Then, on the Monday morning that I turned 29 weeks, I wasn't feeling right. I told my husband, and he said to skip work and stay home. Good thing I did, cause I called the doctor's office, telling them I though I was having contractions, but wasn't sure. Of course, they said go straight to the emergency room. So I called Joe and he met me at the hospital (his work is about 3 minutes from there, and me being the stubborn German that I am, told him that I was fine to drive). They took me up to L&D triage, gave me liquids and though that would be it. When that didn't do the trick, they gave me procardia, and also a shot to help mature Jamie's lungs in case she came early. After the contractions seemed to stop, I was allowed to go home, with the promise that I come back the next day to get my follow-up shot for Jamie's lungs. I was also told that I was on full bed-rest. Bleh. But if that's what I had to do, then fine. Whatever was needed to keep Shorty in there for a while longer.
The next morning, I was having contractions again, more intense and closer together than the day before. I called my husband, and he had to leave work again, picked me up and took me back to the hospital. This time they ended up admitting me, and putting me on a drip of magnesium sulfate for 24 hours to get the contractions to stop. Unfortunately, I was also given a catheter so that they could monitor my liquid output. That sucked. I stayed in the hospital for two days, then was allowed to go home. I have been on procardia (10 mg) every six hours, as well as resuming my progesterone shots once a week. I have a nurse that comes out to the house for that fun little even. Actually, it's not that bad. More annoying than anything else. I will say that I am a bit of an emotional wreck for a few days after the shots. But since it's just me and the dog and a couple of fish during the day, I do alright. :)
That about brings us up to speed. I will try to do this every couple of days. If anyone has questions, please feel free to let me know. I know I had plenty, and probably still will.

 It has been emotional and educational, overall.