NICU Day 2

Day two in the NICU has been an eventful day for Rowan...all in good ways! 

There are three things Rowan needs to do to be able to get out of the NICU.  1) Get off IV fluids and keep his blood sugars above 45 on his own for 24 hours 2) Get out of the OMNI bed (climate controlled bed that helps his temp stay up) and into a regular crib and maintain a body temperature of 97.5 or higher on his own 3) show no signs of infection. 

He is well on his way to checking items one and two off his list.  After one of his night time feedings last night/this morning the NNP (neonatal nurse practitioner) gave the all clear for him to get off IV fluids.  His NICU doctor didn't feel the need to have his sugar checked before each feeding too, so he only had to have it checked once today.  The result: 78!  He's been eating really well too so we'll see how frequently the doctor wants to monitor his blood sugars.  It looks like he's on the road to having his blood sugars under control.

Sleeping in his crib-all wrapped up nice and tight

Item two: he got moved into a regular crib today.  The first temperature check after getting moved was a little close...it was right at 97.5.  We had a couple of things going against us for that one-he only had on a sleeper and blanket and I checked the temperature on his IV arm that wasn't wrapped up.  His IV arm has to stay out of his sleeper for access to the IV for antibiotics.  So that shoulder is exposed-it can only be wrapped by the blanket.  So...our nurse suggested we add a onesie under the sleeper, a pair of socks, and then check his temperature the next time.  At the next temperature check he was at 98.8!  Apparently kids can have cooler temperatures during the night, so here's hoping that he stay strong overnight.  Eitherway, we're certainly on te way to him being able to self regulate his temperature!

Now onto treating this infection.  During rounds this morning, the doctor gave us a mix of news.  Good news: his blood work is showing that he's kicking the infection.  No way to tell if it's the antibiotics he's getting or if he's kicking it on his own-frankly it doesn't matter to me.  He's kicking it.  The bad news: she wants to keep him in the NICU long enough to get a full round of antibiotics.  That means he'll be here for a full week at least.  She also will need to give him a spinal tap to make sure the infection hasn't gone into his spinal fluid.  From what I've learned, adults have a brain/body block which will prevent infection from spreading into the brain in most cases.  New babies don't have that.  So...it's possible, though highly unlikely that an infection in a new baby like Rowan can get into the spinal fluid and then get into the brain.  Getting a spinal tap is very common for babies in the NICU...but still scares the crap out of me.  I don't like that idea one bit and had a very hard time hearing that he would have to have one in the next few days.  But...it's the only way to make sure he's in the clear.  If the spinal tap shows he has a more severe infection, then he'll have to have antibiotics for three weeks-meaning we'll be staying in the NICU for three weeks. 

Visit from daddy, wearing a mask so he doesn't share germs.

So that's where we're at.  Rowan is still doing everything perfectly.  He's eating, pooping, peeing, sleeping, and being just plain awesome.  Not only that, but the ONLY cord he has attached to him now is his heart rate monitor.  He'll keep the IV in so that he can get IV antibiotics, but it's not connected to anything full time.  My mom has been so great to have hear while Ian's been working on kicking his sickness.  Ian did come up to the hospital for lunch with mom and I and then spent a little time with Rowan.  I think that was the best medicine for both Rowan and I.  Ian got to hold both of us for a little while...felt so good.  Ian stayed for Rowan's biggest feeding too.  It was really important for Rowan to eat well at 1:30 because his blood sugar was going to be tested at the following feeding.  Ian told Rowan to eat well before we started eating.  He had been eating between 30 and 35 mL between what I had been able to pump and formula.  While Ian was there, Rowan at 48 mL and then promptly went into a food coma.  Ian then left to go on a mission to find some warmer sleepers for him so that we can get him into something warmer if we get worried about his body temp again. 

I am so very thankful for so much we've seen and experienced during the last 48 hours.  First and foremost, I am so thankful for Rowan.  He is such a trooper and a calm little baby.  He's doing everything he needs to do.  I also have the two very best support people around me making sure I eat, sleep, and take care of myself.  Rowan has great nurses that are giving him the best care.  It's also very clear that no one thinks he's going to be in the NICU for very long.  His room doesn't have his name on the window, but most of the other rooms have the kiddo's name on the window-meaning they're going to be here for a while.  I also think my milk is really close to coming in.  Pumping just feels different and I'm starting to get a little more.  Here's hoping by the time Rowan is headed home I'll be able to give him just about all the food he needs.  Since Rowan will be here during the week too I'll be able meet one on one with a lactation consultant and make sure I'm prepared as possible to transition to nursing down the road. 

While I wouldn't have EVER asked for this experience, it has been as good as possible.  Rowan, and the rest of my family, continues to amaze me and I'm reminded each and every day of all that I have to be thankful for.  I can't believe how blessed we really are through all of this...God is being so good to us.  All of your words have meant so so much.  I can't wait to get Rowan home so he can meet all of you. 

Please continue to pray that Rowan stays on this path to a quick recovery.  Pray that Ian can get healthy (seeing the doctor early next week is on his agenda).  Pray that I can stay healthy (I feel like I'm starting to get a little sick).  Pray I get good rest and I can make sure I'm listening to my body. 

Rowan's Trip to the NICU

Holy wild ride Batman!  I'll post Rowan's birth story later, but I tell you what...these last 36 hours have been crazy.  All I can say right now is I have an amazing husband, a wonderful mother, and the sweetest, most relaxed baby boy.

Before we were moved from the delivery room, the nurse tested Rowan's blood sugar.  It was a little low.  He tested at 42 and 45 is the threshold for 'normal' blood sugar.  We had to give him a little formula to get his blood sugar up.  His second blood sugar test showed a level of 46.  Passing, but barely.  Because it was still borderline low, they wanted to test his sugar before the next three feedings.  We went upstairs and got settled into our room.

Rowan's sugars never stabilized.  He had some higher tests (as high as 68) and then some lower ones (as low as 35).  He never had three tests in a row that were above 45 so we had to keep checking his sugars each time before he ate.  He was such a trooper each time he had to get checked too.  (Checking his sugars consists of a poke to the heel to get a drop of blood and reading that blood.  His poor heels have so many pokes in them now from the constant testing.  I'm so so glad that he's got his feet wrapped up so I can't see all the pokes...)  Each time he got tested, he fussed a little bit but didn't throw too big of a fit.  He also managed to calm down if he was talked to and I stroked his head.  Such an angel! 

Each time his sugars were low, he had to be fed formula so that the amount he was eating could be measured.  Not only that, but my milk hasn't come in yet so we have to make sure he was getting enough to eat...especially since he's a little guy.  He isn't low birth weight, he's just a small guy.  Problem with him getting formula is that formula out of a bottle comes really easy...breast milk doesn't come out as easy.  So when we are learning how to nurse, he gets frustrated because getting food has been easy so he doesn't eat all that much...so when I tried to nurse, he wasn't able to get food to keep his sugars up...so he had to get 'easy' food from a bottle...so nursing just became more and more frustrating for him.  He never really showed his frustrations though...he just didn't work all that hard to eat.

Before his 4:00 feeding Saturday morning, they checked his sugars and it was 41.  Because he was unable to consistently get his sugars above 45, they decided to admit him to the NICU.  We went down there at about 5:00 to get him set up.  He had to get an IV, have more blood drawn-but this time from his arm so they could do a culture and check for possible infection.  In his IV, they were going to give him some dextrose (sugar) and antibiotics.  The dextrose was to help his sugars stabilize and the antibiotics were preventative.  During the entire ordeal, he was very patient.  He cried a little bit, but really did just fine.  I think I cried more than him.  Seeing your baby who's not even 24 hours old have to get an IV put in their teeny, tiny little hands is the worst feeling I have ever experienced. 

Checking his temperature

Ian came down with a cold on Thursday or Friday of this week (great timing huh?), so he was sleeping on the couch-bed in our room while I was watching the nurses get Rowan settled.  When I came back to our room, I crawled onto the couch with him and just fell apart.  Our little baby boy had to be in the NICU...we didn't know how long he's be there and what was going to happen.  And the NICU just sounds scary.  Granted his reasons for being in the NICU are VERY minor compared to so many of the other babies in there...but this...this is MY baby.  My baby boy, who hasn't even been out in the world for one full day has some medical concerns serious enough that he has to receive intense, round the clock care at a level far above what I can provide.  Absolutely ripped. my. heart. out.



Snack time!



I let my mom know that Rowan was in the NICU a little before 7:00.  She was at the hospital by 7:30.  We headed down to the NICU and spent time with Rowan until he woke up enough to eat.  Ian had to wear a mask to make sure he didn't share his germs.  Ian got a chance to hold him for a little bit and I tried to feed him.  Rowan was just getting so frustrated with nursing.  Ian asked the nurse to help me out a little bit, but since he had been getting almost all his food from formula, Rowan had just had enough of trying to nurse.  We gave him some more formula and then went upstairs to get some rest and get set up with a pump so I could at least get Rowan some breast milk and work on getting my milk to come in.  Ian went home to get some good rest and some medicine to help him kick whatever he's fighting.  Mom's been by my side ever since.

After pumping, a nap felt great.  I had barely slept the day/night before so the two hours I got were amazing.  This started our new routine: feed Rowan, get him to go to sleep, come to my room to pump and eat and nap.  Repeat.  Rowan's eating like a champ and still just so calm.  He's a sweet sweet baby that's tolerating everything so well.  When he's up for a feeding, his eyes are open and he's alert staring at me and stealing my heart.  He's up for about an hour in total and then goes to sleep until his next feeding.  He doesn't fuss when he's being woken up-even though they have to take his temperature and check his blood sugars (ok...he whines a little during this part, but not bad considering it's a poke and a squeeze).  He happily eats and then calmly falls asleep.  We couldn't ask for him to be doing any better.

A little bit of snuggle time.

We're still not sure when he's going to be discharged.  He has had some elevated white blood counts in his last two blood works (though his blood sugars are looking good!), so it looks as if he is fighting off an infection.  His temp is good and he's eating well, so those are all good signs.  They'll just keep a close eye on him and make sure he is infection free before he gets to come home with us.  They did ask us to bring in some clothes for him so we can dress him in clothes if we want.  Mom went home to get those and a few things for herself (since she didn't know she would be staying here with me until about an hour ago).  I called Ian and he put together a perfect bag of clothes for Rowan which was all ready for mom when she got home.  Hoping he keeps moving in this direction so he can come home early next week.

  

My perfect angel.

I can't thank you all enough for your kind words and prayers.  I really am doing OK know that Rowan is going to come through this just fine.  But I'm still a bit of a hot mess...hormones, lack of sleep, physical exhaustion...all of that is reeking havoc on my tear ducts.  But knowing that Ian is taking care of himself is such a helpful reminder for me to take care of myself.  Plus then I know he'll be able to take care of Rowan when we're at home and I need to take a nap without fear of Rowan getting sick again.  Mom is great at encouraging me to sleep.  Will update when there is something more to say, but until then please keep praying that Rowan eats well, sleeps well, kicks this infection, and can be weaned off the IV fluids so he can come home. 

39.5...so...close...

I'm at the point now where I'm really anxious and oh so ready to meet this kid!  I as thinking he'd be here by now, but nope...he's comfy.  I know he's not 'due' until Thursday...and really a due date is just a relative term...but come on kid...let's get this show on the road! 





39.5 weeks...3 days to due date

Ok...that's enough of me whining and throwing a temper tantrum now.  I'm still feeling pretty good...though I would say I'm only 'comfortable' about 5 minutes each day.  Sleep has been OK.  Last night I was really restless and did not want to go to bed.  Once I finally forced myself to go to bed (it wasn't that late...11:00 or so), it took me a while to fall asleep.  I'm still waking up at least once to go to the bathroom...and now when I roll over from one side to the other I'm waking myself up as well.  Part of it is moving the giant belly and another part is feeling the 'pop' in my lower back or hips each time.  (Guess that means my joints are all loosey goosey and ready to go?)  My energy is really good in the morning so I've been taking advantage of my ability to work from home and using that extra time in the mornings to go on walks.  With the return of summer (including the humidity...where did that come from???), morning walks are far better than afternoon/evening walks.

My body is showing so many signs of being ready to go into labor.  Rowan has dropped a bit more, but I'm not seeing a huge change in my belly.  He's still head down and moving his feet quite a bit.  It's weird to feel (and see) his feet move along my belly.  Braxton-Hicks contractions are more frequent and stronger.  I've had less patience than normal.  I wouldn't say I've really done a lot of 'nesting'...but Ian may beg to differ. Oh yeah...and my belly is HUGE!

I'm resisting the temptation to try all the things that are supposed to get labor started.  Partly because there's so little empirical evidence that they work (though the stories people tell are pretty convincing), and partly because I'm just trying to relax and enjoy these last days (hopefully few days) of life before kids.  While I can honestly say I'm 'over' this pregnancy thing, I know Rowan will come when he's ready.  If for some reason he decides to be stubborn, then we'll talk about induction when it becomes medically necessary.  Until then, all I can do is relax and let my kid work with my body in deciding when it's time to come out. 

So until the kid decides to come out, we'll just keep on moving a long waiting for him to grace us with his presence.

Little joys

I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to meet Rowan.  I'm really looking forward to seeing this child that's been residing in my belly for the last 9 months.  I'm excited to see what will make him laugh and what his interests will be.  But...there are a few things I'm looking forward to for myself as well...

1. Sleeping on my stomach!  I have been sleeping well...but I soooooo miss crawling into bed and rolling over onto my stomach to fall asleep.
2. Eating some of my favorite foods!  I did not realize how ingrained it was in my brain to eat cookie dough, or brownie batter, or cake batter when I bake.  I really miss all of those little treats. Plus, every now and then a medium rare steak or a glass of wine just sounds amazing.  All of those things will be consumed again in the near future.  Nom nom nom...
3. Roller skating!  Well heck, good exercise in general.  I kinda miss running, but I really miss skating.  Every now and then when I go to derby scrimmage I get a little sad.  Here's hoping I still remember how to skate well enough I can pass my basic skills requirements and can start skating with the team again in January.  Endurance will kick. my. butt. for a while (more so than usual at least).  But man...looking forward to it nonetheless.
4. Moving gracefully!  I feel like everything I do now is awkward.  Getting in and our of the car....in and out of bed...putting on shoes...you name it, I look like a clumsy cow trying to do it.  I guess I can't expect much else though considering the solid mass of baby protruding from my mid section.  But goodness gracious...being able to move freely again is going to feel beyond amazing.

I'm not quite ready to begin 'Operation Baby Eviction'...but...the cookie dough my mom made and left in my freezer is calling my name a little more loudly each day. 

Consider yourself warned Rowan...if you don't make your move for the door in the next two weeks, I'll be doing just about anything and everything to get you to move out so I can demolish that cookie dough.  LOVE YOU! =)

37.5 weeks

We're officially in the home stretch.  Full term...big belly full of baby just waiting to be born.  Oh...and did I mention...ROWAN TURNED! 

I'm not quite sure what the 'magic' solution was for him, but he sure enough did rotate.  On Wednesday, the day after the external version, I was feeling a lot of movements, and some of them felt a little different-maybe different body parts or different location...just...different.  My cousin, who is a chiropractor in MN, suggested I do some research on the Webster technique that some chiropractors are certified in.  From what I learned, it's a way to make sure your sacrum is in alignment and your round ligaments are stretched out to prevent twisting of the lower part of my uterus to make sure Rowan had the maximum amount of room possible to rotate.  I figured it wouldn't be a bad thing for me to be checked out by a chiropractor anyway, so I made an appointment for Thursday to be seen.

Thursday it was more of the same movements.  When I would stand up, I couldn't find Rowan's head.  If I laid down, I could feel something that might have been a head, but it was further 'in' so it was hard for someone like me to tell-considering I have never had a baby this big inside of me before OR poked around on a friend's belly who had a baby in it.  I went to the chiropractor and they did an adjustment.  They discovered I had a lot of inflammation in my low back-though I can't say I was surprised considering I have a bowling ball on the front of my stomach =)

On Thursday night I went to scrimmage practice and asked a friend who is an OB to see if she could tell where Rowan was at.  I explained how where his head had been was feeling a bit more "squishy" so I wasn't sure if he had started to make his decent (slowly) or if he had flipped.  She did a quick check of the tummy and said confidently that the head was down.  Praise God! 

Over the weekend I tried my best to just stay relaxed and not think about the fact his head was down.  I went for a couple of walks, did some house cleaning (not a lot-I don't think I'm 'nesting' yet), and just spend some quality time with Ian.  It was a wonderful weekend.

Yesterday morning we went back to our doctor.  She asked if he had turned and looked soooooo surprised when we said we believed he had.  She did a quick exam and sure enough...he was still head down.  She cancelled the C-Section...and now...we wait. 

I am so relieved that Rowan got into the right position.  I feel a little silly getting as worked up as I did about it.  But...there's no way to know why he flipped.  Maybe he would have flipped on his own without any intervention from me.  Maybe he just needed some directions from the version.  Maybe he needed a little more space that the chiropractor's adjustments and stretching gave him.  Maybe God wanted to remind me that I really do have ZERO control over this child right now and had to ask me to fully trust in Him.  I have no idea...and really it doesn't matter.  All I know is that we have a healthy baby who is doing what he's supposed to be doing.  And now...we wait. 

We wait for when he decides he needs to be born.  I get to enjoy these last few weeks of time with my husband where it's just the two of us.  I get to relax knowing that I've done everything I can to prepare my mind and body for childbirth and now I just have to trust everything will be perfect in the end.  I get to have peace knowing that as much as I can try to control the situation, I have no control.  I get experience the peace of knowing that God's love is big enough to take care of my whole family.  That is an amazing feeling to wake up with each day.  For that I am truly thankful.

my dear sweet rowan

well, we've tried what we can to get you to move into the proper position and it just didn't work.  doesn't mean you won't move there own your own, but it was pretty clear that you are in the most comfortable position for yourself right now with your head under my heart, your back stretched across the top of my uterus, and your butt on the right side.  you did great this morning and kept your heart rate up so none of us got scared that you weren't doing ok.  so now we know that we'll meet you on september 4th and you'll come out into the world safely.

i am disappointed that we couldn't get you into the right position.  i was surprised when a rush of feelings came over me that made me breakdown and cry. 

i was worried about you-how would the surgery affect you?  would you be ok?  will the anesthesia they give me have a negative impact on you?  how will your lungs fair? 

i was worried about myself-will i be ok?  will i develop an infection? will i be able to produce the milk you'll so desperately need right away without the rush of hormones a woman gets during labor?

i was stressed out and felt an overwhelming rush of failure-why didn't it work?  what's wrong with me?  what did i do wrong?

how quickly i forgot that i have nothing to worry about.  how quickly i forgot that this whole experience isn't about me-it's not even about you.  yes-there are complications that can arise from surgery.  yes-there are risks involved.  but there is no need for me to worry.  worrying will not do anything positive for you or me.  i am not a failure and i did nothing wrong.  stressing myself out over this fact will not do anything positive either.  i was reminded of this fact while we were waiting for the nurse to say we could leave the hospital this morning in a pretty blunt way...

you see rowan, after they tried to move you, you were very excited or angry or jostled or whatever and your heart rate was pretty elevated for a while.  you were moving around and active and just ever so busy.  i'm imagining that you were trying to rearrange your room to just how you wanted it since the doctor managed to mess it up.  because of that, the nurse wanted to observe your heart rate for a while longer.  she just wanted to make sure you would calm down.  so our 45 minute wait turned into about an hour and a half.  while i would have loved to nap the whole time, the beds in labor and delivery are not the most comfortable.  so after about an hour or so, i started to get fidgety and decided to read.  i had started Crazy Love by Francis Chan a while ago, and decided to jump back into it.  i picked up right where i left off, and within a minute came across these words that smacked me in the face:

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.  Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others or our tight grip of control."

ouch.

i really don't know how you're going to come into this world rowan.  i don't know if you're going to turn yourself around in the next three weeks and make your entrance the 'natural' way or if you're going to stay put and we're going to deliver you surgically.  i don't know if some other complication is going to arise between now and then that's going to give us another reason to worry or become stressed out.  i thought there was so much that i had figured out-but after today that is all gone.  i have lost all control and now have to just surrender to this experience and what lies ahead.  because all i know, and all i can put my hope in, is that there is a God who loves you more perfectly than your dad or i could ever hope to who will take care of every minuscule detail in your life.  i know God has control over your life. 

spending weeks, days, hours, or even minutes worrying about how you're going to come into this world isn't what i need to do.  each moment i spend worrying teaches you that i'm bigger and more important and have more control over my life (and yours) than God does.  each moment i spend worrying artificially inflates my importance and deflates the love that God has for you.  i don't want that to happen.  because my one biggest hope and dream for your life is that you can experience the only truly unconditional love in this world.  your dad and i will love you unconditionally, but we can't do it perfectly.  i hope your friends and future spouse will love you unconditionally, but they can't do it perfectly either.  i want you to experience the amazing love of God-not so that you will have the same religion as me, but so that you can share that unconditional love with the people you interact with daily as you grow. 

the world you're coming into is so broken.  people are hurting and killing each other because they are a different religion, a different color, from a different place, or love differently.  i want you to know what true love is so that you can share true love with the world and bring some healing to the sliver of the population you encounter.  imagine how the world could change if you inspired even one other person to truly love others...who inspired one other person...who inspired another...and another.  before long, loving one another would spread like wildfire and maybe the world we live in would be a better place.  how are you going to know what this amazing love looks and feels like if i'm causing you to doubt it?  how are you going to feel this love if i'm not letting myself feel it as well?  if i want you to share this love with the world, i have to be able to share it with you first. 

for me...right now...this means letting go of my worries and fears.  i have to let go of the well laid plans i had for your arrival.  i have to breathe in...and breath out...in...and out...knowing that only by releasing the tight grip of control i am clinging to can i experience the peace God's love can give.  i can't feel fear over what could happen in surgery.  i can't be worried about what may happen in the next three weeks.  i can only wake up each morning knowing that day was created for me to look towards God to experience his loving warmth first and myself second.  only by doing that will i be able to experience a calm and peace in my naturally worrying heart.

rowan-i love you more than you can ever imagine. your dad loves you more than you can ever imagine.  your aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, cousins, friends...they all love you so much.  but even though you will feel all this love every time your cuddled, kissed, and hugged, this love cannot compare with the love that God has for you.  i hope i can let myself feel that in these next three weeks so you can feel it as well.  the chain of loving people has to start somewhere, and i'm hoping it can start with me loving you as perfectly as my imperfect heart will allow.

36 Weeks

Turns out Rowan is very comfortable in a head's up position.  At our 36 week appointment on Thursday, his head was under the left side of my rib cage.  The midwife recommended we see our regular doctor early this week to see what she wanted to do.  So we scheduled an appointment for this afternoon.

36 1/2 weeks

Our doctor did an ultra sound to verify his position and yup...head up.  Silly little boy doesn't realize he's supposed to be head down by now.  So our doctor explained we have a couple of options.  We can either schedule an external version where she tries to manually turn him or we schedule a C-Section.  Our midwife gave us a head's up that the doctor may be talking about an external version, so we did a little research before our appointment today.  Our doctor explained the procedure and it pretty much matched up with what we had been able to read about.  Our doctor thinks we have a less than 50/50 chance of having a successful version-meaning she either won't be able to get him to move into a head down position or he'll go back to head up in the days after the version.  She said I'm not the best candidate for an external version because I haven't had a baby before and my abdomen hasn't been stretched to the max previously.  The good news is that Rowan hasn't settled down into my pelvis, he isn't huge (she thinks he's about 7+ pounds), and the placenta is in a good spot.  All those are factors that increase her ability to flip Rowan around.  She also doesn't have any concerns about Rowan's health or my health.  All good things to know going into this procedure.

So tomorrow morning we'll head to the hospital for the procedure.  We'll have a monitor put on to track Rowan's heart beat, have another ultra sound to make sure he didn't flip overnight, and then get some medicine to keep my uterus relaxed during the procedure (which will be good since I feel like I'm contracting ALL THE TIME-but really only about 4-6 times an hour)  Then starts the pushing...but I don't have to do any of it =)  She'll do what she can to move him into the right position.  She said it's not the best feeling procedure and I may end up with some bruises on my abdomen from her fingers, but hopefully she can get him to move.  If she can't get him to turn, we'll schedule a C-Section.   Our doctor said she would schedule the surgery for September 4th.  Then if he gets into the right position between now and then, we can skip the surgery.  So IF the version isn't successful, we can keep doing what we're doing with some poses and exercises to encourage Rowan to get into the right position. 

While neither Ian or I are really 'excited' about this plan, we're glad there's an option we can try before having to schedule a C-Section.  We're SO glad there are no health concerns for either Rowan or I and here's still time for him to flip-either with help or on his own.  Right now we're just going to see what tomorrow brings and then we'll go from there.  If we end up having a C-Section, we'll be just fine.  Our doctor thinks I'd be a good candidate for a natural delivery for any subsequent children which is a huge relief as well.

So tonight we'll make sure we're all packed and ready to go for tomorrow and get a good night's sleep.  We completely trust our doctor and know that the story ends the same.  Rowan will come into the world happy and healthy one way or another.