June 22 - Here we come!

Here is an e-mail that Chad sent out today, and I think he did a good job explaining the plan for us this week:

The Latest News On "Team Turn-It-Around", known by some as "Team Hoffman", and others as "nothinggoesnormalduringheatherspregnancy" reads as such:

"Brooks Is Being Evicted"
That's right folks. You heard it here first. The Doctors are kicking brooks out of the womb. The Toxemia Hall of Famer is getting the boot. Nurses can't keep up with his pursuit of triumph, and the Doc's only wish they could figure out the Divine intervention and prolonged health and defiance of the dreaded PREECLAMPSIA syndrome. He's got too much gumption to offer the world to be tied down to any one umbilical cord (also called the birth cord or funiculus umbilicalis). It would take at least 3 umbilicali to keep Brooks from pressing on and that would just be weird, so ready or not, here he comes:

Brooks will be undertaking a series of P.T. regiments and two-a-days (some call induction phases) beginning Saturday evening, June 21st.
From there, he will be stepping into the batters box with dreams of swinging away as early as Saturday night. If we are blessed, as we have been thus far, Brooks will have his first slam dunk/home run/hole-in-one presentation on Sunday, June 22nd 2008!

Thanks for all your prayers and support as this has been an exciting and trying process. We look forward to talking to you soon with Brooks' debut statistics.


Reporting Live From Denver,

Chad & Heather

Prego Pics...33 weeks

A photographer friend of mine was planning on doing some pregnancy pics for me at the end of June, but due to the circumstance - she came here to the hospital to take some pictures for us. She was very creative, but also good about capturing our experience here at the hospital.

Preeclampsia

At my normal 32 week appointment the doctor came in and told us he wasn't happy with my typical tests in the office. He told us we needed to go to the hospital because I might have something called PREECLAMPSIA:

Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms.

At first I was real scared, and being at the hospital was even scarier. The nurses and doctors were flooding us with all kinds of information. Worst case scenario was that they would deliver on Monday and best case was a couple of weeks more time. WHAT? They gave me a steroid shot for Brooks' lungs that night and the following night just in case they had to deliver that weekend. I did a 24-hour urine test, and that confirmed that I had preeclampsia. The doctor told me that because my levels were so high that I needed to stay on bed rest at the hospital for the reminder of the pregnancy. He told us he didn't know how long that would be and they would continue to monitor my levels. He said a week would be great, and two would be better. He was doubtful we would make it another week. Well, God has his own plans and we are still here (14 days later). Things are looking great - so we might make it a while longer. The docs said that they will take him at 37 weeks no matter what because then the risk to me becomes too high, and it's a safe gestation to deliver Brooks (that would be June 23rd).
Right now we do fetal monitors daily and often we get to see him on the sonogram; and Brooks is looking fabulous - PRAISE GOD!

May 1st

Spring is a beautiful time in Colorado. The tulips are blooming and everything is turning green and the weather is so wonderful...most of the time. The other day it was 80 degrees and I was wondering how I'm going to make it through the summer. And today I woke up to snow. The first day of May - SNOW! I took a few pictures to prove it.

Kids are so honest!!

A couple of my students from last year like to come by and visit me after school.  About three girls came by the other day to say hello.  But instead of walking in and saying "hello", the one girl came in and said, "We just wanted to see how fat you are!"  I tried to smile.  Then the other girl said, "Yeah, you are getting fat!"  I told them it was time for them to go.

23 weeks

I think it's finally becoming clear to outsiders that I'm pregnant.  Hopefully people are looking at me and thinking, "Look at that cute pregnant lady!" instead of, "Look at that fat chick!".  The kids at school really seemed to notice my tummy today and they gave Brooks lots of hugs and belly rubs.  My one girl said to me, "Mrs. Hoffman - before you were pregnant, you were skinny!"  Awww...the honesty of a five-year-old.  I went ahead and took it as a compliment.  At least she thinks I was skinny before!  So, I thought today would be a good day to take a picture of my growing belly.   

It's a Boy!!!

Well, everyone thought we were going to the doctor next week to find out the sex of the baby, but with my mom coming into town I changed the appointment to surprise her and everyone else.  So we're at the house getting ready this morning trying to get to our appointment on time but my mom is really in no hurry to go anywhere.  So, Chad had to come up with a lie to get her out of the house.

Chad: "Guys, I just got this call from someone at the church that is giving away a crib and baby furniture and they want us to have it.  But the problem is there's someone else who wants to buy it, so we have to go right now to look at it and see if it's something we want."

Me: "Cool, let's go.  Get ready mom!"

Mom: "Oh, you guys go ahead and I'll stay and get ready."

Me: "No mom, I want you to see it too!"

So we convinced my mom to come and the whole way there she is so excited about this furniture that we're getting and she's asking Chad all kinds of questions: "How do you know this lady?  What kind of shop does she have?  Why do we have to go look at it right now?  What does the furniture look like?"  And the whole time Chad is answering her questions and I'm trying so hard to focus on something else so I don't bust out laughing.  

So we're turning down a street and my mom notices a Kaiser building on the right and points it out.  I said, "Oh yeah!  That's where I'll go for my sonogram, which coincidentally is today!"  Well, it did take my mom about a second and a half to figure out what was going on, and then she started crying.  She was so excited!  

We didn't have to wait long in the waiting room (thankfully because they make you drink lots of water before you go in and I thought I might pee my pants).  Chad and I went in and we told my mom we would come get her in a bit to see the baby boy/girl.  The doctor did all kinds of measurements on the baby and looked at every little inch of him.  He did turn and wave once which was pretty cool.  But he was facing the right way and it was making it hard to see in-between the legs.  All of a sudden it's like the little guy figured out what we were wanting to see, and those legs went flying open.  With his legs open, it was very clear to see that we were having a little boy.  The doctor didn't have to say much because it was so obvious.  Chad just about hit the ceiling.  And then he gave me a high-five and a hug.  

We were starring at little baby Brooks Bryan Hoffman.  What a sight!