Three days in the Hospital!

Hello family and friends,

I wanted to take a minute to update everyone on what is going on. For those of you who don’t know, I was admitted into the hospital late Monday evening after a fall on my back onstage during a preview performance of Bat Boy: The Musical at the Firehall Theatre.

Here’s the short of things:
They are kept me in the hospital for a little over 3 days because there has been evidence of hemorrhaging in the placenta around my baby. This hemorrhaging could cause our daughter to lose blood volume, which puts her life in danger. This morning I was released because the amount of her blood found in mine went down, but we’re not quite out of the woods yet. I go back in on Tuesday for them to retest, and we’ll see from there.

Here’s the (really) long version:
I fell at the end of Act 2, changed out of my costume, listened to notes, and went home. My lower back hurt from the fall and I felt strong pain in my upper abdomen. I waited about ten minute for it to feel better, but it just got worse, so we decided to go to the emergency room. When we arrived at the ER, they immediately wheeled me up to the maternity ward and ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed what they thought was a small tear in the placenta, and they decided to keep me until the morning. They hooked me up to a “mom” machine which monitors our baby’s heart rate as well as if I am having contractions. They also informed me that I sprained my sacrum and bruised my hip in the fall. L

Early Tuesday morning, they gave me another ultrasound as well as a blood test. The ultrasound was to check that placental tear and to give the baby a biophysical scan, which shows if everything is okay with the baby. They also gave me a blood test called a Kleihauer-Betke test, which detects fetal-maternal hemmorage. Basically, it can see if there are any fetal blood cells mixed in with my blood cells. A positive result for the KB test indicates bleeding coming from the baby, umbilical cord, or placenta. Several hours after administering both tests, the resident doctor came in and let me know that the ultrasound looked great, but the KB test came back positive, with 0.2% of the baby’s blood mixed in with mine. The doctor told me that they were keeping me for another 24 hours at minimum, and that they needed to monitor our daughter very closely at that time.

Since I’m only 24 weeks and 6 days pregnant, the baby is still very small to be picked up by the monitor. She has a lot of room to wiggle around in, so it’s hard to get her to show up! The nurse will hunt for her heartbeat, place the monitor disc where they can find her, and then I have to lay as still as I possibly can for hours on end. If I move, she goes off the monitor. Then sometimes she goes off the monitor on her own accord. So that’s been stressful. The discs are attached with a two inch think Velcro strap, and I have rope burns on my back from the strap being adjusted when she moves. Today they gave me essentially a huge ace wrap, and that is a lot more comfortable!

Wednesday morning, they administered another KB test, and we waited a couple hours for the result. We were really hoping for a negative, but instead the test came back positive. Not only that, but the amount of fetal cells doubled since yesterday. They are continuing to monitor both of us to make sure that everything is okay.

My doctor also warned us that if the fetal cell percent goes up to 2.0%, there is a possibility that they will transfer me to Fargo to deliver her early. If the fetal cell percent goes up that high, she will have lost a significant amount of blood and will need to come out so she can get a transfusion. The NICU in Grand Forks can only handle babies who are born at 28 weeks or more, so if I need to deliver her soon they couldn’t accommodate her here. The NICU at MeritCare can handle babies born at 25 weeks or more, so they could take care of the baby if I need to deliver within the next week. Which we really hope doesn’t happen.

This morning (Thursday) I was given the KB test again, and three hours later (!) the results came back. The results were positive again, but today they only found 0.2% of fetal cells in my blood, which means that the bleeding went down. My doctor released me and told me to rest for the next couple days and to resume normal activity after that. She also let me know that we’re not entirely out of the woods yet. I go back to the clinic on Tuesday and they’re going to retest then, and hopefully that one will be negative! If not, then we’ll see, I guess!

With my doctor’s approval, I should be resuming my role as Meredith in Bat Boy: The Musical at the Firehall next week (maybe tomorrow if I’m feeling up to it). I sincerely appreciate all of you who were showing your support this week. We are both pretty shaken up, and it helps knowing that there are lots of people praying for us. Our daughter is a little fighter, and so am I, so the two of us girls are working hard to keep her in there until she’s done cooking! :)

Much love to all of you!

Love,

Maura, John, and Mairi Ferguson

(oh,P.S., her name is Mairi! We figured that since all of your prayers helped, you deserve to know her name.) :)

More pictures!

Here are three more pictures we got of our little girl at the ultrasound a couple weeks ago!

That is a closeup of her profile!

That is her teeny 3 centimeter footprint!

The little white hamburger shows us that it's a girl!!

Things have been going well here in the Ferguson household. We are getting reorganized and are starting to put the nursery together. While I feel our little Ferglet dancing around every day, John still hasn't been able to feel her move yet! Even if she's going crazy, once he puts his hand on my belly she gets shy. I'm sure he will feel her any day now!

As you already know, we are keeping her name a secret until her birthday. However, we are calling her by her name at home, and both of us have almost slipped by calling her by name in front of our friends and family. This is a tough secret to keep, but so far we've kept it! :) We won't tell! Even if you get my adorable three year old cousin to call and ask me, Aunt Kathy! :)

Love to all of you this week!

And the Ferglet is....

We are having a daughter!! We were both surprised, as we both had boy vibes, as did our Doctor! John took a day or two to get used to it, but I'm pretty sure she'll be daddy's little princess. :) I am really excited, and went out and bought a couple girly onesies today, one with red ruffles and cherries all over it, and another that was pink polka dotted and says "I ♥ DAD".

The ultrasound took well over an hour, because she was all curled up in the position you see in the photo. She was sitting in the breach position, and her feet were tucked up by her chin. Those little lines under the "a" in the picture are her toes! Because she was stubborn (imagine that, my daughter being stubborn!), we have to go back next month and get another ultrasound next month because they couldn't get a clear picture of her spine. Hopefully next time she will cooperate more with the ultrasound tech! :)

And now, here are some "belly pics" for you to see!

18 weeks
20 weeks

Nursery Stuff!

Hello all! Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I've been a busy girl! :) I started my new job this week at the UND Bookstore. I am the Senior Accounting Clerk. I hope to be fully trained in a few weeks... right now I don't know what I'm doing and it's a little frustrating. I start rehearsals for Bat Boy: The Musical tomorrow night, so I will be really busy for the next few months!

We have ordered most of the furniture for the Ferglet's room (thanks, Mom and Colin!), and I wanted to share some pics! We haven't received any of it yet, but here are some pics from the websites.

Here is the crib:

Here is the changing table:

And here is the bedding, which I am madly in love with:

I'm not sure how we'll decorate the walls yet. :)

Hello, friends and family! Happy May Day! Maura here with an update.

This week has been a long one! My beloved Grandma, Mary Williams, was hospitalized early Monday morning for heart issues. I went up as soon as I could make it, and spend hours upon hours there talking to the doctors, taking notes, watching Dr. Phil, and beating my Aunt Kathy at Gin Rummy. :) Grandma was released late Wednesday, and we are all happy to see her home again. She has to get a test done in Saint Cloud, MN (about a 3.5 hour drive from Grand Forks) to see if there is a blockage in her heart. If there is, they will take care of that here in Grand Forks. If there is not, then they will consider the possibility of a pacemaker. Keep her in your prayers, please!

The pregnancy is going very well. I can feel the baby move on a daily basis now. The Ferglet is the most active at night when I lie down, and after I have anything sugary, like candy or cookies. It also was very wiggly the other night when I was watching "A Celebration of Sondheim at Carnegie Hall", which tells me that our baby will have impeccable musical taste. :) The wiggles don't feel like flutters anymore, it feels more like there is a tiny person wiggling around inside me! :) I wouldn't say the baby has kicked yet, it just wiggles and adjusts, from what I can feel. My latest food obsession is cherry pie. YUMMMM! I'm afraid they will soon know me by name at the Village Inn because I have been in so frequently lately for a piece of warm cherry pie with ice cream on top. It is so good. I think when I'm done with this post I'll go have a piece. :)

We are counting down to Tuesday, May 12th- the day we get our first ultrasound! When I was in the hospital with my Grandma, a technician came in to give her an ultrasound of her heart, and I asked her if she would just really quick give me one to see the sex of the baby. She said no. I tried really hard, though. :)

Do you think The Ferglet is a boy or a girl?? Comment and let us know! :) Love to you all!

A Sad Loss.

This has been a very hard week for us. Yesterday, we had to put our beloved dog Jack to sleep. He was 19 years old. He started losing his sight a few years ago, lost his hearing a few weeks ago, and this past weekend he could not even get himself up to go to the food dish. I got him from a rescue when I was 12, so I have had him half my life. He was a retired Champion show dog who needed a good home. He was a good boy, and we all miss him very much. I'm' too sad to type much more, so I posted a few pictures. Rest in peace Jack, you were a great friend.

Ch. Croix's Jack Be Nimble 01/02/90-04/22/09
We love you, Jack!

Jack Halloween 2008, checking out our pumpkin. We called this "Jack-in-lantern"

Me in 6th Grade with Basil and Jack.

Jack and Bella, November 2005.

Jack on the left in 2003.

The day we found out about the Ferglet!

We both wanted to write a little and share with you the day we found out we were pregnant. Hope you enjoy! :)

John's perspective:
I remember Maura wasn't feeling well for a while and I started to think that she might have been pregnant when we went on a weekend trip to Minneapolis. I noticed that she wanted to stop a lot to use the restroom on the five hour drive. My suspicions were confirmed one morning when I was getting ready for work and I heard my wife in the bathroom frantically calling my name. I went into the bathroom and Maura said, "I just took a pregnancy test and it's positive!" I gave her a really big hug and smiled really big and kissed her. Maura seemed very freaked out and buried her head in my chest. We had to go to work, and the rest of the day I couldn't keep my mind off of it. I wanted to tell everybody, but I didn't because we weren't sure that one positive test really meant she was pregnant. After work that day, we got a second test and Maura took it, and it was positive, too! We called the doctor and the nurse on the phone confirmed that two positive tests meant that we were going to have a baby. I felt really excited and really nervous and just knew that everything was going to be really different really soon. We didn't tell anybody until a few days later, and it was really exciting telling people that we have a baby on the way.

Maura's perspective:
When I found out I was pregnant, it was a total shock! John and I were in the final rehearsals for Lucky Stiff, and I was very busy with that and work. My period was 11 days late or so, and I figured it was because I was stressed out about memorizing my lines for the show. I had a pregnancy test at my home and saw it one morning after I woke up. I thought, well, I'm late, I should take the pregnancy test and see. I honestly didn't think it would be positive. Seconds after I took it, I saw two lines appear. My husband was just waking up, and I just started to say his name. He walked into the bathroom probably thinking the toilet had overflowed, and I showed him the test. He was more excited than I was!! I was totally freaked! :) He gave me the best hug I've ever had in my life. We went to work and I couldn't concentrate on anything all day. We only had an hour between work and rehearsal, and as soon as I got home from work I took a second test. It was positive, too, and I had a little meltdown. I just couldn't believe it. I remember telling John, "How can we have a baby?? I don't even know my lines!!" I was amazed with John and how calm he was with the whole thing. I always figured when I got pregnant I would be the calm one and John would lose it, but it was quite the opposite! It's not that I wasn't happy, I totally was, I was just so shocked I didn' t know how to react. It was very difficult to concentrate on the show, but I did. The best I could, at least! :)