Thank you

Leslie, Rylee, and I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and compassion that we have received over the last 3 weeks. It is very comforting knowing we have so many people ready to help at a moments notice.

Leslie is physically doing very well. Any potential infection seems to have been resolved due to the high doses of antibiotics she is taking.

We plan to have a small private burial at Cave Hill Cemetery probably on Monday.

It will take us some time to "re-socialize", but please don't stop calling. While we may not always feel like talking, it helps to know people are thinking of us.

Rylee is excited about her American Heritage Girls fishing trip tomorrow in Frankfort, KY. We bought her first fishing pole yesterday... a hot pink Barbie rod and reel. "Character sticker sheet included".

Leslie is home

Leslie was discharged a little while ago and is now home. She is physically feeling well. Rylee is happy to have her home too.

Wednesday - noon

Leslie's epidural has finally worn off. The anesthesiologist increased the epi dosage last night to help her feel more comfortable.

Now that Leslie has been out of bed, we expect she will be discharged later in the afternoon/evening. There is no rush, so we will take our time.

Update

Leslie's labor is now over. She is doing well. The docotors hope she will go home later today. I'll try to post more in the morning.

Leslie is resting comfortably

Her epidural is in which is allowing her to get some much needed rest. The nurse thinks this should go quickly.

Bad news

There is no easy way to report this... Leslie had an ultrasound around 3 PM which showed that the baby did not have a heartbeat.

Leslie is now in the labor and delivery area of the hospital. She has been given mrdication which will begin labor.

Frustrating day

Apparently Leslie's doctor has been in surgery all day, so we are still waiting for her an ultrasound. Also, Leslie has not had anything to eat since yesterday. Hunger is not helping the situation.

Leslie's condition seems to be the same. Slight fever.

Temperature on the rise

Leslie is still hanging in there. Our concern now is that her temperature (99.5°) is starting to rise. She is still bleeding some, but not as much.

We expect the doctor to come in shortly.

Temperature on the rise

Leslie is still hanging in there. Our concern now is that her temperature (95.5°) is starting to rise. She is still bleeding some, but not as much.

We expect the doctor to come in shortly.

We're still here

Leslie is still bleeding some, but she is not having any contractions. She was able to sleep a little last night.

Hopefully the bleeding will stop.

Not dialated

The nurses examined Leslie just now. She is not dialated and her bleeding is slowing down. They say that these things happen and it might just stop completely. We'll see.

Scary update

Tonight at 7 PM Leslie noticed some significant bleeding. Some minor contractions have begun as well. This is starting to feel like the end, but we are holding out hope. I'll try to post more updates later.

A first for dad.

Rylee was in serious need of a hair cut. Of course this is something which Leslie "takes care of". So I'm stepping my game up by taking Rylee for a hair cut.

Ultrasound Update

First, thanks for my Aunt Joy for arranging a great pep talk from MC for Leslie. It really helped raise her spirits and made that day much more enjoyable for sure! Thank you MC for taking time out of your vacation to spend with Leslie.

This morning Leslie had an ultrasound to see if 24 hours of bed rest helped the amniotic fluid accumulate. The doctor saw a market improvement in the level, but it is still a very small amount. Hopefully over the next week or so will see the fluid continue to increase to a level where the baby can have enough to help with development.

Leslie is getting used to being "on her head". Let's just say that living with your feet higher than your head 24 hours a day is an adventure. To quote Leslie in her infinite wisdom, "This sucks." At least she says it with a smile on her face.

Leslie's mom has joined the party today. She will be with us for a couple weeks which will be a great help.

More later...

Another day down

12 more to go and then it's all icing on the cake!

Tomorrow Leslie will have a ultrasound to see if any additional amniotic fluid has accumulated since being placed on strict bed rest and be inverted a little. I forgot to mention that little detail earlier. In the picture below you can see her legs and hips are higher than the rest of her body...

I'm spending the night at home with Rylee. Thanks to my mom and dad for being great parents as always! Tomorrow evening Lael (Leslie's mom) will arrive to which will be a very welcomed addition.

Finally, as we seem to have gotten into a bit of a groove, I will resume more of my normal work related activities. Luckily the hospital has great wireless internet and two coffee shops (Seattle's Best and Starbucks) so I will likely have both a "home" and "hospital" offices.

I'm going to try to get some sleep tonight. Either that, or we may have 1 less cat tomorrow morning. ;-) Just kidding...

Leslie on strict bed rest

This morning one of Leslie's doctors came in to tell her that she has beaten the odds. I suppose this doctor does not understand that odds and percentages really don't apply to us. :-)

The doc said that Leslie is not showing any signs of infection. The CRP test is down to 32 (64 on Thursday). WBC is 10. No fever. And the pain is gone. The baby's heat rate is doing great.

We still have the problem with low amniotic fluid. We are thinking fluid has been leaking out when Leslie gets out of bed. In order to give Leslie a chance to collect more fluid, the doctor has put her on strict bedrest. While this is not fun for Leslie, we are encouraged to see the doctor's change in mindset.

Leslie will now be remain in the hospital. We hope she stays here through September. Being realistic, we'll take 2-4 more weeks.

If'd you like to call Leslie's room, her number is area code (502) and the local number is 259-5253.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prays.

Still laying in bed

Surprising isn't it? Will Leslie is planning to stay in the hospital untill Monday which is when her mom will arrive. She also has a couple doctor appointments scheduled here at the hospital, so this should work out well.

I am planning to go home tonight to catch up on household chores. Rylee will be spending these last night with my brother Chris' family (tonight) and probably my parents tomorrow night.

22 weeks today.

Today marks 22 weeks. Leslie has no fever, and the pain has seemed to lessened. There were no blood test scheduled today, so I don't have any technical data to share.

We are happy about our good fortune this morning. What a ride this week has been (literally and figuratively). Sunday we started our drive. Tuesday we made it home. Wednesday Leslie had a fever and went into the hospital. Today, we are back to our base line.

The doctor just came in to say that if Leslie would like to go back home, she could. We would need to check temps and look for any pain or "flu-like" symptoms. OR, Leslie is welcome to stay in the hospital. That is today's decision...

Leslie's wearing her "Super Saturday Socks"

Still here...

Today went by fairly quickly. My parents came by with Rylee (and lunch) followed by my brother Chris and sister-in-law Jamie. Later in the day we sat around watching TV. Brian and Tara Hayden brought us our anniversary dinner which came from Brendan's Restaurant and Pub. I would have liked to take Leslie out for a proper meal, but we made due.

The report on Leslie is basically the same from this morning. No fever, but she has some pain. We will spend the night in the hospital again and see what the morning brings. More tomorrow.

Leslie's Status

Today's report:

First the good news:

• Fever is at 98°
• WBC is at 7

The not so good news:

• C-Reactive Protein test was 64 which is very high. This is similar to the WBC test in that it reveals potential infection and inflammation. The result could be high because of the membrane being ruptured.
  
• Some "pain" around her uterus which might indicate the beginning of infection. However, Leslie felt this begin after she sneezed last night. She has had similar "pains" after sneezing with previous pregnancies.
• Spirits are pretty low right now.
  

The plan is to stay here in the hospital overnight again to see if this pain is from infection.

10 years

Happy Anniversary to us! 10 years ago on a HOT Saturday in Salem, IL, Leslie and I were married. Seems like yesterday...

Still at the hospital

Leslie is resting comfortably at the hospital. It's been a very hard day emotionally as we have had a couple not so encouraging consultations with doctors.

Right now Leslie's fever is very low (99°) and she is not having any pain other than a headache which is most likely from not sleeping well and stress. We are hopeful that something other than an infection caused the fever.

The plan is to stay in the hospital for now and see if there are any more signs of infection. We need 2 more weeks to have an opportunity for a positive outcome.

My parents will be bringing dinner and Rylee to the hospital shortly. It will be good for mom and daughter to share some time together.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Back to the hospital last night

Before I get into what happened last night, first a quick recap on some of the immediate dangers to Leslie.

1. Labor - the baby is just too young at 21 weeks. We need 24 weeks for a 50/50 chance.
2. Infection - Chorioamnionitis (AKA Chorio). This is a an infection that cannot be treated by antibiotics once it sets in. It's a very dangerous situation which requires immediate action, which is to deliver the baby. Chorio usually begins with a spiking fever, pain, etc. At 100.4°, we have been instructed to go to hospital.

Last night at 7 PM Leslie's temperature read at 100°. She has been between 98 - 98.5° since this all began. 30 minutes later it was 100.3°. By 8 PM it was 100.6°, and Leslie was generally feeling sick. We notified Leslie's doctors and left for Norton Suburban Hospital. My Mom came over to spend the night with Rylee.

When we arrived at the hospital, we expected the worst. Leslie's examination found no pain around the uterus, however she did have a 100.3° temperature. The doctor felt that she was most likely in the beginning stages of Chorio, but decided to hold off on any further actions until Leslie's white blood cell (WBC) count came back. (For WBC counts - the higher the number, the more likely there is an infection). In Denver, her WBC was at 13 which is considered "normal" for pregnant women. Last night Leslie's WBC came back at 12. Her doctor was expecting something higher than 16 for Chorio.

So we spent the night in the hospital last night. Leslie slept fairly well all in all. This morning they ran another WBC which came back at 9! Her temperature is down to 98.5°. We're not sure why she had a fever last night. We suspect it is either Chorio starting to make its presence known, or she had a "bug". We pray it's the latter.

This morning (after Leslie Depaola dropped off coffee - thank you!) we had a consult with a Neonatologist. While he was forthright in saying that at 24 weeks his medical opinion was that we are in a bad position for success, he did have hope. He mentioned several instances of survival after everyone expected the worst.

Bottom line, we are in a tough spot for sure. We are aware of the odds and the likely outcome. But until that time we are staying the course and praying for the best. The road continues on...

I'm not sure if we are going home today. I suspect Leslie may be here for the remainder of the pregnancy. We are meeting with a MFM doctor later today, so we will have more details then. Check back for more details.

The girls

Update from Dr Appt

We heard a strong fetal heartbeat. No signs of infection, etc. Also, the doctor thinks Leslie may not have PUPPPs. Since she was on so many antibiotics she might have killed off the "good" bacteria allowing fungus to grow on her skin. This would be good new (weird I know) because it can be treated. With PUPPPs, there is no treatment and it's miserable.

Leslie's doctors are located next to the hospital she will be delivering at, so we will likely go visit with a MFM doctor (maternal fetal medicine) and NICU doctor. This will be another long day.

First night at home

It's good to be home! Rylee was would leave Leslie's side. Our wonderful neighbors and friends are all pitching in to help, and food is a plenty. Not to mention my parents having already been watching Rylee since this adventure began!

All I can say is that the house was loud from the cats expressing their joy of having Leslie home. Then again (being that they are cats), perhaps they were expressing their displeasure for having "their home" invaded by humans again. I'll stick with the former.

This morning we will be going to Leslie's normal doctor office for a check up. I expect we will be back home around 1 PM. However, when Leslie last spoke to this particular doctor, she mentioned for Leslie to "bring a packed bag". That was early last week, and everything we have learned since then leads me to believe Week 24 (July 19th) is when they will admit Leslie. I mention this only so that should I report that Leslie is being admitted, you know why.

OK, I think the coffee is ready. I could use a cup... :-)

Returned the car

"Phase 1" of our adventure is over. We are home safe and sound. Doctor visit tomorrow at 10:45 AM Eastern. More later.

Home!

A picture of Rylee and little friends

From earlier in June. Our backyard was Cicada Central.

Thank you Ryan and Hyuni!!!

Busch Stadium Panorama

I took a couple pictures from our hotel room and stitched them together using a tool from CleVR.com.

To see the complete picture, click here.

Panorama of Busch Stadium from the Hilton on CleVR.com

We're in St. Louis

After having breakfast in KC, we made the 4 hour drive across Missouri to Saint Louis. Today was a shorter drive, but it felt longer. Our hotel room windows face Busch Stadium were the Cardinals are playing the NY Mets tonight. I think we'll order some pop corn and hot dogs for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we will drive to Louisville in time to have a doctor's visit in the afternoon. For now, Leslie is in bed - shocking I know ;-)

We made it. KC

We are in Kansas City now. Leslie is back in a real bed. Time for room service. Now where is that menu...

Updates via twitter

I'll be using Twitter for the rest of the trip for minor "where's" Leslie updates for the rest of the trip. They are on the right of this web page.

Now in the central time zone.

We're in Kansas

Rock chaulk and all.

Burlington, CO

Just stopped at a McD's for lunch in Burlington, CO.

Oog a train

Leslie in the car

The car

Up and at 'em

We are finishing packing and cleaning. Hope to be in the car by 8 AM Mountain time.

Visitor today

The Green's and the Unruh's visited today.

Busy day

Leslie and baby are doing fine. I'm running around getting ready for tomorrow's departure. A lot to do...

Another pic of the storm

Tonight's storm

Flowers on the wall

Hey 2 Chick's ladies. Do these look familiar? They are on the walls at the RMH.

We're going home.

After agonizing about staying in Denver vs going home, and what form of transportation to take, we have come to the decision to drive home starting Sunday morning. If we were to stay here until 24 weeks (another 3 weeks), Leslie would be admitted to the hospital. We would then be in Denver until the baby was born and ready to leave the hospital. That could be late October/early November. We strongly considered staying in Denver, but in the end we feel most comfortable getting home for better or worse.

We will drive to Kansas City Sunday (~8 hours), St. Louis on Monday (~4 hours), and Louisville on Tuesday (~5 hours). Our hotels along the way will be:

Hilton President Kansas City
1329 Baltimore
Kansas City, MO 64105
(816) 221-9490‎

Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark
1 South Broadway
St. Louis, MO 63102
(314) 421-1776‎

Tonight and tomorrow will give me time to plan the route and buy supplies.

Too bad it's not called the Hamburgeler House.

Some observations from the appointment

The funniest moment of the appointment came when Leslie said, "I'm a ticking time bomb". The doctor said, "Why yes you are..." You had to of been there to see their faces...

Another symptom Leslie has developed since being in Denver is a very familiar looking rash. Could it be the return of PUPPPs? It's not a threatening condition, but it does cause a rash that is much like poison ivy. Leslie had this with Rylee. It's miserable. It's pretty funny to us that Leslie would get this on top of everything else.

So right now we're feeling like Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump in the middle of the storm on Forrest's shrimp boat when he says, "Is that all you've got? Come on, I can take more!"


Now hear this! Private Gump here is gonna be a shrimp boat captain.

So now we wait to see what happens next. Meanwhile Leslie is ticking down, and scratching.

Outside of Hospital

No change

Nothing has changed in Leslie or baby's condition. 1 centimeter of amniotic fluid. Heading back to RMH.

Delay in the exam

The doctors are working on someone right now. It could be another 30 mins.

In the exam room

We are in the exam room, and we expect the doctor to come in shortly. They will do an ultrasound and check for contractions.

Getting ready

We are up and getting ready to go to the hospital for this morning's evaluation.

Leslie should start posting soon.

Eventual route with hospitals

Click here to see the route (I-70 to I-64) and a list of hospitals along the way...

Getting a laptop soon

I should have a laptop from the local Autodesk office later today. That will make things much easier on us. Email, updates, travel plans, research...

Leslie lounging in "the family room"

Nothing new.

A lot of laying around. We are looking at driving home in a couple days. More later.

Breakfast out of bed

Leslie hopped in the wheel chair to go up to the 3rd floor where some ladies from the IAPP- International Accounts Payable Professionals served a nice breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, etc. Yum.

I hope to post more pictures later today...

The end of Wednesday

Leslie had a completely boring day, which is pretty exciting. No signs of infection. No contractions.

I made it out to the SuperTarget to pick up some reading material and two-way radios (aka walkie talkies).

The highlight of the day was to find that a wheelchair was available which will allow Leslie to go on very short adventures in the RMH. Instead of being cooped up in our room, I can use the wheel chair to push Leslie to one of the many large and comfortable "family rooms" where she can meet and talk to someone other than me. I really don't know why she would like to do that, as I feel I'm am a great conversationalist. ;-)

The not so great news today is that we are not ready to make plans to go home. We are desperate to have Leslie back in more familiar confines, but I think we may have been pushing this a little too fast. Tomorrow we plan to speak with Leslie's doctor in Louisville which we place great trust in, and see what she recommends. On Tuesday, it sounded like she was recommending we wait a week or two before coming home.

We are very comfortable here at the RMH. They have a great staff, terrific facilities, and we are 2 minutes from a great hospital. All in all, that's pretty good.

Off to bed... goodnight!

A good article

Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes: Diagnosis and Management
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20060215/659.html

Wednesday update so far

Nothing new to report on the medical front. Leslie is resting comfotably.

We are working out our travel schedule today. We have major concerns about flying now. If something would happen in the air, it could happen quickly without time to get to a hospital, etc. I think we will end up driving home. We are working on how to get a car. Rental companies want $1,500 for a 1 way rental. That's not going to happen. So we're working on Plan D (or it might be E, I can't remember lol).

More later.

Tuesday evening post - what's next?

Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement. It means a lot to us.

On Friday morning, Leslie will go back to the hospital for another ultra sound and to check for signs of an infection. Until then, it's bed time all the time (with some exceptions of course). ;-)

Right now we are trying to plan a way to get home. We are not very confident about flying on a commercial flight due to the uncertainty of how long Leslie would have to sit in an airport, flight delays, weather, etc. We might change our minds a little later on the subject as the doctors say Leslie should do OK. It's a 16+ hour drive home from Denver which includes a stretch of I-70 through the rolling, golden, slumber inducing hills of Kansas. I'm sure it a great place to live if you like to farm or chase tornadoes, but it's not our cup of tea.

So tomorrow's goal is to keep the baby in Mommy, and work out a plan to get home.

Goodnight.

We're at the Ronald McDonald House

We are at the RMH now. Leslie is laying in bed comfortably.

We can't say enough about how great the staff at University of Colorado Hospital were to Leslie.

Now we can start thinking about how to get home. More on that later.

Getting ready to be discharged.

The IV is out. Papers are signed. Wheel chair is standing by.

Ultrasound update - Not too bad

Doctors expect amnio fluid to go up and down during the day. They saw the baby's full batter and actually pee amnio fluid. Hopefully the hole in the sack will close up some to allow for more accumulation of fluid.



Also Leslie's cervix is 4 1/2 centimeters. That is really good. Dr's are less worried about labor with it that long.



Nothing changes from this news. We will be leaving the hospital this afternoon. Dr's want to see Leslie again on Friday.

Ultrasound - no amniotic fluid

Leslie just had another ultrasound. They did not see any amniotic fluid. We are waiting to have a doctor tell us what that means and how it might change our plans to move to the RMH.

New room at RMH

We have moved to a new room. Our phone number is 720-324-2477.

What is the latest?

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick recap:

Leslie traveled to Denver to present at the 2008 DebRA Patient Care Conference. She was scheduled to fly home Sunday afternoon. About 4:30 AM Sunday morning, her water broke. She was taken to the University of Colorado Hospital in the Anschutz Inpatient Pavilion where she is currently being treated. I flew out Sunday evening to join Leslie.

Being only 20 weeks along, we are facing a pretty tough road. The good news first. There is no sign of infection. She is not having contractions. The baby is not showing any signs of stress. From here on out, Leslie is on bed rest. She can get up to use the restroom, shower, etc. As usual, she is a trooper.

The scary part is that 50% of women that break their water begin labor within 7-14 days. Baby's that are born before 23-24 weeks will not survive outside of the womb. Babies born between 24 weeks to about 28 weeks have a 50% mortality rate. Having lost a lot of amniotic fluid causes reduced lung development in utero, so we need to hold on as long as possible. We would really like to get to 32 weeks which has a 90% mortality rating.

So now what? Leslie is scheduled to be discharged tomorrow at some point in the afternoon. We will be staying in Denver at the Ronald McDonald House ("RMH")in Aurora for about a week or two. More info on the RMH: Pictures 1 and Pictures 2. We want to get past this early period without causing any additional stress to Leslie and baby. After that, we plan to travel home either by car or possibly a chartered flight (Angel Flight). We hope to have Rylee join us a little later in the week.

To contact us in Denver:
University Hospital: (720) 848-4011 - I expect Leslie to be out of the hospital and in RMH on Tuesday afternoon.
Ronald McDonald House: (720) 324-2477 - this will be our home away from home.

I plan to post updates here. Feel free to email the link to this page (leslieupdate.blogspot.com).

Thanks to everyone at DebRA for helping get Leslie to the hospital. Our good friends Bridget and Rich have been very supportive by sitting with Leslie before I arrived and picking me up at the airport.

Thanks to everyone for your calls, thoughts, and prayers.I'm off to bed and hopefully sleep. Goodnight...

Bryan