Another Update

We had another exciting day yesterday, with another hospital visit included! Just to note, I was doing EVERYTHING right, bedresting, medication, etc. Just my body didn’t seem to be cooperating with the medication! Mike took me into the Dr. in the afternoon because I was having some of the “symptoms” they had told me to come in for. After they monitored my contractions and Brayden for a little bit, they decided it would be best to send me to Labor and Delivery (LND) to be monitored a bit more. Brayden’s heartbeat wasn’t getting the variability that we had wanted and was staying at a baseline of about 60. So, Mike and I walked over to the hospital, and got situated. Thankfully my stay was only for about 6 hours because I had gotten spoiled in my previous stay by having my own room and didn’t this time! They went ahead and switched the medication they had me on to stop contractions and I am SO glad they did! I didn’t realize the medication was why I was feeling so crappy and not just overall. I feel completely different today, no shakes or grogginess, and much more like myself!! Also, the medication change helped Brayden out too, within a couple hours of stopping the other one and starting the new one, his heartbeat was perfect and getting great variability (going up and down a lot). It did take a little while for the medication switch to kick in for my contractions and at one point during the night I was contracting about 8 times an hour! Thankfully I only felt a few of them, but 2 of them were the “worst” I have had thus far! But at around 8:30 p.m. I was discharged after having only about 2-3 contractions in an hour and a half! So here I am in bed again just resting and enjoying feeling our little one move! Mike has been busy washing all of Brayden’s clothes and blankies and I’ve been folding them and putting them on hangers while in bed, just to keep getting ready for his arrival!
I do have to say, the best part of the whole visit yesterday was that Mike and I were able to get a biophysical profile ultrasound of Brayden! Basically, it’s no measurements or calculations, its just 20 minutes of relaxing, getting to see every nook and cranny of your little one and watch them move! They wanted to get one to make sure Brayden was moving around enough, that I had enough amniotic fluid, to make sure his reflexes were working perfectly, and to see if he is making breathing motions in the womb! He got an A+ and is doing everything perfectly! It was definitely one of the best, if not the best ultrasound we have had so far! We got to watch him make his breathing motions, see him hiccup, watch him move his head and arms and legs, see his fingers and toes, one of his ears, his nose, and he even has hair!! That was one of the parts that Daddy and I both thought was the coolest! To see these little tiny hairs all over his head! Is he going to be a blondie or brown-haired, only time will tell?! It was a blast to get to see him again, and to get to see him for so long, Mike and I loved every minute of it!

That’s all for now, more updates to come!

Home Sweet Home

I am happy to say that I am writing you from our couch and no longer from a hospital bed! Praise God!!! I sent an email out to some of our loved ones this morning, but wanted to go ahead and put something up on the blog for everyone to see.

I got to see my actual Dr. this morning which was so nice! She did an exam on me and gave me great news! I am only 2 cm dilated right now and much less efaced than I was when I came in! Also, she reviewed the strips of Brayden's heartbeat, mine, and my contractions and said that yes indeed the pill form of the medication seems to be working for us great! So I got to go home!! I am on very strict bedrest and have to take the Tributaline (spelling?) every 4 hours for the next three weeks just to teach Brayden some patience, and come 36 weeks, or about mid-July I will be done with both and will let nature take its course. She told me I could start contracting right away and go into labor, or I could still go full term, its totally up to me, my body, Brayden, and most importantly God and His perfect timing!

So anyways, we just wanted to let everyone know what is going on. I apologize if I havent been the best at returning calls, texts, emails, or other messages, I am still feeling very groggy and out of it and am having some of the side effects of the medicine, just some shakiness and stuff, so I am just focusing on relaxing right now! Thank you all again for all of your love and prayers! We will keep you updated!!

Pics

Just two pics for you all from my cell phone. First one, obviously of a very tired, doped up me, just to show you all I am ok and hanging in there! And the second of flowers that were sent to me and stuffed animals too! :)

Love you all!!

Update #2

Hi all!

Not a whole lot to share, been a lazy day here at the hospital!!! Thankfully I was given some medicine last night that let me sleep throughout the night and into the morning which made me feel a lot better! I was also able to get up and change gowns and kind of wipe myself down with a damp cloth! All the little things help! My Dad and Donna came and visited today which was very nice as well, it was good to have visitors from the "outside" world since these four walls are all I have known for the past couple of days! Not that I mind since we have a private room with lots of space! Mike is doing great, has been working hard running around all day just continuing to get things ready "in case" Brayden decides to make his grand entrance a bit early! He is konked out on the couch next to me right now, its been a rough couple of days for him for sure too! Please continue to keep him and his health in your prayers as he is taking on everything right now!!!!!

I was seen by the on call Dr today, Dr. Hanna, who gave us some good news! The Mag. Sulf. seems to be working on the contractions so far, reducing them to about 1 an hour! Praise the Lord! With this good news, they decreased my intake of it, and plan to ween me off of it by tonite. Then they will put me on a pill form of it which I can take at home to continue to keep me from contracting. As long as I respond just as well to the pill form as we have to the IV form, the Dr. said hopes are that I will be able to go home on Monday on bedrest! These plans are very tentative right now and are more hopes and goals than anything definite. Even if I respond to the meds well in pill form, my Drs could decide on Monday to keep me here for monitoring. We're just praying for whatever God wants to be done to be done!!!

Keep those prayers coming our way and we thank you all tremendously for EVERYTHING!!!

Update

Hi everyone! I am hoping to give you all as much information as I can with the least amount of typing since my arm usage seems to be limited right now!!

As most, if not all of you, know by now, I went in for a 32 week checkup appt yesterday (Thursday) to my OBGYN. I was scheduled to have my first vaginal exam since I am 32 (almost 33 now) weeks along and they just wanted to check my cervix and make sure nothing was going on. In Kincaid fashion, things just cant seem to go normally for us, hah, and MUCH to my and my doctor's and everyone else's surprise she told me I was already 2.5-3cm dilated and would be admitted to the hospital right away!! I was able to get ahold of Mike who made it to the hospital in record time to calm my fears (its amazing how much I instantly calmed down once he was at my side!)

You'll have to excuse if any of this is worded awkwardly or confusing but I think the medicaion is kind of making me loopy, haha.

Long story short, I was admitted, and we were told that I will be here at least a week. Apparently I have been having contractions for at least a little while now since I was 2.5-3cm dilated and they are keeping me in the hospital for a couple reasons, one being to stop the contractions which they are giving me magnesium sulfate through an IV for. The other things are, they are trying to encourage Brayden to move back on up since I am 80% effaced right now and Brayden's head is at -2. (he's really far down there!). Also, I have been given two shots of a type of steroid, whose name I cant think of at the moment, that is going to develop the alveoli in Brayden's lungs in case he does decide he just cant wait any longer and has to come. Thankfully both of those shots have been given and in another 24 hours should have had their full effect.

Right now I am just hooked up to various monitors and machines to keep track of me, Brayden, Brayden's heartbeat, mine, my contractions, and of course the IV fluids. We're hanging tough and Mike is of course taking the utmost amazing care of us! Thankfully here at St. John's in Oxnard he is able to room in with me in our private room and we are so thankful and blessed for that!

Best case scenario, the medication will completely stop my contractions, we will get sent home with me on complete bedrest and on pill form of the meds to keep me from contracting, and Brayden will hold on at least another 4 weeks. That's what we're hoping for, aiming for, and praying for! The doctors have informed us that we have a very minimal chance of actually going full 40 weeks, but our goal is to hold off as much as we can!

Thank you for all the prayers, texts, phone calls, emails, cards, flowers, etc etc! Mike, Brayden and I so greatly appreciate it all and are so blessed by it!

We will update when we can and when we have more news! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Love,

Mike, Laura, and our very eager little Brayden

Happy Father's Day....

to all you Dads, Grandpas, and Daddies-to-Be too!!! We love you all!!

Mike and I had a nice lazy Father's day together for the time we were able to spend together. He had to stay on base all day and have watch (bummer!) We didn't do much to celebrate it ourselves, I had found a couple of cute poems that I gave to him "from Brayden" of course, and a Jesus Fish silver keychain he had seen a long time back at the Christian book store that he really wanted! Other than that, its just been pampering him and enjoying relaxing together!

We had a great weekend and were able to go and visit Nick and Jessica and baby Jayda!! Oh my gosh, she is just down right BEAUTIFUL! Of course, I forgot my camera, gosh darnit! But Jess and Nick were able to snap a couple pics that I will get sooner or later to share! Jayda is just SO so so beautiful and well behaved and down right perfect and she definetely made me even more anxious for Brayden to get here already! Just 8 weeks left! (I guess he is feeling my excitement right now since he just started to dance for me!)

We're doing great, nothing else to report, just wanted to get on and say hi and hope you are all doing well! Here is one pic of you to see how Brayden is continuing to grow like a weed everyday! He pretty much consumes all of me these days ;)!

Love to you all!

Family Car,....at last!!

So, most of you know Mike and I have been looking at trading in our Mustang for quite awhile for a nice, reliable family car that we will keep for years and years to come. We've had to learn a lot of patience, and trust a lot in God, and we've been so thankful to our family and friends for their advice and encouragement, but finally, FINALLY, we were blessed last night to be able to make a very good deal, trade in the Mustang, and get a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. To God be the Glory! We went in with the mindset of hope for the best, expect the worst, and we were so blessed!! As we drove away from the dealership, I said "Siyanara" to the Mustang, and I hope I never see one again! It was definetely time to put that mistake behind us and really feel like we are moving forward! Now I just have to get Mike to put Brayden's car seat from Grandpa and Grandma Kraft in the Jeep and I will feel all set :)! It's soooo nice to feel so safe in a car, to really not worry, and to love your car and know you are thrilled to have it for a long time. Thank you all for all your prayers and encouragement!!

Jayda Love has arrived!

Two of our best friends Nick and Jessica, who live in Corona, had their baby girl yesterday at 8:14 p.m. after a long day of labor for Mommy!! She is a healthy baby girl, weighing in at 8 lbs and 6 oz! We dont have much more information yet, but couldnt wait to share that she is here!!! Can't wait to go and meet her! Welcome to the world Miss Jayda!!!!!

Had a nice trip, and a nice fall!!

Thought I would share a quick story of my clumsiness! Yesterday at about 3 in the morning, I took quite a tumble in our bedroom! I was getting out of bed to walk to the bathroom, and I tripped over our fan cord (which Mike has now moved :) ). I jutted forward, and the rest is kind of blurry to me. I know that I scraped my right side on our dresser, and then face planted my forehead straight into the wall mirror we have (I remember those parts). Somehow in the midst of it, I did a good job of scraping my arm, leg, and foot on the carpet and have some pretty nice rugburn to show for it. The sound of me hitting the mirror was pretty doggone loud, and woke Mike straight up out of a dead sleep. He started yelling for me right away (what a sweetheart <3>

I'm still pretty sore and have been taking it really easy; Mike of course has been spoiling me and taking great care of me! He made me turn the light on every time I went to the bathroom last night because he was so scared I was going to fall!! Anyways, just thought I would share!

Pictures!

Thanks for being patient for the pictures from the baby shower! I also took some pics of stuff when we took it all out and played with it/set it up :)! The only thing I dont have pictures of right now is the jogging stroller! I took a couple but they didnt turn out as good as I had hoped! Anyways, click on the link to view our Picasa Web Album! I decided not to do a slideshow because the pictures show up so small!!

Brayden's Baby Shower

Showered with Love!

Sorry it has been awhile since we have posted! Friday was my last day at work as many of you know and my coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower! Mike and I were so blessed by the clothes and various gifts we received! I am sure going to miss the people at my office! We were also blessed to get some gift certificates which helped us with the after baby shower shopping for the neccessities we had left to purchase! That led into Saturday morning, where we were SO blessed to have Spring (my sis-in-law) throw me and Brayden a baby shower at her church! It was a small gathering of some of the many wonderful women in my life, and thank you all for those of you who made it, those of you who wished you could and were there in heart!! We were so incredibly blessed by the outpouring of love, prayers, well wishes, books, and gifts! Brayden is going to be one smart little boy with all the boks he received for his library!! I will get pictures up soon, but Spring took the pictures for me so I could just sit back and enjoy the shower! There are so many things to say about my shower and the gifts we received, but Daddy is anxious to get on the computer and look for even more stuff for Brayden tonight! Also, that wonderfully sweet hubby of mine, who just adores his little boy to death already, surprised Brayden and I with the jogging stroller we really wanted when we got back from the shower! It was not the one we registered for, but was a much more expensive one that we were not going to be able to get. He got it at a FRACTION of the price, used, from a lady in Agoura Hills! It is a Jeep Jogging Stroller and has speakers and an MP3 player and a bunch of other cool stuff too!!! Cant wait to get pics up of that as well! We spent the weekend opening things and playing with them, and buying some more stuff with our gift cards! I will take pictures of some of Brayden's goodies tomorrow, so please check back! Thank you again everyone for everything! We appreciate it all, SO MUCH!

Thankful :o)!

Not a whole lot going on in the Kincaid household, just plugging away at normal day-to-day life, and getting closer and closer to Brayden coming!!! I've been thinking today that our society as a whole has just become so darn negative! Everyday, I hear myself and others complaning about everything from gas prices to "kids these days" and today I have been reminded by God that we have SO much to be thankful for!! A really dear girl friend of mine a few years back told me that there are just days when you wake up upset or depressed and its those days that we need to all the more thank God for everything from our toothbrush, to the people we have in our lives, the fact that we even have feet to put our shoes on, etc! How true that is! Although the gas prices stink, I'm not thrilled with any of the presidential candidates, and there are plenty of very sad, mean, and hurtful things that people do everyday, I have a relationship with Jesus, I have the absolute BEST husband I could ever ask for, I have a healthy and beautiful baby boy growing inside of me, I am clothed, I am fed, I have a job, I have so many wonderful friends and family members that God has blessed me with, I have a list of freedoms that runs a mile long since I live in America, and life is just so beautiful!

I hope each of you can take the time to think of the small things you have to be thankful for, mine yesterday was getting a surprise $40 rebate check in the mail, to the big things, like those we love and the health that we have! I know Mike and I are so thankful for each and every one of you and love to hear and are so thankful to hear how God is working in your lives!

Have a great day everyone, and if you want too/get the chance, post a comment with what your thankful for :)!

30 weeks!!

YAY! Yesterday we hit the 30 week mark of our pregnancy! We're 3/4 of the way there and only have 10 weeks to go! It's time to kick it into high gear and get everything done now :)! We had our last childbirth class on Saturday, which was great! I'm sad its over, because I learned so much, but we're looking forward to our other classes/tour that we still have in the weeks to come! Cant believe its JUNE already too! Seems SOOO close to August, when little Brayden will finally be here with us!

Also, big gulp, I got a hair cut this weekend, she took about 6-8 inches off on the longest part and the rest is even shorter! After she was finished, I HATED it and bawled my eyes out to Mike, THANKFULLY it was just how she styled it and after I got home and played with it, I ended up loving it, even more than my longer hair, and Mike really does too! He keeps telling me how much he loves it :)! My coworker told me today its the perfect "young mommy cut" which made me feel great too. I can do it a few different cute ways now, which I was having a hard time trying to style it the longer it got, so I am excited about that too! I couldnt find the camera this weekend, so this pic is a belly shot (pre-haircut) from Friday night, enjoy!

The only other news is that I got a bout of the stomach flu last night :(! Thankfully it only lasted until about 2 in the morning or so, and wasnt the full 24 hour flu!! Mike was, of course, amazing as usual and took the best care of me, even running out at midnight to get me Immodium AD which the Dr told me I could take! We ended up calling my Dr. at around 11:30 because I was just getting sick every 15 minutes or so. She let me know its going around and she had 3 other patients call her with the same problem that night! I'm just thankful its over!

Hope everyone else is doing great :)! Love to you all!