34 Weeks

Monday, July 7 - 34w, 3d
What a weekend! Daddy and I went up to Linda & Roger's Thursday evening and went out to dinner at Daddy & I's missed restaurant, China House. Friday morning (4th of July) I woke up with a lovely fever and felt like crap. I have no idea where it came from, but it wasn't fun. I felt bad laying around all morning especially because Elise, Kyle and the boys showed up, but I was between sweating and the chills and just exhausted. I knew from first trimester that it was okay to take Tylenol, so I took a couple doses throughout the day and once it kicked in, I felt slightly better. I felt good enough to go to see fireworks, because who misses out on fireworks on the 4th?! Liam loved them and Cole was so exhausted from playing all day that he fell asleep during them, but really enjoyed the ones he saw.

Saturday, I woke up feeling a bit better. My fever was gone, but I still has a slight headache and was pretty tired. I sucked it up, took one more dose of Tylenol and had some fun with the family at Wild West Town.

Cole & Tim on the roller coaster...their arms didn't stay like this for too long.
Cole had fun until he hit his head against the back of the seat because the ride was so jerky.
Their faces were priceless as they went around!

I'm glad I was feeling a little bit better because it was so cute watching the boys play the games and do the cute activities. After Wild West Town, we all went back home and took a nap before going out to dinner together. Unfortunately, the night I slept terribly. I was experiencing shortness of breath and a sore & tight chest while breathing, I assumed from you getting so big and taking up so much room. But what was worse was that it was all night and into the morning, it felt like it came out of nowhere, and I couldn't produce any mucus while coughing, so I felt like I couldn't do anything to make it better. Thankfully, as Daddy drove home, I got in a little bit more sleep and started to feel a little better. My chest wasn't as sore anymore, but I still felt like I couldn't take as deep of breaths as I could even a couple days earlier. I distracted myself by doing a little project with Daddy that I've wanted to do since I found out I was pregnant - dye onsies for you (and Daddy tie-dyed a few). We used size 3m short sleeve, 3m long sleeve and 6m long sleeve white onsies and they turned out super cute. :)

Today I slept for just over twelve hours and didn't get out of bed until almost 9:45, which felt fantastic. I also woke up without any chest pains, breathing a little deeper, and producing lots of mucus - finally! I don't know if it's because of your size (I'm assuming so) or because I caught something this weekend, but I'm sure glad to be slowly getting back to 'normal'. You're definitely getting heavier and harder to carry around for longer periods of time without needing a break, but I know it'll all be worth it in the end....which is getting so close!
My next doctor appointment is on Thursday, so I'll explain everything to them and see what they think. I never called them over the weekend because not only were we several hours away, but it was also a holiday weekend. I was going to call them today of it continued, but I'm feeling 10x better than I was Saturday and you haven't stopped your crazy acrobatics, so I'm not concerned about you. Oh, I'm also finishing up Tobi this week (which I felt was not helpful this time around) and will be starting Cayston as soon as I'm done with Tobi. Let's hope the Cayston helps my lungs during this home stretch!

Thursday, July 10 - 34w, 6d
I had your weekly doctor appointment today and everything went very well. I'm 129.8lbs (I seem to be stuck right around 130 now) and my blood pressure was fine. I met with the third OB in the office, I've only seen her once before she went on maternity leave when I was around 16 or 18 weeks. She was very nice and sat and talked with me for a while about labor and delivery, pain meds, reasons for a c-section (which we're all trying to avoid if possible), etc. It was nice to be able to talk to her about all of that, so now all three doctors and I should be on board with my "birth plan", I guess you could call it.
After chatting with the doctor for a little while, I had a growth scan for you. They measured your head, belly, leg bone, and your arm bone and estimated from those measurements that you're now about five pounds! I'm so proud of you! Even though I haven't been gaining much any weight, I'm very glad to know that you're still growing just like you should. They say you'll probably gain around another pound or so before delivery, so you'll probably be a tiny little peanut, which is okay with me...then hopefully Mommy won't have any problems pushing you out.
Today you were still head down, but this time your head was way down there - even a little hard for us to see (so no pictures, again!), but, I'm glad you're in the correct position still & let's hope you stay that way. The doctor said she wants you to stay in there at least two more weeks (37 weeks) because then you'll be full-term and then you can come whenever you want. Plus then Mommy & Daddy can go to Tony & Brittany's wedding (the weekend I hit the 37 week mark) and then you can come any time after. :)

This week I also installed both car seat bases in the our vehicles and found you a pediatrician. Tomorrow I'm going to do one final load of laundry, then all of your clothes should be good to go. There's not much left to do aside from packing my hospital bag, which I'll probably start next week. One month to go, little lady!! :-)

CF Clinic Tomorrow

I finally have my next CF clinic appointment tomorrow afternoon. The last time I was there was in February, I was 16 weeks pregnant, had been off Kalydeco and any antibiotics for months, felt like crap, and blew my lowest FEV1 ever...clearly, not a great appointment.

Since that appointment I've started my Kalydeco back up (the night I got home from clinic), did a 28 day cycle of Tobi in March, a 28 day cycle of Cayston in May, have stuck to my treatments diligently, and am 30 weeks pregnant. At the end of my Cayston cycle, my mucus production was pretty much non-existent which was unusual, but a welcomed change for once. Since being off Cayston for just over a week, I've seen a slight increase in my mucus production, but I've still been able to take deep breaths and have been feeling generally well lung-wise.

Except, over the past couple of days, my mucus production has significantly increased, especially during the day, but I still don't feel CF-sick, or any kind of sick for that matter. I'm curious if this is pregnancy related or CF related, and I'm very curious to see what my FEV1 looks like tomorrow. A week ago, I would have bet money that it was back in the low 80s, but now I'm not sure where all of this extra mucus is coming from and if it's going to effect my results tomorrow....as long as they're up! I know that one PFT doesn't determine too much as far as how I'm feeling, but like I said, a week ago I felt like my lungs were so clear and now they're filling up out of no where....I guess that Cayston really did something.

I've also been feeling extremely gassy and bloated again this week, but I think this is pregnancy related somehow. I had these same symptoms at the beginning of May, around my 25th week and they lasted a couple weeks. Then I thankfully had a couple weeks of relief until it started again at the beginning of this week.

Don't really have a point to this post, other than documenting how I'm feeling before my appointment tomorrow because I really have no idea what to expect. I'm assuming I'll have to go on at least one more round of inhaled antibiotics before delivery so that my lungs are in the best shape possible when Baby Girl arrives. Stay tuned tomorrow evening to see how it all goes down. :-)

The Compliance Streak Ends

I am so bummed to have to be writing this, but I know it's not the end of the world. Tim and I did some traveling out of town this weekend to visit our friends and also to attend our friends' wedding. As usual, I packed up my extra two bags with my treatment equipment, but I forgot my albuterol and HTS vials! Ugh! Of course I didn't realize it until Saturday night when I went to do my evening treatment session. So I did my 30 minutes of Vest with just Pulmozyme and then my Cayston.

Since I know my treatments aren't as effective without my nebulizers (and especially with my growing belly), I decided to just leave my Vest in the car and enjoy a day and a half treatment-free (minus Cayston, I did that three times a day). I felt like I deserved a break since I hadn't skipped any Vest or nebs in 448 days and I'd been feeling so well lately. My mucus production has really slowed down and I've felt like my airways have been very clear for a while now. Wow....what a difference missing 3-4 treatments makes!!!

This morning I woke up feeling a little crackly and had a throat-clearing cough. Now as I sit here, back at home, strapped to my Vest and just finished my albuterol, I'm coughing up more than I have in weeks (which still isn't a ton, but it feels good to get it out). It sounds silly, but I guess I just forgot how important and effective consistent, daily treatments really are! As much as I grumble about not wanting to do my treatments all the time, I couldn't wait to get home to get strapped in my Vest with albuterol flooding my airways. So I'll be resetting my compliance count tomorrow and hope to continue it for the next twelve weeks til our little lady is born.

I really feel like this was a happy accident because it brought me back to reality for a couple days. It made me realize how lucky I am to have all of these medications available to me and how much my lungs really rely on them. I hope that I'm able to keep this in my mind when I'm a new sleep-deprived mother because I know it's going to be a decision between sleep and treatments sometimes. It's not going to help anyone if I'm not healthy. So I'm going to try my best to do at least one treatment a day when she arrives because I want to be the healthiest mom I can be. :-)

Positive Thoughts Thursday: Health & Fall Fun

I've been totally slacking on blog posts lately, but honestly there hasn't been much going on. I'm glad that several of my other blogger friends do their "Thankful Thursday" posts each week because it reminds be to get back on here and appreciate the little (and big) things in life. :)

• Today I'm thankful for good health. I've been on Kalydeco now for six weeks. And just now, over the past couple days, I feel like I'm finally slowing down with my mucus movement. Over the last six weeks, I experienced some serious mucus movement in my lungs, especially deep down in there. Things started moving around the first few weeks I was on Kalydeco, then I got a cold which tightened my lungs for about a week. And then after that cold, I felt like I was constantly coughing my brains out! I'm pretty sure I've coughed up every color of the rainbow mucus (except maybe blue/purple...) and I've gotten a LOT of stuff out. Over the past couple days, I feel like I've finally been able to take a good, nice deep breath without coughing up a chunk of my lung. 
• Related to the above post - I'm really looking forward to my CF appointment coming up soon. I'm very anxious to know what my FEV1 is, especially now since I feel like my mucus production is slowing down. I'm also curious to see if my weight has gone up. Since starting Kalydeco, I've been having at least one, usually two, Ensure Plus's each day which is an extra 350 calories each. I hope K really helps me in the weight-gain department.
• Fall weather! I am not a fan of the heat. I enjoy sunny & 75 (Joe Nichols, anyone?). It's so much more comfortable to teach in the cooler weather. I love having the windows open all day and getting fresh air in the house. And of course, all the fall fun & fall food (aka: apple donuts!)! This weekend we're hanging out with Tim's aunt & uncle, and his sister, her husband and their two little guys! We're going to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard on Saturday -- always a good time! :)  
• Last weekend, Tim and I walked in (my third) our second Great Strides of the year. I was asked to speak at this one which I enjoy doing. I like to share my story with others, especially parents of little ones with CF to give them hope about their child's future. I was also able to meet one of my blogging cysters, Cheriz - who's now in the hospital for a tune-up- hope you start feeling better soon!! Here are some pictures from the event.

• Oh, and how could I forget?! Yesterday, Tim and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! :-) Today marks our 7th anniversary of being together, total - seven years ago today, Tim asked me to be his girlfriend while eating lunch in the "Dog-Pound Deli". This year, not only were we husband and wife, but we also became "homeowners"! I'm looking forward to what this next year (and MANY more) has in store for us! I love you, Tim!!!! 

I'm Still Here!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately. The day I was planning on typing up something, I turned my laptop on to a very dark screen and a high pitch squealing noise. Of course, I texted our friend Chris, who's an HP rep and asked him what I could do, and he just suggested turning it off and that there could be several things going on...great. Thank goodness I recently backed everything up onto an external hard drive! I'm now using a desktop computer that we bought several years ago and then never ended up using for whatever reason. (I used to always give Tim crap about still having it, telling him we should have sold it....good thing we didn't!)

Right now I'm finishing up with my first cold of the season...already! It started last Monday as this awful stuffy nose and sneezing all day, so I thought at first it could just be allergies...of course not. It slowly moved into my chest, but it was different this time. I had a tight chest for a couple days and I was only coughing up yellow or clear mucus (when I was able to get anything up). I was so excited because I thought I was going to have a normal, "non-CFer" cold. Well then Sunday morning I woke up and my chest was much more open than the previous days. Thanks to good ol' hypertonic saline (the best, right, John?!), that morning I was stirring things up deep down in my lungs. So for the past couple days I've been working really hard to get all of this really deep, thick stuff that had been stuck down in my lungs when they were too tight to get up anything. Other than a rattly cough, I've been feeling fine. I still have my appetite and energy, so I think in a couple more days I'll be back to normal.

In other news, Tim and I will be walking in another Great Strides this Saturday. I don't have a big team signed up because I haven't promoted it too much, just because it's not super close and I just wanted to check it out. I think its fun to go to other Great Strides walks to get ideas and see what they do. This one on Saturday should be fun because I might be able to actually meet one of my blogger friends, Cheriz!

Oh, I started my second bottle of Kalydeco this week! I've now been on it for a month and one day. I can't say that I have been noticing any major changes to my body, but I can tell you that I feel like I've been eating more. I have to take the Kalydeco with fat, so typically I take it with my breakfast and dinner, but sometimes that just doesn't happen, so I have to take it with a fatty snack. I've also been having two Ensure Plus's a day, one with breakfast (and my morning K dose) and one with lunch everyday at work - that's an extra 700 calories per day. I'm really hoping that's been helping with weight-gain. I can't tell right now if I've gained anything, and we don't own a scale because I'd weigh myself all the time, so I'll just have to wait and see at my next clinic appointment which is this month. I'm really hoping to see an increase in lung function, of course, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing my weight, too.

Positive Thoughts Thursday: K, Tim and Cysters & Fibros

To start off this blog today, I googled "thankful quotes" and these caught my eye:

"I'm thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." ~Woody Allen

"Some people are always grumbling that roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." ~Alphonse Karr

"I'm thankful to be breathing, on this side of the grass. Whatever comes, comes." ~Ron Perlman

• I'm so happy, and lucky, to be able to say that I've been on Kalydeco for a week now! I'm still journaling how I've been feeling day to day, but I'll post several days at a time now instead of one each day, just because the changes are so minor. Overall, I'm not feeling too different from before I started except for the random rattly chest & thick mucus fits/moments throughout my day. And I really do mean random - they come out of no where!
• I'm so thankful today, and everyday, for an amazing, hard-working husband! Since we bought our house a little over a month ago, he has been working so hard on it! Yes, I try to help him with projects, but home improvement isn't really 'my thing'. I'm the 'deal with the people' & accountant of our relationship, haha! 
• I love having access to the internet. I have met so many amazing people through the online CF community, I consider some of them to be my friends although we've never met in person. It's such an amazing experience to be able to talk and get to know someone who understands what you're going through, when you would have probably never have met that person if it wasn't for the internet. :-)

Kalydeco, Day 2

Day 1, dose 2: Took my second dose of the day shortly after dinner and I'm happy to report I was not up all night coughing. I didn't really feel any different overnight than I typically do.

Day 2, dose 3: This morning I took my Kalydeco with breakfast again which was 30 grams of fat, 21 grams of protein and 710 calories. I had a slight cough this morning, but nothing more than usual. It has gotten better because the mucus is now mostly yellow with only teeny tiny specks of red blood. So this morning I only did about five minutes of my HTS neb (advised by nurse after she read my previous blog) so I didn't inflame or irritate my lungs anymore.

Day 2, dose 4: Nothing new since taking my second pill this evening, but this morning/afternoon I was coughing up a lot of thick, green mucus. It was a bit hard to cough up at times and there were a couple times when I was coughing so hard I thought I was going to puke, but I never did. I was happy to see all of that nasty mucus coming out of me and I'm hoping that continues all weekend, especially since I'm home.

CF Awareness Month Blogs #15 &16

These two kind of go together and there's not much that I can think of to say about either, so I'll try my best!

I know that when I was in high school and college I would skip treatments all the time because I was "too tired." Now that I'm working on 100% compliance (almost 2 years straight), I've done my treatments all crazy times of the night, especially when we're out of town. I know I've fallen asleep while doing treatments before. I've forgotten to take my enzymes before meals. Or, I'll take my enzymes, then half way through the meal I think, "Oh crap, did I take my enzymes??" So then I usually just take a couple more to be sure!

I remember one time when I was little, UPS or FedEx was on strike, so when my mom called to refill my enzymes they took longer than expected to arrive. I remember I didn't have my enzymes for about a day or two, so I remember just having to eat fruit & pretzels (easy things to digest) until they came. Looking back, there had to be someway to get them from a local pharmacy to cover that day, but oh well...

When I was in middle school, my family's insurance got chanced for some reason, so I had to go see a new CF doctor. I was not happy because I was in my rebellious stage and I was "going to see someone who knew nothing about me". At every CF doctor appointment, I have to give a sputum sample (mucus) to see what bacteria my lungs are culturing. When I was younger and not doing treatments, it was very difficult for me to cough up any mucus to give a good sample, so they would have to do a throat culture - where they stick a giant Q-tip thing down your throat to make you gag (lovely). Well this new doctor did a throat culture on me and scratch the back of my throat pretty hard with the thing and I remember being so angry at her!! Thankfully, I didn't have to see her too much and our insurance went back to normal so I could go back to my regular Peds doctor "who wouldn't hurt me" in my adolescent mind! ;)

New Color

**Note: Mucus talk, don't read if you don't want to learn about my mucus.
Last week I posted how I was starting to get a sinus infection or something. Well I increased my treatments to 3-4 a day over the weekend, 2 on Tuesday (back to work) and 3 yesterday. Unfortunately, I developed a dry, itchy cough as of Tuesday, so we (doctor, nurse and I) decided to start me on Cipro. I took my first dose last night and I'll be on it for two weeks. This morning after taking a shower, I had my first big cough of the morning and I coughed up a big glob of brownish, rust-colored mucus. This is definitely a new color for me. Coincidence that I took my first dose of Cipro before bed and this is what I cough out the following morning? Or is it just all of the extra treatments moving this (I'm assuming) old mucus out of my lungs? Or could it be that I walked two miles yesterday evening? Interesting...

Either way, at least things are moving around in there because I'd rather have a productive cough to get it out, than have a dry scratchy one where everything's just sitting down there. And I'll be honest, I was tempted to take a picture because I was so surprised by this, but I didn't know if that would just be too much... :-) Anyway, if anyone has any ideas of where this nasty colored stuff came from (duh, my lungs), or why it is this color, or if you've had this before, I'm very interested. I'm not usually one to discuss my mucus - I think it's totally disgusting and I HATE spitting - but this kind of blew my mind at 5:15 in the morning. :-)
*This is the first post that I've labeled 'mucus' after over 140 posts!