Thursday Morning, July 16th

Greetings Friends and Family,

I decided to create this blog to keep you posted on everything going on with me, baby Cooper, and our entire family. It's been a roller coaster of a week, so I will do my best to get you caught up!

Over the weekend, I started experiencing some contractions and back pain. My contractions were not really regular, but Pappa Bear (aka Sean) finally put his foot down on Monday and made me call the doctor. We were sent to Labor and Delivery for observation. When we got there, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. They gave me an injection of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed Cooper was safe and sound and that nothing was going on with my cervix (nice and long at 48mm). I was sent home with an appointment with OB first thing Tuesday morning.

When I got to my doctor’s office Tuesday morning, I had already started contracting again. He sent me back down to Labor and Delivery, and my contractions were 3 to 4 minutes apart and growing in intensity. I got another shot of that wonderful Terbutaline (that stuff is absolutely horrible) and was admitted to the hospital. I continued to be monitored in my hospital room throughout the afternoon/evening they started administering Procardia orally (much better than the Terbutaline). My doctor scheduled and ultrasound for first thing Wednesday morning, and I seriously thought they were going to tell me that everything was still fine, and then send me home. Well, the news was not what we expected. In less than 48 hours, my cervix had shortened from 48mm to 19mm. . .NOT GOOD!! The wonderful news is that Cooper is amazingly healthy and is no immediate harm.

My OB and Perinatologist have now confined me to hospital bed rest for more than likely the next 4 weeks. I hit 30 weeks yesterday, and the goal is to get me to at least 34 weeks, but would ideally like to get me to 37 weeks. We are taking everything a day at a time, and my doctor has set some "mini goals" so that this does not seem so overwhelming. Iwill have another ultrasound next Wednesday to see if there have been any changes and I am getting steroid shots to help develop Cooper’s lungs. My doctor did do a Fetal Fibronectin test on Monday which is a test to predict preterm labor. The test result came back negative which is good. That basically means that there is a 98% chance that I will NOT deliver in the next two weeks, so we are hanging onto that hope right now.

We did have a rough night last night. I started contracting really bad at about 8:00 and it took the nurses about 3 hours and LOTS of meds to finally get the contractions under control. At one point, the contractions were coming so close together that I had resigned myself to the fact that Cooper was coming whether we were ready or not! He seems to be behaving right now, but Kaleigh has already nicknamed her brother “Troublemaker”!! LOL!!

As if that were not enough, we found out yesterday that Meghan (my youngest daughter) has been diagnosed with Juvenilte Idopathic Arthritis in her right ankle. She has been under the care of Scottish Rite hospital for the past two years with a lot of unanswered questions. Yesterday, Sean took her in for an appointment with the arthritic specialist, and they were able to diagnose her almost immediately. She got a steroid shot in her ankle and has to stay off of it for 24 hours (not easy at all for a very active 6 year-old). She starts on anti-inflammatory medication today which she will be on long-term. She will go back for her follow-up visit in November and then will start physical therapy to regain the range of motion in her foot. She will also be under the constant care of an ophthalmologist because one of the side effects of this juvenile arthritis is that it can cause problems with the eyes and eventually lead to blindness if not treated. We are extremely optimistic now that we have an answer and a course of action.

Needless to say, this has been a very stressful time for our family, but we continue to remain blessed with so many friends and family taking such good care of us. Sean has been my rock through this entire process and continues to take each piece of news in stride. My sister and step-mother have pretty much dropped everything in their lives to help us with the girls. I know that many of you have reached out and asked what you can do to help. First and foremost. . .we need lots of prayers. Not only for Cooper's safe and hopefully not-so-early arrival, but also for the rest of our family to survive such a tubulant time. Our dear friend Courtney has set up a care calendar with all of our needs (or at least those that we know of). You can access the calendar at:

http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/19415 and enter the following

information in the appropriate spaces:

CALENDAR ID : 19415

SECURITY CODE : 2222

When you log into the calendar, please scroll down on the left and read under “Latest News” tab. This is where Courtney will post any updates on our needs.

Some of you have also asked if you can come and visit me in the hospital. . .ABSOLUTELY!! I am at Presbyterian Dallas in Room 452 (Margot Perot North). I am not sleeping well (if at all) at night, so I do tend to nap during the day. However, if you come by (especially if you are armed with Diet Coke with lime and snacks. . .LOL), I will happily wake up to visit with you.

Thank you again for all of your love, thoughts and prayers.

Laurie, Sean, Kaleigh, Meghan and Baby Cooper