For some reason I keep having dreams that someone breaks into my home and kidnaps Gage. I guess it's just my worst fear with all of the crazy people in this world. Then this morning I thought my worst fear had come true. Here's what happened ...



For some reason I keep having dreams that someone breaks into my home and kidnaps Gage. I guess it's just my worst fear with all of the crazy people in this world. Then this morning I thought my worst fear had come true. Here's what happened ...



Posted by Amy at 9:08 AM 5 comments
I had to step back from my blog for a minute to sort things out. I needed to get some things in my life back in order and prioritize the things that felt like they were falling apart. In particular my marriage. I knew in order to get him out of his funk and get him back on track we had to stabilize out living arrangements and with that we moved to a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment. Now that we are situated in our new home and Gage has his own room we could spend more time as a family and just enjoy being together. And that we have. In addition I have fully revamped the company I work for and have taken control of getting the office organized and back up to where we once were. We have made lots of great contacts and have partnered up with a direct lender meaning we can now pretty much write our own loans. It's a wonderful feeling having that much control again. With that much business going on I have given Patrick a home working with me to help us advertise and generate new business. The plus side of that, although we both work from home we are both around to take care of Gage. And in addition Patrick can continue to focus on school, and since he is doing something he enjoys he has not been drinking. Things are finally coming together. Slowly, but I can't complain.
I have to admit this has been one of the best and worst years of my life. In one year I have given birth to my son, lost my grandmother to cancer, made some wonderful friends, lost Elaine my best friends step mother (she was like a mother to me) to cancer, watched my little boy grow for 3 wonderful months, almost lost my little boy to meningitis, reconnected with my husband, almost left my husband due to alcohol abuse, finally got to see my cousin that moved to Australia 8 years ago although I wish it had been for better reasons other then a funeral. So much more has happened but these are the events that stick out the most in my mind. 2009 will definitely be a year that goes down in history for me. And although there have been good times and bad, I look forward to what 2010 has to offer.
I am eternally grateful to you girls for supporting me and helping me get through this year. You have all become like a second family to me. Thank you for letting my into your lives.
Posted by Amy at 12:59 PM 1 comments
I love my husband don't get me wrong. But how much pain can one person cause you before you have to say you have had enough. Tonight I realized that I am at that point. And although I hate to say it, I'm tempted to walk away. I don't think I have ever talked about Patrick's drinking before but let me start by saying it's pretty bad. To the point I would call him an alcoholic. In our 6 plus years of being together it has gotten worse each year. To some it's funny to watch him get drunk and act a fool. To others the way he act's is beyond annoying and they can't stand to be around him. I am one of those people that finds it annoying.
Patrick knows no limit. He is not capable of socially sitting down with friend and having a drink or two. He acts like a frat boy every time alcohol is around. I am constantly making excuses for him, but I feel that now with Gage around I need to stop doing that. I want to set an example for my son and the only example I am setting now is that it's ok to drink like a fish and act like a loser. I have tried to talk to Patrick's mom and show her just how bad it can be and she makes the excuse of telling me it's in there blood. I just don't know how much more I can take. Tonight I actually asked him to call his mom and have her come get him. I told him I was done and couldn't take it any more. And it's not a lie, I really am done. I just feel like I have been pushed to far. I am tired of making excuses for him. I know he thinks it's a joke and I will get over it in the morning but it's not. I am just at the end of my rope. He refuses help and feels he doesn't have a problem but I know he does. And I know it's not all in my head. I just never imagined I would get to this point.
Posted by Amy at 1:17 AM 7 comments
I have been so bad at blogging but that is mainly because I was out of town for a while with no computer. So where do I begin ...
October has been a horrible month for me. I went to Florida in the beginning of the month because my grandma was released from rehab into home hospice care, and wanted to see Gage before she passed. So we caught the first flight out to see her. Before I go any further let me explain what happened to my grandmother because as some of you may back in May we were told that she had lung cancer but the mass had not spread. She was told by a Dr that she had a long life left and many years left to live. Well about a month after the lymph node biopsy my grandmother started having problems talking, and her energy level dropped. Her feet swelled up and she was having a hard time breathing and functioning. She went back to her Dr who told her to wait it out for 6 months and if she was still having troubled come back. Then in August she got to the point where she couldn't even get out of bed she was in so much pain. My mother and Aunt flew out to Florida to see what was going on and upon there arrival had to rush my grandmother to the hospital. This time the Dr's blamed her heart and decided it was in her best interest to have a pace maker put in. After the surgery they put her into a rehab so that she could learn how to function with the pace maker and walk with a walker. The pace maker did nothing to help my grandmother function and her breathing continued to get worse. My mother keep asking if she had pneumonia and the Dr's insisted it wasn't. Questioning the Dr's at the rehab my mother brought in a new Dr to give a second opinion, and discovered my grandmother did in fact have pneumonia. From the new Dr we learned that the lymph node biopsy must have been botched and in the process they must have harmed her epiglottis so when my grandmother would eat or drink instead of the epiglottis closing so food wouldn't get into her lungs it remained open so everything she ate and drank filled up her lungs causing pneumonia. In addition to that opening my grandmother up for the pace maker surgery cause the cancer to spread to most of her vital organs. At that point my grandmother decided she was ready to die and in the beginning of October she was released from rehab and sent home with home hospice care to pass away. At her request all of the grandchildren were flown out Gage and my nephew Reece included so that my grandmother could see us and have us all by her side to say her final goodbyes. On October 8th my grandmother peacefully passed away with Me, Gage, my Aunt Lynn, my Cousin Randy and my mother by her side. On October 10th (Patrick's birthday) Gage had a temperature of 102.7 and I immediately took him to the Dada county hospital. After an hour waiting in the waiting room we were taken back and told an ambulance would be taking us to West Palm Beach hospital pediatrics unit. One quick ambulance ride later we were rushed back into the ER where Gage was given a spinal to check for Meningitis and an IV with antibiotics and fluids. It took 5 days for his fever to break and at one point I was told by the Dr to prepare for the worst. Patrick was stuck out in Vegas taking care of my little sister while my step father and my mom were attending my grandmothers funeral. So for 5 nights and 6 days I stayed alone in the hospital taking care of Gage. Missing my grandmothers funeral and with no help from family. It was the worst week of my life. The day Gage was released from the hospital I decided to fly home. Dr advised me it was the safest time to fly with him since he had antibiotics in his system, so we took a direct flight home and have been back and recovering since. 2 Days after we got back we got a call from the ER Dr that Gage's spinal showed he had viral meningitis. It was a relief to finally know what was wrong with him. But it broke my heart that my little boy was so sick, Even now that we have been back for alittle over a week Gage still has a horrible cough that keeps me up at night making sure he doesn't choke. I'm just so grateful to be home and have me little boy with me. It has truly been a rough month but now that I am back and things are starting to get back to normal I will make sure to post more often. Also since we have been back Gage had his first set of professional pictures taken I will post those and some pictures of him in the hospital so everyone can see how big he has gotten. I hope everyone is well and I will be catching up on my blog reading this week between Gage's naps.
Posted by Amy at 11:35 PM 9 comments
Posted by Amy at 12:36 PM 4 comments
Born September 1st @ 1:33 p.m. weighing 6lbs 15oz and 19 inches long. So let me explain why he came a day earlier ...



Posted by Amy at 9:40 PM 9 comments
I took my last injection of Fragmin last night and tomorrow I go for my Amnio. I am so super duper excited. Wednesday can't come fast enough. I am going to try to post pictures on Gage's baby site from the hospital so feel free to stop in and check. http://www.babysites.com/sites/gagerieger/ if for any reason I can't I will do it on facebook. So for those of you not already friends with me on facebook, feel free to send me a request before 11 a.m. pacific time on Wednesday. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Amy+rieger&o=2048&init=ffs#/profile.php?id=560125892&ref=search&sid=560125892.1985297836..1
Posted by Amy at 4:53 PM 2 comments
I will be holding my little boy in my arms. Yep, that's right my c-section is scheduled for next Wednesday September 2nd at 1:30 p.m. and I couldn't be happier. We were originally planning on Tuesday evening but the hospital couldn't accommodate. I'm alittle sad but it's only a day ... right? Yesterday I meet with my new peri, yep you heard that right new Peri. My OB decided the old one was stressing me out and his lack of communication was just not working for either one of us. So he set me up to go to another Dr in the same practice that happens to be the owner. I have to tell you I love him. He was on point and ready to make a plan as soon as I walked in. Unfortunately for me the hospital could not accommodate our plan so we had to deviate and come up with something new. So my plan is as follows Sunday I take my last fragmin injections, on Tuesday I go to the peri for monitoring and an amnio. If Gage's lungs are developed (and from the ultrasounds they looks fine) I check into the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. And by 1:30 I will be going in for surgery. I'm super freaked out over the c-section but excited that my little boy will be here. As for how Gage is doing, little boy weighs about 6lbs 12oz and his heartbeat was a beautiful 148bpm. His little face still looks as chubby as ever so it's going to be funny to see if he looks like that in real life. His big head is still in the 95th percentile (not that I expected it to get any smaller). Only small issue is his fluids are alittle low but not in a dangerous level. I have been drinking water like it's going out of style, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Well anyway that is the game plan for now. Hopefully it wont change. I will try to get on and update before Wednesday but if for some stupid reason I can't I will post some pictures as soon as I get home.
Posted by Amy at 3:59 PM 9 comments
before Patrick yells at me for being out of bed and on the computer. It has been a crazy rough week. Last week we packed up the house and moved everything into storage. We are currently staying at my moms until the people in the house we will be renting move. They are suppose to be out by next weekend.
I have been in and out of the hospital for pre-term labor and am currently being monitored every other day at the Peri's office to monitor Gage's heartbeat as well as contractions. We have had 2 episodes with Gage's heartbeat dropping after strong contractions but no one seems to worry about that other then me and Pat. I lost my plug last Wednesday and I am currently dilate to a 2 and 100% effaced. Other then that I am boring and on bed rest. Patrick has stayed home to take care of me. FMLA is a blessing! But he does yell at me whenever I am on the computer for more then 10 minutes. So having him home isn't always fun. My baby shower was last Saturday and it went extremely well. I got most if not all of the big things I need and now all I need to do is get the nursery all set up. That will happen in due time. I am starting to accept that he might get here before his room is complete. But since he will be in our room for the first month or so I'm ok with that.
I'm sorry for not commenting lately and I promise as soon as I am off bed rest (@ 36 weeks) I will make sure to catch up on my reading. For now know you are all in my thoughts & prayers.
Posted by Amy at 9:48 PM 5 comments
So my appointment with the peri went as good as can be expected. I am still having contractions but no one seems to be worried about that but me. They refused to check me because they didn't want to irritate my cervix. On a bright note Gage has managed to partially free himself from the cord. It is no longer around his neck but it is still across the front of it. Meaning if he rolls over it will be back around him. But I feel better for the time being thinking that he is partially free. Other then that things are pretty much the same. I still hate the peri and I wish I was far enough along to let Gage come out. But I'm not so with that I guess I have a few more weeks of torture to go.
In other fun news the invitations for my baby shower went out today. Since my sister was slacking my mother and MIL are throwing it for me. We decided to do it on August 8th in fear that Gage was going to come in the very near future. Although I feel bad about the short amount of time I'm giving people to respond I made sure to call everyone and apologize and explain what was going on. No one really seemed to mind, or at least no one said anything to me. And the annoying part, after things were planned my sister called me up asking me to help her book her trip home for that weekend so that she could come. If you ask me she was just trying to get out of throwing it for me. And in addition she had the audacity to tell me that her gift to me for my shower was her coming home. I'm alittle annoyed by this since I always end up spending a ton of money on her (ex: her batchelorette party cost me close to $2k after limo, show tickets, drinks, and strippers. For mine we went to a spa and if cost her all of $400 since she was only paying for herself and me (and we got a locals discount), Her wedding I was only 21 and my boyfriend at the time was living in Korea (military) so I went alone but still ended up giving her $400. For mine she brought a date and neither of them even gave us a card. Her baby shower between food, decorations and a gift I spent over $800, for mine she bought a $460 airline ticket) I could go on but I don't want to sound like I am keeping a running tab although as you can see I am. The sad part of this is she is the older sister and makes alot of money. She always talks a big game about what she's going to do for me and never comes through. You would think by now I would be use to it but it still hurts not to be treated the same as I treat her. The only thing I'm grateful for is that when she comes home she will be bringing Reece with her. And I miss my little boogy so having him around will definitely make things better.
Posted by Amy at 10:11 PM 3 comments
So I'm at home relaxing playing on the computer when suddenly it hits me like a ton of bricks. Sharp stabbing pains, strong enough to take my breath away. I do as I was originally told to do when I have cramps and I get a bottle of water to drink and lay in bed on my left side. 30 minutes goes by and the pain does not seem to be going away. So I call my mom who urges me to go to L&D. Realizing the pain I'm in there is no way I could drive the 20 minute drive to the hospital I'm registered for. Makes no sense to drive that far in that much pain when there is a hospital right across the street from me. So I call Patrick who I am unable to get a hold of (he was at work). Get in the car and hope that I can get across the busy intersection and get to the hospital as fast as possible. I pull up to the front and notice the main exit is close because it was after 7. So I drive around the building to emergency and find a parking spot right up front. Beautiful! I enter the hospital holding my belly and hunched over because it feels better standing that way with how sharp the cramps are. The security guard takes one look at me and asks me if I need a wheelchair. No time for that I say back, just point me in the direction of L&D. He walks with me to the elevator and pushes the button for the 3rd floor. Good luck young lady he says as the doors close. I arrive at my floor exit the elevator and walk the few steps to the nurses station. I give her a full summary of whats been going on. I'm having sharp cramps in my back and lower abdomen, I was having contractions Monday but my Dr put me on Procardia to stop them. My baby has a cord around his neck I am on blood thinners and I am in massive pain. Ok hunny she says back. Well we have no beds right now, so I'm going to need you to wait in the waiting room. HUH! Are you kidding me. No dear it shouldn't take to long. So I wobble up to the waiting room and take a seat. Patrick finally calls, I tell him whats going on and he hangs up to try to leave the office and head my way. My mom shows up and spots me in the waiting room and immediately freaks out so she goes in the back to yell at he nurse. I'm in tears when the man sitting next to me says. If you need anything just let me know. I'm one hell of a catcher. I want to laugh but the cramps are killing me. I try to smile back but end up looking evil. My mom returns and with a nurse and a wheel chair and they quickly take me back. I have no idea what my mom said to make them come get me but whatever it was it worked. They bring me back to a delivery room and get me hooked up to a monitor. The nurse doesn't even try to locate Gage's heartbeat she just sticks the sensor wherever and goes to attach the contraction monitor. Well it doesn't look like your having contractions. My mom turns to her and says well it doesn't look like to attached either of the sensors properly. The nurse excuses herself from the room and that was the last we saw of her. 10 minutes later the RN come in the room and re attaches the monitor's. As soon as she puts her hand on my tummy she confirms I am having contractions and they seem pretty strong. She stays with me for a good 10 minutes watching my contractions on the monitor while touching my tummy. Well hunny your contractions are about 2 minutes apart. We are going to have to give you something to stop them. Patrick arrives just in time to hold my hand. The Nurse exits and returns shortly with a shot of Terbutaline. Administers my first injection and stays with me to monitor if it's working or not. 15 minutes later .... nothing. Time for shot number #2 and a dose of Procardia. Within 10 minutes the contractions slow down drastically. And I can finally breath a sigh of relief. All the while Gage's heartbeat was not affected and he responded really well to my contractions. After another hour on the monitor they let me go home to rest. I called my Peri this morning and he told me no need to come in today he will just see me tomorrow. I love the health care system in Nevada. As for today I have been having contractions but they have been very mild and far apart. I go to the Peri tomorrow to monitor Gage and will hopefully get some answers. I can not spend the next few weeks bouncing back and forth between L&D.
Posted by Amy at 1:26 PM 7 comments
I went to the Peri's office to do my twice weekly monitoring and ultrasound to check on the cord. Gage still has it around his neck and from the looks of it he was trying to chew his way through it. Thankfully he has no teeth so that's not going to happen. I was put on the monitor at 9:45 a.m. and after 15 minutes of listening to his heartbeat the nurse came in to check the printout. Her actions made me nervous as she studied the paper. He must be asleep, hmmmm lets give you some juice and see if that wakes him up. She left the room and returned a few moments later with apple juice and a buzzer. First lets try to buzz him and see if he moves. She made three attempts and he didn't even flinch. Well I'm sure the juice will get him going. Drink it as fast as you can and I will be back shortly. She exited the room leaving me to think something must be wrong. 45 minutes went by and no one came to check on me. By this time I was a nervous wreck and in tears calling my mother begging her to come to the office and wait with me. Another 15 minutes later and with my mom on the road heading my way the nurse returned. She again studied the printout and excused herself. By this time I was sure something was not right. Another nurse returned and asked me how long I had been having contractions. I'm not having contractions I replied. I have been having period like cramps off and on for the past week but every time I came in and asked the Dr if that was contractions he told me no, it was just the babies big head on my pelvis. Well sure enough I was having contractions and they were pretty close together. They immediately took me into an exam room and did a fibronectin test and checked my cervix. I am officially 80% effaced and not dilated. To combat the contractions I was put on Procardia and then sent home to over analyze every cramp, twinge or lack of movement. The Procardia makes me feel like crap and I can still feel the cramps. But when the nurse called to give me the results of the fibronectin test and I informed her of that she just acted like I didn't know what I was talking about. On the up side the test came back negative. On the down side I now have no clue if I should worry or not. I let the nurse know that Gage was still not moving around and her answer to me was if his movements slow down any more to go L&D. I quickly said well whats slower then nothing??? And her answer was well you'll know. So great now I get to be worried and become a psychic? I mean I know my body but I can not guess whats going on. If only I had x-ray vision. My mom has spent the remainder of my day by my side taking care of me and making sure I was ok. She finally got to see first hand how big of a group or idiots I'm dealing with. So that's my update for now. The procardia is kicking my ass and I need to lay down but I will make sure to update when I have more news. For now lets hope that the fibronectin test was right and I am not going to g into labor in the next 2 weeks. But my luck it will be wrong and he will be here before I can blink.
Posted by Amy at 7:12 PM 6 comments
So on Saturday night I went to L&D to talk to my OB. I had to wait over an hour to see him but after I told the nurse what was going on, she put me on the monitor so I could hear Gage's heartbeat and know he was ok. Dr G (my OB) showed up and had a baby to deliver but came in to reassure me he would be in as soon as possible to talk to me and find out what was going on. When he came into the room I quickly explained what I had been told by the Peri. Dr G had no idea and was pretty mad the that Peri didn't call him and talk to him about it. So together we listened to Gage's heartbeat and spent about 2 hours counting his movements. In those 2 hours we only recorded 3 movements. Then Dr G had the nurse bring me some juice and cookies to see if the sugar would get him going, but no such luck. We decided to take everything day by day. If I don't feel a movement and the time exceeds 3-4 hours at most I am to go to L&D immediately. After every appointment with the Peri I am to call and report back to Dr G on what the findings are. Dr G is also going to request copies of the ultrasound pic's so he can see the cord around Gage's neck, and check if it's wrapped more then one time. If so our plans will more then likely be to deliver in the very near future. I have to admit I feel a million times better after talking to Dr G. He has such great bedside manors and always knows how to make me feel better. Plus he talks to you like a friend and not just a Dr. I have total faith that Dr G will make sure we make it through this nightmare and walk away with a healthy little boy. Tomorrow I go in to the Peri's office for another ultrasound and to sit on the monitor for a half hour or so. I just pray that by some miracle Gage found a way on his own to get this cord off his neck. For now I'm going to try to get some sleep although I am sure it will end up being another sleepless night.
Posted by Amy at 12:12 AM 8 comments
I called over to the hospital and found out my OB was on call tonight. So since he never called me back I am going to go up there and talk to him, and let him now what is going on. He will give me a better indication of what to do or how worried to be. He is a much better people person then the peri. Hopefully I will walk away feeling alittle relieved. I can't have another sleepless night worried that if I turn a certain way I am going to pull on the cord around Gage's neck. I know it's unlikely but I need my Dr to tell me everything is going to be ok.
Chele, I'm going to make sure that I can have a meeting set up between both Dr's as well. We all need to be on the same page and I need an emergency plan set up. Lets just hope and pray that Gage untangles himself in the mean time.
Lauren, I will be 33 weeks tomorrow. There has been no talk about moving the date up but that is because the Peri doesn't make the decisions only my OB does. I would hope the Peri called my OB on Friday to keep him informed. But he is such a jack ass there is a chance he didn't.
I will post an update as soon as I get back tonight and let you girls know what my OB says.
Posted by Amy at 6:36 PM 2 comments
I went to the Peri today for an ultrasound. Gage looked wonderful with his cute chubby cheeks. His head measured in the 95th percentile and he was in fact head down. His estimated weight 5 lbs 2 oz. Now for the bad news ... Gage has his cord wrapped around his neck. The Dr tried to play it off like it was no big deal but I'm freaked out. Over the last week or so Gage's movement has drastically slowed down. I let the Dr know and he said that was common in the 3T. Everything I have read states the opposite. They put me on the monitor for a about 30 minutes to check Gage's heart and see if I was having contractions and everything looked great. I am just so worried that something is going to happen to him with his cord around his neck. I wish they would let me deliver him now, even though it's early at least I know he would be safer on the outside. I tried to call me OB after the appointment but he never called back. I go back to the peri Monday morning and will continue to see him twice a week until Gage is born. I just don't know how I'm going to get through the weekend this worried.
Posted by Amy at 9:00 PM 3 comments
I put together a little baby sites page for Gage so that I can post lots of pictures and updates on how he is doing. Feel free to check it out
http://www.babysites.com/sites/gagerieger/
Posted by Amy at 12:41 PM 0 comments
Yep that's right I have hormones of disaster. Yesterday I was depressed because of everything that is going on, I spent the most part of my day in bed crying and sulking. I don't know where this overwhelming feeling of depression has come from but hopefully it won't stick around to long. Then last night I was combative. I got online to facebook just to find something to do, and found myself getting into a fight with my cousin's husband over him poking fun at my sister. I have to tell you I am not to crazy about my cousins husband, he is kind of a douche bag. And I think I was looking for a reason or an opportunity to get into a fight with him. As soon as that moment presented itself I jumped on him like a lunatic. I have to admit it was pretty fun to put him in his place. As soon as that moment passed I was back to being depressed. Today I am all over the place, for the first time in a long time I had to pull myself out of bed and force myself to get my day going.
Molly has been super clingy and getting on my last nerve. I know she means well but if I could have a minute to pee in privacy without her either crying by the door to get in or trying to sit on my lap I would really appreciate it. Patrick keeps calling to check on me and that is really starting to bug me. I just don't know what my deal is today. I think I need a break from everything right now, if only I had the time to take a vacation!
Posted by Amy at 11:47 AM 5 comments
and still no induction date. I'm super bummed. Gage is doing great. He had a nice strong heartbeat and all is well. I on the other hand am measuring in at 37 weeks. Holy crap! I guess that explains why I am so uncomfortable. So the plan is, starting Friday I go to the peri twice a week for a fetal assessment. To check the placenta and just check on Gage in general to make sure that the blood thinners and thyroid meds don't make him go into fetal distress. I am just so stressed that something is going to go wrong. My injections scare the crap out of me in fear that I'm going to go into labor on my own and they take 24 hours to get out of my system. I'm getting super freaked out about labor & delivery. And in addition I have nothing ready for the baby. We are still planning on moving in 2 weeks. I haven't found a house, I haven't picked up the baby furniture and obviously have not gotten his room together. My sister is procrastinating with my baby shower trying to plan it around what mood she's in. I am just an all out mess right now, I could just cry! I already know these next few weeks are going to be hell. Hopefully something will work out in my favor.
Posted by Amy at 11:05 AM 5 comments
When I'm looking at houses for my clients I am alittle more open minded, but with us looking for a home we like I am being super picky. Every house we have looked at needs work. And I just don't have the time to buy a project house. Nothing is move in ready and the homes that are, sell almost overnight. I think I am at the point of apartment hunting. As much as I want our own home I'm just running out of time. Stress is taking over and I just can't be this stressed this far along in my pregnancy. Besides that it has been about 112 degrees the past few days and being about 8 months pregnant in that kind of heat is draining, and not healthy. So I plan on continuing my day looking at rental homes online and checking out a few apartments over the net as well. I officially give up!
Posted by Amy at 12:52 PM 3 comments

Posted by Amy at 1:30 PM 4 comments