35 2/7

Since my doctor cleared me last week to drive a bit further, on Monday we drove to Girdwood, which is about 45 minutes south of Anchorage. We made a few stops along the way down, and then had lunch in Girdwood, which is a small town at the base of the Alyeska Ski resort. We took a tram up to the top of the mountain (2,300 feet). Unfortunately, it was kind of cloudy at the top, so we could only intermittently see all the way down to the bottom, but it was still pretty cool up top, with an impressive amount of snow given that it's almost July!

My mom on top of Mt Alyeska, with Kristin and Chris (my brother-in-law, not my husband) in the background.

Taking the tram down the mountain, with another tram coming on up.

On the way back to Anchorage, we again made several stops on the Seward Highway. If you want to see more pictures, I've posted them on flickr.

I had my weekly ob appt today. It was supposed to be with Dr Ha, but about 5 min before I saw her she had to run to the hospital to deliver a baby, so I ended up seeing Dr McCleave instead. Very different from my ob's office in Boston, in which each doctor has a day when they're on call and don't see any clinic visits on those days. But I guess in a practice with only 2 doctors, things like that would have to run a bit differently. Everything continues to be fine, and now I have a date for a c-section: Tues July 27. Now we just need to work on plane tickets to get Chris up here before then. Hopefully I won't go into labor early, because then they'd have to take me to c-section whenever that happens. But since I'll be 39 1/7 on July 27, hopefully that won't happen!

Several people have commented that I don't look all that pregnant in pictures I've posted on the blog. In order to prove that I am in fact quite pregnant and in Alaska, my mom took this profile picture of me, which will hopefully put all rumors to rest! And trust me, my diminished lung and bladder capacity continually remind me just how pregnant I am...

Me, 35 0/7 weeks pregnant

34 4/7

Me, my dad, and my sister grilling some hamburgers at the Hickel House.

It's been a while since my last posting, it's been a busy week! My dad, sister, and brother-in-law all arrived on Sat. On Sunday, we went out to brunch for father's day at a nice restaurant in Anchorage. Then on Monday, the weather was beautiful so we went for a drive down the Seward Highway. It was the same stretch of road I had been down with Eleanor and Marika last week, but was very different seeing it when it was sunny and no gale force winds. Then on Tuesday, we were going to go to the Anchorage Museum, but Kristin ate a nut and didn't feel well so we hung out at the Hickel House instead. But on Wednesday, we went for a little over an hour. They had some really interesting native Alaskan artifacts and exhibits on the history of the region. Kristin pushed me around in wheel chair, because I'm really not supposed to be on my feet all that much. On Wed night, my dad flew back to Boston but Kristin and Chris are staying until July 3.

The other big event was figuring out whether or not I could go home to Boston before or after I deliver. On Wed morning, I had a repeat ultrasound with Dr Richey, the perinatologist who consulted when I was hospitalized. She said everything looked good and thought that it would be okay for me to fly home; however, what she said to me verbally was not quite the same as what ended up in the final report. When I saw Dr McCleave, the regular ob/gyn on Thursday, she was less encouraging about my flying home, after reading Dr Richey's final report. She was concerned about what might happen if I started bleeding again halfway between here and Seattle, because I could be a good hour and a half to two hours away from medical care, since there isn't a whole lot between here and Seattle. And since we still don't know why I bled in the first place, going up to 30,000 feet and back down again, and experiencing depressurization and repressurization, I might be putting myself and the baby at risk. I told myself last week that I would only go home if all the doctors I've been consulting with agreed it was safe to go home, and since they didn't, I've decided to stay until I deliver. While it saddens me that I'll be here for another 7-8 weeks, a healthy baby is the most important thing at this point, so I'll just tough it out.

However, I have come up with a list of pros of staying in Alaska:
-A birth certificate from Anchorage is certainly more interesting than one from Boston
-Lots of vitamin D from all the sunlight!
-I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to Marika before she went "outside" to a wedding, and now I'll get to see her again
-I also didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Dakota before she went to Marika's friend's house, and now I'll get to hang out with her again
-I have a bit more time to see different sites around here (and Dr McCleave cleared me to go as far as Girdwood!)
-Maybe I'll actually get to see a bear before I leave, still haven't seen one of those...

-I saved my mom, sister, and brother-in-law major airline fees because now they don't have to reschedule their flights since I'm staying here too!

The other information that came from my repeat ultrasound with Dr Richey is that it looks like I will in fact need to have a c-section. The placenta is still pretty low, so there is a risk for major bleeding if I don't have a c-section. Frankly, I'm totally fine with having a c-section, and in some ways makes it a bit easier to plan as to when Chris should return to Alaska. So that will probably be the last week of July, and I've been told that I should fly until 2 weeks after a c-section, so I'll be home mid August. I put up a new poll question and would be very interested in the opinion of women who have had c-sections in the past (but please don't answer it if you haven't personally experienced a c-section yourself!).

33 5/7

Eleanor, Marika, and Dakota at a VERY windy pull off from the Seward Highway

Eagle River Nature Center

I just had an eventful (in a good way) few days. On Wed, I had my weekly ob appoinment with Dr Ha. Everything continues to look fine. This coming Wed I have my repeat ultrasound with Dr Richey to see if there have been any further issues. Dr Ha is unfortunately away next week, so on Thurs I'll have an appointment with her partner, Dr McCleave, who I also met while hospitalized. My impression from my hospitalization is that Dr McCleave is more conservative in her management than Dr Ha, so I think it's less likely that I will be cleared to fly home, but I'd actually have the more conservative doctor help me to make this major decision, because if Dr McCleave does think it's safe for me to fly home, that would reassure me that much more about the safety of flying home. But honestly, I'm trying to not think about this too much, because I won't have the information I need until next week, so no point in worrying or obsessing about it!

The other big event was that Marika's and my friend Eleanor came from DC for a whirlwind visit! Marika and Eleanor were actually supposed to be visiting me this weekend in Boston, but since I wasn't going to be in Boston, Eleanor decided to come up here instead! She arrived Wed around noon, and went home last night at 9 pm. Marika was fortunately able to take the day off on Thursday, and since I'm able to drive 30 min from the hospital in any direction, we went on some mini road-trips. We drove 30 minutes south on the Seward Highway, which was absolutely stunning! We then had lunch in Anchorage, and drove north 30 minutes on the Glenn Highway to the Eagle River Nature Center, which was also quite pretty. It is amazing how much you can see 30 minutes from Anchorage! Meanwhile, since I was occupied with my friends, my mom went on train trip down to Seward and then went on a sight seeing boat trip from Seward, and then took the train back to Anchorage. I was glad that she was finally able to see some of Alaska! On Friday, I was pretty tired from my big Thursday, so we took it easy. Marika had to work, so we went downtown and watched her in action in the court room, which was a lot of fun. We all had dinner together at a great Thai restaurant last night, and then Marika drove Eleanor to the airport.

This morning, I slept in, as I was still kind of beat. Today, my dad, sister, and brother-in-law all arrive, so it will be nice to see them all.

33 0/7

Beautiful birch forests at the gardens

A bee buzzing around the peonies.

Forget Me Nots, which I think are the state flower of Alaska.

A cat joining us on the patio.

Marika and me at the restaurant on Sunday night.

Since my doctor cleared me for more activity, we've been slowly doing a bit more and more. Initially, we just went for walks around the hospital (which is actually quite large!). But on Saturday, Marika was in a road race so she lent us her car for the day. First, we went out to breakfast at the Cafe Amsterdam and had a ridiculously large breakfast. We used the opportunity of having a car to go grocery shopping, and then in the afternoon, we went to Anchorage Markets and Festival, which is a 2 block open air market, full of all sorts of different things. We bought some appropriately themed Alaskan baby clothing and some absolutely beautiful photos of Alaskan wildlife that I'm planning on framing for the baby's room, whenever I do finally get home. One of the things that I found most interesting was the street food at the festival- lots of local items, such as lots of halibut and salmon, and most intriguing perhaps was the salmon and reindeer quesadilla.

Yesterday, we took a taxi to the Anchorage Botanical Gardens and took a nice 30 min stroll around the place. That's where all the pictures of nature at the top of this posting are from. I'm sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to embed pictures within the text of my blog posting! The weather yesterday afternoon was sunny and warm, so when we returned to the Hickel House we sat out on the patio, and were joined by a local cat. Then Marika drove us downtown and we all had dinner together at Simon and Seaforts, a great restaurant overlooking Cook Inlet. The food was excellent, particularly the mixed berry cobbler that I had for dessert. So all in all, an excellent weekend!

32 2/7

The view from the SkyBridge from the Hickel House to the hospital.

Me on the patio outside the Hickel House.

Common kitchen in the Hickel House

Dining and living rooms of the Hickel House.

Our room.

The Hickel House

Sorry about the lack of postings recently, but I haven't had much to say until today. Chris flew home on Sunday, which was sad. My mom arrived last night though. This morning, we called up the Hickel House at the Providence Alaska Medical Center, and they had a room for us. Marika has been a wonderful host, but we've been at her place for over 2 weeks, and if guests begin to smell after 3 days, I can only begin to imagine what it's like after 2 1/2 weeks! So my mom spent the morning packing up my stuff for me. It's very frustrating to not be able to do simple things like that for myself.

Then this afternoon, I had my weekly ob appointment. Everything continues to look fine. The good news is my doctor said that I can now liberalize my activity a little bit. I can go for car rides, we can go out to restaurants to eat or go to a movie! She also said that I can try walking a bit more, for up to an hour at a time. I'm probably going to take it slow at first, and slowly start walking more and more.

Later this afternoon, we moved our things over to the Hickel House. My mom had to lug all the luggage around and unpack all my things for me (again, very frustrating!). This is really a very nice place. Our room looks basically like any hotel room, but the common areas are really lovely.

Here is my new mailing address, in case anyone has any huge desire to write:

Walter J. & Ermalee Hickel House

ATTN: Kathryn Brigham, Room 207

3967 Piper St

Anchorage, AK 99508

We also have a direct line and voicemail in our room, and can be reached at 907-212-4207. But we also both have our cell phones and can be reached with those as well.

After we unpacked, we explored the area (which is when all the above pictures were taken). Since I'm now allowed to walk a bit more, we walked to the hospital via the SkyBridge and got a piece of chocolate pie for dessert later tonight.

31 4/7

No medical updates today. Things are still stable. I've had fun dealing with insurance stuff, getting referrals from my PMD's office and trying to explain why I need to be seen for routine ob visits out of network. By the way, AK is the state abbreviation for Alaska, not Arkansas...

I thought that, while this is a bit off topic, I would just mention a few differences I've noted about Alaska vs Massachusetts medical care. When I went to the outpatient ob/gyn office earlier this week, they gave me a sheet of paper listing the prices of various services, here are a few examples:

Initial office visit: $400 (est. patient), $500 (new patient)

subsequent office visit: $130-240 (depends on level of service and/or length of visit)

ultrasound: $600, twins $950

one hour glucose test: $75

cbc: $48

antibody screen: $75

vaginal delivery: $3,300

vaginal delivery, twins: $4,125

VBAC: $3,700

c-section: $4,500

c-section, twins: $5,625

c-section (attempted VBAC): $5,000

I wonder how much this compares to what Brigham and Women's Hospital charges insurance companies...

I thought it was very interesting, but didn't think too much of it, until I then went to the website of the pediatrician that we will be using temporarily, if I do end up delivering here, and they also discussed the high cost of health care and said that a fee schedule is available on request, although did not specifically mention prices on the web page.

I have never ever ever seen a price listed anywhere at any of my doctors' offices in Boston. I wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that MA essentially has universal health care coverage, so maybe people assume that no one in MA cares about prices or would bother to shop around? I know it never occurred to me to ask. I have only once had a parent comment to me about prices at the clinic where I work, and that was after I had ordered some expensive lab tests and they got a bill in the mail. Even if they had asked me beforehand, I wouldn't have known what those lab tests would have cost, and wouldn't have known how to find the answer for them either. Perhaps there are enough people in AK without insurance that people do shop around. I wonder if that keeps the prices of health care lower in AK, as a result...

Anyway, I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Chris flies home on Sunday, but my mom will be arriving on Tuesday. Thank you to everyone who has sent me cards, flowers, and packages, I really appreciate it!!

31 1/7

Today, I had my first appointment with my new ob/gyn, Dr Ha. I was a little disappointed that I didn't have any moose sightings on the drive, but given that it was only about a mile away, I suppose I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up too much. The office was very nice, and actually felt much less factory-like than my ob in Boston. Everything continues to look fine (fetal heart rate 156). I'm going to be seeing her weekly, and have a follow up ultrasound at 33-34 weeks to see what's happened to the small collection of blood. She said if I continue to have no further bleeding and the blood goes away, I could consider going home at 34 weeks! I'm not getting my hopes up too much about this one, but still it's nice to hear that all is well. I will be seeing her weekly, for the time being.

We had a fun evening yesterday. Marika had some of her friends over last night for a Memorial Day barbeque. Chris manned the grill, and grilled up some excellent burgers and veggies. Oddly enough, one of her friends grew up in my neighborhood in Concord, and his sister and my sister went to nursery school together and were good friends when they were little. A very small world...

Today, I'm going to attempt to see if my brain hasn't completely atrophied after a week of bed rest and try to work on a manuscript we are trying to get out the door at work. Hopefully my brain hasn't atrophied as much as my muscles, as I have actually lost a pound over the past 2 weeks, and that has to be due to muscle atrophy, given all I do is sit around and eat!