Home BedRest Journal Entry: Thursday, April 9, 2009

Time to catch up....

WOW, It’s hard to believe that I’ve been home now for over a week. And to everyone’s surprise we’ve made it to 37 weeks….YEP….the baby is officially FULL TERM!! YAHOOOOOO!!! I had my appointment with Dr H in the office on Tuesday. Baby’s heart rate was strong and I’m still 1 cm dilated but now 80% effaced and completely thinned out. She could feel the baby’s head too. (I still find that amazing). When I got home, a day or so later the Dr’s office called with the new c-section date. Interestingly enough, they had no time available on the 22nd, soooooo it was bumped a week and I have been scheduled to have a c-section on Wednesday April 15th at noon. Considering I was supposed to have had this done yesterday, the 8th…I’m getting more nervous now. In fact, last night I was almost thinking she was going to make her debut. I had pattern contractions for over 5 long hours. But I took a long bath around 11:30pm at a last attempt to calm down and relax myself. Because the shower would either make them worse (and then we would’ve called the Dr’s office) or make them ease up so that I could rest. Happily, they calmed down and I fell asleep very fast. Contracting so much for so long just takes it out of you for sure. But still home, feeling good today and have had the occasional contractions. Watching a LOT of hockey has helped the evening pass. Caps WON versus TB…YAHOOOOO and as a result have clinched the 2nd place spot in the Eastern Conference…GO CAPS. Also, the Frozen 4 started in DC tonight and the Championship game is scheduled for Saturday also the final regular season game for the Caps is also on Saturday night against Florida. Go Caps!! So relaxed to be at home, it feels GREAT!!

LAST Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Happy APRIL FOOLS day!! Is that something you wish while you’re in the hospital…nope. I promised everyone NO JOKES from me today at all. Not while I’m high-risk in here. Rachel came in this morning with my meds and said they would be coming soon to take me down to Dr V’s office for my ultrasound. So I was taken down at 9am and was greeted by smiling faces so happy to see me at week 36. Got many hugs from them, that it made me teary eyed. This is my last ultrasound before the baby is born, soooo they did a weight and cervical length too. HOLY MOLEY…the baby is 6lbs 14oz (that is how much I weighted when I was born) and cervix is VERY open and external dilation (1-1 ½ cm) is now observed on the screen, but something new showed up…when I asked what all the lines on the screen were around the baby’s head, I was informed that the baby had a LOT of hair and for it to show up on an ultrasound you know there has to be a LOT there. WOW. I got back to the room and a bit later Dr H showed up with some amazing news, she wanted to send me home. HUH?? Is this a April Fools Joke??? NOPE… she wanted to talk to a few other Dr’s from the practice… she did and they were all in agreement that I could go home, now especially because the baby is out of danger for early delivery and her growth is fantastic. OMG. I’m gonna go home. The reality of everything became real when she returned with my scripts for the pharmacy and such. She told me to call the office and have them work me in for the next few weeks to see her once a week in the office and that we would cancel the 8th for delivery and try to schedule me for my original c-section date (which was the 22nd). Holy Cow…this is incredible. She said I’ve passed everyone’s expectations and why not give me some time at home before the baby comes and if she tries to come early ok then…they will deliver her early. But we’d pass that bridge as we get to it. I called Dave, he thought I was joking…but I certainly wasn’t. He left work early, and Rachel got me my discharge instructions and I changed clothes and packed up my room from the long stay. I still couldn’t believe it. It was a teary goodbye to the great nurses and sadly I found out I missed seeing Heather by less than 20 minutes. But I got to smell fresh air and go home. OMG…Glinda was amazing when I walked in…she just wagged her tail…smelled me like crazy and then rubbed her scent on my legs as fast as she could…LOL. I missed home so much. The first thing I had to do when I got home, was to go look at the nursery. It is so beautiful. I started tearing immediately and as I hugged Dave he asked me why I was shaking and I told him I was just so overwhelmed with emotion it was all I could do. I got set up on the couch for a bit and then got to lay down in my own bed. I have to admit, it was different sleeping in the bed with Dave after so long. We both woke up every hour during the night, but I have to admit it was so great being in our bedroom. YEAAAAAAAA!! I’m home.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

HAPPY 36 WEEKS!!! OMG can you believe it?? And also, HAPPY B-DAY to my little sister Jen. Milena came in to see me and see how I was feeling with everything from the night before and all is well. Dr Co also came in to check on things and was happy to hear things had slowed down and told me that she didn’t think I should go home yet if at all. That’s ok, I was thinking ‘why go home now anyways?’ Took a nice shower and cleaned up today. Got visited by Jen and Mom and was able to give Jen her b-day gift from me and Father Paul stopped by too for a bit. Nice afternoon. Heather came on duty as my PM nurse..hee hee… she makes me smile. I love her stories. I like being a place where the nurses can come and talk to me. It helps so much in passing the time too, I love it if I’m able to help give support. These ladies work so hard and do so much for all of the patients and baby’s that they take care of. I’m glad I can give a little back to them, it’s the least I can do. Josh stopped by with Dave tonight. He looks really good too, it has been since we dropped him off after a hockey game in Dec that I saw him last. Heather came in and put me on the monitor and we caught a nice cluster of contractions but they went away after some different positioning (on my left side). Slept pretty good.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Monday, March 30, 2009

Milena got me up this morning for meds and breakfast, and shortly afterwards the noise began. Yep the SUPER loud construction returned to the unit. OMG… over 3 hours of sawing noises…HELLO?? WTF do you need to saw and cut for 3 dang hours?? Oh I pressed the HOTLINE button and said my piece so that all of the supervisors would know about it. And thank goodness they were able to take care of it The noise was so bad and after it left I couldn’t relax and had a minor anxiety attack. It was rather scary. Milena helped in calming me down and such so I could rest a bit. . Dr Ca came to visit and told me she had a good vacation the week before and mentioned the possibility of sending me home again, but said nothing more about it. Kathie joined me this evening and boy were we in for a ride. Milena was still on duty and giving report to Kathie when things started. I had a nice big taste of BACK LABOR. OMG….that hurt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO badly. I had so much pelvic pressure and my hips hurt so much I thought I was going to scream. I had the monitor on and they were catching some pretty good waves. Dr Ca came back to visit and offered me some pain meds if they got worse, but they didn’t so she just gave me my terb early and said if the med slowed these down then we’d work with it but if the meds didn’t work then they were going to prep me for delivery tonight. But the medicine worked and I was able to relax enough and fell asleep and they stopped completely. I was so exhausted from them anyways, so no meds needed to help me sleep…LOL.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Sunday, March 29, 2009

Tricia returned as my day nurse and Dr W came in to visit and apologized for not coming to visit yesterday, but L&D was really busy and she needed some sleep. I told her that was just fine because nothing was going on anyways…LOL. Jim and Sally have returned from France and Sally stopped by in the afternoon and brought presents that they bought us and the baby over. The outfits for BG are so cute and the other things for us are so nice too. Justin came by to visit too for a while, he always seems to bring laughter when he’s around and that is so needed. After everyone left I was exhausted and took a nap. Stephanie joined me again as my evening nurse and I had scattered contractions in the evening and spread out during the day too. Talk about a full day.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Saturday, March 28, 2009

Tricia came in this morning as my day nurse and checked on my throughout the day and brought my java pills and such. Got a nice visit from Sam and Sherri (they didn’t check the Kettler schedule to see that the Caps had NO practice, D’oh). Always so happy to see them both, Sam fell asleep and Sherri and I talked for a good long while. It’s always nice to hear the stories from the most recent CRC trip. LOL. After they left it was a VERY slow day, also very rainy. No Dr came to visit today. The day was very uneventful. Stephanie came on as my PM nurse again, she always makes me smile being so silly.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Friday, March 27, 2009

Rachel returned this morning as my day nurse, she enjoyed her afternoon off. Dr H dropped by to double checked that I got called by the office with the scheduled delivery date, and I said I had and all looked good as far as I could tell. I worked a bunch this morning so it helped the morning and early afternoon pass fast. I decided to disconnect the phones and such and took a nice nap this afternoon. Was woke up and after lunch I was weighed, and I had gained 3 lbs for 10 total gained. Stephanie came on as my evening nurse and was nice enough to wait until after the Caps game to put me on the monitor. Caps won versus TB. Yahoo. Slept good tonight.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Thursday, March 26, 2009

Happy 8 weeks being in the hospital. Yep, I’ve been in 8 full weeks. I’m still finding it difficult to believe. Rachel is my day nurse until 3 today because they decided to send her home early. I had a very sleepy morning…so much so that I slept through getting a visitor. Colleen came by to visit before her dr appt and I was sleeping. I was so sad to miss her. Rachel brought in a note for me from her. I sent her an automatic text message telling her how sorry I was. But she understood and said sleep was so important and not to worry. Didn’t get a visit from any doctor today, I’m guessing because it was so busy in L&D and nothing is going on with me at the moment. Karen was my mid-day nurse and Arline took over for her at 11pm. The day was an overall slow one.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Getting used to more terbutaline today, Melina is my day nurse today. Dr H came in and checked on me from last night and also said she agreed with Dr Co about delivering at 37 weeks, so she’d have the office schedule that today and they would call me to let me know. It has been scheduled for April 8th at 10am with Dr H doing the c-section. An end is in site. 2 weeks away. Got to have a niiiice shower today, so happy. Felt completely jittery ALL day long as I am trying to adjust to the new dosage. But handling it, ok. Heather came on tonight as my nurse and surprised me with a box of thin mint cookies (she’s so good to me, yum yum). Thank goodness the evening went off with no major issues, other than many trips to the bathroom (as always).

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

HAPPY 35 WEEKS!!!! Dana came in to give me my morning meds and wished me a happy 35 weeks. Dr Co came to visit too and to check on my progress and such, all looked good and she agreed with the possibility of scheduling my delivery of baby girl at 37 weeks. But she wanted to talk to a few others at the practice first. Got to have my ultrasound today. Cervix was nice and open (as most of us expected). My mom came by and visited for a good while today and took a picture of me to show my belly progress. Heather was my PM nurse tonight and I noticed that I started to feel a LOT of contractions and turns out that they were certainly in a pattern. So I was on the monitor for a considerable amount of time and it was decided to increase my terbutaline to a higher dosage and every 4 hours instead of every 6. The resident came in an examined me, I’m 1 cm and she could feel the baby’s head…OMG. The medicine helped slow things down and I took some ambien to help me sleep, and it worked.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Monday, March 23, 2009

Today was a very long day. Woke up by Dana with medicine and was visited by Dr W. Spent most of the day visiting the bathroom, because the baby has moved further down and has almost constant pressure on my bladder (not fun). Got to have a nice long talk with Dana today, she’s applying for CNP school at Georgetown and has an interview soon (I know she’ll get it, she’s so great). Kathie came on duty as my pm nurse and Shelley came by to say ‘Hello’ as well. Lab came in to draw blood tonight and all went good. Kathie came in and decorated my board for the next day, it was so sweet. These nurses are really cheering for me. That means so much too.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Sunday, March 22, 2009

Milena was my AM nurse again today and Dr M came in again after she did in the morning for a quick ‘hello’ and check in. Nothing to report so, that makes for a good day. Took a shower today, nice a clean…yahoo. Justin and Josie came by and brought me Mo’s for dinner…YUMMY! But over all it was a very quiet day over all. Stephanie my PM nurse even said it was a nice calm day for me, nothing to report on me for my monitor sessions either. So no news is good news. But BG (baby girl) is a happy baby.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Saturday, March 21, 2009

Milena my AM nurse today, got me up for AM meds and soon after Dr M (filling in for the OB practice this weekend) checked on me to see if all was well. Things are good. Nothing exciting, and that is a good thing. I played on the web most of the day, well just here and there. It was a very quiet day and I just took it easy. Today was the CRC trip to Carolina that we were going to go on. But kind of glad we didn’t. The game was not such a good one and a loss makes for a VERY long ride home. Caps lost versus Carolina BIG TIME. My PM nurse Shelly was so nice, she told me she was getting back into taking care of antepartum patients like me. But she did a great job.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Friday, March 20, 2009

OMG, for some reason last night got barely any sleep. Then to top it off, that mean and rude pathologist from the lab woke me up. And didn’t even talk to my nurse before entering, come to find out she didn’t need to even draw blood from me then so she woke me up for NOTHING. She was rude, especially when I asked her if she saw the sign on my door saying to please check in with nurse before entering . She actually had the nerve to say to me “well, that sign doesn’t pertain to ‘me’”. OMG…I went off the deep end after that. I rang the bell for the nurse and refused to let her take blood from me without talking to my nurse and I just got more upset the more she was in the room with me. Before I knew it, I was in complete tears and uncontrollably sobbing. Dana and Mary, literally RAN into my room. I felt so bad, but they understood my frustration and calmed me down. They were also afraid I was putting myself into labor, but thank goodness I didn’t. That was when they put very obvious signs on the door to the point that EVERYONE is to check in with the nurse before entering. FNP K from the OB practice came by to do rounds that day, and she came in and pulled a chair up and talked to me. She was just making sure all was well, even in the face of the events from the morning. She told me all that I should do was nothing all day and just veg. It would do me good. She is very right. I tried to go back to sleep, but I just kind of was lying in bed until I drifted off (it was so difficult). But was able to do that most of the day, thank goodness. I was surprised by evening visits from Lindsay & Dylan, who brought me and Dave Frosty’s from Wendy’s…..mmmmmm yummy. And not so long afterwards, Justin and Josie came over. I was so excited to see them both too. My PM nurse that night, Stephanie, waited until everyone left before putting me on the monitor. Nothing eventful tonight at all and I took some ambien to make sure I slept.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Thursday, March 19, 2009

Happy 7 weeks of being admitted. Yep been here 7 weeks already. Dana (my AM nurse) always seems to get a smile on my face in the morning. Dr W came by to visit and I told her I was going to take a shower today and she said o.k. and that I can increase my showers per week to 2 (OH HAPPY DAY, yeah I know…kinda sad right??). That made me very happy. Dr W also mentioned that there was a very good chance that a c-section will be scheduled for the first full week of April (37 weeks). A new medicine development today, I’m guessing my CBC showed that my iron started getting low again. So, as a result, I was started on iron today…ewwww. Heather came in tonight as my PM Nurse, and would check in a bunch during the hockey game. So much fun. Caps @ TB and they won.  I again had a few contractions here and there all during the day but nothing major (thank goodness).

Hospital Stay Journal Entry, Wednesday, March 18, 2009

This morning I was woke up by my AM nurse Quynh letting me know of another early ultrasound. This time I was smart enough and took 2 containers of orange juice with me so I wouldn’t have another blood sugar issue, because the appointment was before my breakfast arrived. To everyone’s surprise, the baby blew everyone’s guess as to her weight out of the water. She’s 5lbs 11oz (holy crap she’s big). Dr H came in to visit and was very impressed with the baby’s weight. She said she thought we were getting close to being completely out of the danger zone for the baby. That is very good news. Mom came to visit and brought beautiful tulips. Justin also came to visit, he came directly from his way back from the airport. He visited Mike’s Pastry in Boston and brought back some B/W cookies for me. OH YUMMY!! I started also getting very annoyed with everything (every little damn thing) near the end of the day. Ends up when my PM nurse Grace put me on the monitor, I had a nice little cluster of contractions. Go figure.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

HAPPY 34 WEEKS!!! Oh yeah and Happy St. Patty’s Day too. Rachna got me up this morning to let the lab lady in to take my blood (and yeah it’s the one I really don’t like too). Dr Co came in to check up on me too, it was a quick visit but she was glad to hear I was feeling OK. I had a few average contractions this morning during the NST. But nothing really substantial. Rachna had to turn me over to BJ because she had a patient that needed very special attention. There was an overall very weird mood over the entire floor today. Lots of chaos and such, whether you were a part of it or not, you could tell some things were just off as a whole. But what can ya do, right? I decided to rest during the afternoon and Dave brought over the family trees we got for our wedding. We decided to put them up in the nursery and they are going to look fantastic. We got them as a gift from SK and Fran for the wedding shower. I love the way they turned out. Caps played in FLA vs the Panthers tonight and won 3-0…what a nice shut out for Theo. My evening NST was uneventful. So afterwards I got me even meds and now after I update with this post, I’m going to bed. Labor dust to the momma’s-to-be, on the April Sweet Pea boards, who are just counting the days (and some the hours) to having their babies. You can have all of mine. My little one needs to cook for 2 more weeks.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Monday, March 16, 2009

Woke up feeling ok, Rachel was my AM nurse…she’s so excited about this upcoming weekend (She’s going to Key West, FLA to make the final arrangements for her wedding in May…I’m so excited for her too). She was my nurse until 3 because they were overstaffed and could send some people home. So my nurse from 3-7 was Rachna until my girl Heather took over at 7pm. Got visited by Sally during the day, she brought me some new slip on clogs. They are so nice, I’m so glad I got a pair of them. It was a slow day overall. But around 9:15pm I started feeling pelvic pressure and when I got hooked up to the monitor I had a few contractions. So I was on until about 10ish and got my evening medication and went to bed. I’ve been so tired that I’m now getting as much sleep as I can get.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Sunday, March 15, 2009

Next thing I know I’m getting a knock on my door from the resident on duty checking on me. Then I fall back asleep and I hear another knock and it was Dr Co just peeking in to see how my night went. Then I fell back asleep until my AM Nurse, Emily got me up for my AM medicine and told me after I finished my breakfast to call her when I was ready for my NST. I got some good rest from last night. Half way through the day when I had Emily flush the IV… oh boy did it start to sting. OUCH. Well that IV really infiltrated and bruised my arm really good. So they thankfully took it out. The Dr’s want to let my arms rest and not give me an IV unless I really need it because they want to save my veins for the main event. Heather came on duty tonight as my PM nurse, that made me so happy too… :) She introduced me to the unit secretary, she is so nice. My evening NST was very uneventful, thank goodness. Got my evening medicine and went to bed, after updating my blog online. I’m about a week behind. But not anymore after I post this entry.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Saturday, March 14, 2009

Dana my AM nurse came on duty and didn’t know I was awake when she snuck in to update my board. She was so sweet in making sure I was OK…she acknowledged that my fatigue was very obvious and that I just needed to do nothing but rest the whole day. I did my best, but I was actually OVER tired and couldn’t fall asleep for a bit. Dr Co came in to ask how I was feeling after my busy night, and she told me she was on duty all weekend. Also if I needed anything to just ask. So I asked if I could take a shower, she said ‘of course’. That made me super happy. I got my AM meds and after my benedryl I got tired to a level where I could sleep, and took a long nap. Next thing I know Dana woke me for a minute to give me my afternoon medication and after that I fell back asleep. I woke up to watch the Caps hockey game, but didn’t get to say goodbye to Dana when she handed me over to my PM nurse, Grace. The Caps were home vs. Carolina and they WON….YAHOO!!! I got my shower after the game, and took ambien so that I could sleep well. And boy did I. Only woke up long enough to get my 4am medication and went back to sleep.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Friday, March 13, 2009

Another day of being super sleepy, I think it might be a small ambien hangover due to being woke up so many times during the night. Milena came in to check up on me and brought me my AM medicine and hooked me up to my day NST. Dr H came in and saw me for a bit to see how I was doing and such. I took 2 different mini naps during the day. There were flurries on and off all day, calming to watch out the window. Got a visit from Sally, she brought more flowers and another over sweater for me like the navy one she got for me…so nice. She also bought some really comfy clogs for me to wear, but they were a tad snug, so she said she’d go back and exchange them for me, darn European sizes. Kathie came on as my evening nurse and she hooked me up to the monitor at 10pm and that’s when the fun started. Out of the blue, I started getting contractions; rather big ones. Well, you know how this story goes then, if you’ve been reading the past entries. I got a new IV a bunch of fluid, BUT… I had continued contractions for the whole evening (just about). I was on the monitor from 10pm to 6:20am. Dave fell asleep for a bit, but he woke up around 3:30am and I told him to go home to get some more rest. He left around 4am. I maybe got 1 ½ hour sleep. It was a long night.

Hospital Stay Journal entry: Thursday, March 12, 2009

I ended up having very little restful sleep. When I woke up Rachna (my day nurse until 4pm) gave me my meds and NST. Dr Ca cam in and told me she was going to have PT (physical therapy) and SW (social work) to come and visit me today. Then I started getting crampy late morning and I started contracting a bit. I was on the monitor for a good while and they gave me more terbutaline and the ctx’s slowed down and eventually stopped in the early afternoon. PT (Jennifer) came in to visit and said she’d work on getting me some other kinds of exercises to do while on bedrest and that she’d bring them back tomorrow. Next I was visited by SW (Saba, my case manager) she came in to talk to me, because people (my dr’s) were concerned I was started to get some pregnancy blues (or depression) and they were kind of right. Saba talked to me for a good bit and she explained to me that my circumstances are very out of the ordinary and no wonder I was starting to feel down. But she told me if I started to feel worse to give her a call at anytime. Watched the Caps play @ Philly and win (finally) that made me feel a bit better for sure. Donna took over for late afternoon til 11pm and she got me my evening meds and NST. I got a few crampy contractions (mild) but nothing significant. I decided to take an ambien to help me sleep. Heather came on as my nurse at 11pm. Funny story of the evening, I waited a bit for the ambien to take effect on me and when I started feeling loopy….I kind of sleepy dialed my nurse. LMAO, it was so funny.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Emily woke me up early because the lab needed to take blood. (yes, again) I fell back asleep only to woken up again by them ready to take me down for an EARLY ultrasound. (I’m usually taken down around between 12ish and 3ish) To be taken down at 9am was a shock to say the least. I went down before breakfast and as a result my blood sugar started to tank as I was waiting for Dr V to get there, they didn’t have juice (only water) but I didn’t care I needed something to drink to at least to get my mind off of the nausea that was setting in. Dr V did my ultrasound and we saw that things had opened up again. I figured as much though, so I wasn’t really that surprised. I got back to my room and downed the orange juice right away. I had my breakfast and felt better. I decided to turn off the phones again and take a good nap in the afternoon. When I woke up BJ came on as my late afternoon/early evening nurse. Dr H came in and talked to me shortly about the ultrasound results. I got a visit from Peggy and she brought me dinner. It was so nice; it has been a while since seeing her. She was feeling a bit under the weather for a bit. I had a new PM nurse that I’ve never had before, her name Jayln. All was well through the night, but had trouble getting to sleep.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry:Monday March 9, 2009 (out of order..oops)

Monday, March 9, 2009
Rachel came in this morning as my AM nurse to my surprise (she has switched back to Day shifts). An I had to work a bunch of different stuff this morning, so she just told me to call her when I was ready to do my monitoring and such. Dr Ca came in this morning as well to check on me and she gave me the OK for a shower…YAHOO!!! My sister came by to visit today for a bit, I really like it when she comes over. Later in the afternoon, it got sooooooooo hot in my room. I at first thought it was me being in this bed, but when Rachel came in she confirmed how hot it really was and she got me a fan for my room to circulate the air. It certainly helped so much too. Our episode of Red Line aired tonight on CSN, it was so cool. Heather was my nurse tonight too and when she came on duty we were on TV so she got to see part of it. Hee hee. We’re mini-celebrities…just kidding. We’re just hockey fans or nerds.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Tuesday, March 10, 2009

HAPPY 33 WEEKS!!! Dana got me up this morning to give me my meds and gave me a big hug for making it to 33 weeks. Dr Co cam in too and congratulated me as well, when she was doing her rounds. They had to change my IV today because the one in my left hand had been there long enough and they had to replace it in my right arm somewhere. Poor Lilly (another RN) tried 2 times and missed, she felt so bad. I kept telling her it was ok and not to worry. They called and RN from L&D over to get a new one. She got it in my inside right wrist. Was so tired after all of that, I turned off all phones and went to sleep. I ended up deciding to skip lunch due to fatigue and nausea. I got up when Dave came over and he brought me dinner (soup and bagel) because I wanted something light. The night didn’t go so 100% well, when Kathie came on duty she flushed the new IV and it infiltrated and was very painful too. So she just took it out and let my arm rest for the night and told me we’d wait until we heard what the resident wanted the next morning.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Rather sleepy this morning after losing an hour of sleep. Milena my AM nurse today came in to give me my meds and changed my clock to reflect the change. Dr Q (filling in for the practice) came in shortly to see how I was feeling and left. I got visited by Jim and Sally, they took Dave out to lunch and when they got here they brought me some sweet potato fries (yummy). Then after they left my Mom and Aunt Karen stopped by for a while. Then after all of them left I was entertained by the Caps game vs. the Penguins (but they lost in a SO) oh well. But watching the Harry Potter marathon after that certainly did help. Dave sent me some pictures of the nursery and to my surprise he had put some of the furniture together too. Then he sent a second set of photos to me (he decorated a little), he hung up the valance, added the accent pillow to the glider chair and put the stuff for the crib together including to mobile. Then the big surprise was the wall decals, I totally cried. It looks so perfect. He’s done such a fantastic job. Our baby is so lucky to have a Daddy like him. A woman from St Ann’s (I believe her name to be Joanne) came by to drop off a bulletin and give communion did something so unexpected. She asked if she could give me the medal she was wearing to me (a Mary medal). I was so touched by the gesture that I was shaking reaching out for it and I was in tears again. I couldn’t put into words how thankful I was, but she said my reaction said a million words. Stephanie came in to let me know she was my PM Nurse and we set up a plan for the evening, including meds and monitoring. Heather stopped by in between her patients tonight and asked Dave and I something completely amazing. She asked us to be God Parents of her youngest daughter (5 months old)…. Of course we said Yes. So honor for her to ask us. She is such a great friend too.

Hospital Stay Journal Entry: Saturday, March 7, 2009

This morning I was woke up by my AM Nurse Milena to let me know that the lab was there to take blood and such. Thank goodness it was one of the nicer lab phlebotomists’ and I barely felt the stick when she filled the vile or three she had. I spent the good part of the morning and early afternoon catching up my hospital stay journal and posting all of the entries on my blog. With all of the recent excitement and such over the past week and a half, it has been difficult to stay focused long enough to create a journal entry. It was enough for me just to write down my notes for the day (and I’m so glad I do that). I had many visitors today, which I was very happy about. Sam and Sherri visited first. Sherri brought me cake and Sam put a bead onto my blessing bead strand. We enjoyed our visit. They are both such a riot, I’m glad that I’ve been able to see them. They are such great friends and they even have visitors in from out of town. Later on Josie stopped by and Justin too. Josie is in for the hockey game tomorrow and also is staying in DC with her sister all the while her daughter is visiting with friends at GW. Josie looks fantastic and it was nice to see Justin (since it’s been so long) because he’s been getting over a pretty nasty cold. I was pretty exhausted after all of the excitement and visitors of the day. I relaxed the rest the evening with Dave as he finally came over after running errands at Ikea and visiting with Lindsey and Dylan at their home in Woodbridge. They gave Dave a present for me and it is totally incredible. They gave me a baby bootie bouquet. It is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. It even smells like baby powder. I’ll do what I can to get a picture of it and up. Oh and don’t forget to set your clocks forward tonight… we lose an hour of sleep.