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.