Pages

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Quick Update

Just confirming with everyone that yes, I am home! I kept my hospital room between 62-65 degrees at all times, so I am kind of suffering here (there is no way Todd will let me run up our electric bill so the house can be a freezer), but it is nice to be home.

And, I have to say, thank you for all the comments. I love reading them all! I don't know how to reply, but they are a lot of fun to read.

Dr.'s appt. is tomorrow. Let's see if I can stay out of the hospital this time...

Friday, July 27, 2007

I Get to Go Home!!!

Just got the news... the doctors feel comfortable enough with things to send me home. I'll still be on strict bedrest, of course, but it is nice to get out of here! Yay!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Nursery Pictures! (The mural)









Here are a bunch of photos taken of the nursery. Todd made the mural to match the bedding (although the photos don't show it too well.) The mushrooms have a little mouse hidden... one of my favorite features! And he incorporated our 3 dogs: Jack is barking at a squirrel in the tree, Remmie is in the background chasing the deer-looking thing, and Reuben is sitting by himself in front of the trees. It matches their personalities perfectly!

Never mind...

They decided to do more testing before releasing me. So... maybe tomorrow....

I think they are kicking me out!

According to the dr. that talked to me yesterday, I am going home today! In short, he says that they (the group of specialists) are all under different opinions on whether or not I should stay or go, but he is the dr. on call for the next few days, so in the end he will be the decision maker, and he wants me to get home. I'm a bit annoyed that he gets to make the decision, just because he is not one of my actual doctors, but I know they all consult together each morning, so I guess it's just as well.
I am happy to get out of here; since the liver enzymes and proteins seem to be going down (for the moment), and they say "deal with it" for the contractions, so I see no point in staying. I'll find out in a few hours.

I saw the boys yesterday! Had an ultrasound, the tech measured them. Joel is a whopping 3 lbs, 10oz; Evan is 2lbs, 12oz! These are nice sized babies! There hearts look great and they were doing a fantastic job practicing breathing.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

July 24th

Things continue to look good overall. Last night I was checked because I was having contractions off the charts again. Cervix is closed and fine, though, so it isn't pre-term labor. I am now off all contraction meds, so they said I will just need to put up with it for however much longer I am pregnant.
Needless to say, I am extremely crabby today. Im pretty sure it is possible I can be pregnant forever. My mom says she and the ladies at church have been praying for the babies to stay in, for my cervix to stay closed, etc. I told her to knock it off... I WANT THESE BABIES OUT!

Monday, July 23, 2007

July 23rd Update

The latest news...
I'm feeling well, though uncomfortable. They may be doing more monitoring some time today (to check my protein and liver levels). The dr. said that they do not foresee sending me home soon, because levels are still elevated (though only slightly). My blood pressure remains low to normal.
A few days ago I seemed to be going into labor, so they put me on a medication to stop it (Indocin). This medication can only be used short-term amounts (48 hours). Today I am done with it. A few weeks ago they had put me on another medication (Nifedipine) to slow the contractions. Now, they have decided just to leave me be and see what happens. We are at 28 weeks, 5 days, so delivery at this point has a high success rate and should not result in many complications for the babies. I am happy with this decision, as I hate taking medications to begin with, and the medications that I have been on have scary complication risks. (The babies continue to be doing very well, though, so neither medication should have affected them in any way.)

So, we may be meeting Joel and Evan fairly soon! On average, I am contracting 6 times an hour while ON the medication. Without it, the contractions should increase in frequency and intensity. Again, I am at a great hospital, so even if the boys come fairly soon, they are in good hands.

So that is the news for now. I did receive my copy of Harry Potter yesterday, so now I have that keeping me occupied for a couple of days. Todd is inviting the guys over this weekend to help with some projects around the house, so he is busy with getting everything taken care of. I am trying to get hold of the claims adjuster to find out what is going on with our storm damage claim (we had three huge storms over the past two weeks which resulted in a ruined floor in our house). And our roof is FINALLY DONE! We've been talking about it for years now, so it is nice to have that taken care of. Only after getting the roof redone, did Todd decide that he really wants to move soon. So now we are trying to get the house ready to be put on the market. Kind of sad, considering he just painted a fantastic mural in the nursery. With the market the way it is, we probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon, though.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Hospital Food = The Highlight of My Days

Todd used to always comment about how much his mom used to talk about what they would eat for the day. I understand completely.

Today's excitement:
Breakfast-- decaf coffee, scrambled eggs, sausage links (two!)
Snack-- 6 saltines with peanut butter
Lunch-- cheeseburger (jackpot!), fruit cup, salad cup, mashed potatoes (I have had these every single day, two times a day, since being in the hospital the first time. I refuse to eat them at this point.)
Snack-- Rice Krispies with milk (they are proud of this; the first stay I regularly was given Rice Krispies with peanut butter. When the nurses found out what was happening, they threw a fit. Personally, I miss the combination.) They gave me cottage cheese, too, but I have to decide if I am adventurous enough to eat that crap.
Dinner-- hasn't happened yet, but I happen to know that I will be having meatloaf, NO mashed potatoes (I told them I'm refusing them), salad, and a small roll (which is awesome; bread is like gold to me now.) Oh, and I'm getting dessert! Chocolate cake (it's not quite as thrilling as it looks in print.)

Yeah, sure, it looks like a ton of food. That is until you realize I've got two little boys sucking all the nutrients out of me. Lucky for me, I'm on bedrest, so I have no reason to need calories for myself anyway, right? But I'm currently keeping a mental list of everything that I want to eat once all this fun is over.

So, here's my basic day:

5:30a.m. Wake up for vitals, weight, blood sugar check, etc.
7:30a.m. Breakfast!
8:00a.m. TLC starts baby shows just for me. TV stays on all day but I don't really watch until...
9:30a.m. More nurses... eventually a doctor wanders in to tell me they don't know what to do with me.
10:00a.m. Snacktime!
12:00 Lunch!
1:00 THE PEOPLE'S COURT
2:00 Back to TLC for quality television
3:00 Judge Judy!
4:00 Dr. Phil!
(The afternoon is pretty action packed, as you can see. In between all that goodness come the nurses, along with my afternoon snack. The afternoon snack is never as exciting, though, since it is during the busiest part of my day.)
5:00 Dinner during Seinfeld
6:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
6:30 WHEEL... OF... FORTUNE!
Then channel flipping the rest of the evening, interrupted by snack and nurses.

Of course, I'm not just sitting here all day staring at the television. I'm also sitting on the computer. Sometimes I read, I'm in the process of writing thank you cards from the showers. I also get phone calls and surprise visitors sometimes. Oh, and I get a quick shower each day. So, for all of you thinking, "what on earth does she do sitting in bed all day everyday?" let me tell you that I am PLENTY busy, thank you very much!

(Okay, so the boredom may be frying my brain, but really, I am surviving and the days go by quicker than one would expect.)

28 weeks and counting!

I was originally admitted to the hospital at 26 weeks exactly (on July 4th) due to strong contractions. (I have been having contractions since early on in the pregnancy. Doctors say it is just because of how much my uterus grew in such a short period of time.) I thought I was going just for a quick check, but while there they discovered the possibility of a condition called preclampsia. So, what was a "quick check" turned into a week long admission.
After stumping the doctors for a solid week (showing signs of preclampsia, but not having the expected increase in blood pressure), they decided they weren't doing anything for me inpatient that couldn't be done outpatient.
A few days later, after a thorough exam, my doctor realized that he didn't like how my body was acting (increasing liver enzymes and protein, again), so he felt it best that I get re-admitted.

So... here I am, on bedrest at Lutheran General, either until birth or until the doctors once again decide to send me away. Since everyone is wondering what is constantly going on, and since I have no answers (my doctors referred to me as an anomaly... apparently they are feeling lost as well), I figure this could be an easy way to give quick updates to everyone interested. And since I don't exactly have a busy schedule at the moment, it seems that I should be able to actually keep things up to date.

I went in at 26 weeks, came home at 27, came back at 28, and am currently 28weeks 3 days. The babies are doing fantastic, and currently, I'm feeling absolutely fine. It isn't the easiest thing to prepare for giving birth from the hospital, but overall, we're all doing okay and getting excited to meet our little boys!