06/15/07

Happy Friday! And, day 13 for us! It's more than halfway over and we're really stable! It's almost hard to believe that nearly 2 weeks have already passes.

Today has been fairly uneventful. I saw Kaitlyn nice and early and have Priscilla as my nurse. I'm pretty sure she's my favorite. I have a top 3 team that I like the best and she's easily the top two there.

I saw the doctor today. He and the dietician aren't thrilled with the weight I've lost since being in the hospital so my caloric intake is being increased and I will be weighed every day to increase my weight gain and therefore increase Matthew's weight gain. The plumper he is when he's delivered the better chance he'll have at maintaining body temperature, a huge problem with preemies.

Dr. Haesslein thinks my uterus feels soft. This is good news, he thinks that the fluid has replenished itself substantially since we first came in. He is going to do another ultra sound himself next week to see where we stand. The more fluid Matthew has, the more room he has to grow AND the extra fluid allows him the opportunity to practice breathing as a normal baby in the womb would do at this age. Typically with low fluid, babies don't have enough to do it. I'm hoping that his fluid has increased to a more normal level and hopefully the bed rest we have to continue, the fluid will sustain a high level.

We also found out more information about our 3rd shot of steroids. The plan is that we are going to try and wait until 28 weeks to give the steroid booster. Studies are not clear as to how well the steroids work early in gestation so they want to wait as long as possible to give the third shot to give it the best chance of working. However, at any time I become unstable prior to that, I will be given the booster immediately.

06/14/07

Day 12 was a nice and calm day :) It's now coming to an end, all we have is another 1/2 hour on the monitor and then we can go to bed.

Today was pretty uneventful. I am still having some slight bleeding, but it's still considered normal.

I met with the dietician today. I got a new menu and snacks added to my daily diet, yay me. I've also had weekly weigh-ins added to my schedule to ensure I have proper weight gain and caloric intake.

So, we're ready to start into day 13! Thanks so much to Nana and Kaitlyn for visiting as well as Grandma, Grandma, Auntie Christina and Aunt Jamie for visiting!

06/13/07

Day 11 is coming to an end.

I'm very pleased to announce that today was an uneventful day! Yay!

I found out that I passed my glucose test, which is awesome news. I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of doing a 3 hour test. Then again, I haven't had Krispy Kreme in a while so my sugar should be good!

My doctor said I looked a lot better today than I did on Monday. I looked in the mirror, I must have looked like death on Monday lol!

I am still having some slight bleeding. My nurses have made notes of it for the doctor, but it's expected. I just have to be sure that I'm monitoring it and reporting it, which I make sure of at all times.

I've only had 2 contractions all day, and they were short and weak. That's exactly what the doctor likes to hear. We were also complimented on 2 things, 1: How neat and clean our room was and 2: How good I am about wearing my compression stockings.

So, keep those positive thoughts going, they are working so far!

06/12/07

Day 10 is now coming to an end.

It would have been wonderful if it was a slow day, but unfortunatly it wasn't.

The nurses had me up until 2 AM. I was having contractions and Matthew's heart rate would drop in the 80-90 range through each one. They were also slightly longer coming in at nearly 45 seconds to a minute where they had been 15-30 seconds. This meant I had to stay on both the heart monitor and the contraction monitor until the wee hours of the morning, I finally fell asleep after 2 and they worked with the wires and monitors while I slept. I was just so tired.

This morning got started at 6:15 AM. I was warned that I would be having my glucose test first thing in the morning. I was not at all happy about being woken up after our long night! I was still on the contraction monitor. At about 7:45 the lab came in and my blood was drawn for the "pre-test." I then was given my *gag* orange drink to chug down quickly. Let me tell ya, if you didn't eat much the day before and are getting over the stomach flu, orange syrup that tastes like flat soda is the LAST thing you want to chug. An hour later, and many veins later, my blood was drawn again.

From there, I got breakfast and some rest. A bit before lunch, I had my IV of fluids discontiued and flushed. After that I went up to use the restroom and discovered a small bit of bright red blood. I called the nurse immediatly. I had to go back to my bed being 100% flat and not moving at all for anything. I was given instructions that I had to call the nurse if I had to use the restroom and the threat that if the bleeding continued I would have my bathroom privelages revoked. Lucky for me, there hasn't been any bleeding since then.

I'm back to having visitors. They just request (as do I) that if you are sick, have been sick, have been around sick people or think that you may be sick, you wait before visiting and that all visitors wash and sanitize their hands. Another case like yesterday and we may not be as lucky.

I did get to see both of my princesses today!! Camaryn came up with Kaitlyn to visit. Kaitlyn stayed while Nana, Auntie Christy and Camaryn went shopping. I could not believe how long Camaryn's hair has gotten in the psat 10 days! Kaitlyn was a sweetheart. She has a really hard time sitting still though and I think Daddy's nerves were a little frazzled.

I have found an amazing site that is all about pPROM (Pre-term, premature rupture of membranes) that has been incredibly helpful. If you have a chance, check it out: pPROM

We'd also like to give a big thank you to Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Craig, Hope and Great Grandma Bobbie for their generous gifts of shopping ;) What better way to pass the time?

Thanks for reading, thanks for visiting and we greatly look forward to getting to day 11 in our journey tomorrow!

06/11/07

06/11/07 AM

Last night was really rough. I woke up around 1 AM really restess and unable to sleep. My back hurt, my tummy hurt, I couldn't get comfortable and was just plain miserable.

At about 2:15 I called the nurse because my tummy was so upset and I was hoping she could give me something to sleep.

The problem was the anti-nausea medication I was prescribed was by IV only. So, we decided to instead try some 7-up, laying on my side and resting.

One sip of soda and I was done for. I ran to the bathroom and started throwing up violently enough to wake Dusty up and get him out of bed. Thank goodness he was there, I was so sick and made such a mess.

While Dusty helped to clean me up, he called the Nurse. She called the doctor while putting me on the monitor. An IV was re-inserted. I was given fluids and the anti-nausea medication.

I quickly fell asleep. Every hour or so, the nurse would come in because I kept having contractions. I was so tired, I didn't feel them at all.

My temp was taken again at 6 and I had a fever. My fluids were upped to as high as they could safely go and the doctor was called.

I met with the doctor a little while ago. I have a viral infection which complicates everything. I cannot have any visitors until I am free of fever and all symptoms and I have to screen my visitors to prevent any more infections. My immune system is now weakened and we can't have this again.

Right now, I am on the fluids. The contractions have slowed down and Matthew's heart rate is staying steady. As long as those things continue, we can hold off on delivery. If they change, the plan changes.

So, our goal is to get through the next 24 hours as smooth as possible and put this bump behind us.

06/11/17

We are coming to another end of another day. I am so grateful that we were able to get through this day. I was really worried that we would not be able to.

I spent a good part of the day sleeping. The anti-nausea medication made me really sleepy, which I welcomed since I felt awful. At about 3, I woke up for good and my temp was taken again.
My temp had raised to 101 and my blood pressure dropped to 96/48. The nurse took it 3 times to be sure it wasn't a fluke of some sort. We were unhappy to say that it wasn't. L

The nurse then got an order for Tylenol, which was something that my head was very happy for. I began nibbling on crackers and taking sips of water and lemon-lime soda. While my stomach was still weary, it wasn't nearly as upset as it was before.

I'm now on my 4th bag of fluid for the day. My body must have been a good bit dehydrated since even after about 2700 ml of fluid and drinking water, I still haven't filled my bladder once.

My fever has come down. I'm back to my normal 98.4, woo-hoo! So, we get to go another day.

Hopefully, everything will stay this way and tomorrow I can resume visitation. We've been told by both nurses and the doctor that Dusty is now in charge of making sure that visitors are healthy and sanitize when they come. If there is any doubt at all, then it's best for the visitor to wait a day or two.

06/10/07

Insensitivity

Being stuck in a hospital bed gives you a lot of time. If you have the internet that time can be used to search like crazy on anything you want with few interruptions.

I found a great website on the March of Dime's Home page. I personally think the March of Dimes is an amazing organization. It's one we have donated to since Kaitlyn's been born.

On there are many stories by women who have delivered their baby's prematurely and spend time in the NICU. One of the threads on their page was about the comments they've received from friends and family after delivering. Some of these women had their baby's in NICU's for 3+ months and some mothers lost their baby's after trying everything they could to save them.

The comments I've most frequently read include:

* Well, at least you didn't gain a bunch of weight and get stretch marks
* At least you didn't have to push out a big baby
* At least you didn't have to have a long drawn out pregnancy
* So, the NICU is like a free babysitter?

Believe me, there were many, many more. These are the ones that came up for nearly every mommy though.

Let me tell ya, if I heard one of these comments, please do not be offended if I punch the person in the face.

Believe me, I understand wanting to make things seem brighter, but for many people pregnancy isn't this terrible thing that a woman would trade in for her child to live in a plastic home wondering if they'll live long enough to come home and if they do, if they will have any serious defects from it.

So please, if you think of saying one of those things to a woman who gave birth to a preemie, PLEASE reconsider.

Right now, my goal is to not go into labor. Sounds easy enough right? Well, that basically involves laying in a flat bed and only getting up every few hours to pee. No going outside, no going for walks, no shopping in stores, no playing with Kaitlyn, no sleeping in my own bed, no trips or vacations, heck, I can't even straighten up my own room. Laying for that long and completely depending on the care of others is far from easy. Especially if you are a control freak who typically has a say on everything. Not just a say, but a say that truly matters.

Believe me, I am incredibly grateful for all that everyone is doing, I truly am. I know that Kaitlyn can be a handful. There's a reason why she naps and sleeps so good, it's because the longest she'll sit still is 42 seconds, and even then, she is twitching or moving or telling you a story.

But, I miss that.

It's not easy going from seeing her 24 hours a day, giving her baths, combing her hair, brushing her teeth, getting her dressed, putting cartoons on for her, making her meals, playing games with her, practicing her dance with her, taking her out for a special treat, carrying her to bed for her nap, saying night nights with her, getting her to bed and everything else that comes with being her mom to going to seeing her at most a couple hours a day and not even being able to pick her up. Nothing will make that easier.

I know it isn't easy for Dusty. His time is spent being split in so many different ways. I know he hates to leave the hospital. But, I know he hates to leave Kaitlyn. I know he's running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to be everywhere at once and doing as much as he can as quickly as he can so that he can get back to me or to Kaitlyn. And even though I tell him he doesn't have to sleep here, I know that it makes him feel better to do so, no matter how uncomfortable the bed is. All I can hope is that he's being supported to do what he thinks is right when he feels that it's right. I'm sure he has enough guilt when he's at one place and not the other and I don't want that to be worse on him. We all know Dusty isn't exactly the best at sharing his feelings.

And one more thing. This is just a mild irritation. If you want to know how I'm doing, or how Matthew is doing, please don't hesitate to call me or e-mail me. It totally isn't necessary to pass messages through another source at all. If my mom tells me one more time about so and so, I will scream! You are not bothering me, I'm stuck in bed, discouraged from napping, how bothered could I possibly be? I enjoy e-mails, myspace messages, comments, phone calls, I enjoy passing the time. I'm also pregnant and hormonal, if you call and for some reason it's a bad time I'll either not answer the phone, or I'll tell you. Ask my mom, I always hang up on her when the nurse comes in lol!