Thursday, April 28, 2011

Hospital, Part 3: Tuesday & Wednesday

Current status: Thursday afternoon (trying to get a little caught up here, but we'll see). In short, regular OB wants to watch a couple days to be sure things are stable, and then send me home on bedrest...high risk does not agree. We are re-running labs tomorrow, and there will be more discussion. They're bumping my meds up a dose - it's so close to being right, but if they're off by even a half hour (which happens a lot on this unit) and check pressures before meds are given, it's high - high enough that I'm a bit sketchy about heading home on that tight of a schdule, though I've managed it before.

Acorn's scope got moved to next week, at his doctor's request. Complicated timing much?

*****

Tuesday was much the same as Monday - the magnesium had to run through it's 24 hour cycle, which ended late morning. Then I could eat (which helped a lot).

We went down to ultrasound to check on Leaf - Leaf is as big now (24 weeks) as Acorn was at birth (27 weeks) - a good sign, to be sure. No IUGR here; this is promising too. It means there's no compromise to the the placenta or umbilical cord at this point.

The urine collection needed to run out too, so they left the catheter in until late afternooon. They let me off the round the clock fetal monitoring. They turned off the IV and put in a hep lock (which I'm notorious for killing).

Then I moved to ante-partum.

It's different here. Tiny (but private) rooms. Bathroom privileges (I hate that term - just makes the whole place feel more like a jail). "Real" beds (hospital beds) rather than labor stretchers, which makes for better sleep - though my lower back isn't thrilled with any of them. They have a pantry, like other floors, but the nurses control it so they're never out of anything. The nursing assistants will happily bring snacks, drinks, or anything else really, anytime you ask. It's mostly amazingly quiet. When dietary brings my tray, they ask for my bracelet to make sure I'm me.

Time somewhat blends together here - one day is much like the next. It's very busy from 9-11 pm and from 6-7:30 am, and other than that, I see people every few hours -  BP checks, meds, food. Fetal monitoring twice a day. BP  every 4-ish hours from 6 am to midnight. BP meds every 8 hours, plus regular meds twice a day. Meals at 7:15, noon, and 5. Bad cable TV - nothing interesting at all.

Speaking of food, I find that I'm terribly hungry, even though I'm not doing much. I suspect part of this is making up for Monday's drama, and replenishing needed nutrients (and flushing crap out at the same time), and part is that Leaf really is growing like a weed, and needs these calories. Meals here aren't bad, mostly - there are choices, and I can usually find stuff worth eating between the standard choices for the day's meals and the "any meal any day" stuff that we can always ask for as part of a meal.

Wednesday afternoon's highlight was another trip to ultrasound, where all the techs were baffled, because I'd just been there the day before. Finally they paged the doctor who'd sent me, and discovered what he wanted - a biophyisical profile (BPP), which is an 8 point test where they check fluid, practice breaths, limb movements, and larger body movements, looking for specific numbers of movements in 20 minutes.

Leaf is pretty young for this test - particularly for the breaths. In fact, we were told Acorn likely wouldn't do well on the test at 26+ weeks...but Acorn passed as long as I'd eaten before the test, and Leaf passed the first test in under 5 minutes. Have I mentioned before that Leaf is feisty and laughs at ultrasound techs? yeah....

So anyway. Still in limbo. Still pregnant, though, which is good.

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