So Saturday I spent the day on the Labor and Delivery floor on the monitors. I don’t like being tethered to those things. Getting up to use the potty is SUCH a chore! A nurse has to come “unplug” everything and drape the cords around my neck, and then I have to tote along the IV pole thing into the bathroom. Oh well. I was on antibiotics and got the first of 2 steroid shots for the twins lungs. I got to have a good chat with a Nurse Practitioner from the NICU who gave me the “run down” of how they help babies who are as early as ours, and it was VERY encouraging to have that chat. Everyone who spoke to us about the girls was very positive about their outcome. That goes a long way toward relieving the stress of the unknown even though it’s still unknown.
At about 8 or 9pm they came in, took off the monitors and unplugged the IV. I had a wheelchair ride across the hall to the Women’s Special Care unit. They keep people here who need long term OB care. I am fortunate because my projected stay is only about 5 days. There are women who have been in there for months! I can’t even imagine! They gave me corner room 13 with 4 amazing windows with some fantastic views!! The nurses were fantastic! I don’t appreciate having to get disturbed every 4 hours for vitals and such, but I know they are taking good care of me and my babies! The thing that I had less patience for was the medical students who come in and disturb me. I wouldn’t mind so much if it was during the day when I’m awake but why-oh-why do they have to come in when you’re sleeping in the early morning and wake you up?? It’s not like we get a lot of extra sleep anyway, right? Ha!
Sunday was an uneventful day of just lying in bed with the “leg squishers” on to help prevent clots. The hospital bed on this side was like a possessed sleep number! It had an air mattress in it that would randomly inflate and deflate in weird places. Ha! I actually ditched it for bed time and slept on the extra mattress they had in the window seat. 😉 Stu’s mom had planned a shower for us on Sunday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, but the kids went as my representative and opened the gifts and had a great time! My friend Rachael also was there and texted me some photos and video so I kinda felt like I was there anyway, so that was nice. They put the monitors on the girls for 20 min twice a day to make sure they were behaving. They did great all day! Our goal to keep them cooking a bit longer was working, and I was so thankful for each day! I also got the second steroid shot and a second dose of IV antibiotics, after that they were switching me to pills so yay no more IV though I still had to keep the ‘port’ of course.
Monday on the morning monitor time there were some “contractions” going on, but not something I was even aware of. They suggested drinking lots of water and going to the restroom. That seemed to work because they subsided apparently. 🙂 On Monday around 1pm we had a growth ultrasound scheduled. I got another wheelchair ride and a tour of the hospital. I was glad to have the escort because I would have been WAY lost trying to find my way there or back. The tech who did the ultrasound was fantastic. It was nice to see the girls, they were both head down, and their measurements were good! She had them measuring at 5lbs-5oz for A and 4-13 for B. I know that the weights are just a guestimate but it was still encouraging to think that they were not super tiny.
The afternoon was peaceful and quiet. Stuart had been crashing at my parent’s house so that he could sleep better. He went over there in the evening and they came in around 9pm-ish for the evening monitoring. I was thinking it would be the typical 20 min on and then I could sleep.
Not so…
First of all the girls were NOT being cooperative about staying on their monitors. I’m sure I did my part in making that a problem as well because they always get the strongest tones when I’m reclined on my back, but my hips and back won’t tolerate that for long. So as the session started to stretch out, I’d have to move around because it was SO uncomfortable!! Then they’d try to “prop” me at an angle with pillows and that was even worse! Ugh! Through all of that one of the girls heart rates would occasionally and temporarily dip down. They called it a decel (short for deceleration maybe?) and that was concerning to them. They also noticed a couple of contractions. One I actually did feel. So the nurse gave me some Vistaril to relax the uterus. I was curious about the drug so I looked it up online and discovered it is an anti anxiety drug??? Plus it has a antihistamine effect so it’s kinda like Benadryl. Who ever in the world discovered that this stuff helped contractions was a bit lucky or crazy, because it doesn’t make sense to me. I’m not sure if it worked for that on me even. What it DID do was make me CRAZY sleepy and ALL I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep. They were still keeping me on the monitor and every so often the nurse would take the strip to the doctor for evaluation. The straps and monitors were starting to seriously make me want to come out of my skin. Everything was itching and anything that was touching me was an irritant. Suddenly the IV in my arm itched like crazy. I’d try to gently scratch around the 3 monitors on my tummy and not “disturb” them. I couldn’t stay still and ALL I could think about was going to sleep. Stupid drug!!!
After over 3 hours on the monitors they decided that I was going to need “long-term” monitoring and had to be moved back to L&D. I had called Stuart earlier because they told me there was the possibility of going back to the other side of the floor. So he came back to the hospital to be with me. They unplugged the monitors, FINALLY, for the short ride to the L&D floor. It was a short recess, but I enjoyed it. Once I got there they hooked up monitors AGAIN! *sigh* But I could no longer stay awake. As soon as they left me I rolled over and konked out! 😉 Stu got me settled and then went back to my parents house to get some sleep.
Tomorrow…. the rest of the story. 😉