You Know You've Been at the Hospital Too Long When...

You know you've been at the hospital too long when...

  • You look forward to Tuesdays because they are French Toast days
  • You start preferring some nurses on certain days over others
  • You know what "to" and what "not to" order on the cafeteria menu (penne pasta with marinara = good. oatmeal and pizza = not good)
  • You know the morning routine so well that when it is an hour off you wonder if they forgot about you or something
  • You bring your own hand soap because you know that the soap that is provided smells like grass
  • You know that the coffee that comes with your meals tastes horrible, but the coffee in the waiting room is much better (not great, but better)
  • You can quote all the questions the nurses ask for the twice daily assessments...in order

Anyway, it was a good day today. Nothing really new. Just waiting until Wednesday when I get to go home. I started sending a few things home with Andrew tonight to make the "move out" easier. He took me outside some which was nice...even though it was just in the parking lot. We weren't sure if that was allowed or not, but no one stopped us, so I guess it was fine. I had not been outside for 12 days, so it was nice. We went to the cafeteria to get some ice cream, but they were closing. I must have looked disappointed because the lady was really nice and let us go ahead and get some ice cream anyway...that was really nice.

I had another sonogram today with the perinatologist. Everything continues to look good. The fluid levels are still high, but seem to have decreased slightly. I don't think that there will be any change in treatment at this point...just keep on with the same thing for one more day. On Wednesday, I will get to go home and reduce my medicine. I will still be on bed rest for one more week I think...but we'll confirm that with the doctor on Wednesday. Then we'll just be waiting to see when Baby Bennett decides to make her big debut. Sometimes I think that she will come soon, and then other times I wonder if she will be a jokester and wait around for a while...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Still Hanging Out at the Hospital

Well, I'm still here at the hospital. Sorry for the delay in posting...the Internet has been out for a few days.

Originally, I thought that I would get to go home this past Thursday, but on Wednesday, the doctor said that I would need to stay another week. So...now I will get to go home this coming Wednesday.

Things have been going well. At first, I was needing to get the terbutaline shots about once a day to stop the contractions and my procardia dosage was doubled, but the last few days I have not needed the shots...so I am encouraged about that. I am still on the double dose of procardia, but am hoping to go back to the regular dosage on Wednesday.

What's so special about Wednesday???...well, I will be 35 weeks along then...and the developmentally for the baby, that is the doctor's goal. When I am released from the hospital in a few days, I will still be on bed rest for another week, but when the contractions start, the doctors will not try and stop them.

Life in the hospital has not been too bad. I have been staying busy with visitors, watching the Olympics, listening to podcasts and reading. I am able to order meals from the cafeteria...so the food hasn't been too bad. I was able to meet the neonatologist from the NICU, and feel more comfortable should the baby need to be in the NICU for a while. And I even got "pet therapy" yesterday! ...that's right...they brought a black lab around and he came into my room for a few minutes. It was kind of humorous and nice all at the same time.

Well, only 3 more days to go...and then I get to go home! YEA!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for us and our little one!

Update

Things are going well here...I'm still pregnant, so that's a good thing. : )

Yesterday, I was able to go the whole day without needing to get the additional terbutaline shot to stop contractions, so I was very glad about that.

This morning the doctor came by and let me know that they are hoping that I will be able to go home later this week. There are 2 things that need to happen before they will release me:

  1. Have 2 negative Fetal Fibronectin test results. (They re-ran the test today and got a negative...so only 1 more to go...which they will probably take tomorrow).
  2. My sonograms by the perinatologist need to show no increased change in fluid level or cervix thinning. (I had a sonogram this morning and the fluid levels are the same and the cervix is not thinned anymore).
So...things are looking good. Now just more waiting! The days seem to be going by pretty fast. I am not bored, so that is a blessing. Between all the doctors, nurses, friends, family and phone calls the days do not seem to long. We are thankful for God's provision for so many things during this time. He is certainly in control of even the tiniest details of our lives.

Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. We look forward to meeting Baby Bennett soon.

Back in the Hospital


Check out my new home away from home! It's no Four Seasons (which I do know something about) : ) ...but it is pretty good. Yes, I'm back in the hospital...trying to help Baby Bennett stay put a little while longer.
Here's the Reader's Digest version...then I'll post more details below for those who are interested...I ended up going to the hospital on Thursday evening with more contractions. Looks like I'll be here for about a week at least. I'm glad to be under the doctors and nurses care and have easy access to monitoring equipment and medicine available to stop the contractions. It is somewhat reassuring to be here rather than to be at home wondering what is going on and if I should go to the hospital or not. It has been nice to have quite a few visitors the last few days. There are a couple of other girls from Countryside here now, so it has been nice to have people from church stopping by. Andrew and the family have been great at bringing me anything I need to make my stay more comfortable. At this point, we're just waiting to see how this story is going to end. The good news is that if the baby comes even now, although she will need a NICU stay, she will probably not have too many complications. We should know more tomorrow when Dr. Vaughn checks back in. The on-call doctor this weekend has been fine, he just will not make too many decisions without checking with Dr. Vaughn. They have arranged for a NICU nurse to come and tell me what we can expect should we need to have a NICU stay. We should be able to get a tour as well. Anyway, I am doing well...just waiting!
And now for those who need DETAILS!
At the risk of being a bit boring, I think I'll just do some bullet points about what's been going on the last few days.
Thursday:
  • Started having regular contractions starting at 2:30pm
  • Called the doctor at 4:00...who had me go to Labor and Delivery to get things checked out
  • Ran into a friend from Countryside while I was waiting for Andrew to park the car...that was nice!
  • 5:00 was having contractions every 3 min. Hooked up to IV and antibiotics. Lab and blood tests were taken. Given terbutaline shot to stop contractions...it worked very well. Have to stay on the procardia medicine every 6 hours for the contractions as well for my entire stay (this is the same medicine I've been on to keep the contractions under control).
  • Found out that my Fetal Fibronectin test had come back positive. (This test predicts if the baby will be born in the next 2 weeks). The doctors and nurses start treating the case much more seriously after getting these results. You can tell that they don't want to worry you, but they start acting quite differently.
  • Had a visit with the Bennett bunch...we were supposed to be celebrating Emily's birthday, so they came over after dinner for a little visit . Not sure it was much of a birthday celebration though...sorry Em!

Friday:

  • Busy morning with morning starting with a visit to the perinatologiest (doctor for high-risk pregnancies) to get a sonogram and evaluation. The sonogram showed high fluid levels and that my cervix has thinned to 2.5.
  • With the results from the Fetal Fibronectin test and the thinned cervix, Dr. Vaughn decided to start me on a 2 part steroid shot to help the baby's lungs develop quickly.
  • Received 2 or 3 more terbutaline shots throughout the day due to contractions. The shots work very well, but they make me feel very shaky.
  • Stayed the day in Labor and Delivery because there were no antepartum rooms available.
  • Doctor said that I would be staying "for a while". I asked what that meant exactly, and he said likely at least a week.
  • Had a lot of continuous pain from the IV
  • Carol brought me a nice shirt that I could wear with the IV...GOT TO GET OUT OF THE HOSPITAL GOWN!!!
  • Had a nice visit with some friends from church and the Bennett's.
  • Got some very pretty flowers that brighten up the room SO much!
  • Was glad for the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics starting. It was nice to be able to watch with Andrew in the evening.

Saturday:

  • After a rough night, the IV was removed in the morning, making me feel MUCH better.
  • Had more nice visits with friends and family
  • Got to move to an antipartum room at 6:30pm and was glad to get settled in.
  • Carol brought me her laptop computer to borrow, so now I have Internet access...yea!
  • Got a menu, so that I can have some meal preferences.
  • While the baby was being monitored, a dip in the heartbeat was detected at one point, but after additional monitoring, the nurses think that the baby was just playing with the cord for a moment (typical especially when there is extra fluid). It's not something that they worry about unless it is continual.
  • Finally got to take a shower...it was GREAT!
  • Was hoping to make it the whole day without a terbutaline shot, but had to get one at 11:00pm.
  • Am very thankful for my high-tech bed which is much more comfortable than the labor and delivery room bed. (Those beds aren't really designed to be in for too long!) This bed automatically adjusts to the ultimate comfort setting whenever you move!
  • Finally got a good nights sleep! (well 6 hours, but that's pretty good...especially for being pregnant AND in the hospital!)

Sunday:

  • Started out the morning nice and early. Listened to a Countryside sermon and pretended like I was going to church.
  • Saw the weekend doctor briefly. He pretty much just said that he'd let Dr. Vaughn tell me what is going to be next tomorrow.

Guess that's pretty much it! Just hanging out now!

Variety is the Spice of Life

If variety is the "Spice of Life"...I must have no spice.


Here's what I saw when I looked at the top of my fridge today.




It's not too often that I have more than one box of cereal in the house, so it struck me as funny today when I looked up and saw 3 boxes of the same kind (can you tell we have a new grocery shopper in the house? ...just kidding, Andrew does a great job grocery shopping). It seems that there's only 1 type of cereal that I eat in the mornings...Special K (the plain kind). This isn't entirely the case, as I do occasionally have granola, but the old staple admittedly is Special K.

(Actually my secret favorite that I do not buy too often is Cocoa Pebbles...I love how the milk turns all chocolaty...yum!)

She's worth it

In case I forget the reason my life right now includes a daily routine of moving from sofa to sofa...

...my sweet girl's precious face (taken last week at our sonogram).

I learned something new today...


Well, I learned something new today... Let me start from the beginning.

At about 10:45am, I noticed that both dogs were outside in the yard chewing on something. Normally, I would not have paid much attention, but they were sitting pretty close together...and while they are friendly with one another, they typically would not choose to be quite so close to each other unless they were up to trouble. I went out to find that Kaylee somehow got a roach bait and was chewing it up. Seeing as there are warning signs all over the bait about not coming into contact with humans or pets, I started getting worried and called the vet (wondering how much this was going to cost me). The vet said to come in right away, so I temporarily relaxed my bed rest orders long enough to take the dog to the vet.

I love my vet. When we arrived, they had already pulled Kaylee's file, called her by name as we walked in the door and took her right away back into an examining room. When the vet's assistant (are they called nurses?...I don't think so) looked at the file she said with some shock..."oh! roach bait". I said yes, and unfortunately it is the "quick kill" kind (can you blame us, we want the bugs killed quickly, but not the pets!). She looked at the active ingredient and said with some surprise that it is the same active ingredient that is in Front Line (the flea control medicine). She took the box and destroyed evidence back to the vet to take a look at. Sure enough, the vet was more concerned about any bits of plastic that Kaylee might have eaten and was not concerned at all about the poison. Come to find out, it is the exact same thing that is used in the flea control medicine. Who would have guessed! While I am certainly not encouraging anyone to be more lax about letting their pets get into roach bait that has this ingredient...I found it quite fascinating. My wonderful vet did not even charge us for the visit...even better after my mental images of a very expensive vet bill. I was so happy that the situation turned out as it did! I know that I've learned my lesson...not sure that Kaylee has though...hmmm...