Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Nurse Ratched

Have I mentioned that Nurse Ratched has grown on me? Maybe I'm a secret masochist but I have really started to like her.

If my sonogram in the morning is good I "might" be allowed to go home this weekend when I turn 34 weeks. I have already been planning the things I am going to sneak and do - beginning with getting the nursery ready. If these poor babies came today, not only would the boy be nameless, but he would have no place to sleep. Sad state of affairs.

I joked with my OB that I was going to start walking the block while eating spicy food in order to bring on labor....but he reminded me that his partner lives on my street 2 blocks away. Might get caught! But seriously, if they did not want me to begin to get up and move about a bit, then they should keep me under lock and key and Nurse Ratched for longer.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

32 weeks 4 days

After the big threat of delivering the twins at 21 weeks, now that I have made it to 32 weeks 4 days, I feel like I am out of the woods. I know babies are not supposed to be born at 32 weeks.....but I have been on bedrest for 12 weeks now. I had one small break where I went home for 10 days but other than that, I have been in the hospital since August. I have missed the season of Fall, which by the way, is my favorite season.

My perinatologist told me in one breath "you MUST not have these babies at 32 weeks, they will spend 2 months in the NICU" and in the next breath "I am recommending that we discontinue your Procardia (the meds that stop contractions) because it is having an adverse side effect on your heart".

So correct me if I'm wrong......Don't have the babies right now, but we are going to take away the meds that keep you from going into labor. Did I miss something?

The twins are growing like weeds. Up until this sonogram we had been warned that Baby A was not growing as fast and if she did not pick up speed it would be a situation we would need to discuss and maybe come up with a plan of action. Baby B has always been the bigger of the 2. On Wednesday's sonogram they measured Baby A at 4#15oz and Baby B at 4#7oz.

My poor cervix is hanging on by a thread, but it is the thread from the cerclage, and that in itself is nothing short of a miracle.

On another note, John had successful meetings in New York and provided nothing happens here in the next 20 hours, he will make it home in time for the birth. Miss Robin, Mary Catherine's teacher from last year, has been over to babysit and stay the night with the kids while John has been away. It would have been my Mom but she came down with H1N1 on Sunday and has been very, very sick. My father-in-law is due to have back surgery on November 16 and is in quite a bit of pain, so mother-in-law needs to stay with him, understandably so. So we hit "skeleton crew" if you will and we are very grateful Robin could help us - plus the kids have had a blast with her at the house.

Until Next Time!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Nurse Ratched

The nurses here at Presby Dallas are amazing. They have all been wonderful and I couldn't ask for anyone better. Except for that one that was on speed. Oops. She did work night so you have to wonder.....

And except for the one I have had for the past 2 days. For some reason I have made her very mad. I am not sure if it was me sneaking out to go to the ice machine, or sneaking a small walk to stretch out my stomach and ribs as much as possible, or the tylenol I stashed into my room so I could take it every 4 hours instead of six, like the bottle says for crying out loud.

Anyhow, she pounced on me and my parents as we walked to the ice machine at lunch today. "Are you allowed to walk" she demanded "Are you allowed to go to the kitchen"?? I told her yes, I was allowed to do that, and even better, I was allowed to go for a wheelchair ride once a day. Big stuff people.

About 20 minutes later my Mom tried to go get me some orange juice from the kitchen and found she was locked out! HA! Ten weeks of being here and the kitchen has not been locked once. Someone is declaring war here people.

I guess I screwed up when I told my doctor that I had to lean on the Hershey display today while in the gift shop (read...my one wheelchair outing) because as soon as I stood up I had some monster contractions. Now my doctor, being as nice as he is, of course did not tell me that I would no more roll down the halls again any sooner than I would smell fresh air. But let me tell you who skipped in here to break the news. Nurse Ratched, that's who.

All four feet of her practically shouted from the rooftops that I was not to leave my room again. And you know what? I felt like I was twelve all over again.

And since I am feeling twelve years old I will point out that nobody is stopping Miss Marlboro from going out to smoke every hour. And remember people - we are on the high risk maternity floor.

So here I sit to pout on a Friday night. I can't take a wheelchair ride anymore and John can't bring the kids up to visit because he is sick.

On a better note, Dr. Hunt came by and said, yes, baby girl is quite a bit smaller but we will review it again on Wednesday and decide if something needs to be done at that time. John leaves for New York on Wednesday and doesn't get back until very late on Friday so wouldn't it be my luck to deliver these babies while he is away??

Maybe being locked up and feeling twelve years old isn't such a bad idea after all. If I act like a twelve year old will they take the diagnosis "advanced maternal age" off my chart??

Thursday, November 5, 2009

So now I am just trying to eek out a few more days or maybe a week or two before I deliver. The babies will for sure have to stay here in the NICU (baby intensive care) because they are just now about 3 and 4 lbs. The doctors have been mentioning for the past week or so that the girl is not really getting any bigger, or at least she is getting bigger v-e-r-y slowly and that brother is taking up all the space and squishing her. I planned on talking with my dr about it tonight but this is the very only day he has not come by. It is rattling my nerves a bit and of course I cant take anything for that except Ambien. Here in a few minutes I'll order some up and try to call it a day.

The hospital is only about 2 minutes from our house so John brings the kids up almost every day. He has been amazing and he is going to deserve a big long vacation all by himself when I get out of here. We laugh that he is going to be a drunk on gin and tonics by the time I get out but I tell him don't worry, I've taken Ambien 2x a day for 10 weeks now so I'll be a wreck too. HA!

He gets up at 5:30, works a bit from home, heads to the office at 6:45 when my mom or his mom comes over to take care of the kids, gets back home at 6, feeds, bathes, and entertains the kids and then wrestles them to bed and repeat. And repeat. I don't know many people that could say their husband can/would do that so I am very lucky.

In the midst of all this Softy said "to hell with this place" and he hit the road. Nobody would tell me that he ran away because they were worried I would flip out. John finally set up a booby trap in the backyard with twine, turkey, and a crate and got him back inside after 8 days. He was a ratted up old mess with eye infections and a tick but we got him cleaned up and hopefully he is getting better. When I was home for that brief almost 2 weeks Softy would not come near me. He would stand at the door to my bedroom and make that Tomcat meow but if I tried to get up and pet him he would head for the dining room and hide under the table. Apparently he has taken a special liking to Mary Catherine and has been staying with her in her bed all night. Hopefully he'll come back around and forgive me for leaving him with crazy babysitters and in-laws.

The kids have been great and initially I was most worried about Mary Catherine and how this would affect her. She "gets it" though and it is poor Walter who I feel sorry for. He tries to be good when they come up here but the couch in my room is so tempting for him to jump on and the room doesn't have too many toys and so he gets really restless. Every few days I get a wheelchair pass and we go ride the elevators and (they) race up and down the halls hooting and hollering (after the offices are closed). We check out the new babies and hit the gift shop for candy. That seems to work better with him. On Saturdays and Sundays Mary Catherine comes up for a few hours by herself and we watch cartoons in the bed together. She gets bored after awhile and wants to go back home and be with her brother and toys. After being here for a few hours the mystery of this place is revealed to her and she can see that it sucks!

Some of my friends say "oh bedrest must be great, I would love it" but they are retarded. Who is the hell wants to lay in the bed all day and not get to see family or go outside or go to the bathroom without telling someone? Morons, I tell you.