Hopsital Admission #6

Yesterday morning we watched our town's 4th of July parade. We brought the wheelchair in case we weren't able to get a close parking spot, but we were able to park at CVS, which meant I was able to sit in a lawn chair rather than a wheelchair. I still struggle with feeling self-conscious sitting in a wheelchair. The parade lasted about an hour. As was the case last year, the highlight for Nadia is all the candy she was able to pick up and put in her bag. She also liked the float featuring Jonah in the whale. There was a man in a costume sitting inside the whale, but by the time I turned on the camera I could only get a profile shot of the whale. Ian didn't pick up any candy, although he did enjoy a couple of lollipops. He enjoyed watching all the vehicles that went by - sports cars, trucks, motor cycles, tractors, etc. He especially loved the fire engines. Nadia was the one with the shorter attention span. Ian was very content to the end. Next year I want to take them to see fireworks for the first time. I love fireworks, and I haven't seen any for a few years as Paul isn't much into them and then I thought when Nadia was really little that the noise might scare her. If I wasn't on bedrest, I would take them tonight. Next summer I'll leave the little one at home with Paul and take Nadia and Ian to see fireworks for the first time. I hope they enjoy them as much as I do!

Paul drove the kids and I down to his parents' house yesterday afternoon. We arrived at their house around 5pm. Paul went back home, but the kids and I had dinner with his parents plus Shawn, Millie, and Al. After dinner everyone except for Pop Pop and I went swimming. Ian has gotten really brave and even will jump into the pool. He's come a LONG way as last year he was very scared to be in a pool that had more than 6 inches of water. The kids and I spent the night at their house so that Paul's dad could take me to a MFM appointment at 9am this morning. I had thw worst time getting Ian to sleep. Actually he would go to sleep easily, but every time I tried to extricate my hand from his hand, he would wake up. Finally I brought him into the bed where Nadia and I were supposed to sleep. Both children curled up so that they were partially on me and partially beside me. I knew there was no way I could sleep like that so once I felt they were both soundly asleep, I left them in that bed together and tried to sleep on the blow-up mattress intended for Ian.

I had a hard time sleeping on that mattress, and then Ian woke up sometime after 1am. So I ended up back in bed with Ian and Nadia. Nadia'sleep was interrupted a little, but she definitely slept far more than Ian or I did. It took Ian forever to fall back asleep. I waited as long as I could to get up to go to the bathroom as I knew it would wake Ian up, and when I went (6:30am) I discovered I was bleeding again. It was far more than the spotting I'd had off and on the past 4+ weeks, but it was also far less than the bleeding episode on May 30. It was enough though that I knew I needed to go to the hospital.

I called the MFM service, and they immediately patched me through to Dr. Martinez (usually I have to wait for them to call me back). I told him that he had said if I was bleeding I should go to the nearest hospital, but that I was at my in-laws house so it was 45 minutes to Geisinger or 60 minutes to Harrisburg. He said in that case I should come to L&D at Harrisburg. I changed into some non bloody clothes, poured a bowl of cereal to eat in the car, and we were off. I am ever so glad I ate that cereal, but I wish I had eaten even more as I didn't have anything else to eat or drink until around 12:30pm, when they let me have water, a popsicle, and jello. They are planning on letting me have dinner if I stay stable between now and then in terms of bleeding and contractions.

I had an ultrasound at 11am, and he's still not anemic. I know this is good news, but part of me was thinking I'd rather have the next transfusion during this hospitalization as I'm picturing that I'll be discharged from this bleeding episode (they are saying I'll likely be here about a week) and then not be home very long before I have to be readmitted for another transfusion. I just need to take it one day at a time. I was also told that I will soon be reaching the limit of how many bleeding episodes they'll let me have before I won't be allowed to be discharged until he's born. I'm hoping I never reach that limit as the thought of staying in the hospital for up to 8 weeks straight is very overwhelming. Today is my 6th hospital admission in 36 days. The briefest one was on Monday for the blood patch (only 5 hours). On Monday I was only in a bed in an assessment room (what they called triage at the hospital where I had Nadia and Ian). I've spent at least one night in a total of eight private rooms thus far - one at our local hospital, three on the 9th floor here in Harrisburg, and four on the 8th floor. I'm currently sporting my 7th iv tube in 36 days. I'm hoping to be transferred upstairs tomorrow morning (to my 9th room unless they assign me one of the three I've already been in) as lunch and dinner on Fridays on the 9th floor are NOT hospital food. Right now even hospital food sounds delicious given how hungry I am. I am very grateful I ate a bowl of cereal in the car while Paul's dad was driving me down, but if I had to do it over again, I would have eaten a lot more. My suitcase wasn't packed for a week so Paul will probably need to come down this weekend if they indeed are planning to keep me for a full week. One thing that wasn't packed this time was my nightgown. They have me in a hospital gown right now, but if I am moved upstairs I'll be allowed to wear my clothes.