30 Minutes

Yesterday at 1:35pm I finally asked the nurse if I could have a snack as lunch hadn't been served yet. She said the Labor and Delivery unit is the very last in the entire hospital to receive meals because usually only a couple of women in the unit are allowed to eat. At this hospital they move women up to the postpartum unit on the 9th floor after they've delivered. The hospital where I had Nadia and Ian didn't have a separate postpartum unit. The nurse graciously brought me a 4 oz yogurt and a bag of Sunchips. At 2pm lunch was finally delivered to this unit. I was glad I ate the snack because the salad was tasty but not enough to fill me up. Sheila showed me a picture of the cake on her phone and promised to bring me a piece, but I didn't see any other food until 6:15pm when I was transferred upstairs to the antepartum unit. There was a plate with two slices of pizza as well as a slice of cake. After I ate my dinner, I got up to go to the bathroom and as soon as I was standing up I realized I was bleeding all over the place. It wasn't quite as bad as it was on May 30, but it was the second worst. Even my TED stockings were bloody. I sat back in the bed and frantically tried to call for help. It was a scary moment for me because I could feel the blood gushing out of me. At 6:45pm they were wheeling me in my bed to the elevator so I could go back to the Labor and Delivery unit. My stay in the antepartum unit yesterday was only 30 minutes long. Those 30 minutes were in a different room than I had been in before, and when they brought me downstairs they were cleaning the room I had been in the past 36 hours so they put me in a different room. I am making the full tour!

Dr. Tressler arrived at 7:30pm and said that I wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink in case they had to do an emergency c-section during the night. He said he wouldn't deliver at 27w unless he was forced to. They started the iv, drew some bloodwork, and started me on Procardia because I was having some contractions. The Procardia really wiped me out (light headed, nauseous, headache, etc.) and my blood pressure was REALLY low all night (the top number was in the 70's/80's and the bottom number was in the 40's/50's). They had given me an acid reducer at 6:30pm (I knew the pizza would give me heartburn albeit I had skipped eating the chocolate cake), but I still had heartburn throughout the night so the nurse called the doctor at 1:30am and he told her I could have some Maalox (tasted gross but it worked) and he also cut my Procardia dosage in half since I had such a bad reaction to the first pill. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep because they were constantly fiddling with the fetal monitor, taking my temperature, etc. I also needed to use the bedpan rather frequently since they were pumping me with fluids by iv. They didn't want me to sit up so I learned how to pee in the horizontal position. I was wishing they had just given me a catheter. For some reason the doctor preferred the bedpan (the nurse had suggested a catheter when he first came to see me at 7:30). Originally, he had told them I'd be allowed to get up to go to the bathroom at 1:30am, but when she gave him the report of my bleeding, he said I still wasn't allowed to eat, drink, or leave the bed.

At 8:30am I asked the nurse if she would call him and ask if I could eat or drink something. I was hoping for a regular diet, but a popsicle and jello would have been better than nothing as my stomach had been growling for hours. They hadn't planned to contact him so I wouldn't have been able to eat or drink anything until he came in to do his rounds. It's 11:30, and he hasn't been in yet. I don't like to be a pest, but I also don't like fasting! She came back in my room a few minutes later with a breakfast tray. It wasn't what I had requested when I filled out the menus on Thursday, but it was FOOD! I was still hungry so I asked for more cereal, and they brought me more. I felt so much better. I'm hoping when he does his rounds that I get permission to go to the bathroom as I'm not keen on the bedpan, but I'll take a bedpan over fasting any day of the week!

Paul is bringing the kids today. I can't wait to see them although I'm already dreading sayiing goodbye. I didn't call them on the phone because every time I went to call them, I would start crying. I did talk to Paul a lot, but I haven't talked to the kids. It's going to be tricky with this strict bedrest and my three tethers (iv, fetal monitor, contraction monitor), but we'll find a way to make it work. Paul is bringing me some clothes. I only brought 2 pairs of shorts to Paul's parents on Wednesday night and I sabotaged one of them on Thursday morning and the other on Friday evening. I don't have any non-bloody bottoms at the moment.

Yesterday I asked Dr. Tressler what their philosophy is regarding repeating the steroid shots. I know they're only effective for 2 weeks, and I had them 3 weeks ago. I know some clinics repeat them and others do not. He said they used to repeat them weekly, but that now they do them at 24w and 28w. They were planning on repeating mine next week. One of the nurses mentioned yesterday I was going to have my diabetes test this morning. I told her I already passed the 3 hour test with the OB. She said they might want to repeat it. Ugh. I hope if they repeat it, it's just the 1 hour variety. Obviously there was no mention of that test today in light of my hemmorhaging incident last night. I figure the best case scenario at this point is that I'll be discharged on Thursday. I'm praying to that end although last night's scare helped me understand a bit more why they are leaning towards not discharging me until he's born.

The doctor just came by, and he said they're keeping me on the Procardia and iv fluids for today. If all goes well with the bleeding and contractions, I'll be moved back to the antepartum unit tomorrow. I have permission to walk to the bathroom. Progress.