the daily grind

I thought I'd outline how my days go here on the 4th floor at St Joe's - probably not very interesting to anyone except for me, when I can look back on it in a few months. 

The nurse and/or tech is supposed to do an hourly check. It depends who is on shift but this usually ends up actually being every 1.5-2 hrs. A tech comes and takes my vitals every four hours or so; a nurse does her check up once per shift (they work 12 hour shifts, 7-7, so this means twice per day). A doc comes in once per day. My doc is on vacation so it has been one of the two that cover for her. I have had the same techs a couple times but so far I have had a different nurse every single shift! Anyway. So...

7:30 - 8 ... I wake up, wash up, etc.

8:00 ... A tech comes in, takes my blood pressure, etc.

8:30 ... Breakfast is served. The food here is typical hospital food, but breakfast is probably the meal they do the best with.

9:00 - 11:00 ... The nurse will come in sometime during this period and test my reflexes, listen to my heart etc, and use the doppler to listen to the baby's heart beat. Food service also comes back in and takes my lunch order (we get two choices). The tech will sometimes stop back in just to see if I need anything ("hourly" rounds). Today I also got a visit from Sister Sylvia, a staff chaplain. Between all these check-ins I usually play on the web and/or watch TV.

11:00 - 12:30 ... Things are a little quieter. I read, watch TV, do a crossword or whatever. Sometimes take a short nap. Typically the tech will check in once and take my blood pressure again, for the four hour mark.

12:30 ... Lunch is served. 

1:00 - 4:00 ... Sometimes the doc comes in, unless they already came in the morning. This typically consists of: "Well, your blood pressure isn't too bad, but it's not great either." And maybe I ask a question or two. A nurse or tech checks in a couple times. The cleaning crew stops in to do their thing. Food services comes to take my dinner and breakfast order. My sweet husband arrives sometime in this timeframe if it is a weekday. Sometimes my mom also, depending on which day of the week and her work schedule. Around 4 a tech takes my vitals again.

4:00 - 8:00 ... Hang out with my husband and sometimes my mom. Eat dinner (so far I haven't had to eat a hospital dinner after the first day, it is by far the yuckiest meal of the day - either hubby or mom bring me something else). Sean and my mom take off by 7 or 8. Tech checks my vitals again around 8pm. Nurse checks in sometime after 7pm (after the shift change), does her check up, listens to baby's heart beat etc.

8:00 - 11:00 ... Shower, watch TV, read, go to bed.

Midnight ... A tech wakes me up to take my vitals.

12:00 - 4:00 ... Usually have to use the bathroom a couple times; tech takes my vitals again around 4.

4:00 - 7:30 ... Usually have to go to the bathroom somewhere in there (again!) and then get up for the day.

On Mondays and Thursdays they are taking me down to a different building to do non-stress tests on the baby, and also a sono once per week. They come and get me whenever they can fit me in, I don't usually get any notice about what time this will be other than sometime during the work day hours.

This afternoon my co-workers are bringing my baby shower to me. :) They had scheduled it for today to happen at the office and initially I had my doc's permission to go, but of course that changed. So my team is coming by around 1pm, it will be good to see everyone!

Hospital

I went in for my weekly OB appt yesterday and my B/P had gone up a little, specifically the diastolic reading. Did the non stress test monitoring on the baby and he seemed fine. My doc sent me to triage at St Joe's so they could monitor my blood pressure for the afternoon, do blood work, etc. She warned me she might have to order hospital bed rest if my B/P didn't settle down and pending the results of the other testing.

Went to L&D triage. BP continued to be labile, sometimes spiking pretty high, mostly staying around 130s/90s. One of the hospital docs did a consult. He did a sonogram and saw that the amniotic fluid was a little on the low end of normal. Based on this and the BP he said I would probably have to stay in the hospital until delivery, which would probably happen no later than 37 weeks, perhaps earlier. (This doc was interesting, totally reminded me of the House dude and I don't even really watch that show.) They made sure I wasn't leaking amniotic fluid (this scared me, they said if I was I would be delivering right away). But I wasn't. They also did the group B strep test (negative). Blood work came back normal.  My doc ordered a 24 observation period at the hospital and for them to also do a 24 hr urine collection thing (ooh fun). 

So they put me in labor and delivery and I spent the next 24 hours hooked up to the fetal monitor, the IV, and the blood pressure cuff, on the awesome bed that are supposed to be used for delivering babies (not for sleeping). My BP continued to go up and down. I had to call a nurse every time I had to get up and pee, that was fun. ;p This morning I met the on-call doc for my doctor (who left for vaca today). He and his wife cover for my doctor; he seemed nice. I was ordered to hospital bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy, like we had expected (based on the hospital doc's recommendation). They did another u/s to check the amniotic fluid this afternoon and it didn't look low anymore, probably thanks to the IV (I was probably just a little dehydrated yesterday).  They eventually moved me to the 4th floor (uro/gyno unit), and this is where I will stay until it's time for the baby to come and they take me back to L&D. I have my own room and this bed is ten million times better than the L&D slab, so that's good. There is wireless for my laptop, a TV with cable, a big window, etc. Overall it's nicer than many motels I have stayed in - minus of course the hourly rounds and the check of vitals every few hours. ;p But I should say that so far the nurses and techs are all very nice on this unit. (There was one awesome nurse on L&D too, I am going to request her when I am in labor.) Sean brought me other essentials from home, like my own pillow, toiletries, etc etc., so that is very helpful in making this more comfortable as well. He is such a trooper, he stayed with me all afternoon and evening yesterday and all day today, probably 9 or 10 hours. Poor guy has to finish baby prep at home without me. :( Like he doesn't have enough to do!

I am hoping to make it to 37 weeks, both so baby won't be pre-term and so my own doc can deliver - she will be back in town on July 11. This baby might end up sharing a b-day with his cousin Ian or his grandpa, both have birthdays mid-July. :)

I think that's all... thanks to our friends and families for all of the kind words and wonderful support. This baby better be damn cute! ;) j/k. I know it will all be worth it. But I certainly won't be in a big hurry to try it all over again right away! ;p

34.5 weeks

Sean and I met with the baby's soon-to-be pediatrician yesterday. His name is Dr Bean which I find amusing. ;) He was highly recommended by my OB, and since I like her so much I definitely trust her opinion, but I still wanted to meet him. I am picky about docs and I hate it when they treat me like I'm a five year old and/or have no listening abilities whatsoever. Dr Bean practices with one other doctor at Old Pueblo Pediatrics. He was very nice as was the staff and I like the office policies as far as emergency appts, on-call hours, etc. Sean said Dr Bean reminded him of a doc he had as a kid. We also ended up a free diaper bag since the formula companies like to advertise - so we got an enfamil pack that oddly enough has more info and supplies related to breast feeding than to formula feeding, which is cool. (I didn't have a diaper bag yet so this was an extra bonus.) So that is one more item checked off the baby-prep to-do list and I'm glad we only had to meet one doctor (as opposed to my OB search where the third one was the charm).

We still have a few things left to do and/or acquire:

- a dresser for the nursery; Sean's mom has one we can use so we just need to pick it up and maybe clean it up and/or refinish it depending on its condition.

- once we have the dresser, we can finish arranging the nursery, clothes etc.

- I'm debating about getting a cheap manual breast pump...

- a few hygiene supplies for baby.

- finish packing my hospital bag.

- install the car seat.

- get the dogs accustomed to sleeping in a different area than our bedroom (already acquired necessary pet gates and dog beds to accomplish this).

- continue to adjust budget and spending in order to be ready to be fairly broke pretty soon here (I will run out of paid leave in another week or two)!

I am about ready to be done with the whole pregnant thing. As happy as I am that we are having a baby and we were able to get pregnant pretty easily, I am getting tired of the toll it is taking on my body. In addition to the hypertension / bed rest issue, being pregnant has ruined my skin (which wasn't great to begin with), turned me into a blimp, ruined my sleep (which also wasn't great to begin with), plus all the other typical aches, pains and discomforts... I never seem to have experienced that whole "glow of pregnancy" thing. Instead I feel fat, tired, totally un-sexy, etc etc. and I will be so happy to be able to touch and smell and see my baby, and have my body back to something resembling normal!!! I've heard of women (and even met a couple) that absolutely love being pregnant, and I was hoping to have that experience, but as hard as I've tried there are just too many factors working against this possibility as far as I can tell... for me anyway. ;p

finally... photos

Here is a sample of the photos I had done at 31 weeks. You can find more at my livejournal scrapbook, because it is much easier and faster to upload to that site! ;p Just follow the link:

http://pics.livejournal.com/gemini7/gallery/0001241h

33 weeks, 4 days...

I had another doctor appt today. The good news is that my blood pressure was much lower today, 118/78 (compared to 140/80 a week ago). The doctor said I looked better in general and she seemed happy with the overall effect of the prescribed bed rest. I didn't gain any weight from last week, which is nice - I anticipated maybe gaining too fast while on bed rest. (I have gained a total of 22.5 lbs the entire pregnancy, if you are curious.) She did not say I could go back to work; her opinion was more along the line of let's continue to do what's working to keep this under control, preventative measures etc. Which is ok, I have mixed feelings about all of it at this point and am content to go with her advice. If I could go back to work, these next few weeks would go by a lot faster, plus it would be easier financially... but at the same time, I know work would be stressful as this is the end of our fiscal year etc and I wouldn't be surprised if going back sent my blood pressure shooting up pretty quickly again. The number one goal is to keep this baby healthy and cooking as long as he needs to, and I really don't want any traumatic trips to the ER to deliver him prematurely due to sky rocketing blood pressure or anything terrifying like that. 

We also did a NST (non stress test) on baby today. This consisted of being hooked up with the monitor thingie around my belly so they could monitor his heart beat, then I pushed a button every time I felt him move, for maybe 10-15 minutes. The results were normal and healthy. I am going to continue to go in weekly for blood pressure monitoring as well as weekly NSTs. My next appt is next Friday morning. She also said we would do another ultrasound in a few weeks to estimate his size. After the next appt my doc is going on vacation for two weeks, so I will go in to see the nurse while she's gone. So this baby better stay put between June 29 and July 13, because otherwise some other doc would have to deliver him. 

Sean and I have a childbirth class at St Joe's this Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. Fortunately the doc gave me permission to go, so I didn't have to try to argue with the hospital to get a refund of the $70 we already paid for it. ;p 

That's about all that's going on here. Sean finished the tile job he was doing for my mom's coworker and they liked his work so gave him a nice tip on top of what he charged. He was working the past two weekends in a row plus a couple evenings after work, so we are both glad that's finished. Bed rest is making me feel tired and lethargic, oddly enough, so I am not getting as much done as quickly as I thought I would (i.e. thank you notes, scrap booking, etc), but I still have plenty of time. 

The only other news isn't really our news, but it is way more exciting than any of 'our' news: Sean's baby sister Renee had her second baby yesterday, June 17: Everett Vincent. She had a fairly quick labor and both she and Everett are doing well, I think they got to go home this afternoon. He is adorable and I think he looks a lot like his "big" brother Ian! Congrats to Renee, Cory, and Ian, and a huge welcome to baby Everett!! Now if only I can convince the doc that I should go to Flagstaff over 4th of July weekend for Ian's 2nd birthday party and to meet Everett... who knows, maybe if my b/p stays what it was today, she will say it's ok!

Bed Rest Continued - 32 wks 4 days

Literally. Until at least 36 weeks.

I had my doc appt today, after being on bed rest the past week. My swelling has mostly gone down, but my feet start swelling pretty quickly after being up and about for an hour or two. My blood pressure was 140/80 today, which is a little higher than last week. I've had a couple headaches this week, which is another symptom. This is all officially labeled as hypertension right now, still a precursor to pre-eclampsia. But the doctor is afraid that sending me back to work will send my blood pressure shooting up, possibly fairly quickly as hypertension/pre-eclampsia etc is kind of unpredictable and can worsen in a matter of hours. She wants me to get to the 36 week mark safely and not have to risk delivering him before that if the blood pressure was to get too high. She also ordered steroid shots to better ensure that if we do have to deliver him at 36 weeks, his lungs will be mature.

So after the doc appt Sean and I went over to the perinatal assessment clinic at St Joe's and I got steroid shot #1 of 2 - stings a good bit, feels like a tetanus shot. I have to get the second one 24 hours later, so I have to go back tomorrow afternoon. Then we went to the lab; the doctor ordered the same labs as last week (hypertension related stuff, liver levels etc) to ensure nothing has changed (they were normal last week). And I have to go in to see the doc weekly now, so my next appt is 6/18.

I was so hoping that last week was a fluke and my blood pressure would be totally low and normal today, like it always used to be. Bed rest is really mind-numbingly lonely and boring, plus now we have to deal with the financial aspect of me not working much sooner than we thought. I have enough extended medical leave to cover for another couple weeks, then after that, no pay check if I can't get back to work. Plus I feel bad about leaving my boss and coworkers in this position; we thought I had a couple months left so I really hadn't started training anyone else or anything and I have a lot of cases that everyone is having to try to take care of now. UGH. I am still fairly young and healthy and just didn't expect anything remotely like this during pregnancy! The worst I was concerned about was gaining too much weight and maybe having to deal with post-partum depression. 

But as unexpected and difficult as this is, I am glad my doctor wants to be cautious and ensure the baby gets to full term gestation and is healthy. I would feel horrible if I went back to work against her advice and ended up having him pre-term, with him probably having to stay in the hospital for weeks etc. This bed rest stuff may be no fun for mom and dad, but it will be well worth it if I can get to 36 weeks or beyond and deliver a full term healthy baby. I have no doubt that it will be worth it. It's just a little overwhelming at the moment. ;p

Bed Rest

So, I have been having edema in my feet/ankles ever since it got pretty hot a few weeks ago. My hands have been a tiny bit swollen for months now, just enough so that I can't wear my 6.5 wedding band but I could still wear my size 7 engagement ring. I had showed it to the nurse and everything at doc appts; the swelling went down 90-95% overnight, every night, so it wasn't anything to worry about. 

This week on Monday and Tuesday, the swelling was a little worse than usual. Then Wednesday morning I woke up and the swelling in my feet hadn't gone down nearly as much as usual, plus all of a sudden my hands were super swollen. I had trouble getting my ring off, it was a little scary - didn't want to have to get it cut off! But some effort and soap did the trick. My eyes have been feeling puffy too but I had just assumed that was from lack of sleep. Anyway, I called the doc's office and reported all this to the nurse, Jody, as soon as their office opened, 8:05am. She said she would call me back. I was at work by then. She called me back around 9:30 and said the doc wanted me to come in that day, that morning if possible, for a blood pressure check and to get some labs done. I think I got to their office before 10am. My blood pressure was a little high: 130/80. Not really that bad, but higher than normal. Usually it ranges from 115/75 to 120/80. (At last week's appt it was super low for some reason, 105/58 or something - the lady who took it expressed she didn't usually do "this part" so I had to wonder if she just didn't take an accurate measurement.) So the nurse told the doc the blood pressure reading, the doc came and took a brief look at me and said I looked "pretty puffy," which was true. She asked a couple other questions about headaches etc, I wasn't experiencing any other symptoms she asked about. At that point she ordered PIH labs (PIH = pregnancy induced hypertension), and also told me she had to ask me to take the next week off work, be on bed rest, on my left side as much as possible, at least until my next doc appt on 6/11. She wrote me a little note for work and sent me next door to the lab.

Needless to say I was upset... the whole pregnancy has been going fine, the week before all had been healthy and normal, I'm young and don't fit into any of the risk categories for something like pre-ecplamsia (because I knew that was the concern even though they didn't say it out loud), so an order for bed rest was unexpected to say the least. I cried a tiny bit, pulled myself together, waited my turn to get my blood drawn, and was back at my office around 11:00. I had text messaged the bad news to my boss already and she was in a meeting by then, so I figured stuff out at work as best I could, gathered my work laptop etc, and left around noon or 12:30 to go home.

The next morning (yesterday), Jody the nurse called around 8:30 with good news: the PIH lab results were normal. However the doc still wants me on bed rest at least until my appt on 6/11. She told me to drink plenty of fluids, rest as much as possible especially on my left side, and that I could still go swimming, thank goodness (although it strikes me as somewhat odd since that's far from what I'd consider bed rest). 

So I've been doing my best to follow orders. It ain't easy though - it's surprisingly difficult to lay around all day when you don't actually have the flu or something. The swelling in my feet has gone down most of the way, but it starts to come back when I am up for very long (i.e. long enough to shower and make something easy/fast to eat). My hands and face/eyes are still pretty swollen. I think sometime soon I will defy the orders long enough to head over to Bashas and test my blood pressure at the machine in their pharmacy, just to see if there is any difference. Otherwise I have another 5.5 days to try to be still, read, watch too much day time TV, and go for a daily swim. I know it doesn't sound like a bad deal but it's actually pretty lame! I am trying to make the best of it though. I will get some work documentation done and I have most of my baby-shower thank you cards done already. I also made a couple of scrapbook pages to add to the baby book/scrapbook my sister in law made for me (although technically I can't do this lying down, but I still kept my feet up!). I wish I could help my husband out and clean the house or something, but that definitely doesn't count as bed rest. I think that's part of what is bugging me - I feel pretty useless right now!

Anyway, enough of this novel / bitch session. I'm hoping to get my 31 week photo disc in the mail soon and I will post some when I do! Because I won't be too busy doing anything else! ;p

31 weeks

We paid a UA photography student to take some preggo photos of me at 31 weeks - this was a birthday gift from my mom. :) I guess 31 weeks is kind of early for this kind of shoot but I already feel like a blimp and I'm not sure I'll let anyone take my picture in another month or two. ;p We don't have the pics back yet that the photography student took, but after she left Sean took a few that we liked too...

So far the third trimester has been ok. I've been super tired again, worse than I was in the 3rd/4th months. I've had heartburn since I was maybe 6 weeks along, and it's getting worse and worse - it actually woke me up at 2am last night. Yuck! Other than that I've had typical aches and pains: edema in my feet and ankles especially on work days and hot days, some back pain, my feet hurt, etc. Some of this was alleviated at least temporarily thanks to the birthday present from my sister: spa day! Prenatal massage, facial, mani/pedi... it was very relaxing and just what my body needed. :) My SIL Renee gave me a birthday g/c for another prenatal massage too so I will be able to enjoy that bliss again at least once more before this baby is due! I've been trying to get in the pool often as that is also very helpful in easing the aches, at least during the minutes I'm floating around.

Baby shower

On May 23rd my sister threw me a baby shower. We had it at Connie's house (long time friend of the family) and they outdid themselves with the decorations, games, food, etc. It was a really lovely party and we got tons of cute stuff for baby boy. This kid definitely won't go naked. ;) I don't have lots of pics of the actual gifts (or lots of pics from the party in general yet) but we got tons of cute clothes, a baby bath tub, diapers and wipes, gift cards, toys, books etc etc.... I could barely fit it all in my car to take home! We also got some extra special items such as the blankets that Sean's grandmas made for him when he was a baby as well as the blanket my aunt Liz made for me, plus a handmade blanket from Sean's mom. Sean's mom even gave us the outfit that Sean went home from the hospital in, as well as his baby t-shirt that says "I was born at St Joe's" which is where our baby will also be born - too sweet!  It would take forever to list all the gifts and cute stuff but suffice it to say we have very sweet and generous friends and family and we appreciate all of them for helping us celebrate and get ready for our first child. :)

Here's a pic of all the tasty goodies:

And here's one of me by the impressive fruit bouquet:

Now all we have to do is finish getting the nursery put together and grab a few more small essentials for mama and baby, and we'll be as ready as we can be for this kid to make his grand entrance. ;)