Wednesday went by fine, though I guess a bit boring, as I tried to adjust to doing nothing but sitting and lying down all day. On Thursday though… Now Thursday was quite a bit different.
I woke up as usual, and ate my breakfast as usual. Then about 15 minutes or so later, ran to the bathroom to get rid of that usual breakfast any way possible… and again after another 20 minutes… and again when there was nothing left to get rid of… and again… and again… and again…
After the first few trips to the bathroom, James and I concluded that I most likely caught the virus that our neighbors got hit with last weekend. I tried to drink small sips of water to keep hydrated, but it didn’t stay down long. When I got to bathroom-trip #6 (just on the throw-up side) where all that was coming up was stomach acid for the fourth time, I decided to call my midwife and ask her what we should do. I knew at this point that most likely I’ll end up in the hospital for an IV and some meds, as well as a quick check-up of the baby.
What I didn’t realize is that all that throwing up was stressing out my abdomen muscles, causing them to contract enough to find myself at only 10mm during the cervical exam. That’s all the doctor and my midwife (who came right away to drive us to the hospital with her daughter for translation support) needed to hear and decide that the best course of action was for me to enjoy a nice month-long (until I’m 36 weeks) stay in this hospital, effective immediately.
I got set up in a nice single room, where after some time and paperwork, I changed into my PJs (thank goodness for my foresight) and got hooked up to an IV, which had some meds to prevent contractions and my cervix effacing any more. James went home to pick up things I needed, and I tried to rest, which in my current state was pretty impossible.
Here’s the summary of rest of the week:
I started Friday exhausted, having not slept at all, and weak from lack of food. I was starving and I welcomed breakfast… until it all came back up again. Though I still felt miserable for most of the day, by the evening I started to feel a little better and went to bed at 8pm.
Saturday morning I realized that the reason I wasn’t getting any rest wasn’t because I was sick but because the bed was just waaay too hard to get comfortable on. So I asked one of the nurses if she can do anything, and I got two of these blow up mats that made the bed much more comfortable. I also had a few visitors. First, my supervisor came by to see me and brought me some beautiful flowers.
Then my midwife popped in just to check how I was feeling. Finally, our neighbor came by and brought an amazing picture from her 4-year old son. (That’s me and the baby in my tummy… in breech position. lol)
Sunday morning was the first time when I felt somewhat rested. I was getting used to the hospital routine, which is:
- Wake up around 6-6:30 by a nurse, who’s coming to check the baby’s heartbeat.
- Breakfast is at 7:30.
- Doctor comes by around 9AM if it’s a special day (check-ups, etc).
- External baby monitoring for twenty minutes a little after 10AM.
- Lunch is at noon.
- Another check up on baby’s heartbeat around 2PM.
- Dinner is at 6PM.
- Final baby heartbeat check-up around 9PM.
- Lights out at 10PM.
Also, my supervisor’s manager (our mid-level boss I guess), came by to see me and brought
me an amazing fruit basket, full of apples, bananas, kiwi, oranges, pear jelly, and on the side, strawberries!!! \(^o^)/ (This last one was gone before picture could be taken.) Deeeeelicious! Our neighbor came by again for a little bit, too, and brought yummy pastries! (Sorry, these were also gone before I remembered to take a picture of them.)On Monday, the doctor checked the baby on the ultrasound. While healthy, our baby is still in the breech position, and because of this, we still don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl. Some good friends came by to visit and kept me company, and that was fun.Tuesday went by without anything special happening, and then Wednesday I finally had the check-up I was waiting for! Here was the day with some good news! My cervix was back over 16mm, so the doctor decided to lower my medication. She also said that if things continue to improve (goal of 20-25mm), she’ll change me over to oral meds, and then I might be able to go home early and be home for my bed rest! So my “goal,” if it can be called that, is to reach over 20mm by next Wednesday’s check-up.
And there you have it… Ups and downs, but overall with a healthy baby with a strong heartbeat and lots of kicking, and an optimist mommy-to-be, who is really hoping she can coax her baby to turn head-down before the doctors have a stroke… (^.^)v
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