I have to split this week into 2 parts because of all that happens.
So here I am really dazed with my mind racing a mile a minute driving myself to the hospital (which by the way thankfully was right beside my doctors office, I probably could have walked there if I wanted to) and my phone rings and my friend Lindsi's name pops up on my screen. I thought that it was weird she was calling me because we only call each other to talk dance stuff but here she was calling at this minute. I pick up and say hello and she says "What are you doing?" I reply driving to the hospital. She tells me that Mary Beth (my boss) had called her and told her she was worried about me and she wanted her to call me to make sure everything was alright. So I was on the phone with Lindsi explaining what had happened while I was driving into the hospital parking lot that I had never driven into before and was trying to read the signs and talk and figure out where to park all at the same time. I come upon two parking spots right up front that have a sign for pregnant mothers. Well I was a pregnant mother but here I go thinking of everyone else before myself again. I almost pulled in the spot but knew my car would be parked there for awhile and I didn't want to take a spot away from another pregnant mother that would really need it so I passed the spot. And mind you the parking lot was full!!! It was hard to find a spot but I found one shortly after passing up the other spot and told Lindsi I would be in contact that I was walking into the hospital.
I walk into the hospital, never having been there before so I have no clue where I'm going, and walk up to the first desk I see. There is a woman sitting behind the desk and I tell her "I'm here to get admitted." And she asks why...I say "Ummm, I'm having a baby." She then asks if I need a wheelchair and I tell her no. She tells me to get on the elevator up to the first floor take a left and I will see the people behind the desk I need to talk to. Right then Jim calls my phone and is proceeding to ask me what I want from home. God bless him for thinking of that and calling but here I was trying to find my way around the darn hospital and my mind was reeling...I couldn't think. I told him I didn't know what I wanted. Just come to the hospital and he could run back home later if he needed to. He had stopped at the house really quick to let the dogs out and thank goodness he did because lord knows how long they would have eventually gone without going outside.
So I go upstairs and walk to the desk and tell them I'm there to be admitted. They take my paper work and one lady walks me down the hall to another desk and she tells me they will finish helping me. The lady (now I remember this part but some of it is not that clear because I don't remember exactly what was said but it's close enough) asks for my name and then just like you see in the movies, "Do you have your insurance card with you?" So I give her my card, she says she'll return it in a bit and gets up to walk me to my room. She could tell I was upset so she tried her best to reassure me that everything would be ok and that just made me cry even more. I remember walking into my room and they were just finishing putting new sheets on my bed. They told me to change into the gown they had for me and after that I had some paper work to fill out. Now remember I am STILL by myself!! I change and get on the bed to fill out the paper work but first, there is a flat screen tv in the room, I have to put on a channel I want to watch. At least I could watch something on tv I enjoyed. I start the paper work and right at that minute I look up to see Jim, my mom, and my second mom, Sue come into the room. All with looks of panic on their faces. By this time, I was done crying, I was calm and the situation was what it was. Nothing I could do about it now. Jim walks over to me puts his arm around me, in his other arm hes carrying my body pillow, and hugs me and starts to cry. I hold him and let him cry for a bit but I don't get upset because I think all the upset I got out at the doctors and on the way to the hospital. He hands me my blankie...I would be lost without that thing...and pulls up a chair beside the bed to sit with me. Mom and Sue go and sit on the oh so comfy couch by the window. I'm being sarcastic. The part of the hospital I was in had just been renovated a couple years ago so I must admit it was pretty darn nice but their choice of couch, that pulled out into a little bed, was as hard as a rock. Jim can confirm that! I was in a labor and delivery room because they wanted to hook me up to all the monitors and watch the baby to see if she was coming that night.
So the nurse comes in and gets the monitor around my tummy so we can hear Kenley's heartbeat and then tells me "I hope you brought your veins with you." Meaning she was doing my IV and she hoped she didn't have to poke me a lot to get one. Well here starts another interesting part of the story. Not only did I NOT bring my veins, one nurse said I had little bird veins, but they roll also. So the nurse sits down and I hand her my arm and she starts look to find a vein. After a couple minutes she decides to try the other arm and see if she can find a vein in that one. She thinks she has found one and and I have my head turned and am holding Jim's hand because I DO NOT like needles. I hate getting my finger pricked for goodness sakes much less a huge needle put in my arm. She sticks me, misses the vein, pulls it out and sticks me again. Only to miss again. So she puts a bandaid on my arm and goes back to my left arm. She looks again and then decides to get some warm blankets and wrap them around my arm. I guess this helps bring the veins to the surface of the skin or makes them easier to see. I don't know I'm not a nurse. Anyways she lets the blankets sit for a bit and comes back and looks again. At this point another nurse had entered the room and she called that nurse over to look at my arm to try to do the IV. The nurse looks at my arm and then suggests bringing another nurse in, she said her name, to do the IV. So a third nurse comes in, looks at my arm, and in one prick gets my vein. Thank goodness. But all this pricking is only the beginning of what I had to endure while at the hospital. Just you wait until the part about Kenley arriving gets here!
So they start pumping me with penicillin, have me hooked up to the monitor and the armband to take my blood pressure every 30 minutes. Now its a waiting game. We are just waiting for Dr. Foiles to come talk to us and tell us what she thinks after they observe my monitors out in the hallway. By this time my dad had shown up and I think now its going on about 6 o'clock. The nurse that did my IV comes back and tells me shes going to give me a steriod shot. It will help develop the baby's lungs quicker. So I'm thinking in my arm, ok here we go again with being pricked but she says "Roll on your hip to face your husband." Oh great, its going in my rear end! Lovely. So my dad leaves, I lift my gown and she gives me the shot. Not the greatest feeling in the world but not the worst. She tells me I will have to get another one of those this time tomorrow night. Great. So we are all sitting around just kind of staring at each other because we are still kind of in shock and Dr. Foiles finally comes in to talk to us. Its been about an hour and a half at this point. She tells me I'm not in labor but they will continue to monitor the baby through the night and if all is the same at this time tomorrow they will move me to Antepartum. Which is part of the hospital, just down the hall, where they send pregnant ladies to wait it out. So I was not going back home...for a very long time. I would be on bed rest pretty much, I could get up to use the bathroom but that would be it. They would still monitor the baby but not as much as in labor and delivery. They would come in twice a day to listen to the heartbeat and hook me up the monitor to see if everything was going ok with her and still take my temperature and blood pressure.
So she then goes on to explain there is a magnesium solution that just recently they have been giving to women that come into the hospital with the possibility of having their baby early. (all over the US) Research had shown (I dont remember the exact numbers) that some babies it had helped develop the brain better. It was totally up to us if we wanted to do it but it would be 12 hours of this magnesium and it certainly wouldn't hurt the baby. If anything it would only help. So Jim and I decided to do it. Well it sucked!!! It burned when it started pumping through my IV and it made me get sick in the middle of the night. My arm burned the whole night!
So Mom and Sue went home and we got ready for bed. Let me tell you going to the bathroom hooked up to an IV is a challenging task. I was scared to death of ripping the needle out of my arm and at the same time I didn't want the lines to fall into the toliet. Also at this time I was leaking like Niagra Falls. Everytime I would get up to go to the bathroom the flood gates would open and I would have what felt like 10 buckets of water come flowing out of me. So people wonder why I didn't know my water had broke. This is why. I never experienced that until I was in the hospital. I had a slow leak up until that time.
I also had not eaten since noon that day and they didn't want me eating anything for awhile. So I finally got to eat, I think around 9 and Jim and I tried to go to sleep for the night. They kept coming in to take my temp and check on me and I got all of 30 minutes of sleep that night. I think Jim slept well though. I woke up and was going to be sick and I called his name and he didn't move. So I called him again, he jumped up and said "What?" I said I'm going to be sick and as he runs to get the trashcan, I can't hold it anymore and throw-up my dinner on the floor beside me. And Jim steps in it as he tries to get close to me to at least get some of it in the trash. Poor guy. Then I feel bad when the nurse comes in and has to clean it up.
So we make it through the night and Kenley is still cooking inside. Thankfully my dad had gone and stayed the night at our place to take care of the dogs and he came back that day to relieve Jim of his duties. Jim ran home to shower and get us food and I was still being monitored and checked every 30 minutes. The nurse was getting upset with me because I wasn't resting and I was on the phone but really how I could rest. Its the middle of the day. Its totally bright in my room and you keep coming in to check on me.
We were asked if we wanted a NICU Doctor to come talk to us as to what to expect when Kenley came because no matter when she came she was going to be spending some time in the NICU, we of course said yes. Dr. Javier came in that day to tell us what to expect. She covered everything. From blood transfusions to bleeds in her head to how to touch her when we finally get to do that. Jim and I kept it together while she was with us but it was hard to. So it was time for the nurse to come in and give me my second steriod shot. I thought, ok, no problem. The first one wasn't bad. This one won't be either. Boy was I wrong. She hit a muscle and my leg flew up in the air and holy cow!!! It hurt like hell! My butt hurt for days afterwards!!! I was done with magnesium and they had stopped the pencillin. So I still had the needle in me but I wasn't hooked up to an IV any more so it was easier to go to the bathroom. That day came and went and it was now time to move to Antepartum.
Wow!
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