Re: Been in hospital bedrest since 1/18...Delivered this AM!

[nolagirl]

Today I made it to 30 weeks! I was first admitted on Jan 18 with vag bleeding and stayed a week (?) sort of a blur now....I was given the steroids and bleeding stopped a few days than came again while I was still in.  Again it stopped with only 1-2 cm dilation... I got to go home for 4 days (to thankfully get some rest)...I have 4 other children and home school them so it was easy to just sit around and do school all day rather than going bonkers in the hospital.  However, bled again and was admitted for 3 days than sent home with the 3 strikes your in discharge summery...Got home for 2 days and this time I packed my bag just in case (since hubby is not the best at bringing the correct stuff...took him 4 days to bring me a razor LOL)!

2 days later I was back in after more bleeding and I was now dilated to 3! I also began having contractions...so they were ready for me to deliver at 28 weeks...BUT contractions stopped Procardia started and so now I sit since that admit day on Feb 8...no bleeding since then but had some pressure episodes, bp went up a bit but that is not an issue, first time got diagnosed with gestational diabetes which I think was an error caused by the steroids but now the food tray have certainly gotten worse...no more fun pies, etc.! I actually lost weight...well since Dec I have not gained any weight!

After this time it is pretty depressing...visitors slack off, kids come but are bored and jump around the small room, I have a new nurse every day which drives me crazy b/c I have to go through the entire story and full assessment...arrrgh! Residents come in all the time and ask the exact same questions..Does anyone read a chart around here??? Poking me, probing, etc...I hand picked my female OB 11 years ago b/c I wanted a female now I get poked and "checked" by a rainbow of people...m and f!!!

Don't get me wrong, I am glad I have made this far and I am certainly blessed not to have major health issues like the PreE ladies...I am also thankful that if anything goes wrong I am right here but after being here so long my anxiety is increasing that the likelyhood of something happening will...when will it occur and which Dr. will be there to handle it? Also will hubby get here in time? He is a few minutes away but will have to find a neighbor to go over with the 4 kids ages 10, 9, 6, and 5.

So this place is starting to wear on me, I have decorated it the best I can and brought even a painting my friend gave me to jazz up the beige wall...calender is a must with tracking of days, kids art, books (I find hard to read b/c just tired), the internet is so great as well as texting since most people are going about their lives and I don't want to call them too much...just check in with a text!

I find it disappointing some of the friends whom you thought would call or come by have not...my own brother although has helped a bit with entertaining the kids has never come to see me...my mom was coming but get this she got the flu but was up here the same day they diagnosed her with H1N1 and now for 10 days I have to be on Tamiflu! Thankfully I did not get it but she went to the hospital and here I sat unable to help at all...that was very depressing!

So I guess, I am glad to be where I am but praying daily for the grace to endure. I do not like this isolation experiment and wish it would end soon with me going home but docs are afraid I will bleed and come right back!   

[Yvonne]

WoW!  30 Weeks, and so many of them spent in the hospital, not to mention the 4 kids you have at home!  You might be my hero for taking such good care of that baby bun you have cooking    Resting at home with 2 busy children is hard enough, but holy smokes, I can only imagine. 

I'm glad you found this forum to share your highs and lows.  The women here are supportive and amazing.  Some have been through the same or similar situation as you, some quite different than what you've been through - but everyone is kind, positive and caring.

Keep taking care.

Yvonne

[Preemie Prints]

How are things going for you? I just wanted to say hi and check in with you 

[nolagirl]

Thanks for you interest!
Still cooking...now 31 weeks but drs. still want me here...about to go bonkers! Crazy some days wish I would just deliver but know that that is NOT what I really want...it's like running a sloooowwww marathon that you do not know where it will end and at some point you just want it over. I have never run a marathon...obviously don't plan on it at 41 and well a little busy...but maybe that is an ok analogy.

Don't know why I have not gone over the edge into labor...only on procardia. I now know that bad food, lack of sleep and hospital stress (cut off from family most of the day) does not put a person in labor, neither does a 5 yr old pushing me around in a wheelchair!...I feel like a zoo exhibit...and here are the nesting moms...we feed them 3 times per day! LOL! I would have some serious better ideas about this unit like massage chair, soaking tub (if you are not ruptured, and perhaps a sweet manicurist who comes around weekly...also gourmet food...I used to watch the food network but that got depressing!)

I am blessed though I know the triplets mom down the hall can only go to the bathroom...which is somewhere to go but man that must be aweful!

What about you?

[nolagirl]

Well, almost made it to 32 weeks...last night things changed when I went to the bathroom and got back to bed and thought my water broke...called the nurse and found out it was more bleeding...much more! Baby's heart rate was fine and ultrasound still breech...I was dilating...So out the baby needed to come with and emergency C-section. It went so fast...got in the OR at 245 and delivered by 320...I was shaking like a leaf but let go and surrendered to God's will! So out came baby and intubated...I got a short glimpse and off he went to the NICU. With all his darned kicking he lay listless but began to perk up...Sent for our priest to Baptize him later that morning.

By 2pm he was extubated and breathing on room air...just went up and held him for the first time...so sweet and tiny...so wonderful to hold the precious little one...NP just called and now he is on 1L O2. Trying to pump breastmilk they will swab his mouth with.

My first C section...this was so surreal to have someone inside you while you are awake! Overall went well! Please keep us in your prayers..amazing to see all the other little ones up there (some so ill)!

I will pray for each of  you on this forum!

[growinLevi]

Congrats on your newest little blessing. How much did he weigh at birth? How are you feeling after the c-section. I have had 3 pretty scary births but no c-section yet. Dr thinks I may have to have one this time since my little guy is breech but he still has time to flip. I'll keep you and your son in my prayers. Let me know if there is anything specific I can be praying for. I do every morning!
Corrie

[flowerchica]

Wow- that is an amazing ordeal. I'm so glad you were able to hang on and meet your little one!!

[nolagirl]

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! He is doing well in the NICU but still on O2 and now under the lights (pretty standard). Doc seemed to want to progress him even though he is only considered DAY 1.

He weighed 2 lbs 14 oz at birth.

C Section happened so fast and I was so worried it didn't matter what happened but today mucho pain... and I do not like Percocet so only on Anaprox and tylenol.
Wow! moms that do this with term babies are troopers...to feed and change and no sleep. I am at least getting sleep but it is sad for me to be on the postpartum unit as I hear all their healthy babies rolling down the hall and crying all night. I think NICU moms should be near the NICU...I have to walk up to the 10th floor and I am on the 6th... What genius decided this?

Anyway, so helpless to see the baby...the nurse told me that with 30 babies up there, many of the parents do not come that often. Interesting fact...I am not sure how to take that? I guess I need to research the why of that?

Well, praying that ya'll all keep cooking...I certainly hope for a better ending than my story!

Also better than my friend who on the same day as me delivered her twins at 21 weeks...they lived for 3 hours. So sad...please pray for her and her family! 

Trying to hang in there and now I don't want to leave...what a difference a day makes! 

[Lanespoli]

Wow Nolagirl, your story made me cry  .  I will be 31 weeks this week and at last weeks ultrasound my little Gia weighed 3 lbs.  You give me tremendous hope that if something were to happen this week, that will little Gia will do well.  You and your baby are in my prayers and your poor girlfriend who lost her twins - I couldn't even imagine what she is going through.  Are they saying how long your son will have to be in NICU?  And how sad that of the 30 babies, they don't get many visitors....  I think I would want to be there day and night if my little one ends up in the NICU.  I am also having a c-section, and if my baby doesn't come home with me, I will be driving there everyday to sit with her (even if it is against doctors orders lol).

Now I want to know if my NICU is on the same floor as maternity, I'm going to call the hospital right now!  Many prayers and many well wishes....please let us know his progress and that he is okay, also I will know what to expect if I go anytime soon .

Congrats!!
Lori

[Lanespoli]

Post some pics Nolagirl!  If you can't do it on here, which I tried numerous times unsuccessfully, put them on the Keepem Cooking Facebook page!

[nolagirl]

Baby now 32 wks 4 days...so they keep counting like they are in the womb...First 2 days were going so well! He was off vent than just room air than only O2...than he began getting jaundice, apnea occurred with me standing there at his bedside and me feeling so helpless! Then on Sun. I had this weird event when I almost fainted at his bedside and felt weak and dizzy for 2 days and could not go up the the NICU! I was freaking out but the doctors told me that I needed and antianxiety med...I am like I am not an anxious person and I feel like I am going to pass out...finally on the second day they ordered a few labs and an EKG...but that was not read til the next morning yet another resident came in to examine me (half my age)...than came back with his attending (who I knew) and they said it was nothing...

So I am supposed to go home now they get real and bolus me with 2liters of saline and check my blood pressures...did I say I felt bad for 2 days before? At this point I am so ready to leave that if they tell me I am staying, I WILL NOT...I need actual sleep b/c I feel bad, cannot see my baby even though I am right here, and I feel like they are playing with me b/c hey think I am really crazy...

The cardiologist did say that even 2 days in the hosp. on bedrest  for a  20 yr old would cause serious muscle atrophy! multiply that by 7 weeks??? So I get home at 10pm after visiting the baby before we left...I am sad to leave him but really he weighs 2 lbs 13 oz and stops breathing sometimes so I am glad to leave him in most excellent around the clock care in a level 3 ICU! So if he stills wants a mommy...I must leave the BIG house (ELVIS has left the building)...

So I sleep in a coma like state (who cares about pumping right now)...and in the morning I feel tired but better to be home...than around 945 I get that weird dizzy feeling and call my hubby that yes I am going to pass out! He is ready to call 911 but I tell him, no that is if I actually do pass out...sort of passing out means get the doctor! So we call the Dr. and I decide I have had enough...I will not go to the ER...So I call my own cardiologist whom I have worked with for 14 yrs and go see him. He listens to the story of the bedrest, bleeding, major bleed, and all that other near fainting spells...he listens to my heart and does an EKG and tells me...I am fine...it is all that stuff and more...Increase your fluids with sodium! Rest but do more stuff...and your blood count will rise with iron supplements...Or he could admit me and do a full cardiac work up...I CHOOSE option A...SUSHI and GATORADE!

So it may sound like that was a nothing diagnosis but this morning I thought our NICU baby would be with out a mom...now after seeing a doctor I actually trust and respect (as my OB has been MIA out of town!!!!) I feel better! This bedrest thing...well, there is more to the recovery than we realize. NO we are not just women who have  just had babies...seriously we need to be cared for a little differently...like maybe some physical therapy? Instead of showimg me a wheelchair and telling me to push it up to the 10th floor alone (if I want to see my baby)...I so made it up there, than there was a big set back!!!

SO the baby...I went today after my healing moment...held him! He is off oxygen and no more bili lights. Feeds have increased. Still some apnea but now I am dealing better with that since I know it is normal! Just not easy to witness! Holding him was the best medicine!

This C section...wow now that is some pain! The pain pills are not effective and make you dizzy...I opted for finally just Motrin 600mg since seriously offering people Tylenol for pain is silly! Anaprox works but you can only get it every 8 hours... Motrin is every 6 hrs! and you can still take Tylenol if you want... Take it slow...your body will thank you!

Will pray for you guys! Thanks for your prayers!

[Angela]

Hi, nolagirl.
First I wanted to forward a message from @ChyannesMomma on Twitter. She encourages you to get checked for peripartum cardiomyopathy. Can you ask your cardiologist if that is something he specifically looked for?

I was wondering what your blood pressure was at your appointment, because your symptoms also are similar to pre-eclampsia. Are you seeing spots and having any blurry vision? Any pain under your right rib that may come and go? Any new swelling? My docs in the office missed my signs of pre-e and then my docs in L&D missed the signs of my kidney failure. I'm not sure if your cardiologist would be quick to recognize the signs of pre-e if OBs from one of the most advanced hospitals in the world can be so slow to identify it. Plus many docs and nurses don't realize pre-e can happen postpartum.

Ask them to check your BP when you go to the NICU; it's no biggie for them to do that for you. If either number is near or above 140 over 90, call your cardiologist. I don't want to worry you, but I want to be sure your docs rule out anything more severe than fatigue and dehydration.

If you do not have the strength to pump right now, that is OK. You need to take care of Mommy first.

Please keep us posted!!!
Much love,
Angela

[Angela]

Also, ask if they have looked at your blood work to look for HELLP syndrome. If your blood count is low, you may need a transfusion. I was terrified to have one, but it made a big difference in how I felt within just a few hours. My OB said it would have taken a month for my body to do on its own what two transfusions did.

The more I think about it, I think you will want to get the full work up. There are too many things that could go wrong quickly. Please share all of this information with your husband and family so they can go with you and ask the right questions.

And two more symptoms to watch for: bleeding gums (HELLP) and hyperactive reflexes (pre-e). And of course call if you have any chest pain. Sending prayers. Be safe!

[nolagirl]

So other than an bit elevated blood pressure I do not have any of the other symptoms of HELLP...blurred vision, pain on right side, etc. So wondering if this fatigue is just normal after abdominal surgery C Section...and a bit anemic. I tire easily and get alittle weak when trying to walk (I did an incline at the hospital today and wow that was rough)...so my husband wheels me to the NICU.

All I really want to do is get up there and hold him. So far I can only go once a day and after sitting awhile I get weak...I am concerned he is not being held enough and is alway calmer when he is held. For some reason my husband wanted me to hold him more but to me just him being held is important for his respiratory status.

The cardiologist listened to my heart and gave me an EKG. I never recommend anyone but a cardiologist reading EKG bc there are some subtle things that he would have picked up and ordered more test esp. in the leads for the ventricle.  He heard no murmur or extra beats...bp was elevated but yes that can happen with pain, lack of rest, anxiety (do have some), being home with the other children alone , and my mom coming over (she can raise my pressure in seconds)!   

So I will give it a week of resting and fluids...I guess when am I supposed to feel better? Some women faster som slower I imagine?

[Lanespoli]

Wow Nolagirl I am soooo sorry for everything you are going through!  My thoughts and prayers are with you.  And none of these symptons were present prior to delivery?