Tag: hospital

More updates

More baby updates!
Weights: 4 pounds 10 ounces, 4 pounds 10 ounces, and 4 pounds 3 ounces
Also, the doctor thinks that they are identical.

12/4/07

This is Kristina. Pam had the babies. Everyone is healthy. They are all … BOYS! I’ll post again if I get more details.

Tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow’s the big day!

At 6:30 tomorrow morning, I’ll be having a c-section. Don’t worry, Kristina will be updating the blog for me, so as soon as she knows the details, she’ll post them here.

Eeeep!

11/30/07

Just had an ultrasound to check the babies’ growth. Man, that was hellish. Remind me never to ask for another ultrasound again. That’s what I get for asking every doctor who came in here when I’d get another growth scan.

Laying on your back with 13+ pounds of baby…painful.

But at least the babies still look good.

A: 3 lbs, 11 oz
B: 4 lbs, 11 oz
C: 4 lbs, 3 oz

The discrepancy between A and B has always been there, so it doesn’t worry the doctors, though it does seem pretty extreme to me.

In other news, I’m supposed to be getting a new bed today. Haven’t seen it yet, but it’s supposed to be a big old double bed with a comfy air mattress or something. Cross your fingers I get it today. I’m sick of not sleeping! I think it’ll really help with sleep. Ambien’s okay but it really only works for a few hours, then I’m wide awake.

George and I got a video camera as a gift, so yay, we’ll have a video of the birth! Not the gory parts, ew. Let’s just hope George can keep his hand steady enough to actually kind of see what’s going on.

Day 4 in the hospital

Am trying my hardest to post every day…what else do I have to do, after all? But for real, the days go by much faster than I could have imagined. I was supposed to call the phone company days ago, but I just can’t seem to find five minutes in my brutal schedule of TV, naps, checking my email, eating, and getting my blood pressure taken. What can I say? I’m a busy woman. Heh.

Yesterday was particularly busy, I had a slew of visitors. It really made the day fly by. Janice and Kelly came by to bring me clothes from home, Lindsay stopped by with fancy dessert, my in-laws came by with chocolate, my friend Brandi came by with her teeny tiny 8 week old son, Ethan, then my mom came with a friend of hers, and THEN George came by and THEN Barry and THEN Stephanie and Mary Catherine. It was just a fun day.

I got all sorts of treats and fun stuff, too. Mostly food related (Mary Catherine, like the good southern girl she is, brought homemade cake, even though she’s 8 months pregnant herself) but also a poinsettia from my mom (that I can’t kill) and various goodies from George.

Best part of the day, though, had to be taking the wheelchair down with George, Barry, MC, and Steph down to the atrium. Just getting out of the room was exciting! But to do so with friends was even better.

Talked to my doctor, they’re going to do a growth scan of the babies sometime soon, hopefully this week. It’s been two and a half weeks since the last one and I’m curious to know how big the babies are. Plus, it’s got to be the most-asked question I get from my visitors, so it’d be nice to have an answer.

So, that’s about it for now. Just got my blood drawn again (mmm, fun) and today we’re doing another 24 urine collection. Oh, the joys!

Day 3, done!

Not a hugely eventful day, but every day down is a day that the babies will be healthier when they’re born. So I’ll take uneventful days anytime right now.

Not to say it didn’t have it’s fun and exciting parts. Lisa (my cousin) came to visit in the morning and she brought me a huge stack of magazines. A woman after my own heart! I mean, good stuff, too – Martha Stewart, Real Simple, Oprah (I may not watch her show but I love her magazine), two issues of People, US, Domino…good stuff!

She hung out for a while, and then a little while later my old co-workers from Delta Queen, Janice and Kelly, came by. They work here now, which is awesome. And Janice lives down the street from us, so she can bring me things from home if George can’t come visit one day.

Then there was the monitoring – a truly NOT fun part of the day. Of course it’s comforting to hear the babies’ heartbeats, but it’s hard – so hard – to keep them all on at the same time, and after 45 minutes of sitting in one position to get 20 minutes of heart rates, my back starts to hurt. So I shift positions slightly, and…no, still painful. And now the sensors have moved and we have to find the babies again. Gaah!

All for the best, though.

The rest of the day was spent napping, working, talking on the phone, and getting this GORGEOUS plant. Oh, please let me not kill it, it’s so beautiful! In case you can’t tell, it’s a white hydrangea from Kristina, Mike, Anne and Bill. I carried white hydrangeas as my wedding bouquet – that’s how much I love them.

Today should be v exciting. I have lots of fun visitors coming, and someone is going to take me down to the atrium in a wheelchair. First time I’ve left the room since I checked in on Sunday!

Day 2, done!

So yesterday was my first full day in the hospital, and it went pretty well. Slowly, as you might imagine, but not too bad. My friend Laurie came to visit, which was awesome.

I also met several doctors who came to introduce themselves to me. The anesthesiologist, who of course will be my BFF at some point, plus a neonatologist (for preemies) who I hope will not be my BFF, but if he is, it’ll be okay. Because he’s nice. A physical therapist also came by to show me some exercises to do in bed to keep me from turning into an even bigger pile of mush. Now the key is to, you know, do them.

George came by after work, bearing McDonald’s since the hospital dinner was not something I was going to be eating. So I let George eat it, and even he said it was gross (ice-cold spaghetti with meat sauce? mmm!) Today I should be getting a menu so I can choose my meals, and if not, at lunchtime yesterday (you don’t want to know what yesterday’s lunch was, I’m still having nightmares about it) I discovered you can always get ham and cheeese sandwiches. Whew!

This morning I was woken by a doctor who was v perky and cheerful. She said my labs came back showing I’m definitely developing pre-eclampsia, so I’ll definitely be here until the babies are born. Sounds pretty long-term, which is good – they’re not anticipating that I’ll have them, you know, tomorrow, but pre-e can change quickly, so we’ll see. In any case, it was advise that I get some Christmas decorations in here. 🙂

Day One in the hospital

Not a full day, granted, but I want to keep track of what goes on in here, especially since I hope to be here for a nice, long while. At least two weeks. Before the babies are born, that is.

So we checked in around 11 (I mean, I was admitted – it’s not a hotel, after all) and my doctor came in to say hello shortly thereafter. The nurse who brought me in showed me around and I got changed into a gown while George set up the computer for internet access (priorities!)

I had my first session of attempting to monitor all three babies’ heartbeats at the same time. Not easy. Hardly even possible. So after about an hour, the nurses gave up. My blood pressure was also checked during this time. It wasn’t great, but not horribly high, either.

A little while later, a resident came in and checked to see how I was feeling. Everyone here is really nice, I have to say. Later, because we weren’t able to get the heartrates for 20 minutes total, she brought in an u/s machine and checked them out. Babies are fine. Always good to hear. 🙂

The rest of the day included such highlights as lunch (ick), dinner (better), a salad from Whole Foods brought by George (best) and some chocolate (heaven!) Teresa and Jon and Gareth also stopped by. Tee brought me some goodies in my new favorite scent from Bath & Body Works which was v sweet.

Oh yeah, turns out I have the best room on the floor! It’s private (whew), pretty big, and even has a little foyer. Tee hee! Good stuff. I’m also loving this hospital bed. I need one at home. So handy that you can sit up and read and not need a gajillion pillows. It was v hot in here, but the windows open a bit, and we brought a fan. So now I’m even a tad chilly.

Tomorrow the highlight of my day will be the end of 24 hours of urine collection (heh) and finding out the results of that, and bloodwork. Woot!

Eep!

Well, now it’s time for some excitement!

Went to the doctor yesterday, and based on several factors, he is admitting me tomorrow for the duration. Hopefully that duration is at least two weeks, but we’ll see. My blood pressure is starting to creep up, my ankles are just getting more and more swollen, and (here’s the fun one) I gained 17 lbs in 11 days. So, yeah, it’s time.

As soon as he walked in the room after reviewing my bp, weight gain, etc, George and I both knew what he was going to say. You could just tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t giving me great news. But really, I don’t consider it bad news. I’m happy to do whatever to make this pregnancy last as long as possible. It definitely sucks not to be at home, but it’s a small price. Goodness knows I’ve had it very easy compared to most of the stories I read about triplet pregnancies.

So today, some friends are coming over to visit, I need to pack, and George and I will spend some time together alone. (Mostly I will just make him scratch my back for several hours to make up for all of the scratch-free nights I have ahead of me.)

Thank goodness the hospital has wireless access, so I will still be posting and all that. Woo!

PS Funny – the doc measured my belly, and if I were having just one, I’d be 47 weeks pregnant! tee hee! Silly.