Maggie's Three Week Recap...

Well, here we are, three weeks into our long term stay at Community Hospital. I can't believe another week has gone by! People are asking me all the time if I am losing my mind yet... and surprisingly, no! Thanks to visits from friends and family, Lifetime Movies, Law and Order marathons, my iPad, Facebook, and variety puzzle books (word search, crossword, and my new favorite, Code Crosswords) I am keeping very busy. It is somewhat amazing to me that an entire three weeks have gone by... I know, it sounds crazy :) My normal schedule is changing quite a bit. Before my stay, I would go to bed around 10:00 but since staying here, my bedtime has definitely changed! This is for a variety of reasons including that I get monitored with different things throughout the night and am woken up several times if I go to bed too early, but also just the fact that time doesn't seem to matter here since I have nothing else to do! Most nights I get my last fetal heart monitor from 12:00-1:00am and will watch TV until 2:00 or so and then sleep until 9 or 10. My schedule will go back to normal once I get out of here... but then again, what is normal when there is a newborn in the equation?

This week, I was taken off of the magnesium sulfate and put back on the terbutaline pump. This is like an insulin pump that is giving me medicine throughout the day. It doesn't make me feel quite as "drugged" as the magnesium sulfate does, but causes a lot of jittery-ness, headaches, increases blood pressure, and causes heart palpitations, so that makes for interesting time! But it is nice to not be on an IV since the only time I can spend out of my bed is going to the bathroom and my shower every other day.. I no longer have to shower with my arm out of the curtain and take the IV pole with me into the bathroom every time I get up! So that is a definite plus!

Also this week, I had a visit from a Physical Therapist. I had expressed concern to my doctor that sitting in a bed all day and not moving I was worrying about my muscles having atrophy. Within the day, a physical therapist was here with stretches and things to do while in bed to keep my muscles moving. I figure, a few stretches is better than nothing!

Another great thing about being at Community as opposed to other hospitals is that Riley, our beagle, can come visit! Chris brought her on Saturday and she stayed for about 4 hours... it was so nice! She slept on the bed with me and also on the couch for a little bit!

Coming up this week, I will probably have a visit/tour to the NICU. Hopefully, we wont need to use the NICU for any extended time, but it will be nice to go up there and see everything before the baby comes. Also, I should have another ultrasound at some point. I tell ya, having these ultrasounds every week is really spoiling me! Never again will I be able to see my baby every week and see how much he changes week to week... I am continually amazed that there is so much changing and I am growing this little boy inside of me!

I am starting to get to know the stories of some of the other women on the floor. There are about 15 of us "long-termers" on the floor here and we all have our own story. Some of the information I learn about from the nurses on the floor but also, we have a Wednesday Morning "Bed-rest Support Group". We all get wheeled down in our wheel chairs to the atrium outside by the waiting room. We all just get together, drink tea and coffee, and talk about our stay here. This past week, we complained about our lack of bowel movements and the timeliness of the food service. There are people here from all walks of life, all different numbers of babies, and all different professions. And besides getting to know these other women, I GET OUT OF THE ROOM!!! It is so nice to get out every once and awhile!!

All in all, this week has been relatively uneventful! And we like uneventful! I will hope that this continues for many weeks to come!!

Maggie