Hospital and a CRAZY 24 Hours!

On Tuesday I went in for my weekly appointment and it turned into a crazy 24 hours.  They did an ultrasound and saw that my cervix is now thinner than before the cerclage surgery!  I was really nervous to know what my doctor would say at that point and so I was texting Andy to please come over.  I went in to see my doctor and they wanted to monitor me for a little while.  I think it was about 20 minutes or so and they came in and said I was having some contractions so I needed to go back to the hospital.  :(

Ericka wheeled me over to the labor and delivery unit and from there they monitored me for about an hour and saw I was continuing to have contractions.  They gave me a shot of something to stop the contractions and then admitted me to antepartum.  Those beds are WAY more comfortable than the labor and delivery beds!

Every nurse that we talked to and asked how long I was going to be in the hospital gave the same answer, "We take things day by day, but most patients that come in like this are here till they have the baby."  We were prepared to have things taken care of at home and knew it was going to be a long haul.  From there we asked for my brother-in-law, Doug, to come and help Andy give me a blessing.  I also asked my friend, Sarah, to bring me some things from home.  I had my moments of emotional breakdowns, but tried my best to hold it together.

Andy stayed till I was completely settled and the nurses got an IV in and pumping fluids.  It was a nightmare to get the IV going!  The first nurse came in and I told her to avoid my left arm because a vein always blows and just go straight for a particular vein in my right wrist.  She put heating packs on my arm to plump up my veins and did as I asked... but couldn't get it in.  My veins were terrible that night!!!  The second nurse came in and I told her the same thing, but also asked how good she was because I hate needles.  She felt confident she was really good and went for a different spot in my right arm, but couldn't get it in.  So she looked at my left arm and said, "Oh, that is a really good vein right there.  I can totally get it in that one."  Guess what?  She blew my vein!!!  The third nurse came in and said, "Usually our goal is to avoid the hand and wrist, but today our goal is to just get it  in."  After being tortured three times I felt the same.  She got it in my right hand quick!  It hurt all night long, but it was in and I didn't have to be poked anymore.  Andy went home to be with the girls and said he would come have lunch with me the next day.

I barely got any sleep the whole night.  Between my hand hurting, nurses coming in to check on me, and worrying about our baby I think I got a total of about 4 hours of sleep.  I woke up about 7:00 so I could join Andy and the girls in family prayer over the phone.  And by then I was pretty hungry and tried several times to order my breakfast.  Every time I would call they would tell me my diet restriction wasn't entered in the computer yet.  So I would call the nurse and ask her to do it again.  Finally about 8:15 a nurse came in and personally apologized because she put it in the computer under a different room number.  They brought up my breakfast pretty quick and I was able to feed my starving body and baby.

Dr. Hodges came in about 9:30 and told me that there wasn't much more they can do for me at the hospital than I'm already doing at home.  So if I promised, promised to be so good about bed rest I could go home.  I texted Andy right away and he was over quick to take me home.  We were out of there by 11:15 and then started making arrangements for lunches so I don't get up to even make myself a sandwich from the mini fridge by my bed.

So now I see the doctor once a week along with an ultrasound to check my cervix, fluid levels, and baby.  I am also on two more medications to help relax my uterus along with my progesterone shots.  And I can only get up to shower and go to the bathroom and then it's down flat on my back or sides... no more reclining if I can avoid it.  It's a lot harder to type on the laptop or do anything else... so it's a lot of movies and Netflix.  I still love to have visitors of any form!  So call, email, text, or come by in person if you get bored.  It breaks up my days and helps the time go by a little faster.