The Preggo Diaries #7

By midday Thursday, the contractions had stopped, and by midnight, the doctors decided that they could take me off of the Magnesium Sulfate again. I was a bit leery of that at first, since things had progressed so quickly the last time they had taken me off the magnesium, but the nurse pointed out that people weren't supposed to stay on magnesium for forever, and that if my labor started again they would put me back on the magnesium ASAP.

The doctors also decided that it was safe enough for me to take a shower, and to have an actual meal. Since this all happened after my husband had left for the evening, and the cafeteria was closed, his dad rushed off to get me a hamburger while the nurse taped a biohazard bag over my IV and helped me into the shower.

I was still shaky and weak from the magnesium, but a shower has never felt that good before - and I've worked at the Southern California Renaissance Faire, where dust clings to every thing, and at Halloween Haunt, where fake blood clings to everything! Once it was done I crawled back into bed and ate what I swear was the best hamburger ever.

The next day the doctors decided that since I was stable enough, and that since the baby's decelerations had eased a bit, I could finally be moved into the high risk ward. Unfortunately they didn't have a bed available, so I was put into a normal labor and delivery room temporarily.

It was still a fairly large room, and the bathroom, oh man, that bathroom was sooo nice!

The only downside was that the room only had a recliner - no pull out bed. Since it was Friday, and he didn't have to work in the morning, my Husband had planned to spend the night. He ended up sleeping on the floor because the recliner was so uncomfortable.

The nurses showed me how to unhook myself from the monitors, so I could go to the restroom without having to call them - though they still had to come in once I was done to make sure that they were picking up the baby's heart beat and not mine, and to adjust the toco levels. However, it was nice to have that freedom!

Also they took me off the IV, though they left the IV hook up in my hand just in case they had to start the Magnesium again, so I no longer had to drag an IV pole behind me where ever I went.

Unfortunately, this is where I had my first run in with a nurse I did not like.

I understand that nurses work long shifts and have multiple patients to look after - but everybody I had met up to that point had been amazing, so it was quite a shock to have to deal with someone who had such a grumpy attitude and who was so condescending!

Around 2 in the morning on Saturday, the contractions started again, though they were no where nearly as painful as they were before. I told the nurse, but she said that since she didn't catch them on the monitor, they couldn't do anything. Over an hour later, she finally caught them on the monitor, and it took another 30 minutes before I was given a shot to stop them. It helped, but by then I had noticed that I had begun to develop an infection from the various antibiotics I had been on over the course of the week. The nurse asked me how I knew it was, and I explained that I had had enough of them in my life to recognize the signs. Her response was to tell me to tell the doctor in the morning - which I did, making sure to leave nothing out about how the nurse had behaved. The doctor gave me diflucan to treat the yeast infection (I had never had it before, and OMG is it wonderful!) and she also made notes to make sure I never had that nurse again.

I still had contractions here and there throughout the day but they were minor. Finally our day nurse, a lovely woman from Brooklyn, explained that I needed to make sure I drank more water, and go to the restroom frequently. I started following her advice, and the minor contractions stopped by themselves. I still had some back pain from being in bed for so long, but Tylenol and a hot pack took care of that (though the nurse had offered me morphine if the Tylenol didn't help)

Saturday evening the homesickness began to hit. Right when my husband left to head home, I burst into tears because I missed my home, my cats, my bed, EVERYTHING SO BADLY. Considering how much I had been through, the nurses were surprised that I hadn't had a melt down earlier. They brought me tissues and reassured me that everything would be okay and that I had to remain strong for the baby. Eventually I was able to calm down and fall asleep.

Sunday they finally pulled out the IV. Apparently an IV is only supposed to stay in your hand for four days before they change and move it. Mine had been in for six, but thankfully my hand didn't seem any worse for wear. Rather than putting in a new one, the nurses made the executive decision to leave it out, saying that it wouldn't take too long to redo it if they needed to.

I was also moved from the labor and delivery room in to a room that was officially a part of the high risk ward. The new room was one of the airborne infection isolation rooms (don't worry, it was safe and clean) that each ward has to have, and it was also smaller than my previous two rooms, but it had a larger window with a better view and a much nicer bed.

Even though my husband came to visit and spent most of the afternoon and evening with me, my homesickness was still pretty bad that night, and I broke down while talking to my mom on the phone. It's funny how I could go on vacations to Florida and Ireland without any issues, but this was bugging me so badly. Again, it was probably because of everything I had been through and all the stress up to that point. Plus, this was not how I had imagined my pregnancy to turn out. A part of me had always known that the fibroid might cause issues, and I had tried to stay open minded about birth plans as a result - but this... this had come out of left field.

Monday was fairly mellow. The doctors decided that the baby was stable enough that I no longer needed constant monitoring. Instead I was hooked up twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening. The doctors also began to discuss sending me home. I instantly perked up. Home! With my husband and my cats! And just in time for my birthday too!

Unfortunately, our problems weren't quite over yet...