December 6, 2017
First, a disclaimer: there are so many things about the day leading up to Eli and Evie's arrival that are just blurs. So if I forget about a visit or I say you were here on the wrong day, I sincerely apologize. My focus became entirely on keeping those sweet babies inside me for as long as possible.
After spending that first night in the hospital, there were some things that stuck out. First, and kind of from the night before, I had asked my night nurse if they had some kind of receptacle that I could throw up in after breakfast. I was hooked up to so many machines that moving to the bathroom quickly wasn't going to happen. Up until this point in my pregnancy, no matter what I ate or didn't eat, I would throw up after what I began calling my first breakfast (calling all hobbits). After that, I could normally keep food down the rest of the day if I remembered to have protein every couple of hours. That was a vast improvement over the first trimester where I would throw up 10-12 times a day, so I had just learned to live with it. My night nurse gave me a very kind look and told me that she would make sure I had Zofran through my IV in the morning to help. So, for the first time in months, I actually didn't throw up! It was the craziest thing!
Another fun tidbit, the food at Willowcreek Women's Hospital (where we were) was really pretty good! That was a pleasant discovery - especially since I ended up eating breakfast and lunch there for the majority of the next 112 days.
Dr. Mason came by to do rounds early the morning of the 6th and asked me how I was doing. I told him that I was doing fine. In spite of medication, my blood pressure was still causing the machine monitoring me to freak out every 30 minutes or so throughout the night and into the morning, so my small hope of this being a fluke was gone. We hadn't yet met with the MFM, so Dr. Mason said he would make sure that happened.
We knew we were going to be in this for the long haul, so I sent Blake home to love on our doggo and then head to work. Zoe, our dog, had stayed the night with my parents.
My day basically consisted of napping, answering texts, listening to the blood pressure machine freak out, and trying to get both babies' heart rates monitored for 20 minutes continuously. Which was comically hard to do. As soon as the nurses would get both of their heartbeats picked up and leave the room, one of them (typically Evie) would move. I think the longest session was three hours to get 20 continuous minutes of monitoring.
We were told that Dr. Canzoneri, our MFM, would be by in the afternoon. When he came to see us, Blake and my mom were there. He had a specialized ultrasound machine and within the space of about 20-30 minutes knew that Evelyn was IUGR and had a faulty placenta. Apparently the faulty placenta was one of the factors at play in my high blood pressure. My body was trying to increase the blood flow to her placenta, which wasn't doing anything except endangering all three of us. We were told that December 26th was the deadline. At that point, Evie's placenta would be degraded enough that it would be more dangerous for her to be in the womb than out of it. Y'all, December 26th is my birthday. This is probably the dumbest thing, but I always swore that I wouldn't have my children in December because I hate having my birthday so close to Christmas. I thought I was safely in the clear with babies due late February. Best laid plans... My prayer for mid-January now became just make it until my birthday.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I was able to get one of the two steroid shots necessary to help the babies' lungs develop more quickly the first day when we were admitted. I received the second shot on Wednesday, December 6th. I didn't know this then, but that was a sign that they highly suspected we would be delivering within a week.
My dad made sure that we were well stocked in food from the outside world as we had family and friends visiting. He made sure that I had one of my favorite places, Lenny's. The second night I was able to convince Blake to go home to sleep and Mom stayed with me at the hospital that night.
After spending that first night in the hospital, there were some things that stuck out. First, and kind of from the night before, I had asked my night nurse if they had some kind of receptacle that I could throw up in after breakfast. I was hooked up to so many machines that moving to the bathroom quickly wasn't going to happen. Up until this point in my pregnancy, no matter what I ate or didn't eat, I would throw up after what I began calling my first breakfast (calling all hobbits). After that, I could normally keep food down the rest of the day if I remembered to have protein every couple of hours. That was a vast improvement over the first trimester where I would throw up 10-12 times a day, so I had just learned to live with it. My night nurse gave me a very kind look and told me that she would make sure I had Zofran through my IV in the morning to help. So, for the first time in months, I actually didn't throw up! It was the craziest thing!
Another fun tidbit, the food at Willowcreek Women's Hospital (where we were) was really pretty good! That was a pleasant discovery - especially since I ended up eating breakfast and lunch there for the majority of the next 112 days.
Dr. Mason came by to do rounds early the morning of the 6th and asked me how I was doing. I told him that I was doing fine. In spite of medication, my blood pressure was still causing the machine monitoring me to freak out every 30 minutes or so throughout the night and into the morning, so my small hope of this being a fluke was gone. We hadn't yet met with the MFM, so Dr. Mason said he would make sure that happened.
We knew we were going to be in this for the long haul, so I sent Blake home to love on our doggo and then head to work. Zoe, our dog, had stayed the night with my parents.
My day basically consisted of napping, answering texts, listening to the blood pressure machine freak out, and trying to get both babies' heart rates monitored for 20 minutes continuously. Which was comically hard to do. As soon as the nurses would get both of their heartbeats picked up and leave the room, one of them (typically Evie) would move. I think the longest session was three hours to get 20 continuous minutes of monitoring.
We were told that Dr. Canzoneri, our MFM, would be by in the afternoon. When he came to see us, Blake and my mom were there. He had a specialized ultrasound machine and within the space of about 20-30 minutes knew that Evelyn was IUGR and had a faulty placenta. Apparently the faulty placenta was one of the factors at play in my high blood pressure. My body was trying to increase the blood flow to her placenta, which wasn't doing anything except endangering all three of us. We were told that December 26th was the deadline. At that point, Evie's placenta would be degraded enough that it would be more dangerous for her to be in the womb than out of it. Y'all, December 26th is my birthday. This is probably the dumbest thing, but I always swore that I wouldn't have my children in December because I hate having my birthday so close to Christmas. I thought I was safely in the clear with babies due late February. Best laid plans... My prayer for mid-January now became just make it until my birthday.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I was able to get one of the two steroid shots necessary to help the babies' lungs develop more quickly the first day when we were admitted. I received the second shot on Wednesday, December 6th. I didn't know this then, but that was a sign that they highly suspected we would be delivering within a week.
My dad made sure that we were well stocked in food from the outside world as we had family and friends visiting. He made sure that I had one of my favorite places, Lenny's. The second night I was able to convince Blake to go home to sleep and Mom stayed with me at the hospital that night.
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