16th Day of Hospitalization for PPROM

THURSDAY, MARCH 7th 2019

Today marks my 16th day of hospitalization for PPROM (Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes). I've finally been here long enough to get sick of the hospital food and get annoyed by being woken up about 5 times a night. Every 4 hours they still do my vitals, they check my pulse, blood pressure and temperature. They check my temperature to make sure I don't have any sign of infection, a reason they would move towards immediate delivery. High or low pressure could also be a signal for distress. A doctor will come in and press on my stomach at 4am. This morning they drew blood at 6 am, they are keeping fresh blood on file for me every 72 hours in case of an emergency during delivery and if they would have to order a blood transfusion etc. I usually don't try to even attempt to get into bed before 11pm because they do vitals, put the baby on the monitor for a few minutes and give me Tylenol for the back pain that starts for me when I lie down for the night. I then usually wake up around 2-4 am with back pain again and have to call the nurse to come give me another dose. At 3 am another round of vitals, one night it showed low pressure and the nurse seemed concerned and didn't come back right away, I was automatically wide awake, the doctor wasn't concerned since I was lying down and was probably inaccurate, thanks for putting me on alarm for no good reason in the middle of the night! After I am bombarded in the morning by doctors making rounds, nurses switching shifts at 7 am, which prompts another exam of me to check my lungs, heart and for swelling they usually forget about me because they have the morning load of new mothers to attend to. Breakfast is actually not that bad here, going from eating an egg most mornings to being able to order an omelette, oatmeal, pancakes etc is really something else, I usually don't get hungry again til mid afternoon. Walking around keeps the back pain away during the day, I take laps around the floor 3 times a day for 10-15 increments. At first this made me nervous cause during my first week here one doctor said that gravity and walking could help induce labor but after a week here they encouraged me to start walking to keep my circulation up so they don't have to worry about blood clots if I just laid down or sat around all day. I asked if I should restrict my calories as I could easily have a 1000 calorie meal when room service lets you order an entree and three sides with every meal. They told me to eat as many times and as much as I wanted to feed the baby and maker her grow (and probably keep me happy). When I am on the heart rate monitor the nurses sometimes bring me a "doctors cocktail", a mixture of apple, cranberry and orange juice, to see if it will help with showing accelerations in the baby's heart rate. I haven't drank juice for years, living on La Croix and iced tea for like 6 years now, going from avoiding empty calorie drinks it feels so weird to indulge in juice so freely here. I got my last steroid shot today. They iced the area before injection and always talk about how painful it will be but I honestly haven't found them to be that bad, just burns a bit. This is one last attempt to help baby's immature lung development if I were to deliver this week. Today an old college friend Sarah came to "feed" my brain (she also brought me a donut for my stomach) by giving me work! I just signed on with theartofeducation.edu as a consultant to help launch their next course in Graphic Design. It was so nice to talk about what I teach passionately and we honestly put in hours making the skeleton for the course. She left and I was so happy to have my mind engaged on something else. It was so bizarre to talk about teaching while sitting in a robe and slippers. Maybe online teaching is really my next calling ;) After, what was supposed to be a 2 minute test on the heart rate monitor turned into over an hour test cause the baby showed really high heart rates that didn't drop right away. She regulated back to her normal 155 range for 40 minutes and then the nurse brought me another juice to see if she would accelerate again, they eventually took me off and said they weren't concerned with the elevated heart beat they first saw. Shortly after, my other college friend Caryn came to visit and brought me salad, pasta and even a cookie from a small Mom and Pop spot from downtown Evanston. Again because we are both in education we got to really dive into how hard it is to be pulled in so many directions with so many initiatives and red tape in today's school climates. We want to do the best for our kids but we are only one person and we shared stories about how emotionally exhausted we were at the end of each day. I got to talk to my Mom and Joel and my sister tonight and it was so fulfilling to be emotionally and mentally engaged almost the entire day. I was telling Caryn how I was asking everyone to pray for us when she mentioned her Mom was always asking for updates. Please, please, please tell your church and prayer circles about our miracle baby! I truly believe something divine is keeping her alive and protecting her and myself. For someone as anxious as myself I can't believe what a sense of peace I have experienced from praying, writing in the prayer journal my sister brought me and singing myself to sleep humming hymnals.