Unfortunately, it is another middle of the night for me-completely wide awake. The time now is 3:28am and my children will be waking in exactly 3 hours. Let me warn you before reading this entry that I am not in the best of moods, cranky is an understatement, and men who don't want to know some of the details that go along with a woman's body/pregnancy, stop reading now.
I so want to be one of those women who love being pregnant and I have been at times with each pregnancy but then when it starts taking over my body and more annoyances start happening especially at the same time that just make it utterly impossible to go on with my daily life, well I just dislike it more and more. Do those women not have any problems or are they just able to disregard them because of the miracle taking place in their body? I so need some of that positive energy right now.
This pregnancy has been very different from the others. No major complications and actually I didn't really begin to show or start even gaining weight until about 6 months. I have also been lucky enough to be able to wear my pre-pregnancy clothes until just about Thanksgiving and a little after which would have put me at about 28-30wks. My other 3 kids all have birthdays in the Fall (sept,oct,nov) so I was very preoccupied with planning parties, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now I am exactly 33 weeks, have a plan to be induced at 39 weeks so that leaves me with 5 weeks left to go. 5 weeks and no birthdays, no holidays, nothing to help pass the time and my "annoyances" are getting worse.
This current run begin last Thursday (the day before new years eve). From then until this past Tuesday, I was basically in a coma. I had no will to get up, shower, open my eyes, nothing. I was exhausted. And I was even sleeping during the night (something that has not been easy for me to do)! Because of the holiday and my husband between jobs because of security reasons, he was off for 5 days straight including the weekend so I was lucky enough to have him here to take care of the little ones and attend basketball games. I know he was frustrated and exhausted himself. He is very use to routine and isn't the stay at home dad kind-of type. He is so good with the kids but can only do it for so long. Plus it was absolutely freezing outside so I think they were all suffering from cabin fever. Of course, instead of feeling bad for him-this all just made me even crankier and feeling very guilty.
Then the night before he was starting his new job, I didn't sleep a wink. Insomnia-a frequent visitor to me in the last couple of months decided to grace me with his presence. Oh and accompanied with contractions, itchiness all over my body, and restless achy legs all night long. The contractions continued through the day but there was really no rhyme or reason (10min apart) to them so I just brushed them off. Plus I was really determined to sneak a nap in with my little ones. The bean still takes nap and I basically have to force superman to nap when mommy needs one which is not very often because I don't have the energy for the fight he puts up. Well I got in an hour that day......this day being Wednesday. I decided I should probably call my doctor and just see what all this means, complete exhaustion, contractions, and an increase in bowel movements. You see I have never gone into labor, I have been induced for all 3 babies so I just read online constantly about women and their stories so I just wanted to know from my midwife if these were usual complaints. Well of course they wanted me to go into the hospital to be monitored. Another big annoyance since the hospital is 30min away, my husband is in DC at work, and my oldest has a basketball game at 4:45pm. So I told them I would be there but had no idea what time. Please don't be alarmed-if I were in pain that I couldn't handle or having contractions every 5 min, I would find a way to get to the hospital asap, however, that wasn't the case. So my motherhood duties were to come first.
I pick up my husband from the metro at about 6:30pm and we head over to the hospital which is only about 10min from the metro. He drops me off and takes the kids to "Old McDonalds". I check in to labor and delivery and there it begins. First of all, the gowns that women have to wear. Is this for real? I had a baby 13 years ago and the gowns have not changed! I cannot believe after what we have to go through within this process, we are still made to wear possibly the most uncomfortable pieces of clothing that are almost a puzzle to get on yourself and provide no sense of warmth. Then I lay down in possibly the most narrow bed I have seen in my life and am given a thin sheet that has obviously not been washed with fabric softener. I of course request 2 blankets right away because I am just cold all the time anyway. The nurse was wonderful and had no problem with my request. I am just still so confused as to why our child bearing uniforms haven't improved over the last decade. Maybe that's a project I will work on once I am done with this pregnancy:)
I am hooked up to all the wonderful machines with the cold and slimy gel. Blood pressure is fine, temp is fine. And baby's heartbeat looks beautiful. I am having contractions and they are picking up on the screen. My achy legs are almost unbearable at this point which the nurse notices and promises to give me something by the end of the night to help with that annoyance. She is my hero at that point.
So the diagnosis is; I am dehydrated and my body is starting the labor process. Hard to believe that I am dehydrated considering that I drink constantly at home especially since I have become anemic over the last month and chew ice constantly. I am also running to the bathroom every 5 min in the hospital since I have arrived and have given urine samples which by the way is the biggest guessing game of all. Are you kidding me? I can't even see beyond my belly to shave and you want me to collect a trickling of liquid in a small Dixie cup? back to the story.....so I am given an IV, the first shot of 2 of Betamethasone which is a steroid injection for fetal lung development, and a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. The IV wasn't SO bad even though she said my veins were not good on my wrist but she was unable to do it in my arm (of course where I have beautiful veins) just in case I go into labor, the shot of Terbutaline in my shoulder wasn't too bad. I'm not really bothered with shots so I can usually handle them. That was until the Betamethasone that had to be given in my hip and just so happens to be about the thickest thing that has ever been poked into my body. Wow, now that was painful but done. The doctor came in to release me and gave me instructions to return the next day for my 2nd dose of steroids (yeah) and bed rest. Now I completely understand the "rest" orders but as a mother of 3 and a husband who works an hour away, that is not going to happen. And I'm sure all you mothers can relate with me on that one. So I smile and say, "I'll try".
By this time, it was 10pm, my husband and children were waiting so patiently in the waiting room-the bean fast asleep on Chris' shoulder and my superman sweet as can be and probably a little bit worried/nervous at the same time. He greeted me and my tummy with lots of loving hugs and kisses when I finally joined them. My nurse came through and gave me an Ambien to help me sleep that night. I have never taken one of those but was willing to try anything at that point and trusted that if they were giving it to me, it was safe. We picked up Jazz at a friends house on the way home. I slightly remember pulling up to the house in the dark ( I was in the backseat with the little ones) and my husband going to the door to get her. I don't however remember if I had a conversation with my husband that 30min home from the hospital or even my daughter when she got in the car. I do remember asking my husband to stop at the Safeway gas station for a snack because I hadn't had anything to eat in about 8 hours. I went in by myself and remember the attendant asking if I was okay and then following that with, "are you pregnant"? oh gosh, he thinks I am drunk or stoned or something and to top it off, I buy a bag of chocolate donuts and a miniature bag of chips, which kind I have no idea at this point. Needless to say, I slept fantastic that night!
Words of advice: If you find yourself needing to get the shot of Betamethasone, PLEASE request a Ziploc bag of ice and hold it directly to your hip for at least 20min before the shot to make sure your skin is nice and numb. I thank the nurse for giving that to me and telling me to make sure I request it the next day for my 2nd dose. She even told me if they give you one of those bags/pads that you snap to make cold, ask for the bag of ice.....the others don't work.
To be continued...
I so want to be one of those women who love being pregnant and I have been at times with each pregnancy but then when it starts taking over my body and more annoyances start happening especially at the same time that just make it utterly impossible to go on with my daily life, well I just dislike it more and more. Do those women not have any problems or are they just able to disregard them because of the miracle taking place in their body? I so need some of that positive energy right now.
This pregnancy has been very different from the others. No major complications and actually I didn't really begin to show or start even gaining weight until about 6 months. I have also been lucky enough to be able to wear my pre-pregnancy clothes until just about Thanksgiving and a little after which would have put me at about 28-30wks. My other 3 kids all have birthdays in the Fall (sept,oct,nov) so I was very preoccupied with planning parties, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now I am exactly 33 weeks, have a plan to be induced at 39 weeks so that leaves me with 5 weeks left to go. 5 weeks and no birthdays, no holidays, nothing to help pass the time and my "annoyances" are getting worse.
This current run begin last Thursday (the day before new years eve). From then until this past Tuesday, I was basically in a coma. I had no will to get up, shower, open my eyes, nothing. I was exhausted. And I was even sleeping during the night (something that has not been easy for me to do)! Because of the holiday and my husband between jobs because of security reasons, he was off for 5 days straight including the weekend so I was lucky enough to have him here to take care of the little ones and attend basketball games. I know he was frustrated and exhausted himself. He is very use to routine and isn't the stay at home dad kind-of type. He is so good with the kids but can only do it for so long. Plus it was absolutely freezing outside so I think they were all suffering from cabin fever. Of course, instead of feeling bad for him-this all just made me even crankier and feeling very guilty.
Then the night before he was starting his new job, I didn't sleep a wink. Insomnia-a frequent visitor to me in the last couple of months decided to grace me with his presence. Oh and accompanied with contractions, itchiness all over my body, and restless achy legs all night long. The contractions continued through the day but there was really no rhyme or reason (10min apart) to them so I just brushed them off. Plus I was really determined to sneak a nap in with my little ones. The bean still takes nap and I basically have to force superman to nap when mommy needs one which is not very often because I don't have the energy for the fight he puts up. Well I got in an hour that day......this day being Wednesday. I decided I should probably call my doctor and just see what all this means, complete exhaustion, contractions, and an increase in bowel movements. You see I have never gone into labor, I have been induced for all 3 babies so I just read online constantly about women and their stories so I just wanted to know from my midwife if these were usual complaints. Well of course they wanted me to go into the hospital to be monitored. Another big annoyance since the hospital is 30min away, my husband is in DC at work, and my oldest has a basketball game at 4:45pm. So I told them I would be there but had no idea what time. Please don't be alarmed-if I were in pain that I couldn't handle or having contractions every 5 min, I would find a way to get to the hospital asap, however, that wasn't the case. So my motherhood duties were to come first.
I pick up my husband from the metro at about 6:30pm and we head over to the hospital which is only about 10min from the metro. He drops me off and takes the kids to "Old McDonalds". I check in to labor and delivery and there it begins. First of all, the gowns that women have to wear. Is this for real? I had a baby 13 years ago and the gowns have not changed! I cannot believe after what we have to go through within this process, we are still made to wear possibly the most uncomfortable pieces of clothing that are almost a puzzle to get on yourself and provide no sense of warmth. Then I lay down in possibly the most narrow bed I have seen in my life and am given a thin sheet that has obviously not been washed with fabric softener. I of course request 2 blankets right away because I am just cold all the time anyway. The nurse was wonderful and had no problem with my request. I am just still so confused as to why our child bearing uniforms haven't improved over the last decade. Maybe that's a project I will work on once I am done with this pregnancy:)
I am hooked up to all the wonderful machines with the cold and slimy gel. Blood pressure is fine, temp is fine. And baby's heartbeat looks beautiful. I am having contractions and they are picking up on the screen. My achy legs are almost unbearable at this point which the nurse notices and promises to give me something by the end of the night to help with that annoyance. She is my hero at that point.
So the diagnosis is; I am dehydrated and my body is starting the labor process. Hard to believe that I am dehydrated considering that I drink constantly at home especially since I have become anemic over the last month and chew ice constantly. I am also running to the bathroom every 5 min in the hospital since I have arrived and have given urine samples which by the way is the biggest guessing game of all. Are you kidding me? I can't even see beyond my belly to shave and you want me to collect a trickling of liquid in a small Dixie cup? back to the story.....so I am given an IV, the first shot of 2 of Betamethasone which is a steroid injection for fetal lung development, and a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. The IV wasn't SO bad even though she said my veins were not good on my wrist but she was unable to do it in my arm (of course where I have beautiful veins) just in case I go into labor, the shot of Terbutaline in my shoulder wasn't too bad. I'm not really bothered with shots so I can usually handle them. That was until the Betamethasone that had to be given in my hip and just so happens to be about the thickest thing that has ever been poked into my body. Wow, now that was painful but done. The doctor came in to release me and gave me instructions to return the next day for my 2nd dose of steroids (yeah) and bed rest. Now I completely understand the "rest" orders but as a mother of 3 and a husband who works an hour away, that is not going to happen. And I'm sure all you mothers can relate with me on that one. So I smile and say, "I'll try".
By this time, it was 10pm, my husband and children were waiting so patiently in the waiting room-the bean fast asleep on Chris' shoulder and my superman sweet as can be and probably a little bit worried/nervous at the same time. He greeted me and my tummy with lots of loving hugs and kisses when I finally joined them. My nurse came through and gave me an Ambien to help me sleep that night. I have never taken one of those but was willing to try anything at that point and trusted that if they were giving it to me, it was safe. We picked up Jazz at a friends house on the way home. I slightly remember pulling up to the house in the dark ( I was in the backseat with the little ones) and my husband going to the door to get her. I don't however remember if I had a conversation with my husband that 30min home from the hospital or even my daughter when she got in the car. I do remember asking my husband to stop at the Safeway gas station for a snack because I hadn't had anything to eat in about 8 hours. I went in by myself and remember the attendant asking if I was okay and then following that with, "are you pregnant"? oh gosh, he thinks I am drunk or stoned or something and to top it off, I buy a bag of chocolate donuts and a miniature bag of chips, which kind I have no idea at this point. Needless to say, I slept fantastic that night!
Words of advice: If you find yourself needing to get the shot of Betamethasone, PLEASE request a Ziploc bag of ice and hold it directly to your hip for at least 20min before the shot to make sure your skin is nice and numb. I thank the nurse for giving that to me and telling me to make sure I request it the next day for my 2nd dose. She even told me if they give you one of those bags/pads that you snap to make cold, ask for the bag of ice.....the others don't work.
To be continued...
There comes a time that you just have to lay on the sofa and let the kids play, while you just rest and stay off your feet. Only get up when you really need to.They will get thru this fine. We do what we have to do go with the flow!!! Take it easy!!!! SUPER MOM
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