Day Eight

There was a bit of craziness last night after I posted for the day. I got up to use the bathroom and lost a lot of amniotic fluid. And, to top it off, it was tinged pink (it's usually amber colored). The night nurse didn't seem too concerned about it, but as she helped me clean up myself and my bed I just felt things weren't right. This nurse was probably the least...interested...nurse I've had since I've been here. She just said, "oh yeah, it's got some blood in it, we'll just keep our eye on things." Um, what? It has some BLOOD IN IT? I don't know about you, nurse, but when blood comes out of me, it's not usually good. She didn't do a good job of reassuring me at all, so I didn't sleep well. I was afraid to change positions or take a deep breath or move in general. I laid there most of the night staring at the monitor that Madeline's heart is on, making sure she didn't go into distress. And, that nurse came in exactly once during the night, at 5 am to give me my morning pills. Thanks for keeping an eye on things. So, this morning, as you can imagine, my nerves were pretty much shot. When my day nurse arrived I showed her my towels and sheets and she was SO much better about calming me down. She seemed to "get" that I hadn't a) lost that much fluid at once before, and b) that it had changed in appearance. She assured me that she'd talk to the doctor about it, and also let me know that it still looked normal and that she thought it would be okay. Poor Mike through all of this, he was great trying to assure me things were going to be okay. You have to understand...obviously this whole thing has been really scary, but for me, as long as things were status quo I felt like there was some control to it all. But to lose so much fluid at once, and have it be a different color than I was used to, sort of pushed me to the edge. My OB came by and was as even-keeled as always, but ordered a bunch of tests to make sure there wasn't an infection or anything else wrong. I was supposed to have a sonogram to measure my amniotic fluid levels and check my placenta to make sure it hasn't started to pull away from my uterine lining, but that was postponed until tomorrow. I haven't heard the results of the tests, I have to assume that everything is okay because of that, but you never know with these things. My OB is coming back tomorrow morning so I'm sure she'll go over everything with us then.

Mike and I were supposed to tour the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit today, but that was also postponed. It sounds weird to say I'm looking forward to going to the NICU, but I am. I think it will be less overwhelming for us to see the place before Maddie has to stay there, not to mention it will finally get me out of this room that I've spent the last eight days in. I really hope I can get to a point where maybe every now and then I can get in a wheelchair and be taken around the floor, although I'm not really counting on it and don't want to do anything that the doctors think would be a bad idea.

Mike was with me for last night and most of the day. Once all my tests were done or delayed he headed home to take care of a few things. He brought me some dinner and now he is at his fun night of basketball and music. He's called me a couple times and it sounds like he's really enjoying myself. He got the crazy hot dog he'd wanted, and although the Clippers were dismantling the Warriors, I think he had fun at that part of the evening. Now he's sitting only a few dozen feet away from Neil Young in a brand new theatre, which must be pretty cool. I'm so glad that everything worked out for him to be able to go. He really deserves a fun night.


HOSPITAL FOOD
Breakfast: Raisin Bran, Cream of Wheat, Breakfast Quiche, Orange Juice, Carnation instant breakfast protein shake
Lunch: Classic vegetable beef stew, biscuit, baked custard, nutritional Jell-O
OUTSIDE FOOD
Chex Mix, two cheese enchiladas with rice and beans from El Cholo