Tag Archives: Bed Rest

Unexpected heart bursting

So, being on bed rest, I have been couch/bed-ridden while my husband takes my boys to birthday parties, church and other weekend activities. This morning, the boys are headed to another birthday party, Mikey’s “sister” Fia, who he’s known since they were babies in daycare — it’s a party he has been looking forward to since last weekend.

And then Mike found out I wouldn’t be coming with them to the party.

Oh, he was not pleased. First, he argued for about a half an hour with his dad about how he wanted him to stay home and for me to go to the party instead. Then he declared he didn’t want to go anymore and that he wanted to stay home with me.

He was whining, and normally it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me, but Oh. My. God. My sweet boy just wanted me to go to an important (to him) birthday party. How can you fault him for that?

So I started talking to him, so he wouldn’t have a full-on meltdown when it came time to leave. First, I told him that I needed to stay home and rest and sleep. So my wily boy changed his tune and started saying he was sleepy too.

I changed tactics and said that he had to go so he could sing happy birthday to Fia, because I couldn’t do it. I think I started to see his resolve waver, so then I laid it on thicker. I told him Fia’s mom promised me cake, so he had to get me some because I couldn’t get it. He had no argument for this. (Man, I’ve never had to be so manipulative before!)

After eating breakfast, it was time to change into regular clothes. He said again he didn’t want to go, so I told him he had to change out of his pajamas like me and his daddy. Another little battle won.

Then it came time to get their jackets on. Chris was no problem, but Mike was arguing again, so I urged him again to get me cake and that they would be coming right back to get me. (In a way, it’s true, since right after the party they have to pick me up to go to the hospital for a non-stress test.)

Being on bed rest has been no picnic and trying to hold off the doctors, who have been trying to admit me until the baby is delivered since last Friday, has been no small feat either. But Mike’s visible relief when he sees me in the morning and today’s “argument” makes me feel some vindication in being adamant about staying home. It’s not just good for me, but also good for my family, and I think some doctors will never understand that.

34 weeks and getting close to the end

I had another ultrasound this morning, and it was a good news/bad news kind of appointment.

First, let me preface the news with some truth. Being at home, I’ve probably been doing more than I should — for example, I vacuumed the rug yesterday, and the other night I helped finish cleaning up the kitchen (in spite of the excruciating back pain signaling to me that I should sit the hell down), all of which I am definitely am not supposed to do.

Considering all that, the bad news first is that my fluid is low again. First, the perinatologist measured me at 4, then later amended it to 6.5, but either way wanted to re-admit me to the hospital.

Good news? Baby is growing well and is at Chris’ birth weight two weeks earlier. I’m not having stubborn headaches, major swelling or high blood pressure readings and I’m apparently not spilling more urine — which would all be signs that the pre-eclampsia is getting worse.

I know, from researching during my previous hospital stay, the dangers of having low amniotic fluid — the chief being that the baby won’t be able to move as much and could wrap the cord around its neck. However, the baby has been moving well — in fact, I’ve been joking that he’s already rough housing with his brothers, he punches and kicks me so much — so with everything in consideration, I decided to go against the perinatologist’s recommendation and stay home.

It goes against my instincts to not go with an authority figure’s recommendation. But I feel strongly that my mental well being contributes a whole heckuva lot to my physical health, and staying in the hospital as a precaution not only feels like overkill, it will stress me out more because it’s not as comfortable as being at home and I would have to be away from my family — again. I already hate that I can’t do what I normally would do for my family but not being able to be home to greet them, but instead having to wait on them to come out to the hospital, where — let’s be honest — they don’t quite know how to act also stresses me out.

Besides, I have another non-stress test Friday — a test where they
monitor the baby’s heartbeat for at least 20 minutes, check my fluid and my blood pressure — and the perinatologist, upon hearing my intention to not be admitted into the hospital, upped my scheduled NSTs to three times a week. Plus I have another ultrasound on Tuesday. If things continue to appear to deteriorate at that point, then I will acquiesce to the hospital stay.

In the meantime, no one has to worry that I will continue to bed rest badly — I’m typing this out on my iPhone (I’m about two hours in, haha), I’m making sure to drink plenty of water, I’m taking long naps, and staying off my feet as much as possible. I’m doing my best to stay out of the hospital until it comes time to have the baby, and with next week being 35 weeks, if hospitalization has to happen next week, both the baby and I will be more ready.

Perfect score on pre-eclampsia, plus a bonus complication

I haven’t blogged a whole lot on this pregnancy for many good reasons, the main reason being I’ve been trying to take it easy when it comes to stress and I already have a full-time job and two very active boys to care for. But, apparently, I am very consistent so I’m now 3-3 when it comes to getting pre-eclampsia — I began displaying high-blood pressure readings last week, along with some protein in my urine, as I was finishing up my 32nd week of pregnancy. And what was the bonus complication, you ask? Low amniotic fluid, also known as oligohydramnios. The perinatologist who has been watching vigilantly over this baby’s growth immediately admitted me to the hospital as a result.

So, I spent a very boring weekend at the hospital — especially seeing as I no longer have a laptop. Oh, Lord, what did I do, you ask? I ended up spending a lot of time on my phone. I occasionally also found movies or TV shows (hello, “Friends” reruns!) to watch on the hospital’s sad choice of cable channels. I considered trying to blog on my phone — I do have the WordPress app — but I’m not a big fan of typing a whole lot on my phone’s tiny little keyboard.

What I hated most about being admitted to the hospital earlier than expected (other than paying an unexpected hospital stay co-pay) was being away from my boys. I’ve been working on gradually introducing them to the idea that I would have to go away soon and come back with the new baby, but this was of course sooner than we all planned, with no baby coming home.

But now that I’m back home, I’m thinking that everyone has adjusted relatively well.

Apparently, yesterday, as Trinity brought the boys home from daycare, the boys went through a list of things they wanted — they wanted fruit snacks, they wanted to watch TV, they wanted to see mommy. Heheh. So glad I’m actually on their list.

For right now, I’m trying to figure out how to preoccupy myself. Trinity does not actually want me to sit at the computer too long every day — I’m supposed to be either lying down or keeping my feet up, which is not possible with our current computer set up — so I’ve been limiting my computer time to about an hour at a time, just a couple of times a day. The state of our home is also a….cause for concern for me. There’s all manner of clean, unfolded clothes upstairs that Trinity won’t let me fold yet (I’m working on it), plus all the baby clothes that we hadn’t yet gone through and cleaned to prepare for his arrival. Then there’s the rearranging of the house, so we can make room for, at the very least, a bassinet upstairs and a playpen downstairs.

Yeah, all this bed rest stuff totally doesn’t take into consideration the preparations needed for a new baby.

Scratch the easy bed rest

I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, I didn’t kill the phalaenopsis orchid plant I got for my birthday back in May. I was a little worried that I had, because I’d left it in the car when we’d gone to lunch that day, and all the leaves had gotten burned. But, happily, it bloomed this week. My mom would be proud. Not that I nearly killed an orchid plant, but that I managed to get it to bloom again. The orchid also gives me an opportunity to break up all the text heavy posts, lately.

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Bed rest, the sequel

As much as I tried to do things differently this pregnancy, I still got the same result — a sudden onset of high blood pressure, protein in my urine, indicating pre-eclampsia, and a bed rest order. Sigh. But there are some differences this time around, especially since I know what to expect.

First off, at my last ultrasound (I’ve had a bunch this pregnancy, partly because of doctor changes, but also to closely monitor the baby’s growth), the doctor calculated that the baby is weighing in at 4 pounds, 4 ounces. That was just last week, 34 weeks. The baby’s a little smaller than usual, but he’s bigger than Michael was at this point, so to me, that’s good news.