Still Here

Yep, still in the hospital, but hoping only to have a week left here before I get to go home. I know when I leave I'll be saying hello to swollen feet and ankles again, but at least I'll get to sleep in my own bed. This bed's better than the one in labor and delivery at least. Still only the occasional contraction that doesn't hurt, just tightens my entire belly. They've managed to get a few of those on the monitor too even though I'm only being monitored for 30 minutes a day.

Adia's had some fun days with Daddy while I've been here. She spends her nights with DiDi and Daddy sleeps here. Then DiDi brings Adia to visit and sometimes Daddy takes Adia for trips. They went to the mall and Adia had a couple freak outs. She was tired and said she wanted DiDi. Daddy made it all better by buying her some ice cream. She played for a bit before having a complete meltdown and Daddy had to carry her out.


When she visited yesterday, she went for my ice water. She loves drinking out of the container. She'll sit in my lap and cuddle while drinking it.


I'm now allowed to go for wheelchair rides outside. The new hospital has some great places to go outside. Adia requested going to the pond out front and then to the river out back. She ran around like crazy and Daddy had to chase her. She also rode next to me in the wheelchair. We called it the mommy stroller.




I told Daddy when I was admitted to the hospital that he had to take Adia swimming on Wednesday like we always do. I was sad not to go, but I knew Adia would want to. Gramma and Eck came up and drove Daddy to the pool to meet Adia and DiDi. Adia took a good nap before swimming so she had a blast swimming. She played in the waves and even swam by herself! I'm sad I missed it, but I'm glad she had fun.


After swimming they went to Red Robin to celebrate Daddy's birthday. Adia gobbled down her food and then ate most of Daddy's birthday sundae too. She apparently gave Daddy a huge, whipped cream covered hug. DiDi said they went to bed late, but when I called later, Adia actually talked to me on the phone. She said, "Hi Mommy! I loves you Mommy!" She never wants to talk on the phone so I was shocked.

Adia came to visit today too. I had DiDi pick up a piece of German Chocolate cake for Daddy before they got here. When I asked Adia to say happy birthday to Daddy, she said, "Cake!" She really can't keep a secret at all. It was funny though. She did put the candle on it and then wanted to eat it. Not so doable when it's not gluten free.

Daddy took her to play for a bit and DiDi got a much needed rest. They were gone for the longest time, but Adia got plenty of playtime. She even made some new friends. When they got back, we went for my daily wheelchair ride.


We went back out to the pond and tried to get a cute family picture. As usual, Adia wasn't cooperative at all, but at least she wasn't screaming.




We walked around to the back of the hospital so Adia could run in the grass. She loves it back there, especially all the sticks. When she first got back there she jumped to pick up something in the grass and yelled, "Look daddy!" Daddy nearly pounced on her because he thought she was picking up a snake! Luckily, it was just a stick, but they have seen snakes back there before. She did get her feet completely dirty though. We're still not sure how she did it, but her feet were absolutely filthy. After studying her feet for a bit, she wanted Daddy to chase her. She's gotten fast. He used to be able to just walk faster, but now he has to run to keep up with her.




The only way we could get Adia back inside was to have her ride on Daddy's shoulders. She loved it. He was bouncing her up and down and she had the biggest grin on her face.


When we got back inside, Adia wanted to wash her feet off. She only wanted to wash them in the shower and only if I was holding her. She stripped down to her diaper and I held her. It wasn't easy and I got pretty wet, but she was very happy. It made me really feel like her mommy again since I haven't been able to do much for her lately. After she was clean and partially dried (we had to dry her with washcloths because my towels hadn't been restocked), I dropped her on my bed. She loved it, but then kept telling me I had to lay down too.


Adia was still here when they brought dinner. She ate my pears, some of my chicken and part of carrots. DiDi took her to the cafeteria to buy her some more pears, but they didn't have any. Instead they came back with yogurt. Adia ate half of her yogurt and Daddy finished it. It was pretty obvious when it was time for her to leave. She was getting tired and cranky. She gave me a big hug and was out the door. DiDi, Daddy and Adia went to Target to pick me up a few things and then DiDi took Adia back home. She was thinking about taking her back to the coast, but Adia fell asleep in the car.

Hospital Baby Shower

My baby shower was supposed to be at Gramma and Papa's house today. Obviously, that wasn't really an option anymore. When I was admitted, my doctor said we could always have a mini shower here, so that what we did. Besides, the cake was already ordered. Once the babies are here and home, we'll probably have a welcome home babies shower or something too.


Chelsea and her mommy were the first to arrive. They brought 3 packs of preemie diapers, wipes and baby washcloths. Preemie diapers are just so hard to find so they were very appreciated. It was great to spend some more time with them. One of the best parts of being in the hospital has been being able to see Chelsea tons. Adia loves her too.


We ate cake and talked. Adia ran around like crazy. When she first got there, Adia ran over to Scott and jumped in his lap. She was so happy to see Daddy again. She also brought balloons for her sisters. One was a cute twin duckie balloon that she picked out in the gift shop and then a smaller balloon on a stick. She took that one home with her, as I expected. I think she thought it was a wand.






Adia ended up climbing up in bed with me and getting a few snuggles. She was worried about my IV and then wanted to talk to and snuggle her babies.


Gramma had also brought Adia a bunch of fun little toys. Adia was super happy and particularly liked attacking us with the ball and paddle game.


Not long after the party started, it was time to change rooms. I was moved to the mother baby unit. That's a very good sign. My contractions have become sporadic and few so they felt comfortable moving me. I also only need to be monitored once a day and will be getting the same dosage of nifedipine, just only twice a day instead of every 6 hours. The new room is much smaller and there's no jacuzzi, but the bed is a million times more comfortable. I can also go for 10 minute walks twice a day and 3 wheelchair rides a day.

I think Adia thought we were getting to go home, but then she demanded I lay in the bed. She was happy to explore the new room and to get and eat ice from the family pantry.


While she was exploring the new room, she slammed her hand in the bathroom door. It was a bad owwie and she started howling. I felt so bad for her. I held her and kissed her until she calmed down a bit. The second we had a bandaid on it, she was back to her silly self again. She went through two bandaids though because she wanted to wash her hands and it got wet. Colie helped her put a new, bright green bandaid on it.


DiDi left for a bit to pick up some things for me at Target. Adia started to get tired so she climbed in bed with me to snuggle. She was so sweet. I miss all our snuggle time. While she was laying with me, we played with the Lego men that were on the shower cake. She really likes to take their helmets off.




My dinner soon arrived. Adia ate all the carrots out of my salad and then the whipped cream off my pudding. I also shared my milk with her. When DiDi came back, we went for a short walk. Adia kept trying to get me to go in the elevator to leave. I felt bad telling her that I couldn't leave. We got back to the room and Adia wanted to go home. She left before Daddy came back and DiDi told us she cried when she got home and Daddy wasn't there. She's really been missing her Daddy time. He talked to her on the phone tonight and she started crying. She wanted him NOW not tomorrow, but she'll get to spend time with him tomorrow.

I had my blood sugar checked after dinner tonight and it was only 99 so I've been ordered to eat a snack later. This whole gestational diabetes thing is crazy. Funny part is I even had some cake today! My blood sugar levels have been down all day though.

Hospital

Yep, I'm in the hospital. I was having what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions yesterday. The started around 12:30ish while I was snuggled with Adia on the couch. I hadn't done anything strenuous and they didn't hurt at all so I figured they'd go away. Adia fell asleep so I laid her in bed, emptied my bladder, drank a bunch more water and laid down on the couch. That's when I realized that they weren't going away and that they could be timed. Around 2:30, I called my doctor's office and told them they were happening every 5-7 minutes and lasting about a minute. They didn't hurt, but there was a lot of pressure during each one. After the nurse consulted my doctor, she told me to head to labor and delivery.

I woke Daddy up, who jumped out of bed. I was rather surprised at his response. He's normally very hard to wake up. Adia, who was still sleeping, was a different story. I sat down next to her on the bed and tickled and kissed her until she finally smiled and said, "I stay sleeping Mommy." I eventually got her up enough, but she nearly fell asleep on my shoulder. Meanwhile, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off because we had nothing packed and we knew Adia needed some snacks and toys to keep her occupied.

We got to the hospital and I thought for sure the contractions were slowing. We were checked in and monitored and the contractions quickly started showing up on the monitors. Both babies were doing great though. The on call doctor came by and decided to check me since the contractions weren't slowing and had actually started to pick up, coming every 3-4 minutes instead. To my surprise, I was 4cm and 50% effaced! Eeks! We were quickly admitted and put in Labor and Delivery. Adia was still doing well, but pretty confused. All I can say is thank you for Sponge Bob. It kept her occupied for the longest time, but she was soon going stir crazy.


Adia also didn't understand why Mommy couldn't hold her and wanted to know what the weird thing in my arm was (my IV). I told her it was a needle and it hurt so she wanted to kiss it better and kept asking if it felt better. She then checked out my other arm and it's bracelets. She played with those for the longest time.

I was surprised at how well she was doing. She did have one meltdown that wouldn't end. It was awful, but by the time Eck, Gramma and DiDi arrived, she was her happy, silly self again. DiDi was smart enough to bring food for her and Gramma had some too. Adia was definitely starving. I had only grabbed a couple fruit snacks and a cereal bar for her on the way out the door because I honestly thought we'd be sent home.

DiDi took Adia home. Adia didn't throw a fit at all. She gave me a huge hug and kiss, then grabbed DiDi's hand and followed Gramma and Eck out the door. When she got home, Eck put in Spirited Away for her and Adia was perfectly fine. She didn't ask for me and went to bed with DiDi. She also didn't ask for me this morning, but is carrying around my purple sweater like a security blanket. I'll admit, that made me cry. I miss her so much and it's so hard being away from her. They're coming to visit shortly though. DiDi's doing laundry and Adia decided to "nap" on the pile of clean clothes. She's just pretending, but it looks real to me. DiDi let me know that she's now running around the house wearing her Daddy's underwear.


Last night was rough for me though. I had a hard time falling asleep and then around 2:30 I woke up in pain. My contractions had become much more frequent and painful. I got up to pee, hoping that would help, but it didn't. I rolled to my other side, but still no help. The nurse said she couldn't give me any more nifedipine either and my next dose wasn't until 6. I did get some pepcid, which made my heartburn more bearable, and sometime around 4, I must have fallen asleep. I woke at 6, with even more painful, frequent contractions, but it was time for more nifedipine. It was rough until the drugs got in my system. Now my contractions are still coming, but spaced a lot farther apart. They still hurt though, which sucks.

Since I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes on Wednesday, I'm also getting my blood sugar monitored. When I came in yesterday, it was 79, even though I had eating recently. This morning after not eating all night, it was 107 and after breakfast it was 126. I was told it's higher than they like normally, but still good since the steroids can seriously mess up your blood sugar. It's been tough picking food to eat since everything seems to be simple carbs or breaded chicken or fish. Those are definitely not foods I normally eat. I eat primarily gluten free with lots of fruits, veggies and protein. Having a problem with dairy doesn't make it easier either. I did have 1/2 a pudding last night though and it didn't upset my stomach so maybe a little dairy will be ok. I still won't be drinking any milk though.

While I was typing this, I had to take a break to jump in the jacuzzi. That was positively awesome. I'm a bath girl anyway. I used to take them all the time when I had cramps so it was perfect. I only had one contraction while in there and it didn't hurt at all. It was funny though because when I turned on the jets, Baby B tried to jump out of my stomach. Daddy said it was like an alien trying to get out. Her head sticks way out and it does look pretty freaky.

Now I have to watch a video on gestational diabetes and learn how to use a blood sugar meter.