We got to the hospital
around 10:45am. They asked for my ID and insurance card, along with who my doctor was. I said her name, but apparently she is a midwife (?) so I gave the name of the main doctor at her office. His name was on my wristband later. We kept getting switched between waiting rooms. In one I got my weight, blood pressure, and temperature checked again. I got called
back from the 2nd waiting room at 12:05 and was asked why they sent me. "My baby is measuring too small." Then went
back to first waiting room where a nurse asked if I had any bleeding, leaking
or pain - nope. I was called
in to a small patient room for my ultrasound at 12:40, waited ten minutes then had the ultrasound/
anatomy scan for 30 minutes, by a girl named Jen. The main nurse Danette had me change into a baggy hospital gown, asked me to give another urine sample, then set up the NST to monitor
for at least 3 hours, waiting to see accelerations. NST = Non Stress Test shown below. One monitor with gel on it was to track Emma's heart rate and the other was to pick up any contractions, but I never had any all week.
Michael
was
gone from 2:10-3:10 to get his stuff from work. During that time I had
to electronically sign papers about agreeing to pay the bills and I met
Dr. Gennette. She was one of the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors who explained emergency procedures like C-Section and
asked if I would accept a blood transfusion if I needed one. I said
yes. I got
blood drawn and steroid shot in the top of my right leg to help develop Emma's
lungs in case she has to be born early, which is very likely. I stayed in Triage Room 12 until a
Tower 5 room opened, then was taken to my "hotel" via wheelchair around 5:45pm. Nurse
Shana asked more questions, then I updated everyone with the news, including how Emma's BPP was 8 out of 8. BPP = Biological Physical Profile and each category gets two points: her amniotic fluid, her movement, muscle tone, and her heart rate. The less good news was that she was measuring to be only 26 weeks and 3 days, and 913 grams (2.013 pounds) so the whole point of my stay was to find out why she is so small.
Michael
was gone for another hour later to take our dog Sasha out. I met my Monday night nurse Cecily, ordered
dinner (the menu was really good for hospital food -I got chicken parmesan the first night), called my best friend, then our food arrived at 8:15. I had to do the NST test again for 30 minutes
at 9:30pm. We met another Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor, Dr. Greaves, who said everything looked good, but
wanted to figure out why Emma is so small. We stayed up watching TV til
11pm. The nursing assistant came in at 11:30pm and 4am to take my blood
pressure and temperature again (they did that about every four hours all of the days). I checked a blood pressure chart online and mine was normal every time. Michael slept in the Murphy bed since he couldn't get comfortable in the recliner.
Tuesday 5/2:
We woke up at 7am, met Tuesday nurse Marti,
ordered breakfast, then Michael left to take Sasha out. My regular doctor/ midwife came in and told
me to ask the MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) doctors about staying on bedrest and not working. And if Emma
isn't growing enough I might have to have a C-section in 3 weeks if
she's still breeched! Another NST was done at 9:30 after breakfast. More blood drawn at 10am. Ordered lunch, got second steroid shot at 3:20 (in my butt). That shot made me sore both times for about 30 minutes and they said it's because they are having to push liquid into a muscle that doesn't have a hole for it. Dr.
Greaves and Dr. Gennette came in at 4pm, they said they wanted me to stay until
Thursday for more blood tests. I called my supervisor at work about missing
those days. The doctors told me that if Emma doesn't grow by two weeks from now she might have to
be delivered around May 15th! I met my Tuesday night nurse, Tammy, who checked
my heartbeat. I ordered dinner for us at 8pm when
Michael came back from getting me stuff to stay occupied, since he had to go back to work on Wednesday and Thursday. We watched
"Passengers" on the TV movie channel. Another NST at 9:30. Michael left around 10:10pm.
Wednesday 5/3:
Michael came and snuggled on the hospital bed with me from
6:30-7:15am before work. I had to have Emma on NST all day (starting at
10am) because she kept moving so the monitor couldn't detect her heartbeat. I got food at 10:30am, doctors came in at 11:10. I neatly wrote their notes down
in my journal. One of my best friends visited for almost four hours in the afternoon and at 5pm I was able to finally take a glorious shower. I was hooked back up to the NST at 5:45. Michael stayed with me from 7
to 10pm. The thing in my arm had to be flushed daily with a half syringe of saline. They asked if I could taste it. No, but I could smell it.
Thursday 5/4:
At 5am Emma's heart rate dropped too much and four nurses rushed in. One
said, "Get me some gauze." And I immediately asked, "Am I bleeding?" (Even though I wasn't when I had gone to the bathroom about 30 minutes before.) But
she said no. Phew! I had an oxygen mask & an IV hooked in my arm
from 5:15-5:45am. I was later told the gauze was for the IV? I talked to the geneticist and my MFM doctors again, who said they will do an ultrasound
tomorrow and an amniocentesis if needed. Michael and his dad said it would be the best for Emma now, although I was super against doing an amniocentesis around 12 weeks in December, due to the risk of miscarriage. But at this point it could give the doctors (and us) the answers we are looking for and help her after delivery if they know what is "wrong". They had to schedule the procedure for the next day since after the 5am "scare", they wanted to make sure Emma's heart
rate doesn't have any more "dips" for 24 hours. I still wore the NST all day and napped when I could. Michael was there from 6:30-9:30pm. Emma did well
this night, but was moving a lot (which is also good) so the night nurse had to adjust the monitors
on my stomach every two hours.
Friday 5/5: Michael got here at 7am (he was able to take this day off too which I was really happy about), ordered breakfast, watched "Legend of Tarzan", then he napped. Emma was moving around a lot. Dr. Greaves came in at
11:45 and said we will get the ultrasound and amniocentesis done "this
afternoon". I was not allowed to eat or drink until after that. I had an antibodies blood test done at 12:50, and we talked with an extra friendly nurse,
Mariann, for 20 minutes. She said she really liked our relationship and pointed to Michael and I saying, "This is good!" because of how much I was laughing while being stuck in the hospital. She said I look like someone who doesn't get upset
about things. Then Michael and I both laughed, but I said he's great about
keeping me positive. My ultrasound & BPP started at 3:15 (20 mins) and Emma got an 8 out of 8 again.
The amniocentesis
started at 4pm. I was nervous and praying the whole time, asking God for this to be the right decision and for our baby
to not move at all once the needle was in to extract some of the
amniotic fluid. I had to sign a waiver before hand that mentioned the
risks including miscarriage, and preterm labor. I prayed hard that none
of that would happen and Michael held my hand the whole time. Although after the procedure (and everything was fine!) Michael said he really thought he was going to throw up
or pass out, but he didn't stop holding my hand until Dr. Greaves took the
needle out. It was pokey, and he had to slowly "shake" the needle to get
it past fat and muscle. I could definitely feel the long needle
(thinner than one used to draw blood) going through my stomach. I say it
didn't hurt too much because my eyes didn't water, plus I always imagine it
being worse than it is. They told me that a side effect can be cramping, but I didn't feel
that. For 30 minutes after it kind of felt like the needle was still sitting in
me. Dr. Greaves took three viles of fluid. He showed me after and
said, "That's your baby's pee". She must stay nicely hydrated since it
was almost clear. Michael left to get some air and brought me back some food from Chick Fil
A! Nurse Mariann was able to take Emma off the NST monitors
at 7pm because she was doing so well! Michael came back from 7:30-10pm and brought me
flowers. He's such a sweet man. We ordered dinner and at one point I joked that we were only there for the good food!
Saturday 5/6:
Nurse Mariann put me back on the NST monitors at 8:45am, Michael got there
at 9:30am. I was able to get off the monitors at 11:30, started my discharge procedures, and got the IV taken out of my arm while my release papers were being printed. I was officially free
at 1:20. Woohoo! I told Michael he needed to take a picture of me kissing the ground outside. Ha! I'm using a week medical leave and staying on bedrest until after my next ultrasounds. At that point I will go back to work or Emma will have to be delivered, then stay in the NICU until July. Stay tuned, and keep praying!
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