This picture is technically from Monday or Tuesday in Labor and Delivery, but since I feel it adequately displays my lack of comfort, I thought I would share...So, we left off on Tuesday night when they transferred me from Labor and Delivery to the post partum floor for monitoring. While I was in this area, I did have a few visitors. The Beatons, former colleagues and friends from Guam came to visit. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, parents of one of my former players at Providence came to visit. My friend, Julie Little, came and brought her girls and Jonathan. That was awesome because I hadn't seen little man in a few days and I really was missing him.
We went from being literally waited on hand and foot and monitored nonstop night and day in the Labor and Delivery to having a nurse come in and tell us her name around 10:00 p.m., get clean linens for Barb to use on the sofabed thingy, and then nothing from our nurse until a new one came on shift the next morning.
Barb hung out with me all day on Wednesday. No one checked to see if labor was continuing. They just monitored the babies for a few minutes, monitored to see if I was having contractions during that time and had a doctor come talk to me during rounds. While during rounds that day, the doctor mentioned that they would monitor me for a few days and if nothing happened send me home. That was shocking after I had already been told both that I would meet the babies already and that I would be in the hospital now until they came. We ended up talking her into giving us through the weekend to see if anything changed based on the fact that I live 30 minutes or so away and would be home alone. I felt like there would be more peace and comfort for all if we knew I was being monitored.
Unfortunately, Barb needed to leave late Wednesday night. We figured that since nothing seemed to be progressing that it made sense for her to get home to our family and save her time over here for when something actually was happening. My friend, Julie, kept Jonathan overnight so Mike could come and stay with me that night.
I remember that being a rough night. I woke up constantly, was uncomfortable from the bed and had contractions throughout the night. Of course, when they checked me the next day, nothing had changed.
Thursday brought Mike heading back to work and my friend, Lauryn Haigh (a former student/friend from Guam), coming to visit. She is a nurse in Jacksonville and had a few days off in a row and volunteered to come stay with me in the hospital. She arrived Thursday evening and we had a great time catching up on life.
That night brought another uncomfortable night. I honestly was starting to feel bi-polar. On one hand, I knew that each moment the babies stayed inside meant a better start at life for them. On the other hand, I was hurting so much and was so uncomfortable that I wanted nothing more for them to GET OUT. My emotions literally would flip on a dime. On Friday morning, the nurses came and spent more than an hour trying to get all three babies to stay on monitor at the same time. I had one nurse on each side of me and had to stay in a position where I wasn't flat, but wasn't completely on one side or another. I am sure it was frustrating for them because each time they would get one of the babies on monitor and try to find the next one, the first one would move or kick and they would lose the heartbeat and have to start all over. By the time they were done, I was done emotionally. I sent Mike a text just telling him that I didn't think I could take it anymore, that I just didn't feel strong enough to handle this. As I was in tears while texting, one of the nurses came back in and found me crying and ended up giving me a pep talk. It helped somewhat, but I was still feeling exhausted and defeated.
When the doctors came around that morning, I told them how badly my back was hurting and how uncomfortable I was feeling. They mentioned ordering a comfort bed. Friday late afternoon brought with it an amazing new bed. It was basically an air pumped bed that took a little more effort to get in and out because it was higher, but each time I would shift my weight, you would hear the little pumps as they basically filled the empty space I created and gave me new great support.
Friday night was the best night of rest I had while at the hospital. Of course, I still woke up every 45 minutes or so to use the restroom, but at least I slept comfortably in between trips.
Then at 4:45 a.m. approximately, my water broke...
Stay tuned for parts 3 & 4, coming soon. :)
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