The calm before the storm

After being on antepartum for 2 days, I finally was moved to a private room.  The double room wasn't so bad but the second night I got a roommate.  She had been in a car accident and was there for monitoring.  It was difficult for the nurses to get her baby on the monitor as it kept moving.  Any woman who had had a non stress test knows the sound of the baby moving around, think of when you move the needle on a record player.  It was another long night, but I did sleep in between the monitor sessions for my roommate.  She was nice and we talked a few times.  She also turned on the television.  What!?! there was a television in this room, I hadn't noticed.
So the morning of my third day I was rolled down the hallway to my new home.  It was a small room but private.  Justin and our moms found their way to the new room later that morning.  We settled into the new room and they unpacked some clothes for me and some shower items.  The view from my window was not the best, I looked at a brick wall.  Everyone else was able to see the skyline of the city.
Life found a new rhythm as we prepared for a long wait.  My mom started crossing off the days on a calendar.  Now that I was in a private room I was allowed to have unlimited visitors and they could stay as long as they wanted.  All I have to say is that my family are troopers and can sit with the best of them.  A visiting schedule was arranged my mom would come on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  Justin would come on Wednesday and sleep over on the weekends.  My aunt and uncle would come on Thursday.  For the most part this was the way it went for weeks.  Periodically I would have other visitors from my church or out of town relatives.  The nurses on the unit looked forward to my aunt and uncle visiting because they usually brought treats: Whitey's and Olde Towne Cakes.  They went crazy when there were malts in the freezer for them and requests were made and noted by my uncle.  I got a few malts too, but had to beat the staff off with a stick ;)
My days flowed one into the other.  I would wake up around 7 when shift change happened and someone would peek in on me or refill my water glass.  Depending on which of the three perinatologists was on that week I would see the doctor anytime between 730 and 10.  I would order breakfast and chat briefly with Carmen the nice woman who delivered my breakfast and lunch.  I would take my morning meds with breakfast (prenatal vitamin and ahem colace).  I would have a morning, afternoon, and evening monitoring sessions.  checking for contractions, I was so early that I did not feel it when I did have contractions.  Usually by 10 my visitor for the day would show up.  I would always wait to take a shower until someone was there, I was too scared to stand up that long without someone close by.  I got used to dragging my IV pump with me to the bathroom, which was 6 steps from my bed.  That was all I was allowed to walk.  Every 10 hours I would get a new bag of mag hung on my IV pole.  Depending on the week, I would have an ultrasound on Monday or Wednesday to check how things were looking.  Bean always was doing really good and moving a lot although I was still so early that I didn't really feel that yet.  I continued to lose length for the next two weeks and stopped at 0.3 centimeters.  One of the doctors told me that my cervix was "scary short" and anything below 1.0 centimeters is basically classified as immeasurable.  The plan was to continue me on bedrest and mag.
The US Open and the World Cup were being held the month of June, so periodically during the day we would watch the matches.  My nurses and Patient Care Techs (PCT) would stop in and chat throughout the day.  Because I was on mag I had to write down my I's and O's (Ins and outs).  So every time I went to the bathroom I had to use a hat to measure how much I had peed.  Everything I drank was also written down.
Every 4 days I had to have a new IV put in to prevent infection (I was in the hospital for 48 days so you can do the math of the minimum number of IV's I had.  I snagged a few so there were a few extra).  I really hated getting the new IV's not so much the stick of the needle, but the burn of the mag.  My blood vessels took about 2 days to get used to the mag flowing through them.  With each new IV I could trace the path of the vessel up past my elbow from the burn.  I once asked one of my nurses why they used such large needles during a day when they were having trouble sticking me.  I shouldn't have asked.  They use large needles in case they have to give blood or really push fluids quickly.
Somethings that I liked on antepartum:

• The weekends, Justin would stay and sleep over.
• The staff were so knowledgeable and kind to me.
• Crossing off one more day on that calendar.
• Getting mail.
• Getting to leave my room for the 4th of July fireworks show.  I was not allowed to sit up for this so I was wheeled out to the hallway on a gurney.
• Watching the Ellen show in the afternoon.  I had never seen the show before, and much preferred it to Oprah.  I needed something light and funny and not sober and depressing.  I made all my visitors watch the show in the afternoon.
• Getting 4 of those insulated jug cups because I was there so long. 

Somethings that are not allowed on antepartum:

• Walking outside your room.  Some women were not allowed to walk at all.  I would see them being wheeled in their beds past my room on the way to the ultrasound room.
• Sitting up for more than the length of time it took you to eat.
• There was no socializing between the patients.  This was not a rule but more as a result of not being allowed to walk outside your room.
• Long showers.

Now for your viewing pleasure here are some pictures of my stay on antepartum:

 One of my daily monitoring sessions.  Notice Justin's cot in the background?  Once he found one he liked we held onto it.  That bag above my head contained infant resuscitation supplies.  I didn't look at it much.

Justin taking a snooze on the chair that kind of folded out into a bed with a lot of muscle.  This is the prayer shawl I was given and slept with every night I was in the hospital.

 My daily goal chart.  Yes emptying my bladder was a goal.  Everything to keep my uterus from contracting.

Justin, his mom, and I get ready to watch the fireworks.  I was one of two on gurneys everyone else was allowed to sit up.