My Hospital Adventure
Filed Under Health, Love, Maddi, pregnancy | 1 Comment
So, I started feeling sick on Friday. I puked, but I felt okay for the most part, then a couple hours later I started puking again. I was up all night getting sick and it was just terrible. I hadn’t eaten much on Friday (just a salad for lunch) and I couldn’t stop dry heaving. I started feeling really dehydrated and I tried drinking water and it just make me get sick worse. Literally only a few minutes after I drank it, I would get sick. This continued until 6 in the morning and I started getting shaky and my skin turned purple and splotchy. I called Verna around 5 or 6 and she took to me to the hospital.
When i got there, they wanted to check the baby first. So, I got sent from the ER to the OB department where they hooked me up to a fetal-non-stress monitor. I was monitored there for nearly an hour… I didn’t puke while I was in there, but I felt terrible. I only had two contractions while I was being monitored and the baby’s heartbeat looked great, so they sent me back to the ER.
The nurses tried to encourage me to eat some ice chips, or drink some apple juice but anytime I did I ended up getting sick, no matter how small of a sip I took. I must have gone through ten of those puke bags just in the ER…The doctor came in and wanted to get me started on an IV and gave me Zofram, an anti-nausea medication that’s safe while pregnant. The IV went in just fine… The Zofram really helped, and I was able to keep down some of the ice chips while it was working, but the second it wore off I started getting sick again.
I started noticing my contractions more often. Normally I have anywhere from half a dozen, to a dozen a day… But These were pretty close together. I started timing them and they were averaging about 4-7 minutes apart. I told one of the nurses because at my gestational age I shouldn’t be having more than 4 within one hour. They got the OB nurse back in the ER with the non-stress monitor and checked me again, and sure enough… I was having a lot of them. They kept me on the monitor for a long time and gave me another bag of fluid.
I was in the ER hooked up on fluid and laying on my side trying to slow down the contractions until almost 6 or 7 that night, and then they transferred me to the OB department as an overnight admit.
When I got there, we had some issues with my IV. The IV that they had in gave out and I started getting a puffy lump where the fluid was going into the tissue. They took that IV out, and drained it for the most part. Meanwhile, my contractions continued, still averaging 4-7 minutes apart. They eventually got a new IV in after a total of 4 attempts by 2 nurses. They then hooked me up to the non-stress test monitor again, and sure enough, more contractions. I continued puking up all the ice chips I tried, and I didn’t have the nerve to try to eat anything else.
I saw the doctor, and I was still feeling terribly lousy and couldn’t keep anything down. I feel kind of bad, because I was asleep when my doctor came in, and when she was trying to talk to me, I was completly disorientated and babbling incoherant “uh-huh’s” and “nuh-uh’s” to her. She probably thought I was being really rude.
So, 16 episodes of law and order later… I still felt like crap.
I went to sleep, but the sleep was broken because every four hours the nurses came in and hooked me up to the non-stress monitor, and checked my temperature, and blood pressure. And then I was woken up every time the IV machine started beeping because the hose got a kink, or the bag was close to empty and needed changed.
So, on to day two. I started feeling a little better, but I was still puking everything up. I tried eating some jell-o and it didn’t turn out very pretty. I continued getting shots of Zofram, and my contractions started getting frequent, especially so when the IV was on a lower setting, or after I had just got done puking. So, again, I was on the non-stress monitor.
I was allowed to take a shower, but I was feeling especially sick (after I attempted to eat the jell-o) and decided to lay down. Then, when I called so they could unhook me from the IV, the CNA answered… All the nurses were busy with someone who was in the pushing phase. I was like… “Oh. Okay.” I was kind of suprised, but I shouldn’t have been. I was in the OB department… So I waited about two hours and then i got to take my shower. I hadn’t expected to be in the hospital more than a few hours, so I didn’t have anything with me and ended up washing my hair with baby shampoo that the nurses had on hand.
Dan brought Maddi to see me. She was excited to see me. She hopped onto the bed out of Dan’s arms and ran up to me and gave me the biggest baby maddi hug known to mankind! And then she spotted the untouched apple juice and fruit cup on my bedside tray and decided to help herself!
Then I got dressed, watched some TV and waited for the nurses to come put my IV back on the machine, but when they tried to… The vein had given out, and I ended up with another big puffy fluid-filled tissue spot. So that means I’ve been stuck a total of five times at that point… The nurse tried to salvage it, but it wasn’t working, so she called in another nurse, who tried three times (that puts me at a grand total of eight IV wounds…) before she finally got it in. We thought the second attempt she made was working, and even had it all taped up and everything… but then it caved and was useless…
They got kind of worried around noon because my blood pressure dropped to 114/46. The lower number (46) is worrisome because that’s too low. Anything less than 60 is bad, but under 50 is cause for alarm. And my body temperature dropped but I felt like I was really hot… i went down to 96.6 so they ended up wrapping me in tons of warm blankets and I felt like I was smothering because I was already feeling hot…
I tried eating more that night, but I got sick. Around 10 or 11, I was able to keep down a little bit of a bagel that the lovely miss Verna brought in for me… But I was feeling so sick afterward… I begged the nurses for more Zofram.My contractions had slowed down some and were averaging every 5-10 minutes.
I woke up to my IV machine beeping and called the nurse to come look at it… and she restarted it with a new bag and left. It kind of hurt, so I hit the stop button (at least it was easy to locate! Big red letters that said “STOP!”) and called the nurse again. She tried flushing it with a syringe, but it didn’t feel any better, and then my skin started to puff up again from fluid in the tissues. Another bad vein. However, they let me take it out, and told me if I kept some fluids down, I could go without it for a while.
They brought me breakfast. None of it really looked any good, and they ended up bringing me some french toast. Two slices, cut in half, so four peices. It too me almost 3 hours to eat it, but I did. I felt really nauseaus every few minutes, but I managed to keep it down. My contractions had died don to about 5 an hour by this point, and although I was still nauseaus, I was able to keep things down. I even drank a half pint of milk with it. And my grandma surprised me and popped in to visit me while I took painstakingly long to eat my breakfast.
The doctor came in to see me, checked a few things on my chart and asked me if I felt like I was ready to go home and that I’d be able to keep things down even if I felt nauseaus. And I was, so she told me I could go home whenever I wanted. I called Dan and went home.
I was really scared I’d end up having a premature baby. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. As much as I’m sick of being pregnant, he’d have a lot of breathing problems if he was born right now. I’m only 34 weeks, and to be considered even close to safe, baby needs to be 37 weeks. I’m so glad he’s okay though…
I’ve been nauseaus, but for the most part, I’ve kept things down. I haven’t eaten much since breakfast, but I’ve been drinking water and juice and it seems to be helping.
I just have to keep an eye out for the contractions. Hopefully they don’t start back up!
Total Blahness.
Filed Under Family, School, pregnancy | Leave a Comment
So, school is going well. Today’s really my first day back after spring break. I finished up my art assignment, which I had difficulty with.
We were supposed to take photos througout our day, and then write an introspective paragraph about what we learned about ourselves. I had a hard time with it at first, but I came to a realization about something to do with my family, rather than myself. Selfishness gets you nowhere good, and even if it does, what is the point of getting there, if you have no one to share it with because you’ve abused and alienated everyone who ever mattered? There’s a lot behind that realization, but… I think it was kind of monumental, even in a personal sense, rather than just a school sense.
I am also four weeks ahead in my Business class. Yay for being ahead. I have two more weeks worth of work for that class, and then its done with! No final for that class (thank goodness!) but it’s almost done with! I’m excited. That will be one less workload off my back, and one less thing to worry about!
I’ve been helping my step-dad edit his midterm paper today. And doing so makes me incredibly GLAD that I’m not taking the history class he’s in because the prompts he had were boring as hell!
Other than that, I’m doing good. I’m getting contractions more often, and I’ve started to dialate, which is good. It’s just a matter of time! He needs to stay put for a few more weeks, but it’s all just playing the waiting game now! I’m super excited though!
Anyways, I’m off!
Getting Ahead
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So, I am on a roll! I really am. I’ve been working really hard, especially since spring break is “downtime” that I can use to get ahead. I’ve been taking notes, looking ahead on the syllabus, and doing my assignments for the classes that I can in advance!
I am now two weeks ahead in my business class. Sometimes I struggle with that class, but I’ve been getting better! I still have an A in that class, but it’s going well! I’m proud of myself for that one.
I’m only a week ahead in art, because we only have the assignments available to us for next week. Nothing else is up yet!
I finished my final paper for criminal justice. I wrote a report on bail bondsmen. It was interesting. Learned a few things I hadn’t thought of before. I need to take notes on the next chapter for that class…
And I already finished my midterm for Media, and I finished my powerpoint presentation for that class too!
For all of my classes, we’re at week 10 come monday. And there’s only 15 weeks in the classes, which means we’re almost done! YAY! I’m excited. Then I have summer classes.
I got some good news too. My midwife (she’s a CNM, certified nurse midwife) agreed to write me a letter of recommendation to get into the nursing program! I’m so excited! She is a nurse (with specialty certificates) and that will just look AMAZING for me on my application. She told me that she thinks it’d be a great career feild for me, and I’d do well for sure. I’m excited, and incredibly grateful that she’s willing to do that for me!
Anyways, I’m off to have a snack and go to bed! Night!
-Sammi
Accomplishment & Relief!
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Yay!
I finished my midterm. Goody, goody, joy, joy! I’m happy. Midterms suck, and I always feel so stuck when I’m working on them. It’s a huge relief having them finished! Hopefully I get a good grade on this one. I’m sure I will. I have amazing grades in that class, so I’m sure it will be just fine!
I’m a week ahead in my business class. Yay for working ahead! And I’m almost done with my Art homework, so I should be a week ahead in that class soon too. I’m trying to get ahead in all of them, because I could easily have my baby anytime in April, so if I have him before classes are out for summer, then I need to have a little padding (timewise) for myself!
Maddi is still sick, but so am I… Kind of. I’m not too bad, my stomach just hurts and I keep getting headaches and I can’t really stomach any heavy foods. I’ve been sticking to fruits, veggies and light snacks. Just because I start feeling nauseaus if I eat much of anything else. Poor Maddi has it too. She was dry heaving after her nap yesterday. I felt so bad for her. If it’s not improved by tomorrow, I’m taking her to the Doctor. My poor baby.
Anyways, off to go get ahead in more classes, and make dinner for tonight!
There’s A Difference…
Filed Under Contemplative, School | Leave a Comment
There’s a difference between “trying” and “doing.” One takes more effort and action, the other takes very little effort and action. Just like so many people much older than myself have told me, “Try dosen’t count. It’s what you DO that counts.” And it’s true. Unless you’re actually doing it, then all your “trying” amounts to, is empty words and hopeful ideas.
Just my little philosophical thought for the day.
“Don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance and so are everyone else’s.”
I really like that quote. I don’t know why, but it really strikes me as true. It acknowledges the need for balance between being proud of your achievements, as well as not being too hard on yourself for the things you didn’t achieve. If you congratulate yourself too much, there’s potential for you to become incredibly self-centered, self-absorbed, full of yourself and snobby. However, if you berate yourself too much, the exact opposite can happen, which is just as bad. You could become depressed, withdrawn, and lacking in any confidence at all. Both of these outcomes are disasterous and finding a balance between the two is incredibly important.
The second part, holds true as well. Your choices are half chance. And so are everyone’s around you. However, this doesn’t mean that the choices you make don’t really matter, it means that the choices you make, improve your odds of a desirable outcome. The less pro-active choices you make, the less likely it is you’ll see an outcome you desire. Sure, you see the one-hit-wonder, never-went-to-school, never-was-that-great-of-a-person success stories, but the person got lucky. Or the choices that they happened to make, turned out in their favor.
It’s now 100% what you do, but rather, a combination of what you do, what you think, and how you treat the decisions and people in your life. It is your desire and drive that can push you towards success and increase desirable outcomes through the chance of choice.
Quick update
Filed Under School, friends | Leave a Comment
Blah!
So much is going on. First of all, my media midterm is being a pain in the butt. Don’ you just love midterms? Oh well. I usually do good on them. I got a grade for my last midterm and I got 102.5% on it, and I guess out of the whole class I “maxed it out.” I was really excited about that! School is going well though. I’m fairly ahead in my business class, which helps the workload, you know? Lightens it. I’m a dork. Using spring break to get ahead rather than relax.
Meanwhile… I’m not friends with Bre anymore. Long story short, she has different ideals, priorities and mindsets than I do. I don’t appreciate people who waste their lives doing nothing, and do nothing but lie, leech, and harass others. She’s done this to me twice before, and I was dumb enough to keep giving her chances. Not anymore.
Although the whole situation shed a lot of light on my own thoughts of myself. I really am proud of how far I’ve come. I have an amazing husband. I have an even more amazing daughter. A baby boy who will be just as amazing as Maddi. I’m making something of myself, going to school. I got my diploma, and I’m almost half way done with an associate’s degree and I have honor-roll worthy grades. I have a lot going for me that wasn’t really apparent at first glance.
Anyways, I’m off to work on my midterm!
Sammi