Early January through Mid February

Oh dear... it's been a while. I think home bed rest and hospital bed rest left me uninspired to share my days filled with internet browsing and really (really) crappy tv watching. I should have posted more, considering looking back it all seems like such a blur, but I can't worry about it now - I'll just post what I remember...

Early January through mid February was my learning time for accepting help. IT WAS SO HARD! It's a combination of me wanting control, proving I can do everything,  and feeling like I don't want to inconvenience anyone. However, I couldn't chase Mr. Munch anymore and my Angel was getting bored (to say the least), and so the help wasn't an option - I needed it. Thankfully my wonderful family and friends came to our rescue picking up the kids, watching them, dropping off meals, etc... It was so humbling and I felt so incredibly blessed!

My days alone at home were spent watching absolutely horrible tv - yes to the tune of MTV reality shows, ABC Family dramas, and TLC. Okay... so some of you know me well enough to know that I watch most of that anyway :) There are worse things to watch out there!

At home I have to admit, I ate horribly, didn't drink enough, and couldn't sleep for the life of me. My wonderful Dr had me set up with a home monitoring company which rented me the contraction monitor, blood pressure reader, and gave me 24/7 nursing call services. They were wonderful, but the system really didn't work in my case. In the beginning of the month it was fine, I stayed most of the time below my threshold of 6 contractions in an hour. As the weeks crept on though, the contractions increased which sent me in and out of the hospital's labor evaluation unit a few times. I ended up just driving myself a few times because I knew I felt okay and they would be sending me home anyway.

On Feb 17th I woke up feeling horrible. Back pain, lower abdomen cramping, just plain not right. Seth decided to drive me to a normally scheduled appointment and go to work late that day. Before heading into the office though, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. Never mind that I was in pain in the car on the way there and never mind that I didn't feel like I could make it through the meal... I wasn't going to pass up an IHOP breakfast!

Things progressively got worse and I was happy when I made it into the office to be seen. To make this already long story short, they took me in, and sent me right over to be seen at the PET unit for evaluation again. This time though, they set me up with a single room, so I knew something was up. After being on the monitor for an hour, they saw that my contractions were only about 3-4 minutes apart and they had to be stopped because I was only 24 weeks pregnant at the time.

Being only the first time this pregnancy going into preterm labor, I had NO CLUE what I was to expect. I didn't know about Magnesium Sulfate or the BETA shots they gave me for the babies lungs. I had no clue how long I would be in the hospital and how I would feel when I went home. 

They started the Magnesium quickly and the fun began. I fought the exhaustion it causes as hard as I could, but finally gave in to the overpowering side effects. I have never been on a drug that literally feels like it is sucking every last ounce it can take from you until they started dripping Mag into my veins. It sucked the life right out me, gave me the finger, and skipped away carrying what I can only imagine was the innards of my soul.

I was so blessed to be taken care of by a sweet nurse who was amazing during the whole process. I could not wish on anyone what she had to witness that night, lol. I did see her later in my hospital stay and thanked her greatly for her care - while on the inside I was thoroughly embarrassed as I had always wished our paths wouldn't cross again.

They moved me into the High Risk Maternity, what I will refer to as 4G, and set me up to stay for 4 days. After not eating for 24 hours and being on Magnesium for 2 days, I was spent. I had no shame left and could barely walk to the bathroom without a nurse there to help me. I earned the wonderful wrist band of "FALL RISK" and for good reason.

The nurses and I got along swimmingly though and after 1 night of sharing a room on 4G they moved me to a private room at the very end of the hall. It had an amazing view and more room for people to visit.

Although I continued to have contractions and some pain through the weekend, my doctor said I was fine to be sent home on Monday... little did I know I would be back again very (very) soon.