Bed rest is NOT FUN

Yes!!! I have been very quiet. Very quiet because I have been dealing with things with Gracie. Last Thursday I went into the doctor's office for a routine ultrasound visit; only to find out there was something to cause concern. It was then followed up with a visit with the doctor, which everything was moving so fast that my head was spinning and only caught bits and pieces as to what was actually going on. I went to check out of the office after she requested I go next door to the hospital (office was in the same building as the hospital) to be monitored for an hour. After making the appointments she requested; At this point while the wheelchair was waiting, I remember looking at the nurse and saying "I really don't need that I can walk!". I got the "limo" ride over to Labor and Delivery.

In the room they set me up in,they got me undressed; hooked me up to the monitors, and about 15 minutes came in asking how my pain was. What pain? My chest from all the hacking? "No hun, you are contracting every 2-3 minutes!" OMG!!!! Now everything clicked, the swiftness of the Doctor's decision, the Wheelchair ride - EVERYTHING, But I was still confused!

Ended up they gave me a shot in the arm of Terbutaline to try to calm the contractions down.. I was one day shy of 31 weeks! Unfortunately it did not work, so they talked to the Doctor and she decided to admit me and use the Magnesium Sulfate. I also got a shot of steroids for Gracie's lungs "just in case" (and yes, the bruise is STILL where they injected it!). I needed a booster of the steroid 24 hours afterwards too.

The Magnesium Sulfate made me feel like I was going through hot flashes, and I felt like I was drunk before the small "larger" dosed bag was over. I was giddy. Fireman began to worry. My mom and sister came up after the shock of the drug started wearing off. My mom was ever so wonderful taking the kids until things calmed down.

That next morning I ended up still on the Magnesium, not sleeping hardly at all through the night with restroom breaks and coughing from the bronchitis or whatever crud ended up in my chest. They ended up putting me on Oxygen and also fitted my legs with these blow up bags that they said was to help keep blood clots down before actually letting me get comfortable to sleep. I was so hot from the effects that they ended up putting a fan on my bed and for a while I slept with it blowing on my face.

Ended up about 11 AM the Doc came in and did a fFN test (fetal fibronectin) to check for preterm labor. The test came back in about an hour showing negative for preterm labor within the next 7 - 14 days. Good news! I could go home! Everyone agreed I should stay at least until time for the second Steroid shot that was due at 6:00 PM. I got the second shot, was discharged with strict warnings Bedrest only with only being up for the bathroom. I seemed to remember thinking "how in the heck am I going to accomplish this!!?" I knew I had at least two days home with Fireman to take care of me and then Monday morning I would be home alone with the kids while Fireman worked. While going over discharge papers and then being wheeled down to the van, the nurse shared with me a website; sidelines.org. She said that she was on bedrest for 10 weeks with twins and if it had not been for this site she would not have made it(I ended up checking it out after getting settled in at home). Sidelines.org is a great place to get support for high risk pregnancies! Lots of information...

Fireman brought me home, and the first thing I wanted to do was get a bath. I could not do so in the hospital, so as soon as walking into the house guess where the first place I went? well... In my lamen's terms; the bathtub IS in the Bathroom, and since I am obliged to use the Bathroom, then it should be okay to take a bath! LOL

Mom and Dad decided to keep the kids another night; it was already kind of late and they probably were afraid I would have to go back into the Hospital. They kept them until Mid-Afternoon. Saturday was Katie's 11th birthday and I ended up calling and cancelling her birthday party with her friends. There was no way I could have girls over to the house with me on bedrest and what would happen if I ended up needing to go back in? My sister was so wonderful; she took Katie out shopping and out to lunch. I felt I could see a big change in her by the time she came home. She brought her loot from her shopping with her Aunt home and was very excited! We felt bad for her missing out on her party that we agreed to have all of the girls over after Gracie's arrival and before school for a sleepover. Fireman went and bought an Icecream cake to celebrate that night.

Things seemed to have went well. I was staying calm and dealing with the bicering and fighting that sometimes reared it's ugly head from the couch and not getting up. Monday morning; my hips were hurting from laying on my left side so much and the kids were up fighting over the TV. I seemed to let them do whatever they pleased as long as it was safe just to keep a fight from happening. I had a ton of Legos all over the floor; along with Littlest Petshops. Steven donned himself into his DS lite for the day; staying pretty happy with that. As soon as Fireman called and told me he was on his way home I started thinking about ways to get the kids to help him clean up the house. Instead of telling them what needed to be done; I asked them to name three things they could do when dad gets home to help get the house cleaned up. After those items were done, the house was looking better than it had all day (at least from my view LOL)and they were rewarded with WII time.

Tuesday when I woke up to the kids in the Living Room and fighting over the TV, I was starting to fret some. How can I deal with this and deal with it without getting up and not being stressed? It was a difficult day. I was sore. My back hurt. No matter how I laid I could not get comfortable. My link to the world was my internet on my laptop; my big investment this year, a used laptop! I was curious about some of the things that were mentioned with everything going on searching endlessly for someone who went through it too. With the research and the kids I was to the point that I was not being very happy with how things were working out but I was thankful to have the research to keep me from exploding. The kids decided to try to make a run of the house getting into everything they thought they could because "Mom cannot do anything about it".

Fireman once again came home; but the house was beyond trashed. I felt terrible to have to depend on Fireman as much as I was; I knew he was tired and I knew he did not even know what to start with or what to do. He brought dinner home; and since he did not know how to prepare it I had him set everything up at the kitchen table and I sat there and made dinner; telling him what I needed and asking him to take this to the oven or get me this or that. Later that night; awarded with Wii time again and getting strict instructions that they were all to get up and get showers in the morning; they went to bed.

Wednesday was the first day that I actually slept through the night; waking up when Fireman called. I was shocked; up at 8 AM and no kids up? they actually slept until 9:30 or 10:00 and got their breakfast. I did not say they cleaned it up though! I had to push for them to get showers and reminded them I had a doctors appointment. It was actually a good day; they were all into their DS lites and while there was a slight mess throughout the house, it was better than in the past.

Fireman requested at work to get off work early to get me to my Doctor's appointment, which we made with 10 minutes to spare and three highly threatened children that they were "to be on their best behavior". No complaints from the nursing staff.... :O) That is where we were told that while I need to take it easy and given other instructions - I did not need to be on such a restrictive rest plan! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

My mind was going a mile a minute. I can do things with my kids! I can help keep house and get little things done with their help and help my husband in the process in keeping up with things. I can make his life easier!!! Excitement was in my blood then. I was actually looking foward to doing little things that once I thought was a pain in the ass.

While I am no longer on bedrest; I am still taking things easy. I need to at least get past July 16, 2010; my Grandmothers birthday. The more I think of things, the more I am thinking that Gracie has my grandmother's attitude and wouldn't it be something if they ended up sharing that special day? I am in no way going to provoke it into happening though. Gracie needs to stay put as long as she possibly can to "bake".

Anyone who thinks bedrest is easy needs to rethink their thoughts. It is rough. It is difficult. It is something that you don't think of or plan for. It is something that you need to remember that "this too shall pass". If it were not for friends and family I am not sure how I really would have dealt with this. I am not one that accepts help and assistance very easily but during this time I found myself leaning on people I hated to burden, and I had to really let myself do that. I am grateful for all of the help I recieved, even though I am not really sure how to show that to those who deserve it.