As Time Goes By...

And no matter what the progress

Or what may yet be proved

The simple facts of life are such

They cannot be removed.

You must remember this

A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.

The fundamental things apply

As time goes by.

Week 2 on bed rest (1 April):

wake up; go to bathroom; check sugar; eat; go to bathroom; lay on my left side - uncomfortable; sit up; lay reclined - back hurts; go to the bathroom (ahhhhhh feels good to stand up); lay down; turn on t.v. (nothing worth watching until 5pm); turn on radio; check sugar; look out window; eat; go to bathroom; lay down; sit up; read magazines; turn off radio; turn on tv - britcoms are on PBS!.......

and so it goes.

After a couple days of this, it gets kinda old. Surprisingly on weekends when all you want to do is veg-out, it all sounds so appealing.

Week 3 on bed rest (8 April)

On Friday April 7th (34 weeks), my doctor called me and informed me that my protein had gone up to 2.5 g. Previous readings were at less than 1 g. Based on those results, he was concerned that they would continue to exponentially climb. His recommendation was to be admitted (again) and run another 24 hour test to see what the next value would be, then based on that result he'd be able to determine what the trend is. We decided it was better for me to be in the hospital knowing that once I went in, I wouldn't be released until I deliver. So I got admitted that Friday. We were hoping this was an errant test and really did not want to deliver at 34 weeks. I took the next test and, SURPRISE SURPRISE, my protein had actually dropped to 1.4 g. So my protein was lower and my amniotic fluid was good. We continued with monitoring amniotic fluid and protein. The next round of tests weren't as good. My AFI dropped but the perinatal radiologist wasn't concerned as he saw a lot of fluid in one pocket. My protein crept up to 2 g though. My platelets, which were dropping, actually came back up. Later that week I had another AFI done and it continued to drop. So I did another protein test and based on those results we would have to make a decision about delivery (35 weeks).

In the meantime, my baby shower was now out of the question. And since I wasn't home, I really needed to feel prepared just in case we had to deliver early. We still needed to get a car seat (high priority), get the crib put together, wash the new baby clothes......I felt totally disorganized and it was driving me nuts!

Despite all of this, I'm glad to have such good friends and relatives that called or stopped by to visit! It's hard not to feel down and isolated when you're in the hospital and their support has been wonderful for me.



Week 4 on bed rest (15 April):

My next protein test results came in and, SURPRISE SURPRISE, it only increased to 2.1 g. My platelets increased even more and have been the highest they've been. Totally stumped. My doctor had already decided that he was going to start inducing Wednesday with cervical gels and deliver Thursday (36 weeks). His reasoning was 'why wait?' 36 week old babies are just as healthy and why wait for something to go wrong. That being said, he was willing to wait for the next AFI reading, if that was even lower I really would have no options but to deliver.

Now we were wondering what was causing my proteins to have gotten worse, better, then relatively stable. The difference was that protein in my diet had increased. Steven had been increasing the protein in my diet when I was home and when I was admitted, he brought me extra food to supplement since the hospital food is not very nutritious (doesn't that surprise you? You'd think as a hospital they'd have very nutritious meals but what I've determined is that they don't follow the nutritional guidelines for protein, vegetables, etc.... more on that later).

The perinatal radiologist came in to do my AFI and, SURPRISE SURPRISE, it increased - in fact almost doubled! Based on that and my other results she saw no reason to deliver me.... I bought another week which meant that as long as nothing went south I could deliver at 37 weeks rather than 36 which, according to my doctor, is considered 'term'. While it seems insignificant, at 37 weeks the baby has a better chance of not going to NICU, having developed the sucking reflex, and my body being more prepared.

So now I have a few more days left before we start the induction on next Wednesday/Thursday....