Yesterday, I called in to Dr. Gjoni's office because I've continued to have interesting symptoms similar to preterm labor. The short story is we went in, they took some blood, said my white blood cell count was a little high, and gave me an Rx for different antibiotics. But here's the long version:
Dr. Gjoni (who, by the way, we're not planning on using again. It's likely we'll go to Liberty and see the doctors there. The reception staff, at least, is already aware of us but they don't accept transfers this late in the pregnancy.) wasn't in because he's on vacation until today. I guess when he's out they leave his patients to another obstetrician in the obstetrics unit where they deliver the babies. She asked if I would like to come in and be seen by that doctor and I agreed. Daddy had thrown up that morning (might be TMI, but whatev's) so he was home and took me to see the fill-in obstetrician.
It was weird walking into the unit. I've never been in a place like that for myself or anyone else. There was no one at the front desk and we had to call on a little phone, but a nurse answered right away and let us back. The first thing the nurse did was lead us into a room and hand me the infamous little cup for, well, you know. When I came back out, I got to survey the room. Everything about it was unfamiliar to me - the bed I was to lay in, the spot by the window with a mattress-like cushion for sleeping on, the machinery by the bed. Charles settled down in a glider rocker by the bed, and the nurse had me sit down and lean back so they could take blood samples for testing. After that, the first nurse (her name was something like Deena) asked me to expose my stomach so she could place the heart rate monitors on me.
She tried for quite a few minutes, to no avail. After a while, all of us started to get nervous. The tension was evident. Deena started saying things like "it might be your age and you might not be far enough along for it to work well." Finally, she went to get a heart doppler. When she left the room, I turned to Charles and said "Are you ready for the worst?" Nodding, he quietly said "Yes, I am." However, a few minutes before Deena came back, I felt a kick. You were there. (Still are, but that's not related to the story at hand.)
When she finally returned, I had the confidence to say I knew you were there. After a bit, the doppler confirmed what we already knew. Soon enough, we heard your heart beat pumping along. When the second nurse, Carolynn, came in, she said the base line rate was 137. Thankfully, when she did finally get you to cooperate and not squirm off, your heart rate was going from anywhere between the 140's and 150's. It was nice getting to see my belly move with my heart beat then jolt with your kicks. Daddy got to see it too, which was great.
We didn't do much else than that. Carolynn came in and gave us all "medicine" (aka a piece of Dove almond dark chocolate) and we answered a bunch of questions about ourselves, our wishes for the day of your birth, and on from there. There were tears (and not just mine) and the giving of a sweet little care package which a local organization gives to hospitals for people in our situation. It had a lot of things for the day-of, like a blanket for you, a kit for making clay footprints, some fuzzy socks and lip gloss for me, and even a book of crossword puzzles for Daddy. There were even a few more things included. It was so nice. (As soon as we got home, I added all of that to our freshly-packed hospital bag. It's weird having it around, but a necessity none-the-less. Additionally, I definitely do want to use that blanket and footprint pad. I will keep those as long as I have the strength left in my body to look at or touch them.)
Anyway, the doctor took me off of the antibiotic my doctor had given me, and put me on a different antibiotic. They gave us a minute to just sit there and listen to your heartbeat while they waited for the doctor to come back (he'd seen me right at the beginning of the visit very briefly and the rest was the nurses) and do a vaginal swab for more tests. It was really quite funny. Everything would be all steady until you would kick the heart monitor, at which point it'd be all muffled for a second, then go back to the steady beat. It was fun to listen to your heartbeat for more than a few seconds.
At one point I did break down and Daddy came over and hugged me tightly. It seemed like they were taking forever, and eventually I asked Daddy to come up onto the bed and cuddle with me - I needed to feel him close. It was nice to have him there. It's amazing how the Lord provides exactly what we need. Daddy has been there for all of the very important things, and I know it's because the Lord knows it's important to us that he's there.
After a while, Deena came in and said she was sorry - that the doctor had just decided to give me the antibiotic and thought we were done. He was in a different part of the hospital tending to other patients. They took me off of the machines, gave us discharge instructions which included information about premature labor (which is what we suspect is going to happen), and sent my new Rx off to the pharmacy. In a matter of minutes, we were out of the obstetrics unit and on our way home... and I guess that's a good place to end this entry.
Sincerely,
Mommy.
(P.S. I have been feeling a lot less nauseated since I got off the first antibiotic and we'll see how this one goes.)
No comments:
Post a Comment