First Full Day Home

These last 2 weeks have been such a crazy and insane whirlwind, I don't even know where to begin. After going to walk-in at the clinic on the 27th, I found myself stuck in the hospital in Viking with pre-eclampsia...AGAIN. Didn't I suffer enough the first time? Apparently not.

I was stuck in Viking until the following Wednesday. At that point they decided I was too high risk and likely to have to deliver early and because I was only 33 weeks along, they were just not equipped to deal with me. My doctor wanted to send me to either the Grey Nuns or the Royal Alex, but as "luck" would have it, the only hospital in the city with a bed for me, and a bed for the baby in the NICU was the Misericordia. Where I spefically said I did not want to go. But my doctor promised he would do everything he could to not send me back to the moron I had last time, and off I went.

The day we got there, I met with the OB I was referred to, Dr. Tsui, and she said that she could not see me going even a week without having to deliver. She had recommended to my regular OB before sending me that I get the 1st of the two steroid shots to develop the baby's lungs. She gave a clear impression that she was figuring the baby would be born on Friday, which would give the steroids just enough time to work.

Thursday morning I had an ultrasound and found out that the baby was breech, and also very big. It's measuring 2 weeks ahead in size. We met with a pediatrician specializing in preemies that day as well, and got an overload of information on what to expect from a baby at 33 weeks gestation, but it really was not as bad as either of us were thinking.

And then we got to wait. And wait. And wait some more. I ended up there until yesterday, which was one week after I had arrived. They let me go home because my labs had improved and my blood pressure had been stablized (thanks to the meds they started me on in Viking). It was so bizarre to be leaving the hospital still pregnant when we had been assured that the baby would be born by this time.

Actually, it was bizarre to just be at the Mis period. They had me in the post-partum wing and the last time I was there was when Addy was born. I spent a fair bit of time in labor and delivery too getting what seemed like a million non-stress tests, and it was really bizarre to be over there as well. This year has flown by, and being there and having all the memories of Addy's birth and her first few days of life come flooding back was overwhelming and made it that much more obvious how quickly time really is passing.

Anyways, Martina spent last night here with me and is spending tonight too to help me out with Addy. I am so huge and uncomfortable and my back is constantly killing me, that I have a really tough time moving around and it is really difficult for me to carry Addy, so she has been helping me while Jamie is on nights. The days have been okay. Yesterday afternoon the 3 of us just slept, and Martina came over after work so I didn't have to deal with Addy alone. And today Addy was quite content to spend most of the day playing in her playpen, and when she wasn't doing that she was either in her high chair for a meal or in bed napping. She let me get a good nap in this afternoon so that was nice, and then Martina was back over after work.

It feels so good to be home. Yesterday when we got here, Addy went down for her nap right away, and Jamie needed to get some sleep before his shift and I was tired as well, so him and I crawled into bed and I just started crying. I did so well when I was in the hospital (only cried twice and that was thinking about how much I missed Addy) but once I got home I realized how homesick I really had been and how grateful I was to be home (plus, I really wasn't expecting to be able to go home), and I just couldn't hold it it.

But now I am here and I'm very grateful to be able to be at home and I have been cherishing the time I am getting to spend with Addy. Until I was hospitalized, we had never been apart for more than a few hours and never overnight, and it was so incredibly hard to be away from her. So now I am so appreciative of the time I am getting to spend with her, even if I am dealing with a nasty headache (which I have had for the last 2 weeks) and am so pregnant I feel like I could explode. It was really important to me to get to spend some quality time with her, just her and me, before the new baby arrives, and I am very happy that we are getting to do that.

I see my regular OB on Monday, so we will see what his plans are with the baby's arrival. Because it is breech and because of my now high blood pressure, I know it will have to be a c-section, so I am anxious to find out when it will be. He had said before they transferred me that hopefully I could stay pregnant and have a section in Viking at 37 weeks, but I am kind of hoping he will go with 36 weeks. I would rather go earlier than later so that I have less chance of ending up in the hospital on bedrest again, and also I don't know how much more of carrying around this baby my body can handle. I am already feeling like an 80 year old with killer arthritis.