Worst Date Night Ever.
Aug. 28th, 2009 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ricevermicelliOr, How We Went to Three Hospitals in One Night, Why I Have Not Seen Anne Boleyn's Heaving Bosoms, And Why You Should Never Skip Dinner
Yesterday was clearly not cut out to be a romantic day. Mark it in your calendars folks: August 27 is a bad day for romance. Also, it is fired.
Our usual date night schedule involvesdreams_of_wings taking Danger Lad! out of our collective hair. It does not involve Senatorial memorial services. And say what you will about Ted Kennedy, that man was loved by the people of Massachusetts. He represented our interests and did good work for us (and probably for you too, even if you don't live in Massachusetts), and we fear there are no more like him. As a result of our love and his accomplishments, traffic was a bitch. So instead of having a leisurely dinner with danceboy and watching a second episode of The Tudors to see if the plot to heaving bosoms of Anne Boleyn ratio was better than it was in the first episode, I went to pick DL! up from daycare, so that we wouldn't have to pay fines. dreams_of_wings came to our house, in the hopes that the plan could more or less go on.
Of course, with our toddler in the mix, the plan did require alterations. Danger Lad! needed to strip himself to his favorite outfit (diaper and sneakers), and play catch, and then, since I was putting off getting food for myself to watch the show, to perform a (happily half-hearted) historical recreation of the incident in which his younger aunt split her forehead open on a doorframe when she tripped and fell while running in the house. Like all head wounds, it bled a lot. Like nervous parents, we brought him to the ER. After an hour or so of waiting around, watching our child demonstrate his gross motor skills and neurological function in the ER (a child who can gallop like a pony, climb on chairs, yell at the tv, and experiment with the water fountain is probably not suffering a skull trauma in need of immediate treatment), a triage nurse expressed the opinion that he might need one stitch. Or maybe just some steri strips. We have steri strips at home, so that's where we went.
The triage nurse also told us we shouldn't be mad at the babysitter (what would be mad at her for? it wasn't her job to get estimates on padding the house with foam rubber), and that our son is a normal boy. Which I know is code for "kids get hurt like this all the time," but always makes me feel like the speaker is trying to tell me that they don't think our son is gay.
DL! has now - finally - had his first haircut. We had to cut off a small section of hair to make the bandages stick. I had planned to keep the first curl shorn off him, wrapped in tissue paper in a box or something, but it was pretty gory.
Anyway. We annointed the child with antibiotic ointment, applied butterfly closures, settled him down with his Unka Jesse, Kiki's Delivery Service and some dinner, and went upstairs... where I promptly started bleeding. So without stopping to eat, we called the midwives, threw some things into bags (withdreams_of_wings' help), and headed to our second hospital of the night. I estimate we were there for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, before they bounced us to hospital #3, which (unlike hospital #2) has a Level III NICU. Which we hope not to need.
Hospitals 2 and 3 concurred that I should not have anything by mouth, so from my mid-afternoon snack yesterday to nearly 1 p.m. today, I had nothing but ice chips. I believe I whined to every. last. medical professional who crossed my path, and I appear to have earned myself some difficult patient cred. Especially with the one nurse who told me that "you feel like you're hungry, but..."
Around one in the afternoon, they concluded that I am no longer actively bleeding, and that I was never actively contracting. They moved me off of the labor and delivery floor and into a nice ante-partum room, where they intend to keep me for I know not how long.
The last time I bled, yet another hospital kept me for four hours, and told me that, if this happened again, wherever I went, I would probably be there longer. By "longer", I assumed they meant, "overnight", or possibly "a day or two." They're talking about keeping me two or three days, or a week to ten days, or possibly until I deliver. They appear concerned that an emergency may require delivery in the next 2-10 days, although the available evidence makes me think this is extremely unlikely. Unless the previa resolves, they do not expect me to make it all the way to my due date.
The length of hospital stay most often given to me is seven to ten days. Since a nurse let slip that they might let me go much sooner, I suspect they are trying to spare themselves the kind of aggressive lobbying I indulged in against the NPO orders.
They did a pretty rough ultrasound last night, enough to show that the baby looks great, not enough to render any opinion on the placenta. I will be agitating for a more sophisticated scan as soon as it it practical to arrange one. They have re-typed my blood (again), started me on steroids to help the baby's lung development, and given me more Rhogam. They have lectured me on anesthesia, l&d practices for surgical section, and NICU policies and services. I am allowed to get up and go to the loo by myself, and to walk around my room. I am not permitted to wander the hall. If I am very good, they may be willing to take me outside in a wheelchair on Sunday.
So that's where we are. Drop me a note if you want more locational details. I am canceling my social and business engagements (aside from those occurring in hospital, or possibly at my house - if you have talked to me about visiting, that's still on) for the immediate future. I hope to be able to put some of them back *on* the schedule, but right now, these things are outside my control.
Yesterday was clearly not cut out to be a romantic day. Mark it in your calendars folks: August 27 is a bad day for romance. Also, it is fired.
Our usual date night schedule involves
dreams_of_wings taking Danger Lad! out of our collective hair. It does not involve Senatorial memorial services. And say what you will about Ted Kennedy, that man was loved by the people of Massachusetts. He represented our interests and did good work for us (and probably for you too, even if you don't live in Massachusetts), and we fear there are no more like him. As a result of our love and his accomplishments, traffic was a bitch. So instead of having a leisurely dinner with danceboy and watching a second episode of The Tudors to see if the plot to heaving bosoms of Anne Boleyn ratio was better than it was in the first episode, I went to pick DL! up from daycare, so that we wouldn't have to pay fines. dreams_of_wings came to our house, in the hopes that the plan could more or less go on.Of course, with our toddler in the mix, the plan did require alterations. Danger Lad! needed to strip himself to his favorite outfit (diaper and sneakers), and play catch, and then, since I was putting off getting food for myself to watch the show, to perform a (happily half-hearted) historical recreation of the incident in which his younger aunt split her forehead open on a doorframe when she tripped and fell while running in the house. Like all head wounds, it bled a lot. Like nervous parents, we brought him to the ER. After an hour or so of waiting around, watching our child demonstrate his gross motor skills and neurological function in the ER (a child who can gallop like a pony, climb on chairs, yell at the tv, and experiment with the water fountain is probably not suffering a skull trauma in need of immediate treatment), a triage nurse expressed the opinion that he might need one stitch. Or maybe just some steri strips. We have steri strips at home, so that's where we went.
The triage nurse also told us we shouldn't be mad at the babysitter (what would be mad at her for? it wasn't her job to get estimates on padding the house with foam rubber), and that our son is a normal boy. Which I know is code for "kids get hurt like this all the time," but always makes me feel like the speaker is trying to tell me that they don't think our son is gay.
DL! has now - finally - had his first haircut. We had to cut off a small section of hair to make the bandages stick. I had planned to keep the first curl shorn off him, wrapped in tissue paper in a box or something, but it was pretty gory.
Anyway. We annointed the child with antibiotic ointment, applied butterfly closures, settled him down with his Unka Jesse, Kiki's Delivery Service and some dinner, and went upstairs... where I promptly started bleeding. So without stopping to eat, we called the midwives, threw some things into bags (with
dreams_of_wings' help), and headed to our second hospital of the night. I estimate we were there for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, before they bounced us to hospital #3, which (unlike hospital #2) has a Level III NICU. Which we hope not to need.Hospitals 2 and 3 concurred that I should not have anything by mouth, so from my mid-afternoon snack yesterday to nearly 1 p.m. today, I had nothing but ice chips. I believe I whined to every. last. medical professional who crossed my path, and I appear to have earned myself some difficult patient cred. Especially with the one nurse who told me that "you feel like you're hungry, but..."
Around one in the afternoon, they concluded that I am no longer actively bleeding, and that I was never actively contracting. They moved me off of the labor and delivery floor and into a nice ante-partum room, where they intend to keep me for I know not how long.
The last time I bled, yet another hospital kept me for four hours, and told me that, if this happened again, wherever I went, I would probably be there longer. By "longer", I assumed they meant, "overnight", or possibly "a day or two." They're talking about keeping me two or three days, or a week to ten days, or possibly until I deliver. They appear concerned that an emergency may require delivery in the next 2-10 days, although the available evidence makes me think this is extremely unlikely. Unless the previa resolves, they do not expect me to make it all the way to my due date.
The length of hospital stay most often given to me is seven to ten days. Since a nurse let slip that they might let me go much sooner, I suspect they are trying to spare themselves the kind of aggressive lobbying I indulged in against the NPO orders.
They did a pretty rough ultrasound last night, enough to show that the baby looks great, not enough to render any opinion on the placenta. I will be agitating for a more sophisticated scan as soon as it it practical to arrange one. They have re-typed my blood (again), started me on steroids to help the baby's lung development, and given me more Rhogam. They have lectured me on anesthesia, l&d practices for surgical section, and NICU policies and services. I am allowed to get up and go to the loo by myself, and to walk around my room. I am not permitted to wander the hall. If I am very good, they may be willing to take me outside in a wheelchair on Sunday.
So that's where we are. Drop me a note if you want more locational details. I am canceling my social and business engagements (aside from those occurring in hospital, or possibly at my house - if you have talked to me about visiting, that's still on) for the immediate future. I hope to be able to put some of them back *on* the schedule, but right now, these things are outside my control.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:15 am (UTC)Re the indefinite hospital stay: ARGH OMG HOSPITALS SUCK.
How many weeks along are you?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:22 am (UTC)I am in total agreement on both other points.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:43 am (UTC)We don't know.
But here's what's making me nuts: the staff at this hospital does know. The lady who did the u/s last night wrote it down, and it's in our records. I don't want anyone to tell me. I'm a little defensive about it. Is weird.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:46 am (UTC)Knowing might help you make decisions, understand why docs act different ways, probability of outcomes, etc.
Or not.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:24 pm (UTC)(My mom, as it happens, was a wildly undercooked hamburger with excellent outcomes.)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 06:34 am (UTC)Previa, didn't you know you were supposed to GO AWAY!!!
If they won't let you have any nourishment by mouth, you can demand it by IV. I believe that was a huge factor in
Best wishes!
--Beth
*HUGS*
Date: 2009-08-29 01:30 am (UTC)Take care of you.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:33 am (UTC)My Mondays and Wednesdays are generally made of boring. Are you likely to want visitors (me + V)?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:42 am (UTC)Would love to see V.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:30 am (UTC)This whole thing sucks, hon. I'm so sorry.
However, a terrible and wicked part of me is compelled to point out that- congratulations!- you don't have to work during this pregnancy after all! You can collect short term disability! YOU WIN!!!
Seriously, though, I got STD on bedrest, and you might wanna look into it, even if unemployed.
What was your original due date? How early would the baby be?
Eat, knit, stab people that cross you.
Which hospital are you at? I will sneak you in treats.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:48 am (UTC)Although, once, I got scabies in jail. I was not a resident, I just kinda hung around every day for the free food and the chance to pick up dudes.
And technically, I got herpes while on bedrest. The oral kind. From kissin'.
These stories are not related.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 03:55 am (UTC)Early inductions are a bitch...ask my sister.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 11:20 am (UTC)They won't induce me. Placenta in the way. The only way I get to deliver at this point is surgically. The longer I stay pregnant, the more likely that is to change.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 04:50 am (UTC)I'm sorry I can't visit in person, and I'll be busy tomorrow, but if you're lacking in company anytime Sunday afternoon or later, feel free to give me a call. seven zero eight three six six seven one six six. I'd be happy to chat, and I've heard that getting bored ranks right up there with food issues for "biggest problems with being on bed rest in a hospital." Plus, if you want to discuss anything along the "dealing with premies" line, I have some knowledge in the area (which I very much hope you don't need, but being prepared is better than not, plus in my experience, you're less likely to need it if you have it).
Very much hoping everything goes well,
Newt
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 09:38 am (UTC)Keeping you in my thoughts and wishing you all the best and most positive. Good luck honey.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 10:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 11:19 am (UTC)I totally suck at it. I mean, I can, sure, but it's no fun. I miss doing things. I want to take a walk (outside! I don't care if it's raining!), and cook a meal with produce that I chose myself.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 12:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 01:22 pm (UTC)(Like, I could get some heaving bosoms delivered.)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 02:21 pm (UTC)Glad you're not contracting; that's very good news. Literally every single day the baby stays inside improves the chances of a good outcome. Wishing you the best.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 05:26 pm (UTC)