Happy Mother's Day

I celebrated Mother's Day with breakfast in bed. Okay, today and every other day for the past 2½ months or so.

A couple of days ago I complained here about the pain in my back. I mentioned it to Dr. Alumbaugh yesterday, and she offered to write me for Flexeril, a muscle relaxant. I took her up on it, and yesterday at about 2:00 I took ½ of a pill. Holy cow! It knocked me out. From 2:00 yesterday afternoon to 8:00 this morning I slept and slept and slept. I would wake up for 2-3 hours at a time, but then I would go back to sleep again. I worried that sleeping so much yesterday afternoon would mean that I wouldn't sleep at night, but I did. The good news is that I feel well rested, and my back feels better. Dr. Alumbaugh also arranged for me to get a heating pad. That helps too.

Dr. Alumbaugh came in to see me again today. She decided to go ahead and check me a day early. I am 4-5 cm dilated now, closer to 5 cm, so she wants me to stay here for two more weeks. But I FOR SURE get to go home in two weeks. I'm not really surprised, and not really disappointed either. I want to go home, but I also worry about going home. Mostly I worry about my ability to be compliant with bed rest, and will I know when to come back in. I do still get to move around a little bit more. She said I could even go for a walk in the hallway, but I have to limit it to 5 minutes, then for sure come back in and rest. You know how exhausting those 5 minute walks can be!

Finally something new.

Dr. Alumbaugh came to see me today. I have finally heard something new. She wants me to walk around a little. The idea is to see how I respond. If I do go home on Monday, she's pretty sure I will not be as compliant at home as I am here. (She's probably right.) This way they will get an idea of how I will respond while I am still under close supervision. But even if I do go home, I will still be pretty restricted. There are a lot of ifs here, but this is the plan. Let's say I go home on Monday. I will come back to see the doctor the following Monday. If my cervix is unchanged - still 3-4 cm, I will be off bed rest. If I am 5-6 (or whatever), she said she will just consider me to be in labor and we'll have this baby. So much information, I hope I conveyed it all correctly. For that matter I hope I heard it all correctly.

Incidentally, here are the two 3D pictures I got from my ultrasound a couple of days ago. Gaby's face is partially obscured by the placenta, but hopefully you get the idea.


Today is the biggest birthday day I have ever known. May 9th is the birthday of my Dad, my sister Gayla, my sister Holly and my sister Luella. (They were probably all hoping Gaby would be born today, but I think they are out of luck.) Here is a picture of all of the birthday people. My sister Holly posted it on her blog, and I'm copying it. It is from a few years back (like 40). Happy birthday Dad, Gayla, Holly and Luella.


Today is a big day for Rachel too. She is going to a birthday party for one of her little friends that she made while she was babysitter-hopping. This is her first birthday party invitation. I'm sad that I am missing it. Hopefully Jeff will take pictures.

Well, Jeff did take pictures at the birthday party. Here is Rachel playing with all of her friends. And eating cake. (That's my girl!)

Just Another Day

To keep my contractions to a minimum, I have three jobs. 1. Stay hydrated (drink a lot of water), 2. keep my bladder empty (go to the bathroom a lot), 3. Lay on my side (self explanatory). I woke up this morning at 3:45 with the desire to comply with my second job. In the process I accidentally knocked the cup of water on my bedside table onto the bed. I don't know how much water was in the cup, but it was enough to make my bed uncomfortably wet. So when the nurse came in at 4:00 to give me my pill, I asked her for a new blanket. I was able to get through the rest of the night okay, but my heart went out to all those 4 and 5 year olds who deal with wet beds. (I promise in my case it was a cup of water. I made it to the bathroom just fine.)

When I woke up for the morning I took a shower and got my bed made, so now I am happily lying in a dry bed again.

I managed to not get a shot of terbutaline yesterday, but not so this morning. When I was on the monitor this afternoon my uterus was fine, but my back was killing me. Thankfully it wasn't the kind of back pain that was indicative of labor, it was just from lying in bed for a really long time. I hate to complain, but seriously, my back is just about done for. The nurse gave me Tylenol and a hot pack, so it's a little better now.

At 6:15 PM my doctor still hadn't come in to see me. I thought maybe I had missed her because I slept through it or something. Dr. Horlander is on today, and she was at the desk when I called. She called me back and gave me a hard time, just for fun. As it turns out, she was just getting put through the wringer in Labor and Delivery. She delivered six babies today - all boys. That is why she was so late doing rounds. She said that average is probably two. She said that I am doing well, but I should expect to continue to have the occasional contractions, therefore the occasional terbutaline shot. I guess "occasional" means daily.

Early Morning Surprise

Okay, it wasn't that early, but it was not expected. At 8:30 this morning the nurse assistant came in and said, "let's go to Maternal Fetal Medicine for your ultrasound." I had no idea I was supposed to have an ultrasound today. Usually I know it is coming, but not this time. They told me it was to check my fluid. My fluid is fine. It is 13 cm. That's good. They completely made the trip worthwhile because the ultrasound tech decided to take a couple of 3D pictures. I can't post them just yet, but I'll give them to Jeff so he can scan them in and post them here. I've gotta say, that Gaby is a cutie pie. Her face is partially blocked by the placenta, but you can see pretty well.

Dr. Wilson came in to see me this afternoon. Not much new, we just talked about if I would go home at 34 weeks (this Monday) or not. I should put up a poll. I asked Dr. Wilson about why the ultrasound this morning, but she didn't really know. The nurse came in a little later and cleared it up. She said that Dr. Case ordered it yesterday because Gaby was apparently messing with her cord, thereby causing fluctuation in her heart rate, so she wanted to check the fluid level, which was fine.

I ended up having two shots of terb yesterday. So far none today, but I will be monitored two more times still, and I am far from confident that I will dodge it.

Art

Rachel came to see me yesterday with Victoria (her babysitter). Rachel is into drawing and coloring these days. She found a pen on my bedside table (I use it to mark my menu every day) and I had some sheets of paper on a clipboard. She happily drew on the paper for a while, then turned her attention to another medium for her artwork - my stomach. She pulled up my shirt, and after a quick greeting to baby Gaby, she went to work decorating me.

A couple of hours later the nurse came in to monitor me and the baby. She was rather surprised by what she saw (Rachel's artwork on my belly). But she nevertheless went ahead and put the monitors on. An hour or so later when she took them off (no contractions, ergo no terbutaline) we saw that Rachel's belly art had transferred onto the monitors. Now there is pen markings all over the face of the fetal heart monitor. Rachel has literally left a mark around here.

Dr. Case came in to see me this morning. I was on the monitor at the time, and the first words out of her mouth were "Do you feel those contractions?" My answer "Kind of." Long story short, guess what they gave me. Starts with a "T" and ends with "erbutaline." You got it, another shot of terbutaline. The nurse said that at first I was fine, but as time went on, the contractions were getting more frequent. She also said that she thought my cervix was more open than it was when I first arrived since I have had so many contractions since I've been here, and they only give me terb when I'm on the monitors. What about when I'm not on? So we'll see if I get to go home at 34 weeks (next Monday) or not. These are the kind of mysteries that keep my life exciting.

Felíz Cinco de Mayo (Happy 5th of May)

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated in certain regions of México that commemorates the Méxican Army defeating the larger, better equipped French Army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5th 1862. In the United States these days it is a celebration of Méxican heritage. Well I don't have any Méxican heritage. Okay we did go on our honeymoon to México, and on our cruise a few years ago we had a couple of stops in México, but my real make-believe heritage is from Argentina, so I am going to use this day to celebrate my pretend Argentine heritage.

When I was in Argentina I met a fellow who was a folk dancer, and he showed me this really cool dance with boleadoras. Boleadoras are a weapon used by gauchos (gauchos are Argentine cowboys) that consists of three heavy balls on the end of three ropes that are all connected.


It was modified and used as a prop for a type of Argentine Folk Dance. The modification is one ball on the end of a rope. The dancer holds one in each hand and swings the balls so that they strike the floor to make a noise. Here is an example of the dance.



I think it is pretty cool. Now if I just had some mate (pronounced mah-tey).


I was on the monitor the morning, and (surprise, surprise) I was contracting. Not too strong as far as I could tell, but enough. We went through all of the things to stop it, such as drink water, go to the bathroom and lie on my side. Not good enough, the nurse still came back with my (daily) terbutaline. This is scaring me because I wasn't really feeling any contractions by then, but they were still showing up. So if and when I go home, if the baby hasn't already made her appearance, I'm afraid I won't know when to come back to the hospital. People say that I'll know, but I'm not sure I believe them. When I was at home I apparently had "productive" contractions, but I didn't realize it. As we're getting down to the nitty gritty I'm getting pretty nervous about the whole thing.

Dr. Schweichler just came in to see me. She said she's been pretty busy today. We chatted for a minute about me, and as she left I told her to take it easy, and not work too hard. She said she has two people in labor right now, so I guess she still has some work to do. I told her I would do my best to not contribute to her workload.

33 Weeks Today

We are inching along, making progress. I was telling Jeff a couple of weeks ago that if I were a teenager, I would be in heaven! Doctor's orders to stay in bed and not help out at all.

I was supposed to watch the coverage of the Kentucky Rolex 3 Day Event yesterday, but a hockey game went into triple overtime, so the coverage was postponed to May 16. But don't you fret, here is some footage from other 3 Day Events.

A Three Day Event is actually three different competitions. The first is called Dressage. It is a test where the horse and rider demonstrate the walk, the extended walk, the trot, the extended trot, the suspended trot, the canter, the horse's responsiveness, their suppleness and flexibility. To the untrained eye it is kind of boring to watch as all of the horses do the exact same routine, but I thought I would put some footage here to demonstrate Dressage in a more interesting way. This is freestyle dressage, and it is done to music, and almost look like the horse is dancing.



Dressage as done in eventing is not that cool, but you get the idea. The 2nd event is cross country. This is a long course that the horse and rider have to navigate over fixed obstacles, like logs, ditches, bridges, and things like that. It is (in my opinion) the most exciting part of a 3 Day Event. The horse gets penalties for refusals and for not finishing within a specific time frame. If the rider falls they are eliminated.



The 3rd and final event is stadium jumping. This is when the horse and rider navigate a series of fences that can fall down. The horse gets penalties for every pole knocked down, as well as refusals to jump and time.



Maybe you can tell, or maybe you can't, that I really love equestrian sports. There are two things that keep me from pursuing it personally, however. The first is money. Horses are so incredibly expensive! Here is the second thing that keeps me away.



Enough of that. So I'm 33 weeks today, and I'm celebrating my two week return to the hospital. I had yet another terb shot last night. I don't know if I'll dodge terb today or not, but either way I still get my progesterone shot today. Aren't I lucky?

Okay, I did get a terb shot this morning.

Dr. Hill came in to see me this morning. Nothing really new.

2009 Kentucky Derby

There was no symbolism that I could see, but the Derby was a great race this year. It was won by a 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird. If you haven't seen it, check it out.



I don't think the announcer did the race justice, but Mine That Bird made a spectacular run down the rail from last to first, and won it going away. The same jockey, Calvin Borel, won both the Oaks and the Derby this year. I'm glad for him. He seems like one of the good guys. This is actually his 2nd Derby win in 3 years. He won in 2007 aboard Street Sense too.

Before the race began the nurses went around having the patients draw 3 horses names to root for. I got two long shots, neither of which was Mine That Bird, and one contender, Pioneer of the Nile. If my horse came in the money (1st, 2nd or 3rd) I would get a prize. Well, Pioneer came in 2nd. So guess what I won. A pedicure kit. It included foot soak, foot scrub, a cuticle thing, a nail file, and toe separators. It made me laugh because when Marlene and Holly were here visiting, they both tried to paint my toenails, which I successfully resisted. Now apparently I have received a sign that I was wrong. But too late, they're both back in Idaho.

We had a little Derby Party in my hospital room. It was pretty small scale, with Jeff, Rachel, Jeff's parents and me. We all drew names of horses so we would know who to root for. Jeff's Dad came in both first and last, so he got two prizes. He shared one with Jeff's mom, who didn't win any prizes. Rachel came in 2nd, and Jeff came in 3rd. After the race was over Jeff and Rachel took me for a wheelchair ride. What a great day.

Dr. Wilson came in to see me yesterday morning. She'll be coming in again today (this is her weekend on). She gave me some good news. She said that I am not a candidate for magesium sulfate to stop labor. I currently get a shot of terbutaline if I am contracting too much, and as long as that is working it's all good, but I was concerned that if it stopped working, the next step would be magnesium sulfate. She said no, if the terb stops working, they will just let the baby come on. It's good news because the side effects of magnesium sulfate are pretty awful. So far the terb has been working great (including last night).

2009 Kentucky Oaks

Wow! Was the Oaks full of symbolism for my family or what!



In the fourth gate Gabby's Golden Gal lines up. The 5 horse was scratched, so the 6 horse, Rachel Alexandra lines up in the next gate.

Who could have ever imagined that both my kids' names would be represented in the Run for the Lilies?

So Gabby broke well and lead for a part of the race, but Rachel came on strong and won by 20½ lengths. Gabby ended up finishing 2nd to last.

In my real life Gaby threatened early, but thankfully she won't be winning any races just yet. In a perfect world Rachel would have won, and Gabby would have come in second, but seriously, Gaby doesn't need to be rushing things these days.

A breaking heart

I am being torn in half. I am in the hospital to give the best chance possible to baby Gaby. It is the right thing to do, the right place to be. In doing so, however, I am neglecting Rachel. I have not been able to fulfill my duty to her as her mother for 2½ months, and I feel that I am losing her. It breaks my heart when she will not come to me for comfort. She only finds solace in her daddy's arms. Don't get me wrong. I want her to find comfort with Jeff, I just want her to find comfort with me too, and now she doesn't.

On the one hand, this cannot end soon enough. I want desperately to go home and try to restore my relationship with Rachel. But on the other hand, such thoughts make me feel guilty because I also want to give Gaby her best chance possible. I understand that at the moment Gaby's situation is the most urgent, but I am being torn by my children's opposite needs.

Dr. Bell came to see me today. Nothing really new, but she did ask me if I'm feeling all the contractions I've had lately. I feel some, not others. I asked her about wheelchair rides. I expected her to say no, but when I told her I just wanted the rides for Rachel she said we could go ahead and give it a try. So I'm glad about that. The only stipulations are to keep them short, and I agreed to only go with Rachel. It's really for her more than for me.

We are very glad that we now have a permanent solution for watching Rachel. We are so grateful to the people who have helped us to care for Rachel while I'm in the hospital. Now Jeff's cousin is moving back here for a while, and she agreed to watch Rachel every day until this whole thing is over. Hopefully that will work out well.