Thursday, August 17, 2006 

Exiled to Bed

Monday would seem like a fairly normal day. I went to work and it was pretty slow. Not too many emails to attend to.

Around 8ish, the baby seemed particularly frisky which naturally made me rather uncomfortable. I also started to feel a bit dizzy and my chest started hurting. Not good, I thought. So I took a nap. We were still at the office actually. I woke up around 830ish, feeling only slightly better. Louie, Chloe, Yaya and I decided to head home. Louie and I were supposed to pass by McDonalds for some fries, but in the car, I started feeling pain. Thing is, it felt like labor, but it also didn't. Whatever it was, it really hurt and I started crying.

We got home and I layed down on the couch, while Louie attempted to time contractions. They were too irregular, he said. But the thing is, I was really in pain. During this whole episode, Chloe was absolutely sweet, and kept saying things like "Poor Mommy", offering me a pillow and rubbing my legs. So after a few calls to my OB-GYN, we decided to go to the hospital.

We headed to Labor and Delivery of St. Lukes Medical Center with all our stuff waiting in the car. Doc had told Louie I was not going to give birth though - it was simply too early. For the record, I'm about 34 weeks along, which is at least 3 weeks early. After an assessment by the resident which included an internal exam (AN AWFUL AWFUL THING FOR A WOMAN TO GO THROUGH), they concluded I was 1 cm dilated. Again, not a good thing because it was too early. I was then admitted for pre-term labor.

My OB-GYN showed up around 11 pm to do her magic. Basically, they put me on some IV drip to stop the contractions and she stuck around until things had calmed down which was almost 1 am. It turns out it was her birthday and she had spent the wee hours of the morning of her birthday watching me. Felt a little guilty, but was glad to have a doctor who was responsible. :-)

I was admitted to the Labor Room - the doc told Louie and I it would be cheaper than getting an individual room. It's not that we were being frugal, it just didn't make any sense to get an individual room. Louie couldn't stay the whole night or day anyway because he had work. Plus I'm not really the type to make him stick around if I wasn't in pain anymore. Doc insisted I stay in the hospital until she was sure the contractions had stopped.

Staying in the Labor Room wasn't too bad. The room consisted of like 10 beds I think, and we were never more than 3 women at any one time. In the morning, one woman went to labor and it kinda scared me. She was yelling and all that and I remembered just how much the whole ordeal hurt. Luckily she was brought to Delivery fairly quickly and I didn't need to hear too much "pain".


The whole experience actually gave me a better appreciation of nurses in general. I mean, I had always looked at them as a way to earn a living (note, I'm a recruiter). But being in the Labor Room, I was always being asked if I was ok and all that. Most of them were genuinely nice people and truthfully, I don't know why anyone would want to be a nurse (look, they help you pee in a bed pain!) Maybe it just really takes a different kind of temperament. (That said, I don't know how my Mom became a nurse in the US).

I tried to observe as much as I could about hospital life. I noted the stereotypes you see on TV on ER or Grey's Anatomy. There was the experienced doctor, the good looking doctor, the chatty residents, the stern head nurse, the newbie nurse, the cheerful male nurses' aide, etc. And of course, I liked looking at everyone's scrubs (medical word for uniform). Every imagineable print was there... cute frogs, Charlie Brown, black bats against pink skies, etc.

I also noted something about the economics of life. You see, every time I had a meal, my bed was wheeled out into the hallway of the labor room so I could be with Louie. One time, we saw a pregnant woman come in (musta been around 8 or 9 months) and the docs were talking to her. It seems that she hadn't felt the baby move in a while so the residents wanted her to get an ultrasound. So the resident explained that the ultrasound would cost around P2,000 normally, but since it was already night time, they'd have to open up the department especially for her case. The price of the ultrasound would then be around P3,500. They asked her to think about it. Louie and I coud hear bits and pieces of the conversation and they mentioned Sta. Teresita hospital. Louie and I were familiar with that hospital because we would go there to get our gallbladder ultrasound and it would cost like P150. We then realized the predicament they were in... P3,500 next to P150... imagine having to make that choice when you're totally freaked out whether or not your baby is ok.
I felt very very lucky and thankful to Louie that I've never been put in such a situation.

Ok, so back to a more cheerful entry...

I had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby is fine! It moves an awful lot and well, I was just very happy to see it sucking its thumb. Truthfully, I've been wanting to give birth already. But doc says if I gave birth now, the baby's lungs would be immature and that there could be problems (think incubator). So I guess I'll just have to be patient.

Basically I was admitted Tuesday at midnight and was discharged Wednesday lunch time. Thank goodness.I hated being immobilized like that because I was attached to an IV drip. Every little movement was so difficult. And the worst part was having to pee in a bed pan!

So I'm at home now. Doc sent me home with strict orders of bedrest for 3 weeks with bathroom privileges. Other than that, no walking around or anything. And that has been a real challenge. Those who know me know I can barely stay still for a minute, so 3 weeks will be quite interesting. It's been a day... and I'm bored to tears. I've got a laptop but it's still on dial-up so everything is soooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooow. Food needs to be brought to my room for every meal (Louie and I live on the third floor of his parents' house so naturally I can't be going up and down the stairs.) After 3 weeks, anything goes!
It's going to be a rough three weeks!

6:58 PM | |

Thursday, August 03, 2006 

I've Been Passing Time Watching Trains Go By...

I am 32 weeks pregnant. Wow, time passes by so quickly. These days, sometimes I wish time would pass by faster - I want to give birth already! Aside from being excited to see the baby, I kind of want to not weigh as much as a cow. I hate walking around the mall and having my feet ache after a mere 15 minutes of walking.

We actually haven't gotten anything ready yet for the baby. We bought supplies and all... well, mostly boy baby clothes because we didn't have any. About a year and a half ago, we bought small baby bottles (with blue caps) on sale in anticipation of the next kid (we figured if it was a girl, we could give em as gifts). Most of the furniture we bought for Chloe could be considered unisex (well, actually, it's all dark blue) -- stroller, infant car seat, high chair, playpen, etc. -- so luckily no need to buy extra stuff in that department.

So how will things be different with this next kid? Well, thanks to Louie, Charmaine, Raquel, Gerby, and a couple of other friends - I'll be attempting to breastfeed exclusively. Why? Alot of reasons I guess. Firstly, I noticed that the on-and-off breastfeeding I did with Chloe did her some good -- she gets sick ALOT less than other completely nonbreastfed kids that I know. I figure it's because of that. Second, I know it's cheaper too (even if I had to buy a breast pump). Lastly, it'll help me lose all this pregnancy weight (pretty important thing, I think). Let's see how long I last with this breastfeeding thing. For you men out there, it's not the peaceful painless experience you see in the commercials. I'm sure Louie is gonna make me stick it out though since we already spent on the freakin breast pump...

Anyway, at least 6 more weeks to go. Although doc told me I could give birth as early as Sept 4. I'm trying to remember the god-awful pain of childbirth and praying it lasts as long as it did with Chloe (all of 3 hours). I don't think I could take extended, drawn-out labor. Argh. I'm also trying to remember how much we spent last time... which was roughly in the range of P60,000. Ouch.

So here's to the next six weeks!



11:38 AM | |

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