Bam! Side view of me and the twins!
30 weeks!
Saturday,
November 17, 2012
I did not see
Elliot until early afternoon today because he was running around getting issues
with the car resolved. My Dad mentioned that he noticed that one of the back
taillights had gone out on my car. Elliot drives his car to and from work, but
has been driving my car on the weekends so it won’t be sitting for weeks on
end. Elliot was able to get a new bulb
replaced at the Toyota place fairly quickly and cheaply. After that he went to
the local fire station and had the car seats and the bases installed in my
car. I know this is a bit early,
especially if they are in the NICU for awhile, but it makes me feel like we are
getting ready for the boys arrival and the seats will be ready when the boys
are ready to come home. It also got a few things out of the garage! I had
Elliot take a couple pics of the seats in the car so I could see how it looked.
The seats do take up most of the backseat and with the double stroller in the
trunk, there is not much room for anything else.
With Elliot
attending to errands, I spent Saturday working on lesson plans for Thanksgiving
week and the last week of November for my sub. I have a rough outline of what
lessons I want done in December too, but am not sure what to do come January. Also, because I was not able to meet with my
sub in person before going on maternity leave, I have to leave pretty detailed
notes and instructions about how the library is run for the sub. I have to
lessen my control and realize my library will not blow up while I am gone, but
I don’t want it totally messed up and have to spend the first few weeks finding
and organizing things when I return.
Elliot was
going to meet his mom at the fire station to get our other set of care seat
bases installed in her car, since she’ll be taking care of the boys after I
return to work, but Jan had to Shelby to see about her mother, Mama. Apparently
Glenda, Jan’s sister in law, tried calling Mama several times and she did not
answer the phone. Glenda went to Mama’s house to check in on her and could see
through the locked screen door that Mama was lying on the floor. She then
called Larry, Jan’s brother, to bring the key to unlock the screen door and
Glenda called 911. Thankfully, Mama was alive and conscious, but they had her
taken to the hospital to be checked over. They are still observing and treating her now. With me in the hospital and Mama in
the hospital, I hope Jan can cope with everything.
Sunday,
November 18, 2012
Sunday
afternoon brought a visit from Drew and Ellen, a couple about our age who just
moved to the area this summer and started worshiping at East Chestnut. I think
they are a very sweet couple. Ellen is also a teacher! They brought a magazine
and a big bag of peanut M&Ms for me to enjoy. It was so nice to have a new
face to chat with and visit!
Sunday night,
right before Elliot was going to leave, turned a bit dramatic. One of the signs
I could be going into labor was if I had 4-6 contractions in an hour. If this happens, I am to notify the nurses
immediately. I have been having occasional contractions and when I have had a
contraction, I make sure to note the time. Since this involves a bit of math,
Elliot enjoys noting the time on my whiteboard. So I started having 4
contractions in about 40 minutes so I buzzed the nurse. The CNA told me to lay
on my side and drink, drink, drink my water and she would let my nurse know
what was going on. About 10 minutes later, the nurse comes in to check on me. She
tells me she will check on me in another 10 minutes, which would make the full
hour, to see if I have anymore contractions. I have 2 more contractions, making
a full 6 contractions in an hour. I am feeling a bit scared, thinking this is
it! AHHHH! Since I had reached the 6 contractions, they decide to put me on the
monitors and do a 20 minute non stress test on the babies and my uterus. I had only 1 contraction during the 20
minutes so it looks like I was just dehydrated and needed water to keep me from
having an irritable uterus that wants to contract. I was so thankful that I was not going into labor,
but I spend the next 2 hours peeing literally every 20 minutes.
Sunday
evenings are also what the nurses call weigh and dip nights for anyone on the
Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit. Meaning they have us get on this huge portable
scale to note our weight and each patient had to provide a urine sample to be
dipped to check for proteins in the urine.
My urine was a bit diluted from all the water, but turned out ok. I had also gained 5 pounds in one week! I was
a bit worried that this was quite a bit for one week, but since we need the
boys to gain weight, the doctors are not too worried. Until this point I had
only gained 10 pounds my whole pregnancy so 5 pounds in one week sounds like a
lot. The doctors say that this sometimes happens when women are put on bed rest
since you are not up walking around or exercising it off. I do feel the weight
now when I slowly walk to the bathroom. My stomach with 8+ pounds of baby feels
so heavy at times. The bed rest, muscle atrophy and baby weight make it very
hard to get around sometimes. I don’t consider myself a lazy person, but having
to sit around on bed rest and moving soooo slowly certainly makes me feel that
way.
Monday,
November 19, 2012
Today was an
up and down day for the family. Mama is still not doing well, which means poor
Jan is driving down to Shelby almost daily. She spends the night sometimes and
then returns to Asheville in the early afternoon. Unfortunately, Mama has not
been a “good” patient and is not sleeping well, requesting food, medicine, and
to be turned over, etc. every 15-20 minutes so Jan gets no sleep either. The
doctor’s think she may have Sundowner’s Syndrome, which is the first sign of
dementia. I hope and pray that Jan and her brothers and the rest of the family can
hold it together.
I had a visit
from the holistic nurse today. We did the guided imagery and a massage. I was
really looking forward to it with the stress of Mama and knowing I would be yet
again in the hospital for another holiday.
Perhaps because
of my quick weight gain or the fact that the babies now weigh what a full term
baby would weigh, I have been having some round ligament pain. It is very
painful to shift in the bed or get in and out of the bed to use the bathroom. I
knew pregnancy, especially with twins, would not be super comfortable, but I wonder
if the pain is exacerbated by my bed rest situation.
Tuesday,
November 20, 2012
Today was a
day of special gifts. Jan stopped by to visit me with a small balloon shaped
like a turkey; it’s pretty cute! She also brought a gift from Glenda and Bill
(her brother) for Elliot and me. It was the willow tree figurines of twins. I
had previously seen them in a Hallmark store but hesitated in buying them
because the only twin design is of two boys around toddler size and at the time
I did not know I would be having two boys. I like the Willow tree designs for their simplicity,
but rarely buy any since I am trying to stay clutter free. But I did keep the
Willow tree figure that was our wedding cake topper and this one since it is of
twin boys.
Elliot arrived
tonight in good spirits since it is the start of his Thanksgiving break. He ran
home after school to feed the cats and bring what he needed to spend the night
with me. He came bearing a beautiful gift from a couple we both have taught
with at various points in our career. Elliot currently teaches with Jim and I
taught with Cheryl two years ago when I was at Fairview. They are both
wonderful educators and love children. Cheryl made to large size blankets that
are just gorgeous and most people know I adore anything handmade for me. I love
how it has “manly” polka dots and the same ABC pattern (reminds me of
books/reading!) but with alternate green and blue backgrounds. It might just be
one of my favorite gifts that I have received for the boys.
Wow! The blankets are a wonderful size and beautiful.
Happy Daddy with Jonathan and Jacob's blankets.
What a cute design for the body of the blankets.
Twin boy figures; what a thoughtful gift.
Wednesday,
November 21, 2012
Since I have
now been here 26 days the doctors had the physical therapist create a plan to help
with my atrophying muscles. My exercises are pretty simple. When I go to the
bathroom, I am to hold the sink and rise up and down on my toes. In bed, I can
tighten and hold for 10 seconds my thigh muscles. I also have two types of
resistance bands tied to my bed. I have three different exercises that I am
supposed to do with the bands. The red and yellow bands attached to my bed make
me feel like I am riding on a lame parade float. The exercises are not hard,
but I do not really enjoy them since I find them so boring. I keep reminding myself
that they need to be done for my boys. I have a hard time picking up my heavy
lunch tray sometimes, so how am I going to pick up two babies? I am very
worried about my recovery process since I will have to have a C-section and
weaken muscles from bed rest and two babies to look after.
Thursday,
November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
I spent Thanksgiving morning
getting ready for Elliot’s arrival and our meal. I also watched the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day parade. I always enjoy watching it, mostly for the Broadway
musical numbers. Perhaps one day Elliot, the boys and I can see the parade in
person; that would be a wonderful Thanksgiving memory and you can bet I would
tell Jonathan and Jacob about the Thanksgiving before they were born.
For Thanksgiving Elliot's
Granny made the traditional meal and Elliot went over and socialized with the
relatives for a bit. When the food was ready, he and Granny packed up some of
the meal and brought it to the hospital for E and me to celebrate here. Since I
have been wearing hospital gowns for almost a month now, I had Elliot purchase
me some new PJs. He did pretty well on the sizing, it's hard to estimate what I
would really wear since I haven't worn normal clothes in awhile, and I was glad
to wear something different. I did my makeup and put on my new PJs and
celebrated Thanksgiving! I am thankful to know that our 2013 Thanksgiving will
be totally different than the 2012.
Because I was bored and
needed something to keep my mind occupied during the evening hours, I joined
Pinterest. I’ve pinned several crafts and yummy goodies I would like to try
once I am up and out of here. Also pinned some ideas for clothing and
entertaining the boys and some neat ideas for lesson plans. I thought I should
know and use the latest social media-haha.
Lounging in bed in my new PJs.
Front view of Momma, Jacob and Jonathan.
My little turkeys are still baking in their oven!
Friday,
November 23, 2012
Perhaps
because it was the day after Thanksgiving or the fact all I keep hearing about
is black Friday and I cannot participate, I felt pretty sad and depressed
today. I spent most of the day sleeping and reading until Elliot arrived with
dinner. The nurses come and check on my
periodically and I’ve gotten pretty good at faking sleeping; the key is to hang
your mouth open a bit and breathe loudly. I fake sleeping sometimes so that so
I don’t have to talk to them. I am not a good patient; I don’t like being
waited on or being a bother. Sometimes I want to scream, “No, I don’t need
anything, I’ll buzz you if I do. Just leave me alone”. It also depends on who the nurse is. I have
not had a bad or uncaring nurse, but like any people you meet, you just connect
or like some more than others.
Since it is
Elliot’s Thanksgiving break, I wanted him to have most of the day to do what he
wanted and relax a bit. He was able to go to see the latest James Bond movie
with his Dad, a movie he has been dying to see. Yes, I was jealous that I could
not go to the movies, not that I really wanted to see that particular movie,
but my hospitalization has not been easy on either of us. This is especially true
when people make insensitive remarks to Elliot about my pregnancy or me being
here. He has only mentioned one incident, but I can tell from his words and
actions he has kept some things from me so I don’t worry. This has been a major
test of our marriage. I am SO tired of being separated from my husband.
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