1 down ...? to go

Well it has been 1 week since I was admitted to Northside. So far so good. I continue to have 3 NSTs a day, all of which have gone well. The NSTs have shown that I pretty much constantly have contractions but thankfully they're irregular...just Braxton Hicks... and I can't feel them. Brody has looked good too. He's only had a few decelerations but most of the time the Nurses say he's a happy baby. I was told I'd have three ultrasounds per week but so far I've only had two. My last one, yesterday, was at 7:30am...a nice little wake up call. But on both BPP's I've scored 6 out of 8...losing points only because of the lack of fluid. So I consider that a win. The best part of those BPPs was that we were able to see him practicing breathing (yay for lung development), he was sucking on his fingers (learning the suck/swallow technique is important for eating...if he has to be on dialysis it will be great if he doesn't have to have a G-Tube...which I've heard is very common for "renal babies"), and we were able to see his bladder (almost impossible to see if not filled with fluid...this means the kidneys might be functioning, at least a little bit!).

The days seem to creep by but there's several things that go on in the HRP (High Risk Pregnancy) Unit. There is a Mom2Mom support group led by the Chaplin (I haven't had the pleasure of going to this yet). There is a music therapist that comes by once a week to play relaxing music and to see how the baby reacts to music. She also writes songs for all the babies. And apparently there's a "harp lady" that will sit in the hall and play her harp. I've met the music therapist but that was it...haven't heard any music yet. And today was pet visitation day. They actually just left. Two pet therapists go room to room with their dogs and stay for about 15 minutes. They were sweet dogs...but now I've got dog hair on my bed and that really freaks me out. :)  ...on a slightly interesting note, I was told by Patient Relations that I'm actually considered a short-term patient. Apparently the average length of stay here in the HRP is about 3 months. Yikes.  Oh, and the doctor finally gave me wheelchair privileges today. That means I can finally leave my room, once a day, in a wheelchair. Hallelujah!!

The food here is decent. I've only had one meal that was pretty gross...roast turkey with dressing and gravy with green beans and a cup of hot water. No lie, the gravy was green...and I'm guessing the hot water was suppose to be tea but I didn't get a tea bag. This was very unfortunate...especially because I ordered tuna salad on wheat with tomato bisque soup and sweet tea, which I was REALLY looking forward to (can you tell I'm pregnant?). Oh well. And dummy me gave up chocolate for Lent. ...9 out of 10 desserts here are chocolate. This proves I've already lost my mind. What pregnant girl gives up chocolate?!?

Well, if anyone reading this has been on bed rest before and has any tips for me on how to stay sane, I'd love to hear from you. I've heard some people think bed rest is kind of like a vacation...no work, no chores, no anything but resting. Well, I truly believe it should be changed from "bed rest" to "bed-being-bored-out-of-your-mind". There's nothing good on daytime TV...or prime time for that matter...and I can only read for so long before I want to fall asleep...no matter how interesting the reading material may be. I have a photo project I'm working on but I can only do that for an hour or so here and there because it is just so darn tedious.

Anyways, I hope everyone is enjoying this spring-like weather that I keep hearing all about. I'd open my window but the dumpsters right below me are pretty dang stinky. :)  ...I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my afternoon by myself before my visitors get here. My mom is stopping by tonight (today's her birthday) and then Adam & Ryder are coming by too. All the nurses are in love with Ryder. Such the ladies man!