Bed Rest and Not Enough Morphine

I wasn't feeling too well but got up to get ready for church anyway. It would be so nice if church wasn't at 9 in the morning... but oh well. I was having contractions, more than usual, but they weren't "consistent" so I didn't think it was an issue. I got up, ate my Cheerios, and headed off - it was raining so we cheated and took the car.

It didn't take long for me to start feeling really sick and then this random sudden pain came in my abdomen. I wouldn't have paid too much attention to it, but it didn't go away. Then I started getting light headed and nauseated. It became very hard for me to keep my head up so I kept leaning it on Eric or resting it on my arm. I tried leaning forward and dropping it to see if I could get more blood to go to my head but nothing seemed to be working. Eric asked if we needed to go home and I said yes. I was worried I was going to pass out and I was continually throwing up Cheerios in my mouth (it'll be a while before I can eat those again) Before we got up to go a lady - brand new in the ward - came up and asked if I was ok. She was sitting 2 rows behind us so apparently it was pretty obvious that I was unable to control my muscles. She said she's a nurse at the hospital and that she could help get me out of the chapel.

It is thanks to her that I didn't hit the floor the instant I stood. She could read in my face that I was going down and she knew just how to hold me. Between her and Eric we made it to the couch and she checked my pulse. She wanted someone to call an ambulance, but our car was right outside so we said we could just drive. She was very adamant that we go to the hospital but I just wanted to go home. I could see in Eric's face that he didn't like the idea of just going home but he supported me and we went home.

Once we got home my visiting teacher called and said we needed to at least call the on-call physician at my clinic... the doctor we spoke to also said we needed to go to the hospital. I asked Eric if we had to and he said yes, he wasn't going to back down this time. I then said, "I hate hospitals though, they always stick you with something." If only I had known how true that was...

We got to the hospital and I was wheeled up to the 5th floor where Labor and Delivery is. We got all checked in and were shown to our room. I was then hooked up to various monitors that showed my blood pressure was stabilized, the baby had a good heart beat, and that I was having contractions. After taking a long time to get my history and such the nurse finally called my OBGYN who was going to be at the hospital that day for a delivery so she said she would stop by and check on me. She also ordered blood work, an ultrasound, and she said that we could take away the pain. So the nurse poked me (remember what I said about getting stuck with things???) and then got me in a wheel chair to go to the other side of the hospital for the ultrasound. Before we headed out she went and got my pain relief - morphine, in a shot (again with the sticking me...). I considered telling her that my pain was all gone, no pain, no need for morphine...isn't morphine what they gave the guy in Saving Private Ryan right before he died? (That's a quote from Brian Regan... if you haven't seen his hospital clip, you should look it up)

As we rolled down the hall the nurse explained that the morphine was to serve 2 purposes. One was to stop the pain and the other to stop the contractions. The nurse, knowing by this point that I do not like needles, tried to make me feel better about the shot mentioned that she got the shortest needle possible and was giving me a smaller dos because I'm little. I didn't feel very comforted. When we got down to the ultrasound room I was given the shot (ow) and then had my stomach examined. When we got there I said "I like ultrasounds, they don't poke you and they don't hurt..." Man was I going to eat my words. All my organs are squished so they had to push and prod to get any good pictures - I am surprised I don't have any bruises!

After almost passing out again from the morphine (lovely side-effect) we ran more tests, learned that the morphine had failed to stop the contractions, learned my doctor had to go deliver another baby, and eventually a conclusion was reached. My placenta had torn away from my uterine wall. It was a minor tear but it has the potential to grow. So I was ordered bed rest.

We were very lucky to have friendly nurses, but we were at the hospital way too long. We got there before 11:30 and didn't leave till after 6. Eric was exhausted, I was exhausted... I took a sleeping pill at 9 and was out in the next 10 minutes.

Today, bed rest is officially awful. Simply because I cannot get up and do anything I suddenly want to do everything! The morphine wore off so now I am in bed, in pain, not allowed to get up.  Eric is home, so if I get up I'm busted... He is perfectly willing to get anything I need but he is taking the doctor very seriously (she said I can only get up to us the bathroom). I know I need to be careful and take care of the baby, but really, what is strenuous activity? I feel it is in the eye of the beholder... :D