A few things I learned from my hospital stay:
1) One size fits all hospital gowns can double as circus tents. Even with the strings on the back that are supposedly designed to help tighten the gown, this piece of cloth will fall off of you at embarrassing and inconvenient moments...
2) The nurse who says "this is gonna hurt" or the nurse who counts down before sticking you with a needle, is the nurse who is nervous, inexperienced, or just plain bad at what she does. Photographic evidence below. This same nurse had to stick me 5 times...
3) The IV is a needle inserted into your vein which connects to a bag or several bags, which hang on a pole, which are attached to infusion equipment which rolls with you everywhere, yes, everywhere. This entire system becomes an appendage from which you cannot stray more than a few feet. While this concept does not seem so confusing, one should not assume that the hospital cleaning staff is aware of this rule. And yes, it will hurt like hell when he/she attempts to remove your appendage to sweep around it...
4) In the middle of the day, you cannot find your nurse. Don't bother, she's gone. In the middle of the night, she gets lonely and wakes you up every two hours.
5) Magnesium sulfate is evil. It will not stop your contractions, but somehow it does speed time and cause menopause to start early. Your hot flashes will never cease and your husband will suffer through you dropping the temperature to 55 degrees while still requiring a fan. (Picture of a contraction below!)
6) You get your own television. It has 20 channels, 15 of those channels are hospital guides. The TV is attached to the ceiling and practically unreachable for the vertically challenged. The remote consists of 1 button that changes the channels in only one direction. You will have memorized all the hospital guides before you give up and decide to watch a marathon of Cash Cab.
Now for a medical update and cute pictures!
We had another doctor's appointment today. I surprisingly have not gained any weight in the past week, and he hasn't really gained much in the past 2 weeks, but little man is still thriving and active as ever!
- They estimate his weight at 4lbs, 9oz. (completely normal) While his cranium is bigger than expected (cough, CHRISTOPHER, cough), it's only about a week further along than it should be.
- There is still some pressure from little man's head on my cervix, but I have not really progressed in the past week. Yay, bed rest is working!
- We got a 4-D ultrasound...and I hear it's perfectly normal for the baby to try to chew on their own umbilical cord...He really wants out of there....
At first he was not happy. Mr. Grumpy Gills does not like to be woken up. He prefers to do the waking. :)
He just has such a tough life, doesn't he? Don't worry, the pictures after this one show a much more content little boy.
Below you see a much happier baby boy! He's content and quiet, but that cord keeps getting in his face.... it was difficult to get a clear picture, especially of his mouth.
Then you see him falling back into a pretty sound sleep. Isn't he adorable? I'm biased...I wonder if he'll actually look anything like this later....
Okay, so there is your update! Like I said, it has been a boring and dull, amazingly exciting couple of weeks. I love this little one more than I can say. His room is completely ready, the overnight bags are packed, all we do now is wait :)
I love you all! We will find a way of letting you all know when he decides that it is time.
