Hospital visit

First of all, Halloween was a great day! While Rusty was in school, I spent the morning with a good friend. We spent a good deal of time window shopping in several stores, then went back to her house for lunch, and watched the first episode of Dr Who. She got me back home before Rusty's bus.

After Rusty got home, I gave him his snack, helped him paint a pumpkin, and shortly afterward, got ready to take him to the zoo for trick-or-treating. It was just me and Rusty, at the zoo, because Russ had to work. The majority of the time we were there was spent waiting in lines. There were a LOT of people there! They had about 16 games set up that we stood in line to play. After Rusty played the games, they would give him candy or small toys. By the time we got through the game area, I was feeling pretty exhausted. That was when Rusty announced that he needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, we were on the opposite side of the zoo from the ONLY bathrooms they had. So we walked all the way across the zoo, then all the way back. While we were en route back from the bathroom, I stopped at a concession stand and bought Rusty some cotton candy, and me some trail mix. Then, Rusty got in a bouncy house. There was a bench set up by the bouncy house, which was intended for parents to sit down on, but instead, it was crowded with a bunch of teen agers. I didn't feel like trying to butt into their crowd, so I sat on the ground a short distance away. I was so tired, and my feet were killing me. I let Rusty jump around for at least 30 minutes, then got him out so we could go find the "Spooky Train". We stood in line for the train for about 30 - 45 minutes. There was another bench at the front of the line, and when we reached it, some old lady had a stroller parked in front of it, blocking up enough space for about three people to sit. I NEEDED to sit down, so I kindly asked her if she could make some room for me to sit. She scooted the stroller a fraction, so I squeezed in anyway, and Rusty sat in my lap. It was a relief when the train came back around, and me and Rusty lumbered our way onto it and got in our seat. That was at least a 15 minute ride, and the whole time, I was thankful to be sitting. By then, I had developed a stitch in my side, and I was panting a lot as we walked. But I was still having a lot of fun. After the train ride ended, I insisted to Rusty that it was time to go. I knew I couldn't handle much more walking around. We made the rather long trek back to the parking lot, and at long last, I collapsed into the car. Rusty was still FULL of energy, and bouncing around. For dinner, I got him a happy meal from McDonalds, and once he'd finished eating that, I quickly got him to bed. The sugar worked in my favor, because when he laid down he was practically vibrating, but shortly afterward came the famous "sugar crash" and within ten minutes he was out cold.

The next day, when I woke up, I felt fine....for a little while. Around noon, I started getting bad cramps. They were radiating up the sides of my belly, and down into the rectum area, and they were so bad that it was hard to breath, and I couldn't move. They came in waves, it was not a constant pain, and I quickly discovered that they were less frequent and less intense if I wasn't moving or walking around. At first, I thought I was constipated, because sometimes that will give me sharp pains, but after going #2 twice, I was still getting the cramps just as bad. Everybody was starting to get a bit worried. Around 2:15, Russ called his boss to let him know he was not going to come in to work, because he was taking his wife to the emergency room. At that point, I hadn't actually made up my mind to go yet, but Russ wanted to be there, just in case. Rusty got home around 3:30, and I was still getting cramps. Finally, I called my nurse practitioner, and asked her if I should go to the hospital. She said it sounded like I was having round ligament pains, but they shouldn't be that severe, so she suggested I go ahead, just to make sure everything was okay.

We arrived at the hospital around 4pm. We had Rusty with us. We sat in the first waiting room a deceptively short time. When we walked in, I had marveled at how few people there were, and thought they weren't that busy. After about a 15 minute wait, they took me into triage. When they were done with triage, they sent me to a DIFFERENT waiting room, and this one was packed! We sat in there for a little over two and a half hours. It was almost 7 when I finally got a room. At this point, having sat still for quite a while, the cramps were becoming pretty mild and bearable, but I was still worried about my baby.

Once we were in our room, we waited some more. At first it seemed like maybe things would be happening more quickly now. Pretty soon, a lady came in to get my ID and insurance information. Shortly afterward, a nurse came in, took my vitals, and asked some questions about the cramping. Not too long after that, another nurse came in and took some blood, and left an IV thing in my arm. Rusty felt very sorry for me, for having to get poked. Around 7:30, the doctor came in and let me know that he was going to schedule an ultra sound, but we would have to wait until the results of the blood work came back from the lab. I was also informed then, that for the ultra sound, I would have to have a catheter. I was a little bit less than thrilled about that, but complied. Just before 8, a nurse came in to put in my catheter.

Shortly after the nurse left, Rusty, who had been more and more restless the whole time, started crying. Since it was almost his bedtime anyway, Russ took Rusty home. He got Rusty some dinner, put him to bed, and turned in a school project, before coming back. While he was gone, I did....nothing. I was very uncomfortable. I had a catheter in, it hurt to bend my arm, my butt was going numb from being sat on for so long, and I couldn't easily adjust myself. A nurse came in to check on me every 30 minutes or so, and assured me that it wouldn't be much longer. At some point while I was waiting, I felt the baby moving. That was very reassuring. Russ got back to the hospital by 9:30. It was almost 10 before somebody finally came to take me to my ultra sound.

They wheeled me into the ultra sound room. Russ was not allowed to go with me. When we got there, they rolled me into a room a little bigger than a broom closet. And then, I waited about 20 minutes for something to happen. I could hear the technician in another room, rummaging around or something, but it took a long time for him to come in to give me my ultra sound. I was not allowed to see the ultra sound. When I asked why, he said it was a policy. My best guess is that if something actually had been wrong, they wouldn't want me panicking. So, I asked him if he could at least tell me if it was moving. After several minutes, he told me that it looked like it had the hick ups, and that it was bouncing all over the place. He took lots and lots of pictures that I didn't get to see. Meanwhile, I studied the ceiling. I wondered if anybody had ever noticed that one of the ceiling tiles was placed the wrong direction. It bothered my OCD. When he'd finished, he wiped of his ultra sound tool, and started to leave the room. I was still lying on my back with jelly all over my tummy. I said, "Umm....could I get a towel?" He said, "Oh, of course", and grabbed one from a shelf on the wall. I wiped my own stomach off, and by the time I'd finished, he was gone. I was still lying on my back, which I know I'm not supposed to do in the second trimester. So, I managed to roll myself onto my side, and layed there waiting. About 10 minutes passed before somebody came to get me. I asked them to sit me up, and they did.

By the time I got back to the room, it was a little after 10. A nurse came in to check on me, and to let me know that they couldn't take the catheter out until the doctor had a chance to look at all the ultra sound pictures, just in case he needed another angle or something, and they had to send me back. So....we waited. For about another hour and a half, I just sat there with the catheter making me uncomfortable, whining to Russ that I wanted it out, and wanted to go home. I was tired, I was hungry, I hadn't felt any cramping in hours, and I felt stupid for being there.

Finally, after 11:30, they came to take the catheter out, and let me know that I would soon be discharged. Yay! A while later, the doctor came in, and discussed the results with me. He said the baby looked fine, I looked fine, and he figured the cramping was probably Braxton Hicks contractions. He said they were probably triggered because I over-exerted myself on Halloween. He essentially put me on bed-rest today. I am allowed to be a little more active tomorrow, but I need to take it easy. Then, I should be fine, as long as I don't over do it again. At long last, a nurse came to take out the IV thing that they never used, and I signed my release paperwork. We left the hospital around midnight. We went by Wendy's so that I could eat something, came home, and went straight to bed.

I did call my OBGYN today, to see if they wanted to schedule a follow up appointment. They told me that unless I have more problems before my next scheduled appointment, I should be okay. So, as of right now, I will be looked at again in about 3 1/2 weeks. For the time being, I am just glad to know that everything is okay, and extra glad to be out of the hospital!