First Week of Captivity :)

I keep trying to convince Ben to write, but all my attempts have FAILED MISERABLY! Thus, I am resigned to be the official writer of the blog. I haven't given up all hope, I'm pretty persistent :).

On Monday, April 4, I was admitted to the hospital. The days leading up to the imminent hospital stay were pretty tough. It was hard to realize all the things that I would be missing. I know going into the hospital was the right thing to do, but getting here was super hard. Ben put up with quite a few tears trying to keep my spirits high. Before getting admitted Ben convinced me to blow off packing and to head up to Logan to spend time with family. We had a great time being with family for the weekend and it was well worth the trip. That did leave more packing for Ben to do, since I wasn't able to help, but he said he didn't mind.

On Monday, we drove to the hospital and I checked myself in. The lady at the front desk seemed confused as to why I was there. When I told her how long I would be in the hospital, you could see the shocked look on the receptionist's face when I told her that I would "hopefully" be in the hospital about 7 weeks. The first day was pretty uneventful. I met with the doctor on call that day, because my doctor was out of town. I also got my first experience with a Med student. Side note, I love the television series ER so the whole Med student, resident, and attending thing is really interesting to me. Plus, it was fun to talk to the nurse before the Med student came in. She was telling me that most of them really don't like their OB rotation and it is a bit nerve racking for them. I could tell that the guy getting my medical history was a bit nervous. After the Med student was done then the resident came in and talked to me about what my stay would be like. Once everyone had made their introductions they started the first monitoring session. They hook up two heart monitors, one for each girl, to my stomach. The tricky part is finding two heart beats. The nurse eventually found two heart beats and the monitoring session began. They keep you on the monitor for an hour, if the girls go off of the monitor the nurse has to come back in and re-position the monitor. The goal is to keep the girls on for an hour, so if the girls come off they usually have to go a little bit longer.

After the monitoring session, Ben and I headed back to my room. Ben and I decided to get some work done while we had a little bit of peace and quiet. They do a second monitoring session of the girls in the evening and that went relatively well. As I was getting ready for bed, the nurse came in to tell me that she would be in at midnight and 4 am to check my vitals. After she left, I knew that Ben and I wouldn't be getting much sleep. Ben decided to spend the first night with me in the hospital. I was super appreciative considering it was a new place and a new experience. Neither of us got much sleep, with them coming at midnight and then at 4am. Plus, the resident comes in at 6am to do their rounds. After the first night, Ben decided that he wouldn't sleep at the hospital very often. We figured at least one of us needed to get quality sleep and since Ben could go home and sleep, it would be well worth it.

Here is my normal routine, monitoring session in the morning around 7:30 or 8. When I get done with that I work until lunch. After lunch I work for a few more hours and then head to my second monitoring session. After monitoring I come back to my room and work for a few more hours until dinner. Eat dinner then work some more until Ben comes to visit. Ben and I hang out until he heads home for the night. The nurses come in check my vitals and the girls' heart rates and then I head to bed.

Lately my brother-in-law has stopped by during lunch, which is great because I get to talk to someone I actually know. Just so you know there are definite perks to visiting. I swear for some of the meals they give you SOOOO much food. I was convinced that they monitored what you ate. So I was trying to eat everything so they wouldn't chastise me for not eating. Ben just laughed when I told him this, but I was convinced that they watched what I ate. So on Tuesday when breakfast was served I ate as much as I could, but I couldn't eat it all. When the nurse came in, I watched and she commented on how much I ate and told me that I needed to eat because the girls needed the nutrients. I'm not used to eating a full sized breakfast everyday plus a huge lunch. When lunch came Brandon, my brother-in-law, was here visiting. They gave me a huge sandwich, fruit, soup, and a cookie. I ate half the sandwich, the fruit, and the cookie. I shared the soup with Brandon :). I figure why let the food go to waste. When I told Ben what I did he laughed and said I was deceiving the nurses. I told him if they ask me if I ate all my food I will tell them no. I just see no need for the food to go to waste if there are others that will eat it. Thus depending on when you come you may get to try some of the meals, if you are up to it. :)

The first week has been quite the experience. I have gotten into a routine of going to the monitoring sessions and then working. That's pretty much all I do until Ben comes to visit and then we just chill in the room until Ben has to head home. Sorry for the rambling boring post, I'll try to think of something exciting to report in the next one.