Surgery day

Well, here goes....I was called Friday and told that they had bumped up my surgery time and that I now needed to be there at 7:30 instead of 9. Wasn't thrilled about getting kids up before 6 as we needed to leave Candace's house by 7 and had 2 stops to make before we could even go to her house but I was happy about getting out of the hospital early. That didn't happen! Once I was checked into an outpatient room, I dozed off about 8:45 and woke up at 9:15. 9:30 they finally came and took me down to pre-op but I hadn't seen a doctor or anesthesia yet and still didn't have an IV so I knew there was no way I'd be in surgery by 9:45. I must say, though, that was the best IV experience I've ever had! Gave me a shot of lidocaine (sp?) before they put the IV in and I didn't feel the IV at all. I was bummed, though, that when I left the outpatient room to go to pre-op, they made me give my glasses to Jonathan so I sat in pre-op for over an hour without being able to see. While I was waiting, they brought down this woman who was crying and moaning and constantly repeating "Oh my God" and "Please kill me"....took 3 doses of pain meds to get her to shut-up. Definitely very interesting. They gave me some relaxing meds about 10:45 and finally headed toward the OR. I remember getting on the operating table, having special boots put around my legs that would periodically squeeze them to keep the blood flowing, and an oxygen mask put on my face. Last thing I remember was wondering why they snapped the oxygen mask to one side of my face but not the other. Was dreaming about Caleb, can't remember what, when I was woke up. My left calf was killing me which sent everyone in the recovery room into panic mode. They started paging everyone they could think of. Finally the doctor called back and said "She was in stirrups during the procedure so it's muscle strain, she's fine". It's nice to have such a varying opinion -- 1 panicked nurse and 1 panicked nursing student versus 1 "You guys are nuts" doctor. Wasn't really in terrible pain but was given something for that. Finally around 2 they got me back into an outpatient room with the game plan being get me out of the bed, into a chair, have me sit for an hour, and go to the bathroom before going home. That last part didn't go according to plan....took 2 IV bags of fluid, 1 glass of coke, 2 glasses of water, and 1 1/2 loops around the outpatient surgery floor before I was able to check that off my list. Finally got out the door and in the van around 4:45. 2 stops to pick up the kids who were at Candace's and Jonathan's parents (thanks, Shandi, for being our backup!), then a swing through McDonald's drive thru and we were home right around 6. Didn't really feel hungry but after I got over the initial it-hurts-to-swallow-food (I'm assuming from the tube they put down my throat during surgery?), I was able to eat some McNuggets. Doesn't really fit into the "light meals" I was told to eat for the 1st day but, hey, they were there and they tasted pretty daggone good! Took a vicodin and went to bed at 7 only to be up by 8:30 'cause the vicodin wasn't making me sleepy and I couldn't get comfortable. Watched the last hour of Biggest Loser and a few other things on t.v. before trying to go back to bed around 11. Up again at midnight 'cause I still couldn't sleep and Jonathan was having trouble getting Lydia settled. I stayed up until 1 getting her settled finally in the swing and taking a 2nd vicodin before going to bed. Thankfully Lydia slept until 6 and Jonathan got up with her. I slept until 7:30 when Timothy woke up while Jonathan was in the shower. I'm feeling some pain, mostly just an ache that's similar to a pulled muscle, right above my belly button more than the other 2 places I have the small incisions. Having extreme troubles bending over, going from sitting to standing/vice versa, and picking up Timothy but all is tolerable. Jonathan's just now leaving for work after helping me get the house in operating order. He's got to go to church tonight to teach RA's and will take the older 4 with him but since I'm having trouble picking up Timothy, Candace has lovingly agreed to come sit with me during church after she goes to potluck (the Stevens Clan will regretfully not be attending the poutluck but will be ordering in pizza). Orders are to remove the bandages after 2 days and then I can shower; otherwise, take it easy for 2 weeks, no strenuous activities or any exercising, not supposed to do any lifting, etc, and to make an appointment for 4-6 weeks from now. I think that's about it Thanks for all the prayers! Wasn't an easy decision to make and it still makes me sad to close the book on this phase of my life but I'll leave that for another blog....

Update

My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14th @ 11 a.m.-ish. I'll have to be there between 8:30 and 9. It's supposed to be a very quick surgery, done laproscopically (sp?), and once I come out of the general anesthesia, I'll be able to come home. So if all goes well, I should be home by dinner. I've got to see if I can find someone to help Candace with the kiddos. Jonathan's taking the day off but I need him with me and I know having 6 kids all day will be killer (in addition to her own 2 and being pregnant, especially considering 3 of the 8 total kids are babies). My mother-in-law was going to help but it's unlikely that she can switch her usual Wednesday off to a Tuesday and the hospital only does these types of surgeries on Tuesdays. They had an opening for this coming Tuesday but it's the 1st slot so I'd had to have been there at like 4 in the morning (No thank you! I can wait another week!). While part of it saddens me, which I'll blog about later maybe, I am confident we've made the right decision for our family.

Strange day

We ended up back in labor & delivery last night with more contractions -- pretty bad ones this time. :( Cervix still the same, though, so a dose of terbutaline to stop the contractions and then we were sent home. Was told at L&D that I could skip today's appointments so I called this morning to tell them I wasn't coming and needed to reschedule my ultrasound for Friday. They called back and said I couldn't have an ultrasound on Friday 'cause there would be no doctor there (?didn't I used to always go on Fridays and always see a dr?). Back and forth I went -- should I go or should I postpone until next Tuesday? On one hand, I'm tired and Candace is feeling bad and probably tired from being at my house until after 12:30 this morning....on the other hand, this was supposed to be a big moment, decided where to go from here as far as the rest of the pregnancy goes and the not knowing for another week really would get to me 'cause I'm anal that way. So, I decided that since is was JUST an ultrasound, I'd take Nathan, John, and Timothy to Candace and go to the ultrasound but take Caleb & Elizabeth (my rowdy ones today) with me. It'd be quick, right? WRONG -- dead wrong! It might have worked that way if some sweet little girl didn't weigh in at 8 -- yes, EIGHT -- pounds! Oh no -- "you must stay and see the dr!" (I'll post some ultrasound pics soon -- they were interesting!) Kids had been good up to that point but then we were stuck in a room and left for over 30 minutes. I finally pulled the "wasn't planning on being here this long/sitter needs me" excuse out of my hat to get some attention. (Wonderful nurse rescued my wiggly kids and my plummeting sugar with some graham crackers and apple juice!) FINALLY saw the dr and this is what they said -- we're going to stop my weekly progesterone injections immediately in the hopes that I might go into labor on my own sometime in the next 2 weeks. The main issue with a baby at 34 weeks is lung maturity (well, and for a "normal" baby, they'd be worried about him/her being too small, too, but that's definitely not the case here!). But, I've had steroid injections 3 weeks ago so she's got a boost ahead of most 34-week babies and she might just be okay or need little intervention if she's born in the next 2 weeks. IF she stays put for these 2 weeks, then on March 3rd (36 weeks), they'll do an amniocentesis (you know, the needle in the belly to draw out amniotic fluid test). Why? Just to be sure her lungs are mature. That test will be performed in triage in the hospital and afterwards, I'll be monitored for about 1-2 hours to wait on the results and to make sure the amnio itself doesn't put me into labor, which is a possibility. IF the results are good, then we'll be transfered to a labor & delivery room and the show will begin! (meaning an induction of labor) IF, however, the results aren't good, then they'll let me go to about the 10th (37 weeks) and then induce. So, that's the baby news. I'm really struggling with the pain in my left side, evenings are really bad. I'm really having a hard time "hanging on" even though I know that's the best thing for her. But, that's the plan for now. Hang on, though -- you never know when things are going to change. Non-stress tests scheduled for Friday, next Tuesday, and next Friday with a "final" OB appointment for next Tuesday.

Okay, moving on....CONGRATULATIONS are in order! My brother and his wife welcomed their 3rd daughter around 3 this afternoon. Hannah Riley weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. Waiting for an update, though, as she was having a few breathing difficulties from being just a little early (her due date was 3/14).

Lastly....while a new life was coming into the world, one was going out. Jonathan's great-aunt Doris passed away just a few moments ago. We have no word yet, of course, on any kind of arrangements. Jonathan left to go sit with his grandmother for a few minutes until his parents can get there. Doris lived in Portsmouth, only moving up here to be cared for after the cancer diagnosis. So services will take place down there. Obviously that's too far for me to be traveling, especially if I'm not going to be getting my progesterone injection tomorrow. So, we're assuming at this point that Jonathan will be going down either by himself or with Nathan and/or Caleb. I don't even want to think about going into labor while he's gone......We'll keep you posted.

Test results

There was a lot of drama surrounding my appointment on Tuesday. First of all, I was scheduled to go last Friday, to the preterm labor clinic. Well, the preterm labor clinic called last week and said it was too early to be concerned about preterm labor or any of the treatments/tests they do to monitor so they wanted me to see the diabetic clinic in the meantime. Fine, no problem, right? Well, the diabetic clinic called last Friday, almost in a rant, about how they currently were full to capacity and that if I hadn't been diagnosed either with Type 2 Diabetes or Gestational Diabetes, then they weren't going to see me. After a long discussion, they stuck me in with the "regular" pregnant women on Tuesday but decided I should have a blood draw called Hemoglobin A1C. This test, in case you didn't know, gives an average, so to speak, of what your blood sugar levels have been over the past 3 months. Your results come in a number -- anything under 7 is considered good; under 6 is ideal; over 8 and you're in trouble. While it wouldn't in and of itself say for sure that I have T2D, it would give us a good idea what we're up against. That was Tuesday so I called this morning to get my results and I'm in shock -- my A1C level was 5.5!!!!! Almost with certainty they can say I don't have T2Diabetes! That's the good news. The bad news is I'll have to drink that yucky glucola stuff at my next appointment. I can't imagine having had GD with my last 4 pregnancies that I won't have it this time. Which means I'll fail that test at my next appointment (a 1 hour test) and will have to have the wonderful 3 hour test. You have to go fasting and they'll draw blood once; drink more of that yucky stuff and then they poke you again every hour, on the hour, for the next 3 hours. Fun, fun, fun....

The only other thing they did on Tuesday was find the heartbeat. :) 10/17 is my next appointment and I will see the preterm labor clinic. We've already decided to do whatever they suggest regarding monitoring for signs of preterm labor (which usually means wonderful ultrasounds every 2 weeks to measure the cervix), which I did with Timothy. More fun let me tell you! However, one thing we didn't do with Timothy was the progesterone therapy. It's a weekly shot of progesterone, the hormone the body naturally produces that keeps you pregnant. Studies are starting to show that women with a history of preterm labor can prolong their pregnancies with the additional progesterone. I frankly just didn't want for Jonathan to have to give me a shot once a week (since the shot has to go into a place where I can't reach o my own) or go through the approval process to get insurance to pay for it. Since Timothy came early, too, we'll do it this time, if they suggest it. Hopefully Jonathan doesn't have any frustrations with me....(just kidding! He could never hurt me on purpose!) :)

Timothy check-up

Made one post already....don't miss it below.

Timothy's 9 month check-up was yesterday. Long story short, pediatrician very pleased; weight is 22 pounds, height is 28 inches; iron count normal. Doesn't need to be seen again until 1 year.

My appointment for last Friday was moved to this afternoon. Doubt I'll have anythng to report but I'll let you know.