September 22, 2008

9/22 evening update

Hi everyone! I have my computer now and as long as I am stable I will be able to update the blog. Many thanks to my sister Jenny for doing updates when I am not able.

They decided I was stable enough to transfer to the hospital with a level 3 NICU, so I got another ambulance ride this morning. I am also now under the care of a perinatologist. He, of course, wants things done completely differently than they were at the other hospital. lol. So, he wanted the Foley out, oxygen off, even the IV drip is off for now (thought I have the PICC in one arm and a heparin lock in the other arm). I was allowed to get up and use the restroom and I did okay with that. I didn't get dizzy or pass out. But, I did have a bit of fresh blood from that brief excursion.

They are holding off giving me a transfusion... rather wait and see (oh boy, does that phrase get used a lot!)in hopes my numbers will start coming up. And, hang onto the blood they have all ready on hand for me if I have another significant bleed. The Peri. had good reasons about doing too many transfusions has a lot of risks, and gets harder and harder to type and match. He seems really smart and good at his job, but he isn't as personable as my OB.

How long I will be here is a "wait and see" of course. If I can make it to 35 weeks, I can transfer back to the hospital my OB is at and where I would prefer to deliver at.

I have gotten my two shots of steroids, so that is good. Baby boy is still do awesomely great. By ultrasound they do not think my water broke...or it has refilled by the time they did the US.

Oh, I'm really hoping they will let me take a shower! Argh! I haven't had one since Sat. morning. A washcloth wiping just doesn't cut it for long.

Guess that is all the news. Thank you all so much for your prayers and words of encouragement!

~jerri

2 comments:

yelkereb said...

I feel like I should have something profound, compelling, or at least lucid to say, but instead my thoughts escape my ability to express them and so I stumble forward the best I can. We’ll continue to pray for your little one, yourself and your family. I’ve found only a few things to be true through our experience so far.

Mostly that everyone reacts differently to the stress life can bring, and that your outlook can have a huge impact on the way you reflect back on it. We’re not quite out of the woods yet, a week from today will be our next big hurdle but hopefully the last one for a while. That said I can already see what a difference a positive outlook has had, and not just for our sanity. We’ve had the chance more than once now to express to a doctor, nurse or friend that our faith gives us strength. It’s a subtle testimony but a powerful one. In a way it makes me sad how often simple kind words like “please” and “thank you” have been responded to with near shock. This seems to be especially true when they border a particularly frustrating or difficult event.

One of the women we go to church with had her whole family briefly in the ICU following a major car accident a few years ago. We had an opportunity to pray with them, and be prayed for by them. She said when you go through something like this it’s just life, it isn’t easy, but you have no choice but to go through it. It was one of the first times I’d really felt like someone got it. We’d had so many people commending us on our strength or saying they couldn’t have gone through what we were going through, but that really didn’t provide much comfort. For us it just was. It was hard, frustrating, exhausting, and stressful; all of those things, but it was also just life. Again I’m not sure that this is what you need or want to hear but on reflection these are the things that stood out most to me.

This “comment” is already overly long, and so I’ll wrap it up simply by saying that although there are no right words of comfort, and though faith, hope and love all help pull us through times like these, I pray mostly that you have peace.

Roberta said...

Thinking of and praying for you Jerri!
Do you have your laptop at the hospital? and do you have an igoogle page? Flood-it and color junction are two amusing games. :) Sometimes I play them when I get a little break, while listening to a podcast.
Praying you will make it safely to 35 weeks.
Love and prayers~
Roberta

 
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