On Friday, things seemed to calm down. I was being transferred to the "bedrest" floor where we would do intermittent monitoring rather than 24/7. Which worked for me mostly. Upside was I would have more freedom of movement. Those monitors with their ultrasound gel are wriggly things!
Downsides were less monitoring [remember, I have no way to tell if babe is in SVT or not] and standard floor protocol. Protocol meant things such as an IV line which had so far been unnecessary, pneumatic foot pumps to avoid a DVT, also unnecessary as I was not confined to bed, strict tallying of ins & outs aka measuring my pee. All unneeded. I conceded to the IV line, almost fainted in front of Mom and it continued to hurt long after it was placed in my left hand.
Thankfully my OB came to see me soon after the move. She ordered the IV out, changed the pumps to TED [compression] stocking and stopped the fluid monitoring. Ahhhh, bliss from the simple things.
From there until Sunday afternoon, I just hung out, went on the monitor every 8 hours or so, got my digoxin and levels drawn, my second shot of steroids and visitors. The kids came once a day for about 30mins. Mom and Mike took turns stopping by and some friends popped in too.
My first dig level was 1.4 and they gave me half of a load again to get it up over 1.5, hopefully closer to 2. Well Sunday's level was 1.14 but Dr R decided that nothing was gained by keeping me in the hospital and sent me on my way home. Later in the week we got another level and it was 1. But there had been no more events caught since the between my first and second doses. So he choose not to continue chasing the number and leave it alone for the time being.
For now I go see Dr R either on Mondays or Tuesdays for a BPP and NST. A BPP [biophysical profile] is a quick sono where they evaluate the baby for practice breathing, movement, HR, and fluid levels. In my case they also take a quick look for signs of fluid around the heart. An NST [nonstress test] is the baby monitor I was on in the hospital. It measures the heart rate and muscle tone, ie contractions. I have a little clicker for movements. They look to see if the heart rate fluctuates with movement and if there is any problems during a contraction. Of which I rarely have one as it should be given I am less than 32 out of 40 weeks.
I also go to my OB on Thursdays or Fridays each week. There they are doing the NST and the routine OB stuff: weighing me, taking my BP, measuring da belly for growth etc. And this schedule will continue until the end. When ever that may be :)
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