Monday, February 26, 2007

Hospital Visits & Stays: For our Kitty-Cat, BabyGirl, and Me

Isn't this pix simply beautiful? Although Hubby rubs and kisses my giant baby belly everyday and tells me how beautiful he thinks I am, I'm as big a house and in need of some pregnancy beauty affirmation. Thankfully, the stunningly lovely photography of Christy Scherrer has come to my rescue. Her images are truly breathtaking... please enjoy. Due to recent medical events, I haven't enjoyed much else. The last 2 weeks have been a blur: 1.) Our 11 yr old Kitty-Cat developed a severe kitty upper respiratory infection/ tooth infection that required her to be hospitalized for 2 days while the vet pumped her full of antibiotics. She is as good as new now, but I had to rush her to the vet the very afternoon that a giant snowstorm arrived... a snowstorm which left Hubby stranded in PA on the highway for 16hrs. So while white knuckling the steering wheel in the middle of the blizzard, I silently prayed that my beloved cat would be able to breath w/o wheezing and choking and that I'd survive the trip to the vet's office to see her well again. 2.) 3 days after the kitty came home to mend, my mom and Hubby were painting the baby's room (I wisely avoided breathing in the paint fumes.) Since they were busy all day long with that project, BabyGirl and I spent the day entertaining each other. She was really cranky all day long and kept complaining of back pain (everytime I voice a pregnancy pain, BabyGirl claims she also suffers from this ailment), so... it is easy to see why I wrongly assumed that her crankiness and claims to back pain were due to the fact that she couldn't have fun w/my mom, who was obviously busy w/the painting project. Shortly after dinner, I noticed that BabyGirl had not gone to the bathroom... at all... all day long, despite consuming plenty of liquids. I tried to convince her to go pee, but she burst into tears and threw an absolute fit. I tried for 2 hrs to get her to go pee, but she absolutely refused and instead cried her eyes out and screamed about stomach and back pain. I took her temperature. It was over 101 degrees. So... Hubby and I had no choice but to take her to the ER. Long story short: The ER docs wanted to catheterize her, but luckily, after having lidocaine gel applied to her to in anticipation of the oncoming catheterization pain, BabyGirl couldn't feel pain any more and decided to pee all on her own and we were able to obtain a urine sample to culture. Sometime after 3am, the ER docs informed us that she had a raging urinary tract infection but that they would let us leave once BabyGirl had an antibiotic injection and sent us home w/ a 10 day antibiotic Rx. 3.) Okay, so I had a sick kiddo (who screamed bloody murder every time she had to go pee) and a sick kitty to take care of and dole out meds to, when wouldn't you know it: I had an OB/GYN visit that ended in my going to the hospital from the doctor's office. I had a bad headache for about 2 days before going to my visit, but given what was going on at home, I thought it was just a stress headache. Let's just say that I was really wrong. The nurse took my blood pressure and then took it again. She walked out of the room and didn't come back until she had my OB w/her. He then took my blood pressure, and informed me that I not only had blood pressure at near stroke levels, but that I also had protein present in my urine and that I had to leave his office, pack a small bag, find someone to watch BabyGirl for the next few days, and go directly to the hospital, where I had to undergo 36 hrs of observation, endless fricking blood tests, 2 ultrasounds (we were able to see a small halo of hair floating in the amniotic fluid and estimate the baby's weight to be nearly 6 lbs), 2 really painful injections of steroids into my hips to help Baby to Be's lungs mature, and serious talk of inducing me. Now I've been down this path before, so I know what is what in terms of these crazy blood pressure spikes. They are just trying to see how much protein I spill into my urine before kidney failure becomes a real risk while Baby to Be keeps cooking in the oven before they have to induce me. I have another appointment this Weds, so we shall see what is up. Wish me luck. And oh yeah... this Thursday is my birthday. I really hope that I don't have to spend it in the hospital awaiting induction and/or in labor.
Posted by Tina :: 12:21 AM :: 22 Comments:

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