Baby Elliott Day 13 (with a slight reduction in anxiety)
Mar 25, 2015 23:27:33 GMT -5
Post by santoki77 on Mar 25, 2015 23:27:33 GMT -5
Day 13 has come and gone (since it just passed midnight EST). my second NST today was a bit frustrating. Elliott was being sleepy or non-cooperative for the first 20min or so, perked up, and then got sleepy again...MFM kept me on the monitors for 1.5 hours...AND...apparently I had 4 contractions! I guess they would be considered Braxton Hicks - i felt a tightness below my belly button and when I looked at the monitor, it coincided with the numbers increasing. so the nurses had me drink 4 cups of water to see if it was a dehydration issue...not fun at all. and of course my anxiety about how his tracing (the paper strip where it records the HB) was at an all time high, especially when I had 3 contractions in about 20 minutes! I was NOT READY for Elliott to be delivered. Fortunately, after the water, and another 25min on the monitor, we "passed."
I was able to verbalize the source of my anxiety. As many of you know, my MFMs are trying to get me to 34w yet constantly remind me that it's day-by-day, when, in actuality, for me, it feels like I'm living my life in 8hr increments. The fear is...even if I have a "good" or "satisfactory" tracing/NST, could Elliott really stop moving within the next hour and be delivered? could his heart stop even 30min after an NST?? that constant fear is what is giving me anxiety and stress. I expressed these concerns to the night nurse who stated that, if the NST passes certain markers, like 10 beats higher for 10 seconds in a 10 min period, then the baby is (essentially) good for 24hours. I'm going to ask the MFMs tomorrow that...will there be an indication or progression in the NSTs indicating that he is in distress?? Does every NST we "pass" mean I have (at least) 24h from that passed NST? i know the most important indicators are whether I'm feeling movement and his tracings but still...Being able to really verbalize what is causing my distress is helping and hopefully the MFMs will give me a (fairly) reassuring response.
I am really lucky though. A good friend of mine drove down from Canada (10+ hours) to come down to Philly to visit me and sit with me for most of 2 days. She even brought her 4yo down who is SO WELL BEHAVED. we sat in my room, talked, ate, and just had a good time. She and her son were a great distraction which was something I really needed. She also brought a bassinet down which she's going to drop off at my house tomorrow. She and her husband are also planning on coming down after Elliott is home from the NICU and she plans on bringing a lot of her son's clothes as she never quite had the time to donate or distribute so Elliott is going to be one well dressed kid.
The MFMs mentioned that at the last doppler, Elliott weighed approx. 1lb12oz. 2lbs is a weight milestone so I hope that within the next week or two, he'll gain the remaining 4oz to get to 2lbs. Tomorrow we're supposed to have our next blood flow doppler. The MFMs are really interested to see the effects of the oxygen on the blood flow and I have my fingers crossed that, at a minimum, Elliott's blood flow has remained unchanged from last week. If so, I feel that I can breathe an additional sigh of relief and hope that we have another week in the hospital.
So...I guess...I feel like we have a 24h reprieve from the craziness. I can go to sleep not so worried that he will have stopped moving while I was sleeping. I can let my brain relax a little more and know that with each "passed" NST, we are gaining an 8 hour extension of our 24h window.
Thanks again for all of your continued support! It truly means a lot to me (us).
I was able to verbalize the source of my anxiety. As many of you know, my MFMs are trying to get me to 34w yet constantly remind me that it's day-by-day, when, in actuality, for me, it feels like I'm living my life in 8hr increments. The fear is...even if I have a "good" or "satisfactory" tracing/NST, could Elliott really stop moving within the next hour and be delivered? could his heart stop even 30min after an NST?? that constant fear is what is giving me anxiety and stress. I expressed these concerns to the night nurse who stated that, if the NST passes certain markers, like 10 beats higher for 10 seconds in a 10 min period, then the baby is (essentially) good for 24hours. I'm going to ask the MFMs tomorrow that...will there be an indication or progression in the NSTs indicating that he is in distress?? Does every NST we "pass" mean I have (at least) 24h from that passed NST? i know the most important indicators are whether I'm feeling movement and his tracings but still...Being able to really verbalize what is causing my distress is helping and hopefully the MFMs will give me a (fairly) reassuring response.
I am really lucky though. A good friend of mine drove down from Canada (10+ hours) to come down to Philly to visit me and sit with me for most of 2 days. She even brought her 4yo down who is SO WELL BEHAVED. we sat in my room, talked, ate, and just had a good time. She and her son were a great distraction which was something I really needed. She also brought a bassinet down which she's going to drop off at my house tomorrow. She and her husband are also planning on coming down after Elliott is home from the NICU and she plans on bringing a lot of her son's clothes as she never quite had the time to donate or distribute so Elliott is going to be one well dressed kid.
The MFMs mentioned that at the last doppler, Elliott weighed approx. 1lb12oz. 2lbs is a weight milestone so I hope that within the next week or two, he'll gain the remaining 4oz to get to 2lbs. Tomorrow we're supposed to have our next blood flow doppler. The MFMs are really interested to see the effects of the oxygen on the blood flow and I have my fingers crossed that, at a minimum, Elliott's blood flow has remained unchanged from last week. If so, I feel that I can breathe an additional sigh of relief and hope that we have another week in the hospital.
So...I guess...I feel like we have a 24h reprieve from the craziness. I can go to sleep not so worried that he will have stopped moving while I was sleeping. I can let my brain relax a little more and know that with each "passed" NST, we are gaining an 8 hour extension of our 24h window.
Thanks again for all of your continued support! It truly means a lot to me (us).
Also, I just wanted to say that I love the name Elliott.
