Day 367: My view

Not a bad view, considering. They're doing a huge construction project on the Children's Hospital across the street. I woke up to a lot of banging this morning, like they were driving in some pilings or something.

I think I messed up somewhere along the line on my day numbering, seeing as how I'm on day 367 . . . it's a bit of a hassle to go back and try to change it, so I guess it is what it is. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I've been told the sad news that I won't be discharged until at least Thursday, the day after. I guess it will be a memorable birthday in the hospital, and hopefully the last b-day I'll have to do in one.

Day 366: Still at hospital

Getting a little cozy. Today is Labor Day, but it looks like we're out of the danger zone of actually going into labor today. So I tried to enjoy my "room service" and watched a "Jon and Kate Plus 8" marathon on the TLC network. I've been told for a while I should see the show since I'm expecting twins, so now I finally know what it's all about. Thanks be to God I am not having sextuplets.

Day 365: Magnesium sulfate

I forgot my camera at my mom's place when we rushed to the hospital at midnight, so I guess the end of my year will be captured with my camera phone. Today, magnesium sulfate is my lot. Kinda nasty stuff. It makes me very thirsty and my hands and feet and head feel hot. Not sure how long I'll be in the hospital, but for now this IV is working to stop the contractions. We'd like to hold off on the twins' birth, but I'm also hoping they'll let me out of here by my birthday.

Day 364: Bed rest on moving day

After a few hours at the hospital in the wee hours, I was ordered on bed rest today. So I didn't get to be part of the move today at all. Since both of our places would be in moving chaos, I went to my mom's house while she and Dave were out of town and slept there. I slept a lot, partly from barely getting any sleep during the night. I felt bad leaving everything to Jamin, especially since he didn't get much sleep last night either. Later in the evening when he got home, I had a lot of contractions again and this time I was actually admitted to the hospital to stop premature labor.

Day 347: Children's hospital construction

I had another OB appointment today. Both X and Y are doing great, 3 lbs 1 oz and 3 lbs 3 oz, approximately, so just above the 50% percentile for their gestational age. Today I toured the Children's Hospital NICU and was walking slow enough that it made sense for the tour guide to wheel me around in a wheelchair. That was so nice! I haven't had mobility that fast in a long time. Also, it was encouraging to see viable babies in the NICU that were younger and smaller than X and Y.

The above photo is the new addition they're building for the Children's Hospital. I still haven't felt the need to park in the ramp, but with construction and decreased mobility, I may be doing that soon.

Day 292: Jamin's esophagus and Red Wing

We went to the doctor's office today to check out Jamin's esophagus. He did have some scarring from the broccoli incident last Sunday, but he also has ridges in his esophagus, which may make swallowing in general a little more difficult for him. It may also be an indication of eosinophilic esophagitis. I'm lucky to have taken some medical transcription training to be able to translate what the doctor said.

Jamin was a little woozy after the endoscopy procedure, but we drove to La Crosse and stopped in Red Wing on our way at a fun hotel restaurant. It got very windy towards the end of our meal and threatened to blow our table over, but we left before a short storm went through. Our server, a Ukrainian named Igor took this picture of us below. Zaria was enjoying grandma's house for the weekend by this point.

Day 287: Happy Fathers' Day

So, not only did Jamin have to work on his birthday, we ended up taking him to the ER for Fathers' Day. He got a piece of broccoli lodged towards the bottom of his esophagus and for a while he couldn't even swallow his own spit without it getting stuck. After some attempts at medicinal treatments, he still had trouble, but could at least swallow liquids. We were a little late, then, for Gwendolyn's third birthday party, and he had to watch me eat pizza and cake while he was only able to get a glass of Yo-J down. Still, we had fun spending time with family, and we even got Zaria in a swing for about 2 minutes to take a picture of the three cousins, Elena Zaria and Gwendolyn. Gwen was trying out her new tricycle and Zaria would not let go of this little doll.

Day 138: Visiting grandma

Today was a tough day and I never did get a picture taken. Jamin worked an extra long day, and I went to Mom and Dave's house to play Mexican Train Dominoes, and then we got a call from my aunt Judy saying we should get to the hospital to see my grandma. She had surgery on her sciatic nerve earlier this week, and I guess it's a very tough recovery. The drugs they gave her to get off of the narcotics caused her to be apneic-- so we had to remind her to breathe and keep her up. I grabbed the above photo from last year for my picture today, with Grandma Victoria holding Zaria. Hopefully she'll recover enough to hold Zaria again soon. I've joked that she's bound to get better with all her out-of-town sons coming to see her, and it was fun to see some relatives at the hospital, though we sort of overcrowded the room. Judd came from Arizona, Jim from Colorado, John from South Dakota and Jerry from Virginia.