Hospital 4: Homebound

Monday, June 15th

“Homebound” is the term used here to refer to long term patients, not people on their way home. That’s me now- Homebound. Now on my fifth day in the hospital, I still can’t get onto the wireless network. So, I still can’t communicate with the outside word except by text message. No news, no e-mail, no entertaining myself with weird Google searches. To top it off, today is Monday, the day everyone returns to work. I don’t’ expect any visitors until Mike gets here around 6pm. This would all be fine if I could chat with people while they sit in their computers at their jobs. But, I can’t.

Last night was tough. I hadn’t slept since 6 am and, even after they cleared out the other woman and her family around 11 pm, making this (at least for now) a one-bed room, they kept coming in to strap monitors on me or take my temperature every half-hour or so. At some point, my body gave up and I slept through whatever it was they were doing to me—including a cervical exam.

I am still contracting about every 5-10 minutes and am 2 centimeters dilated, as I have been since yesterday morning. At least my cervix has lengthened and I’m not in pain. Trying to keep it that way. Tomorrow marks week 26, still way too early to deliver, and there are no plans to stop labor again until I have been clear of the magnesium sulfate for at least a week. So, if I go back into labor in the next couple of days, the boys are coming out no matter what. It’s life or death, you could say, that I don’t go back into labor.

I get to use the toilet like a normal human being now (no bed pans or catheters jammed into my bladder). But, after four plus days on my back, it is unbelievable how much my muscles have atrophied. I have to support the weight of my belly with both hands, as my stomach muscles are no longer doing the job. It took me ten minutes to get out of bed, get to the bathroom eight feet away, pee, and get back in bed. When I see my doctor today (hopefully around 9), I am going to ask about exercises I can do in bed.