April 29, 2006

Greetings once again from my home computer! I'm still sans laptop and, thus, internet access, but I'm not as nuts without a machine as I thought I would be. It's kind of nice to be "free" of the internet for awhile, although I would not want to live like this forever. I'm not an animal. :)

Well, it's Saturday afternoon and the fact that I am writing this from home should be a good indication to you that things are going great at the hospital. The girls have been showing excellent heartrates and behavior and have earned me another couple of days of multi-hour passes. Ahh, the bliss.

We had a little snafu last weekend after my excusion out on Sunday afternoon. I returned to the hospital to get "hooked up" to the machine for my monitoring and Grace started showing some preliminary signs of distress. Nothing worth going to the Labor and Delivery department for (according to my favorite nurse, Paula), but something that needed to be monitored for more than just an hour.

Boy howdy, when they say "more than just an hour," they mean it. I was hooked up from 4:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. I was allowed a break here and there to pee (I spend half of my life in the bathroom) and stretch, but it was pretty awful. I ended up requesting a muscle relaxer because I was so stiff from lying on my back.

The great news is that despite Grace's misbehavior, all has gone back to normal. In fact, over the course of the last two weeks, we've gotten the opportunity to get to know the personalities of both of our little girls.

Faith has been nicknamed "Old Faithful." She can always be found in the same place (you'd be surprised how much babies can move around, even at THIS stage of the game) and always gives us a good, consistent heartrate. Her heartrate runs a little bit high (170 - 175/minute), but as we've gotten to know her, we've realized that it's not abnormal for her -- it's just a part of her physiology.

Grace, on the other hand, seems to take after her older brother in the "never stop moving" department. I would estimate that between the nurses and myself (I tend to do my own things after the nurse has left the room), we've spent at LEAST 12 hours searching for this kid or chasing her around my uterus (which I can't understand...it's not as though my uterus has corners). This kid can SQUIRM and she has made a legend of herself within the Antepartum department. Everyone knows that "Baby B Pruetz" is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to monitoring.

Grace also likes to "decel" her heartrate, which means that it drops below her baseline (usually around 150 or 155/minute) for more than 15 seconds. On more than one occassion, the nurse on duty has picked up the phone to call Dr. Harden, only for Grace's rate to go back to normal and stay there for the rest of the monitoring period. Bizarre...it's like she's testing us. I'd estimate she does this to us about every 36 hours.

Again, though, despite our goofy Grace, things are going very well. Dr. Higby came in to do a sonogram yesterday and proudly produced these results:

Faith: 2 lbs, 8 oz, measuring 28 weeks, 0 days
Grace: 2 lbs, 9 oz, measuring 28 weeks, 0 days
(At the time of the sonogram, I was 28 weeks, 5 days)

No signs of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and although the cords are tangled, they seem to be in good shape. For now, at least. I still wake up every morning and think, "Will I end this day a mommy of three?" I still shudder at the thought, although I'm equally as excited as I am scared.

I'm settling into a routine, which anyone who is a good enough friend of mine to be reading this knows how much I love a schedule. I usually wake around 7:30, start the first monitor of the day. I eat breakfast (don't ask about the food -- it's not worth the conversation...) and take a shower. I try not to watch TV all day in an effort to save my brain from turning to mush, so I usually then move to the couch to read or do a crossword puzzle. Next monitoring session, then lunch. A nap, more reading or playing cards, maybe make a phone call or two or talk to a visitor. Next monitoring, watch the news, eat dinner, watch some trash TV (The Simpsons or Seinfeld) and talk to my family (Todd will bring Devin or ZZ will come up, etc...). I usually do my final monitoring around 10:30 or so and take my Ambien just as I am being hooked up to the machine. That way, when 11:30 rolls around, I'm good and sleepy. Luckily, Dr. Harden has told the nurses not to bother me when I'm sleeping, so I get to sleep through the night without monitors, blood pressure cuffs or any other stupid stuff...

All in all, it's not that bad. Again, I really want to be home, but I'm taken good care of.

Thanks for the prayers, the love, the thoughts, the cards, the calls, the emails (even though I haven't read them...I know they are there) and the support. This would be perfectly impossible without you all.

Until next week or until I get in-room internet access,
E