June 4, 2008

Bedrest: Home vs Hospital

Home (pros):
In my own place, sleep in my own bed
Get to see Elliot/Jay
My computer, TV etc
Time to read/rest/etc
Fresh air

Cons:
Get to see Elliot but can't do much with him
Less careful about following bedrest rules
Get to watch someone else parent my son
Feel like I have to keep up with the cleaning/cooking - or not doing it and seeing the filth rise up around me
Feel like shit for sitting on my butt reading instead of playing with Elliot or doing housework

Hospital (pros):
Much more likely to adhere to bedrest
Daily check ups to make sure Boo is ok - peace of mind
Guilt free reading/resting
They bring me food whenever I want

Cons:
Stale air
Don't see Elliot much at all (2 hours per day, roughly)
Hospital food isn't fantastic
Boredom
Have to pay for phone/TV/internet
Longer hours to pay for the nanny
Harder on Jay



So, I'm 34 weeks now, according my doctors (which is a week shy of MY dates), which means only 2 more weeks of this bedrest.

I am on my feet for a huge part of the day. Jay gets Elliot changed when he wakes up, around 7, then I come downstairs with him and give him his snack while Jay gets ready for work. I'm usually at my computer at that point. When Jay comes downstairs, I move to the couch for maybe 30 minutes. Jay is out the door by 8:30, I get Elliot his breakfast and eat something too... then we watch TV until the nanny gets here around 9:20. That's when I head upstairs to shower, etc.

N puts Elliot down for a nap around 11, and I usually go lay down in my bed then, too (which is on the second floor.) I get up and make myself lunch around 1, and N does the same for Elliot whenever he gets up. I move to the couch at this point and then they usually gear up and go for a walk or run errands until 4:30ish.

N leaves at 5:30. Elliot and I read books or sit on the front steps watching traffic for a while, then he watches TV while I get supper ready. Elliot eats around 6:15. I move to the couch when Jay gets home around 6:45. Depending on what's in the house, either Jay and I eat then, or he's stopped at the store to pick something up for us to make later. Sometimes Elliot and I go out to the front step to wait for Jay, other times, Jay gets home in time to clean Elliot up and get him out of his chair. They wrestle and have playtime until 7:30, when Jay gets the bath ready. I go up and sit on the floor to watch. I read the bedtime story and Jay tucks him in. Then we come downstairs to either cook and eat our own supper, or we watch TV for a bit.

During the day, I've been either dragging a chair over to the sink to wash dishes or scrubbing the toilet/tub while sitting on the floor or doing laundry. (I get someone to carry it to/from the washer in the basement, though.) Usually, I only do one of those things per day.

Really, the only thing modified about my bedrest is that I don't pick Elliot up unless I'm sitting down, and I don't lift him in or out of his crib. I also don't go for walks (which is hard, since I walk everywhere and enjoy it.) Everything else is pretty much business as usual.

But, I haven't been sleeping well at night. I'm at that nausea-before/after-eating stage of pregnancy, and I'm getting over-emotional. (I've had breaks downs the last 2 mornings - poor Jay.) So I know I'm overdoing things. But as much as I know Boo needs me to do this and as lazy-natured a person I am, I'm finding it hard to sit still and do nothing. That's the main reason I think I'd do better in the hospital - it would force me to do nothing. But the downside of being in the hospital is pretty big, so I want to avoid that.

Bah!!!!

May 30, 2008

My appointments will be every 2 weeks now... I'll try not to bore you with details each time, but since this is the first appt since my hospital stay....

We're going with 33 weeks as my date for now. Fundal height is measuring 34 weeks. Boo is doing great, I'm doing great. My weight is holding steady at 178. Blood pressure fine. Nothing exciting to report! She'll do the GBS swab at my next appointment.

The really good news is that Boo probably weighs close to 5 lbs by now (if the u/s was accurate and providing Boo is gaining the 'norm' of 1/2 lb per week)... and the NICU won't release babes until they are at least 5.5 lbs. So, if Boo is born early, providing s/he is healthy, there might not be a NICU stay after all!

I got my medical certificate so I can draw sick leave until my maternity benefits kick in once Boo arrives. Talked about staying on this modified bed rest until 36 weeks, but she agrees that after 34 weeks I can start to relax a bit.

I needed to have 600 hours to qualify for mat leave. When I got my last pay from job #2, I calculated that I still needed about 100 hours. But I wasn't worried because I had at least 3 weeks of full time work left at job #1. So when I stopped working 2 weeks shy of my goal, I was panicking. But when I got my record of employment from job #1, I discovered I somehow pulled in a total of 727 hours between both places since January. Not sure how I did it, but whew!!!!

So I qualify for up to 15 weeks of paid sick leave (payable at 55% of my weekly earnings, so not very much) and then I get my full mat leave!!! Wahooooo!!!! Such a relief!! Still waiting for the sick leave to kick in - I probably won't see any money until the end of June, and by that time, with my luck, Boo will be here. Thank god Jay is working so we can pay our bills, buy groceries and pay for the nanny to be here. But his salary only just covers all that stuff, so things are tight.