Mothers Day

The last few days have been more of the same: lay in bed, eat, drink like a life depends on it, read books, sleep. The doctors and nurses asked the same questions and were getting a little bored with me.

And then things changed. I started bleeding and contractions started coming on Saturday afternoon. Scott had his first day off (after working 12 straight!) and spent it with me at the hospital. 

We moved from the chill environ of the postpartum floor up to the labor and delivery floor. I got re-tethered to the bed with monitors and an IV. The doctor gave me magnesium sulfate, not necessarily to stop labor but for "neuro-protection" - studies have shown that a dose of it within 24 hours of being born significantly reduces the risk of cerebral palsy.

Unfortunately, it also stops labor. And it's an all-around nasty medicine that makes me feel hot and woozy. A few hours of that medicine and labor slowed and then stopped.

Which is good and bad. I'm 30 weeks and 4 days along, so another week or two in the womb would be beneficial for the baby. But the thought of having to lay low a bit longer (and miss out on Bruce's birthday next week and not get to tuck my kids in every night and so on...) and have to go through the same traumatic IV placement, nasty magnesium dose, and inevitable C-section in another week or two sounds awful to me.

And so I am trying to find a little ray of sunshine on this Mothers Day. I might have to resort to listing things I'm thankful for.

1) modern medicine: sure I don't really like it, but without it I'd be dead.

2) breakfast: after not being able to eat solid foods for almost 20 hours, I was happy to get something to eat this morning - even if it was hospital food.

3) lilacs: Scott got me a bouquet of lilacs for Mothers Day and they make the whole hospital room smell good. 

4) my mom: she birthed me, raised me well, and saved me a zillion times over.