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Today was the 2nd Saturday of hopefully many more Saturdays to come. I was discharged from the 2nd floor this morning at 9. The 2nd floor is called "Labor and Delivery". If at any time they are concerned that you may even have a possibility of having the baby, they send you down to the 2nd floor. Jaclyn has informed me that my last post wasn's specific enough. So, here's the lowdown and each issue/item that led to the 2nd floor:
1. I had small amounts of bleeding throughout the morning and afternoon of Friday.
2. I had cramping (not contractions) for most of the day
3. I didn't feel like myself. My vitals were all fine, but I just didn't "feel" right.
4. I felt an extreme pressure puling on my abdomen
5. I had a Biophysical Profile (BPP) and scored a 6 out of 8. This means that the baby moved well, his heart beat at the right speed, he showed signs of breathing (he had the hiccups) but I did not have the fluid amount that they wanted (they want 8 centimeters). I had 0.59 centimeters.
6. I missed seeing my doctor because I was having my weekly BPP.
7. I asked my nurse to get in contact with her so I could ask about the bleeding and cramping
8. My doctor called me and said that she decided as a precautionary measure to send me down to the 2nd floor for observation.
9. Before I went she explained: they will do a swab to determine if the bleeding is coming from the cervix (most likely no delivery of baby at this point) or the placenta (possible delivery of baby at this point).

So, they took me down to the 2nd floor. I could not initially reach Andy and Liz and I were texting. She responded by coming up here and staying until 7 ish and then went home. Andy got here about 5 minutes after she did.

Well, they did their test (ladies, you know all about the "swab" - not fun) and determined that it wasn't from the cervix. So, they left to let my doctor know and then come back and let us know. Well, we waited for a very long time. An hour I think. We went looking for the nurse to ask if I could go to the bathroom and eat. Yes to the bathroom, wait on the eating. Still no word from the resident. More time passed. We started listening to the Rolling Stones on Andy's phone and I experienced my first "real" contraction". It was a full minute and a half of very helpful Lamaze/Prenatal Yoga breathing. I now understand the difference between Braxton Hicks and a contraction. Well, we made it through that one. Andy coached me through - he's the best. We had another shorter one and then 20 minutes later we had another short one and then no more for the rest of the night.

EVENTUALLY the resident came back into the room to let us know that there was reason for some concern but not for very much concern. I asked her where the blood was coming from, she said I wouldn't call it blood, I'd call it "pink fluid". So, I asked her what does that mean? Well, you're not dilated at all but we're going to keep you overnight on the monitor just to be sure.

I don't know if you can tell, but I wasn't feeling much compassion from this resident. In fact I told her that I didn't mean any disrespect, but she didn't seem very concerned. She said that it was something she saw a lot of. And I told her that this was the first time it had happened to me. She seemed calvalier about it. I prefer the staff on the 4th floor. They know the definition of compassion.

Well, at this point it was around 8:30 and Andy had had 2 parties to attend that night that he was missing. There was nothing more he could do for me, I was eating dinner and watching tv. I was going to be given Ambien to sleep and there was no bed for him. So, I told him he should go to the parties and enjoy himself and get a good night's sleep at home. He went. I ate and then slept for 7 hours straight (minus 1 bathroom trip around 5am). I don't think think I've slept that well since I was in my 1st trimester. I woke up and had no bleeding, the baby was still doing great and they sent me back upstairs.

I am very happy to be back up here.

Ok, Jaclyn, I now understand what you're wanting. Specifics.

Preview: Saturday has been laid back and peaceful with 3 drop-in guests. 2 of which I haven't seen since June 2007. More to come on that later.

Goodnight for now, tinseltoes.