Life in the Hospital

I know I’ve only been here a few days, but I am actually having a pretty good time in the hospital. Maybe things will change later on, when I’ll get sick of being here and I do want to be able to remember the good days. I am very impressed how nice everyone is. But I have to say I am fortunate to be on this floor, I get more privileges to say so. The day starts early, I usually wake up around 6:30-7:00. The nurses shifts change at 7AM and 7PM and some of them like to come and check on their patients before they go home. They all say that I am a very good patient, they don’t have a lot of work with me. And I tell them “for now :)”. Every morning and night they check my vitals – the interesting part is that at night my heart races like crazy. And I usually get a headache with that. They said it’s because of the huge amount of blood flow that I have in my body. Carrying quads, each of them with their own placenta, is a lot of work for my body. Also twice a day I get to be monitored for contractions for an hour. I’ve been having really good days and nights since I got here, the contractions are very light and few. Being on strict bed rest helps a lot and here I have help around me all the time so I only get out of bed to use the bathroom or shower. Then they check out the babies heart rates using some sort of monitor that look like a microphone. Sometimes the babies are playing hide and go seek. They move so much and they’re giving the nurses a hard time to find all of them. They kick the monitor so much, it’s funny 🙂

Fetal heart rate doppler

So that’s pretty much all the work the nurses have with us, not bad, right?

I get 3 meals a day, pretty balanced and pretty tasty, I have to say. I usually get to pick from 2 options, but the menu is the same every week, so if I’ll  be here a long time, I think I’ll get tired of it. I also get snacks in between the meals, so it’s not bad. Plus they give me 3 Boost drinks a day (10g of protein each) and some sort of double protein ice cream to increase my protein intake. I need about 130g of protein a day to keep the quads growing!

So everything is going well, my belly is very big now and I never thought I will get this far. It is hard to even turn in bed. Many times I feel worthless because I am not doing anything at all, I lay in bed all day. But I know my body is working harder than ever. If you put yourselves in my shoes, could you imagine such a drastic change in you life? From an active, busy person to… strict bed rest and huge belly 🙂 It took me a while to process everything and accept this dramatic turn in my life, but after all it is the biggest blessing and I would not take it any other way. The other day I got a special air mattress that goes on top of my hospital bed and it’s supposed to help me with the pain that I get from laying down so much. It does work, I like it. Now I think they ordered me a hospital trapeze. I am not kidding when I say I can hardly move. It might sound funny but it’s not. So I will be able to hold on to that when I get up. When Oly is here with me it’s great because he helps me get up or turn, but I feel bad calling the nurse or the tech during the day for this. My belly and my legs (weird!) hurt when I get up…I can’t even imagine what is going to be a month from now if I make it to 32 weeks.

I had more visitors today! Naty has become an periodic visitor (maybe a daily one), so sweet of him. But my Bennett with his grandma Gigi, his twin buddies Grant and Lane with their mommy – my friend Susan – came by for lunch and they brought me a yummy Zaxbys Zalad 🙂 Mmmm the taste of the outside world!

Handsome boys

Tomorrow I have another ultrasound and they’ll check my cervix. I’m a little nervous. But I am hopeful and I pray that everything will continue to be ok. I am excited that my hubby will spend the night here again, I miss him…

Make sure you check out the Belly Pics… I added a few more in the last few days. Believe it or not, apparently there’s still more room to grow!

Lori
28 weeks 1 day

The amazing milestone ~ 28 weeks

I don’t even know how to start this post. Maybe by saying how EXCITED I am today!!! Oh gosh… we’ve reached 28 weeks! This has been our main goal for such a long time. Sometimes I felt like it’s so far away, I thought we’re never going to make it. It is SO important that our babies have reached this milestone, I am going to cry!! At 28 weeks the babies are ready to meet us, meaning they have huge chances of surviving outside of the womb. Of course we would prefer that they wait a little longer in there, there’s no rush. But if I were to deliver any day now, it would be ok. They would still spend time in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) but I think we can say they are safe to enter our world. Everyone is excited, not just us – the nurses that enter my room congratulate us. The Labor and Delivery section from Northside has different floors. My room is on the HRP floor (High Risk Pregnancies). So everyone here knows very well how important it is to get to 28 weeks. Everyone’s goal is to get to this stage. Right now I am the only one carrying quads and many of the nurses said I am their first patient they have worked with that is expecting 4 babies. They are all wonderful ladies that take such good care of me.

I don’t know what I will do today but I know it’s a happy day. The babies have been doing so good and my contractions are very light, I guess I am more relaxed too, knowing that I am here under the dr’s supervision. Yesterday I had so many visitors and surprises, it was wonderful. Oly’s baby brother, Naty (he is 20 but he is still the baby of the family and I love him so much) works nearby and he came to see me twice in the same day! We got him a parking pass, so he can come and go as he likes. Then a good friend of mine from work, Shannon,  stopped by with her kids. That made me so happy! I had no idea they were coming. And the kids brought the babies the cutest lovies ever! I have them by my window so I can see them all the time 🙂

The Quads lovies 🙂 Aren’t they so cute?

At the end of the day my in-laws came by with auntie Ada, so I ended my day with family around me once again, which is wonderful. Naty was here already, Oly surprised me and came straight from work. I was so glad that my hubby was here too. I was given a different room with a better view, because I’ll be here for a long time. Now I don’t have to look out of my window and see a wall, here is much better! I can see the King & the Queen buildings again and I love it. So Oly moved all my stuff once again. We need to buy an air mattress for him, like a twin size to make sure it fits in here, so he can sleep better and actually get some rest. I am so happy that he stays with me almost every night.

the view

My room

From this day on we just count the days. I am setting a new goal, which is 30 weeks and the 32 weeks. Hopefully even 34! We thank God for every single day. We’ve come so far only by His grace. And we’ll continue the same way, following His plan. People ask me often how did I manage to carry these babies so far and what did I do to have such a healthy high risk pregnancy. I did what the doctors have told me to do, so I followed instructions, but at the end of the day, the life of these miracles are in the hand of God.

Happy 28 weeks Babies! Mommy and Daddy love you all more than words can express! We can only imagine that day when our pregnancy journey ends and we get to hold these precious angels! And then the real fun begins 🙂

Our life is in Your hand

Lori.
28 weeks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First weekend away from home

But not very far away. Actually a weekend at my new home, Northside Hospital. I think I will be here for a while. Days, weeks … I don’t know. But the dr. want to keep me close just in case. At this point in my quad pregnancy, anything is possible so being under their professional supervision is the best place to be.

This weekend has been busy and full of surprises. {I think someone really wants to help me type or just wants to play this morning because one of my sweet babies is kicking me on and on and on:)} It’s nice and quiet, I had my breakfast and my hubby is still snoozing on the “very comfortable” extended chair…poor guy. These days have been rough on him; I wish he could get some real sleep before returning to work tomorrow.

Friday night I had a very pleasant surprise, 3 of my friends came over to our house to see me. I am just like a kid, except I usually don’t ask for things to be brought to me but anything makes me so happy. And I have sweet, thoughtful friends! We had such a good time. After they left, I finally decided to call the nurses station at Atlanta Women Specialists. I’ve been having contractions all day long, some of then painful and some very painful. I also counted them and they were about 10min apart so that made me thinking that I might need to do something about it. I knew it, I just knew it! They told me to go in and get admitted to Northside Labor and Delivery. The bag was already made, we picked up a few more things and left. When we got here, my contractions were all over the place so they started my giving me IV fluids. That helped and it calmed me down. They also did some tests, one of them it’s called the fetal fibronectin test. If you are in preterm labor, it pretty much tells you if you are going to deliver in the next 2 weeks. That – if you have a singleton pregnancy. For my quad pregnancy is not that accurate but at least it’s good news if it comes back negative. So it did!! Around 2:30 AM we decided to go to sleep. Oly fell asleep fast, he was exhausted after a busy week at work, running back and forth to the hospital with me twice this week, all this stress got to him. It would be terrible for me too, to be on the other side, to watch him being in pain and being moved around from one place to another, listen to several doctors with different opinions, and at the end of the day knowing that there are 5 lives in line, it’s crazy! But he is doing so well, I am proud of him! It’s hard  to have all this on his shoulders, but he handles it wonderful.

I really tried to sleep too but my mind was very busy. The nurse kept coming in. At some point my contractions were 2-3 minutes away, but I wasn’t really feeling all of them. I got a shot of Terbutaline, to stop or at least slow down my contractions. It worked but because of this medicine, my heart was racing like crazy!!! That’s one of the side effects. Now how can I sleep with my heart beating out of my chest? Forget that. Next day was pretty much the same, dr’s visits, tests, contractions. Because it was my birthday yesterday, dr. Angus was so nice and wanted to do something special for me. So he ordered a cake from the cafeteria and a bunch of nurses came in my room and sang Happy Bday to me. I was SO surprised! I forgot to mention that Friday at midnight, my husband and the nurse that was in my room sang to me too. Oly gave me this beautiful necklace that has four peas in a pod symbolizing our babies. I posted a picture of it a while ago and that’s exactly what he got me. So cute!

Late afternoon they told us I am not going home, so they moved us in a different room, a nicer one that actually has a window and a bathroom with a shower. That got me thinking that I might spend more time in the hospital than I was planning. Or they got sick and tired of us (especially Oly) asking for a better room. In a small room with no window , you go nuts!! Isn’t it enough that you’re in the hospital? Anyway, we were happy to move.

yummylicious!

And here comes the best part. Soon after we got in this nice room, the whole Lupei family came over, every single one of them !! And I got a big 2 layered cake, d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s !! My mom-in-law is truly an expert. I heard she had a little helper too, auntie Lois 🙂 I had such a good time, they surrounded me with their love, as always. These babies will be so spoiled, oh my goodness! I can only imagine if my family from Romania would be here, how nice it would be. But I am blessed to be part of the Lupei family. The night ended so nice. After they left, the nurse monitored the babies and they were good. We went to bed and I actually slept through the night!! Woke up this morning happy and rested.

Lori.
27weeks 5 days

First night in the Hospital

Yesterday started pretty early for me. I woke up around 4am and just couldn’t go back to sleep. I was not feeling too well, my belly just felt weird. Around 5 the contractions started, but nothing unusual, They were not hurting that bad. But my belly was hard as a rock and stayed like that the whole day. So after going back and forth all morning long, on what to do, I called dr.Jeffer’s office and spoke to a nurse. They made an appointment for me right away. I called Oly’s work and asked if he could come home and take me to the hospital. Fast fwd: I got admitted. My blood pressure was higher than normal, lots of contractions… but the cervix was still fine.

Once I got into my room, lots of equipment was brought here. They had to keep track of each baby so they needed another computer and a few more heart monitors. It took a while to get all those monitors on my belly, I had one for each baby and one for my contractions. I just couldn’t believe it – I was having contractions every 6 minutes! I probably spent 30-45 min laying on my back with all those things attached to me and my back started hurting a little. In the beginning I thought it’s from my belly contracting so much. But at some point the pain was unbearable! The left side of my belly all the way to the back was hurting me so bad! I kept breathing thinking it’s just another contraction, a very serious one this time around. But why just half of my belly and the back? The 3 nurses that were in my room at that point were looking at me very worried but there was nothing they could do apparently. Looking at the monitor, they said it sounds strange because I’ve had contractions like that before but couldn’t figure out why I have so much pain this time. I thought I am going to lose it at this point. Oly was holding my hand and he kept telling me it will go away, well it wasn’t! I was covered in sweat and I really thought I am about to have these babies right at that moment. I asked made the nurses take the 4 monitors for the babies off me so I can turn to the side and try to relax. Even breathing was to hard for me. It slowly went away, but my side all the way towards the back still hurt. It was manageable though. Then I got the chills, I was freezing! Even after I warmed up, my body kept shivering for a while. I thought that was it, it went away. But shortly after, I needed to go to the bathroom. The second I got up, the pain was back. I don’t even know how Oly managed to take me in and out of the bathroom, I thought I will faint every step of the way. I got back in my bed, terrified… Is this what being in labor means? are the babies coming? am I ready? All these questions and many more crossed my mind. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, but I was trying my best to keep myself together. My hubby kept telling me that we’ll be ok, the babies are good and all that pain doesn’t mean they are coming so early. He reminded me that only God knows the day that He picked for these angels to enter our world, we should not worry.

I did get some pain killers and it helped a lot. This is just for a short period of time, until they figure out what is wrong with me. I was happy to see Ada and my in laws later at night. The doctor -that was on call- stopped by and checked me out. He thinks I might have kidney stones on my left side. So they’ll make some urine tests and hopefully this morning we’ll find out. Not sure what’s the plan if that’s the result. I will be spending the whole day here. They said I have a chance of going home tonight but I am not getting my hopes up. Whatever they consider better for me, I’m fine with it.

Oly decided to spend the night with me, he was too worried to leave me here. I thought that was very sweet of him, it did make me feel a lot better just seeing him sleeping on the sofa next to me. I didn’t get much sleep though, even after taking some Ambient. Before we went to bed, I was pain free, so we had some fun taking pictures 🙂

prego style in my new room

O & L

the view from my room

Can’t wait to see how today is going to be and how long I’ll end up being here. Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us! I know God is in control!

Lori.
27 weeks.