Well, we promised you an update so (drum roll please……………). Jack has updated the blog TWICE in a roll!!!! (crowds cheering, children jumping up and down, high school bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, dance teams dancing, and anything else that you can think of that would delay this blog post from discussing what it is actually about. ;-) )
At the time of the previous blog posting we were still in the hospital and had been diagnosed with a “marginal sinus abruption” with the treatment of rest and a lot of it. Since then things really haven’t changed on the knowing-what-happened front. Francie is continuing to rest to hopefully heal from the abruption that seemed to have occurred. However life has moved on since the last blog post on Saturday night, and in an effort to write things down for future reference and to keep everyone up-to-date on things happening, here is a summary of life from Saturday night until Monday evening.
On Saturday night after posting the last blog entry we had a WONDERFUL event happen. The complication that caused Francie to have to be flown down to the NICU finally stopped!! This was a wonderful event, and one of those times in which you get so excited about an everyday occurrence. We noticed that the complication finally stopped around 11:00 PM on Saturday night, so the 24-36 hour clock started ticking then. However, if the complication showed back up, then the clock reseted and we would have to wait another 24-36 hours after it had stopped a second time. Luckily this did NOT happen, but more on that later.
Sunday itself was a very busy day, however very little changed. The morning started out with the doctor coming in around 8:00 AM. In dress clothes, the doctor was excited to hear that the complication had stopped, however cautioned that it could slightly reappear if we didn’t take it easy. We did ask about Francie being able to take short walks, etc. on Sunday because we noticed that the complication appeared stronger on Saturday after Francie took a shower. The doctor seemed to think that moving around was a good idea and wanted Francie to walk around some, take wheelchair rides, and also sit up in the rocking chair in the hospital room. At lunch, I (Jack) finally took a break from the hospital and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with my cousin, her husband, and their little girl at a restaurant close to the hospital. It was nice to be out of the hospital, however unusually painful to leave my wife who was in the hospital. This, to be honest, was difficult for me to understand. I knew that Francie was ok. I knew that (Lord Willing) she would be fine for an hour without me there. I knew that her mom was there and that she would take good care of her while I was away. I knew that if needed, I could be back at the hospital in 3-4 minutes. However for some reason this didn’t seem to matter. I knew that I needed to take a break, but I didn’t want to. It was very strange. But I went ahead and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with my family (mom, dad, and my sister came as well).
Once we got back from lunch, we learned that Francie and her mom had a wonderful time together and Francie had been on her first wheelchair ride. In the hospital that we were at, there are some halls that have bricks as the floor. While it looks nice, it’s a little bumpy for a wheelchair. Because of necessity for where they were going, Francie had to go down this hallway. Afterwards we joked that if anything was going to shake loose, it would have during that ride! :) Again luckily nothing shook loose and the clock continued to tick. After lunch the parents felt that it was probably best that they head on home. My mom and dad wanted to get back in time for church that evening, and Francie’s mom needed to get back to check on Francie’s dad. My sister, though, didn’t have anything to get back to so she decided to stay one more night. While we loved having our family there, and would have loved for them to stay, it was nice to get to spend some time just the three of us. My sister and Francie were really good friends before Francie and I started dating, and while the relationship has changed some, I am so very thankful that my wife and my sister are such good friends. This is truly a blessing that I try hard not to take advantage of, and try to help keep active through us three spending time together when we can.
Sunday also brought some visitors that we were not expecting, but were extremely grateful for seeing. As you might have recalled on Thursday while we were rushing to the ER, Francie’s OB-GYN was in Denver. Early Sunday evening, our doctor showed up out of the blue. Apparently his flight had come in (the NICU hospital was in the same city has where he flew out of) and he thought that he would swing by just to check in on us. To say that we were shocked would be an understatement; however we were so thankful to see his face. We had a wonderful visit and filled him in on the things that were going on. He was so very thankful that everything seemed to have stabilized and that we might get to come home soon. After our doctor (from our home town) left, we watched some TV and an interesting thing happened to me personally. For a brief period of time I totally forgot that we were in a hospital. And for that period of time, it was bliss. I don’t know why I felt this way but it was wonderful and something that I was thankful to God for having.
Monday brought the possibility of being dismissed from the hospital, but Francie woke up that morning with a different (but potentially just as critical) complication. She was having contractions! :S And some were 20 minutes apart!! OH MAN was I nervous. Here we had stopped one complication and another one starts up just as it looked like we were out of the woods. Luckily they appeared to be more Braxton Hicks contractions cause by maybe some slight dehydration. So the nurses told Francie to drink drink drink! Now you force water (which goes right through Francie even when not pregnant) on a pregnant Francie …..well, let’s just say that Francie never really got comfortable for having to get up every 10 minutes! :S
In order to make sure that the contractions were not legit, they put Francie on the fetal monitor. Of course, just like when you take your car to the mechanic, no contractions came while on the fetal monitor. So, like with the other complication, it was again more of a process of elimination than actually finding out what was going on. While all of this was going on, the doctor came in for her daily visit. Encourage that the first complication had not reappeared, and not very concerned about the second, she told Francie to walk three times by 3:00 PM and then we would see about maybe being dismissed that evening. This ordinarily would bring one excitement, however we were just too nervous about the first complication popping back up and the second complication being present to really get very excited. After hearing what the doctor had to say, and seeing how good Francie was doing, my sister decided that it was time for her to leave too. Like with the parents, we totally understood her wanting to leave, however also was happy to have her stay. But my sister, who is a nurse, thought that we were probably out of the woods and that it was safe for the family medical professional to make her way home.
After my sister left, Fran took a shower and this totally wiped her out. Like how you are exhausted when recovering from the stomach bug. So Francie took a good long nap, and I just watched some football. It was nice. Nice and quiet, and again, it was like I wasn’t even in the hospital. After waking up, we started walking. After walking and having some lunch, the excitement began to grow about the possibility of us getting to leave the hospital. However still lingering was where we went after being dismissed…
At 4:00 PM the doctor showed up and we had a good long talk about what the future held. In talking with the doctor we came to the conclusion that it would be best if we spent another day or two in the same city as the NICU. We also discussed what the doctor’s definition of “modified bed rest” meant. To summarize, basically the doctor wanted her to do nothing (except the occasional walking) for a week. After a week, add a little bit of activity each week until we got to about 35 weeks at which time the local hospital should be able to handle the situation if the baby came.
Deciding to stay in the town where the NICU was, meant that we needed to find a place to stay. While we had many friends and family members offer their place throughout the weekend we thought that it might be best if we just got a hotel room. This way we wouldn’t put anyone out, and Francie could get the best rest possible, so we found a fairly inexpensive hotel that had all of the amenities that one would need when basically living there for 36-48 hours. While we would have loved staying with someone, and if we have to come back might take some people up on their offers, we are glad that we went ahead and got a room. Getting the hotel room actually gave us a chance to get some much needed rest. But more on that later…this blog post is long enough. :) (don't you just hate suspenseful endings!)
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