Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Thought I'd treat you all to some pictures from my hospital stay so far. Before I get to that, let me just say that today was a great day as far as a day in the hospital goes. We had tons of visitors and for pieces of time I was able to forget where I was and why. Monitoring this morning was a bit frustrating and we couldn't find Apple. The doctor happened to come by on rounds at that time, so they got out the ultrasound to reassure us and figure out where to place the monitor. She was right where we thought the whole time and she was moving around a lot, just like her brother. The doctor thought that it looked like she might have more fluid than Friday, but couldn't measure it, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. The second monitoring session today went well and I was only on for one hour. The last one tonight took WAY too long (2 1/2 hours).  Apple was doing great, but Banana appeared to be asleep for an hour.  Once he perked up and started showing some activity, Apple had a late deceleration through one of my contractions.  So the nurse decided we needed to watch her through a couple more.  She did fine, but then Banana's heart rate was flat again.  The nurse sat in here for almost an hour waiting for Banana to have one more acceleration.  He finally did and she gave me a bowl of Lu.cky Char.ms out of her personal stash as a reward.  Yum.

Now for the pictures.

This first picture is from Halloween day. This was taken in the first room they had me in that had a view of a brick wall. I was still in a hospital gown, but B brought my favorite pillow from home (and so began the slowly moving into the hospital by the bringing in of "stuff"). If you look closely, you can see a bruise on my upper arm. I have no idea how I got it.

This is the latest belly shot taken on Thursday at 30 weeks. It shows off my current wardrobe which now consists of pajama pants and B's white t-shirts. This picture was taken in my current room, in front of the door (I know, exciting).
















This picture was taken as I was returning from one of my many bathroom trips. I had to interrupt monitoring for this particular trip. You can see the pink and blue elastic straps across my belly that hold the monitoring units in place. I'm holding the cords that get plugged into the base unit in my left hand. You can also see my lovely leg compression things (I have no idea what they are called). They plug into a unit that hooks onto the end of the bed. If you could see my make-up-less face and disheveled hair in this picture, you would totally think I'm hot.

This next picture is the view right in front of my bed. The flowers were from my niece's first birthday party last weekend that my mom brought by the next day. The picture frame has a picture of B as a little boy holding a cork board with the letter "B." His family sent us a bunch of pictures of him as a kid a couple of years ago and I framed this one because I thought it was so cute. The two angel ornaments hanging on the picture frame were part of a care package a friend brought by today. One for each baby. I can look at these from my bed and I'm reminded of why I'm doing this. The candle to the left of the frame was also in the care package. It is a flameless candle that works off batteries and smells like vanilla. This is one of my favorite things in the care package. It makes my room smell good and gives it a bit more ambiance. Never mind the fact that all of these things are sitting on top of the hazardous waste container. You can also see the "room service" menu in a little holder on the wall.















This picture shows the bigger picture view straight ahead of my bed. The tv up on the wall, the mini fridge with snacks on top, the same stuff shown in the picture above and the linen hamper.

This picture shows the corner with all my stuff on the floor. There really isn't any storage in the room to put anything in because my room is on the labor and delivery wing. They don't expect people to stay here for long as there is a separate post-pardum wing that they move you to once you deliver. The hospital is very proud of the lamps in these rooms because it provides softer lighting than the harsh overhead lights. The wheelie stool in this picture is helpful for extra seating and, as we found out today, is very entertaining for a 6 year old!

This picture shows some of the touches B brought me from home. The green afghan on the chair was made by his grandmother for one of the babies. We have two, but the other one is still at home. And then there's the Bears blanket. It is soft fleece and very cozy. The couch it is on pulls out length-wise and is for the dad's to sleep on. According to B (who spent the first two nights on this couch), it is not comfortable at all.

This picture shows all of the monitoring equipment. I won't bore you with the details, but this machine rules 3-6 hours of my life every day.

This shows my sink/vanity area. My mom brought me a humidifier because hospital air is incredibly dry. You can also see the IV to the left. I haven't had any IV fluids for about a week now and they took the IV out of my arm a couple of days ago. That was a relief. The stack of white blankets to the right of the picture are actually draped across a recliner.

This picture is of my bathroom (it is in my room) and the shower. It is actually a pretty nice bathroom with nice tiling. You can see the chair in the shower that I have to shower in (I'm not allowed to shower standing up). I've spared you a picture of the toilet. it is off to the right.

This picture shows my window with a view of the mountains (past the roof in the foreground). Much better than looking at a brick wall.