Orchids and Razors

Today was not a bad day...
I'm getting used to the routine, especially in the morning of 6am meds, sleep a little more, have breakfast, get put on the monitors, and talk to the OB at some point. I'm only supposed to be monitored for about 20-30 minutes at a time, but my stubborn little baby and my stubborn uterus usually result in me being on the monitors for about an hour or so. This morning was no exception as I had no contractions but Emma's heart rate wasn't doing what it was supposed to (fluctuating for a certain amount of time), despite the fact that she was rolling and wiggling all over the place. She is SUCH a wiggle worm sometimes- my whole belly jumps, twitches, and rolls around. I wonder what she's doing in there sometimes, but more on that in a minute... anyways, because her heart rate wouldn't fluctuate despite me being on my side and drinking juice, I had to have another biophysical profile done (hereafter dubbed the "BPP"). It's just an ultrasound to check to make sure she's alright, and it lasts up to 30 minutes. I had one the other day when I was having contractions and she wasn't moving around, but the tech today explained it to me a little more in depth today, possibly because she realized (like I did) that this will probably not be the last BPP I'll have. So within that 30 minutes, they score the baby on certain things like movement, respirations, and some other things that I'm not certain of. And yes, I said respirations- even though she's not really breathing yet, she's practicing breathing in amniotic fluid and it's an important thing to see before she's born. The BPP I had the other day resulted in a score of 6/8 during the whole 30 minutes, which was not good. It was mostly due to her lack of movement- the most she did the whole time was to flex her wrist. So while they weren't overly concerned about it, it didn't look good to have a 6/8 BPP in my chart. Well, today was redemption day for miss Emma, who scored an 8/8 quite quickly. The tech was very happy about it, and so was I... the tech even made sure to announce Emma's good score to the nurse as we returned to my floor. During the ultrasound, the tech showed us Emma's face from the front and I swear she looks JUST like her Daddy! She has some adorable little cheeks. The most amazing part was when she started opening and closing her mouth as if she was chomping on something... we all had a good laugh and the tech replayed it for us. I almost cried- it's truly breathtaking to see her in there despite everything that's going on. It gives me the strength to keep trucking through this hospital stay because I know the ultimate goal is to take home my baby girl and never let her go. But she was being a little ham and trying to roll away and hide from the ultrasound machine... she's so cute that I can't stand it. Tonight's monitoring went much better and I was off the monitor after about 35 minutes :)
When I met with the doctor this morning, she approved for me to have a 30 minute wheelchair ride every day! It's the little treats like this that make my day.
I also had visitors for the first time, starting with my amazing in-laws this afternoon. They brought me some birthday presents and other things to make my stay more comfortable. Then my parents came to visit and brought me some more goodies and kept me company for a bit. My mom bought me one of those fancy shmancy crochet kits (the ones that don't use the traditional two needles... it's pretty impossible to explain in writing so I'll just leave it at that. Google away if you want.) and some pink and white yarn, so I'm going to take a crack at making a baby hat starting tomorrow. Hopefully it isn't a disaster.
My husband stayed with me last night and most of today... he's such a trooper. This has to be so difficult on him because he's just as helpless as I am, but he still has to make sure the chores are done at home and he still has to work. I'm trying to work too, obviously from my hospital bed, but he still has to go in for 11 hours a day for 4 days per week. And then drive an hour to the hospital. And do our laundry, mow the lawn, go grocery shopping... I feel so awful for him. But he's my strong man and he's handling things well as we're both getting used to this unique and unexpected situation. He'll be back tomorrow night since he has Tuesday off, and then he'll come again on Friday night and stay with me again.
In other news, I finally have a razor. I've been here since Tuesday and being of partial German descent, I'm looking like a bit of a mess. The husband brought me some tweezers and nail clippers yesterday so I was able to rid myself of the awesome unibrow that I was growing. Since my mom brought me some razors tonight, I can tackle the man legs and European armpits I've been sporting for a few days.
I ordered a sandwich for lunch, which came on a plate complete with a beautiful purple orchid. Anyone who knows me well knows that orchids are my favorite flower by far and I'm just obsessed with them. So that was a nice little surprise :)
So I'm starting to adjust to this insane situation by taking everything one day at a time. I'm not going to overwhelm myself thinking about tomorrow or next week. Although I am looking forward to seeing the doctor in the morning since my nurse tonight suggested that there's no reason for me to still have an IV line in my arm and the doctor could write an order for it to be taken out. She noticed that it looks uncomfortable and, well... I agree! So hopefully they can take it out tomorrow and I can be free of these evil tubes sticking out of my arm.