Wednesday, February 1, 2012

15 weeks and update

Luckily last week was an easy one as far as symptoms go.  I didn't have much nausea, all the weird meals agreed with my stomach pretty well, just understandably tired from all the driving and sitting in the hospital.  However today, true to form as it's an odd-numbered week, today I'm feeling a good deal of stretching accompanied by a gurgly gut and slight headache.  I probably haven't drank enough today so that should account for the headache, but we're apparently sticking with the every-other-week-growth-spurt thing.  At least it's somewhat predictable and it wasn't last week when we were sitting in the ICU.

We've bought a few baby things now.  We found a little tub with a newborn sling shaped like a froggie (none of my sinks are a good size/shape for baby baths), a couple packages of onesies in different sizes, a grey long-sleeved thermal onesie, and a sleep sack with ducks on it.  A high school friend gave me a bath set with ducks on it too, so that was very nice of her :)  I'm not sure if we'll find out the gender on Monday or not, it might depend on how well Jelly Bean cooperates.

Now for updates on B.  He got into his own room yesterday and he was very happy about that.  Still no surgery since the second day, but they're keeping an eye on things still.  He was making good progress and was in good spirits until yesterday, when back spasms/pinched nerve/something in his lower back started bothering him.  Today it's been constant all day and his epidural isn't doing much to help the pain.  His back's been bad for years so I'm not surprised that all this laying/sitting aggravated it, but we're frustrated with the fact that they're not doing anything to really help with it.  They just ask if he's pushed his pain button, which gives a higher dose from the epidural, but it only works every 10 minutes and is basically ineffective for this problem.  I really hope they do something soon... it kills me to visit and watch him writhing in pain the whole time.  It's worse when I call to check on him and I can hear the tears in his voice, knowing there's absolutely nothing I can do. 

For me, the worst part, aside from knowing his pain is out of my control, is the paperwork.  There's an auto claim for the accident, getting all the hospitals updated with the claim number and address, unemployment for B because he was laid off a week before the accident but right now he can't do the job applications so we need the doctor to fill out a form that's been sitting on the table ignored, getting the car's towing paid for (but not reimbursed because AAA is a waste of money), job applications and interviews for myself because he'll be unable to work for a while, financial aid through the hospitals (which requires tons of paperwork that's not at all handy), and wondering how bad the payments are going to be and how long he'll be out of work, plus what I'll do after JB's arrival.  Trying not to stress out about it since that will only make things worse, but this is just insane.

Monday is my 16-week appointment.  Hopefully B will be out by then, or maybe they'll let us wheel him over to the clinic so he can see the ultrasound, but he's missed the last 2 appointments because of work and I'd hate for him to miss another just because they wouldn't let him go next door for an hour.  I guess we'll see what happens.  That was possibly the longest week of my life.

2 comments:

  1. But you made it through, and things are looking up.

    B needs to tell his nurse and doctors about the pain's resistance to the epidural. It may mean something else is going on.

    Just take each moment as it comes. Play whack-a-mole with life. Remember that each moment is new. We never know what's going to happen.

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  2. they told him today that the epidural and catheter come out tomorrow, and i'm sure both of those will help. he'll be able to get up and about more easily, and they ordered an mri to check out his back but they can't do that until the epidural is out. i really wouldn't be surprised if a disc got compressed or slipped or something with all this, considering his back was pretty bad to start with. they have some muscle relaxers for him that he can take every 8 hours, then with a tylenol and some benadryl he can sleep pretty well, so i'm glad they figured that one out. they can't do much with those because of his liver but a little bit just to take the edge off and relax him is worth it for the extra sleep. i'm taking it easy tonight, running a little laundry and just chillin. it's hard to not go see him but i need a night off from driving

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