I Was Hospitalized...

...3 years ago today. Sorry if the title potentially alarmed any of you. Read on for the journal entry.

January 5, 2005
I sat around for a lot of the day and put notes on boxes for J to move. My BP was 113/74. Tonight I went to an Advanced Breastfeeding Class offered by the hospital. I’ve never breastfed before but somehow I’m “advanced”. Towards the end of the class my head started hurting a little. I know this is one of the “signs” I’m supposed to be watching for so I casually wandered up to L&D to see if a pal up there could check my blood pressure before I went home. It was 163/108!!!. They checked it again. Nope, it wasn’t a fluke. It really was that high. I got admitted into room 331 for a PIH eval. I called Jason and we decided he would come up to be with me. I would be at least a couple of hours. I ended up needing to stay overnight. Dr. Siegfried came to see me. She told me I am now “high-risk” and can’t be followed by her and Teresa and the rest of the Family Practice gang anymore. I have to be transferred to an OB/GYN for the remainder of the pregnancy. Boulder Women’s Care is going to be my group of doctors now. Dr. Mako Shimoda came to see me. She recommended that I get some steroid shots to help mature the baby’s lungs since I am now at risk for delivering prematurely. She explained that even if I don’t “go” prematurely getting the shots now would pose no risk to the baby. So I agreed to the betamethasone shot. Elaine, my nurse, gave it to me in my butt cheek. It hurt much worse than other shots I’ve gotten…like my flu shot just recently.

They kept me on L&D for the night. I had to be attached to monitors for the baby’s heart rate and potential contractions. They also checked my blood pressure frequently. Plus, they’re collecting another 24 hour urine. It’s a little humbling to have all my friends taking care of me like this. I usually try to pour the urine into the jug myself since it’s embarrassing but sometimes they like to “dip” it just to see on-the-spot protein levels. Oh well. I couldn’t sleep due to all the noise and excitement so they gave me an Ambien. J slept on the couch in the room.

I am 32 weeks and 4 days.

And now I really am an "advanced" breastfeeder. Whew.