Vacation!

I have decided to look at this hospital stay as a vacation and let me explain why.

I don't have to clean anything in here. Not one thing. The garbage gets taken out twice a day. The bathroom is cleaned daily. My sheets are changed daily. I have room service with which they will put the food on my table and bring it right up to me to eat. I don't have to cook for Ali & he will actually be doing his own laundry. (Well, after my mom leaves.) Anything that I need, I just pick up the phone and someone brings it to me. I don't even have to get out of bed to get it nor do I have to put on pants! I am expected to gain weight while on this vacation and It would actually be bad if I didn't. I have also been instructed to stay in bed and I can sleep as late as I would like to! If that doesn't sound like a vacation, then I don't know what would.

In all honesty, I would like to say to how wonderful the doctors, nurses and staff have been to me. Everyone here is so friendly and courteous. If I am going to be away from my family, they are doing their best to make it seem as though I am part of their family. They've hugged me when I was sad and crying and are cheerful every time my vitals are checked or it's time to hook me up to the monitor. I couldn't be more thankful for their loving care during my stay here.

My Wonderful, Amazing Mother

My mom has always been there for Katie & I. She has always been loving and supportive no matter what kind of craziness we put her through. She has always been there to stock a fridge, help with a bill, fix a car but most importantly a shoulder to cry on and always there to listen.

The second we called her and told her what was going on, she basically jumped on the next flight out to be by my side. Seeing her walk around the curtain was the most comforting feeling that I had felt in the past 48 hours and of course brought on a new wave of emotion. It was bittersweet seeing her. I knew I wouldn't get to share the time with her but I knew that Hamza & Ali would be taken care of at home.

She has spent her days here cleaning up the house as we were still in the middle of unpacking. She finished putting together our furniture, which Ali & I both have no idea she got  it all moved around by herself. While doing that she has filled up our fridge twice, been taking care of Hamza, coming to visit me and going to Walmart getting all the little things for the house that I was planning on getting. She has also started training Bruno how to use the doggy door.

Hamza is going back to Utah with her next week and although I will miss him terribly, it is wonderful to know that he will have her. I don't know how she is going to do it because he is one rambunctious two year old. What I do know is that he will get to experience the same love that we grew up with and not only from my mom but from my grandma and everyone else there too.

I don't know how I will ever repay her for stepping in like this for my family. There's no way she would take any money just help out with diapers while he is there let alone just the expense of everything else. I will never feel that us thanking her will ever be enough to truly thank her for what she has done and is doing. The only way I know how to thank her is to be just the same loving, caring, calm, non-judgemental, open person and mother to my kids as she has been to Katie & I.

I love you mom.

Squeaky Clean!

The tile is a little outdated and it doesn't quite all go together. The faucet squeaks very loudly when turned on and off. Who knows how long the shower curtain has been there and how many random naked women have touched it or what they have touched it with. I don't even go near the stool inside the staul and feel badly for my shampoo & conditioner bottles that have to hang out on it while I am in there. Now, the light fixture is a totally different story. There must be a giant store out there somewhere that specializes in terrible florescent lighting as this hospital seems to have invested a ton of money in them. The towels are a little scratchy and you have to choose if you want to cover your boobs or your butt. But today, in that cramped little space, was the most amazing shower I have ever taken. I had no IV in my hand. Clean sheets to come out to and a clean gown to let my bum hang out in. Amazing. 

My Days Without Pants

 Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be spending weeks without pants and having countless random people ask me if I was still leaking, how it looked and if it smelled. (Lovely, I know.) I have been poked in my arms and hands so much the last 6 days that they look like a small land mine field. I could probably play connect the dots and come up with some pretty interesting shapes if I got really bored. My temperature has been taken more times than Hamza has had his taken in his two years. By this point, I am pretty sure I could run my own IV Antibiotics if the nurses wanted to take a quick break.

My roommate has the window section of the room so I haven't quite seen daylight since Sunday. She is also quite pleaseant. Most of the nurses that I see go to her part of the room, walk back by rolling their eyes and looking annoyed. She has complained about almost all the food she orders, the filtered water and she is going to be in here FOREVER, according to her (P.S. Her C-Section was moved to this coming Monday.) When they want to put her on the monitor, she asks how long it will be and if she has to do it right now. I didn't think that 5 year olds could have babies and jobs and cell phones but maybe I have just been in here that long.

Faris is doing great so far, thank God. Today has been a little touchy as it turns out he pooped and my temperature is slightly elevated. They put me on the monitor and drew some blood to check my white blood cells and will let me know what the next steps are. They said he looks great so not to worry too much yet but maybe I should tell these people that I have the worst kind of luck with these things. If it can happen, it will happen to me. If there is a side effect, I will get it and it will be the worst you've ever seen. It is calming to know, no matter how many times I have cried and been worried, that this hospital has the best NICU in our area. I will heal, I will be fine and this little boy will have the best care possible. Plus this hospital has no idea what kind of family I have on both sides. We aren't afraid to raise hell if need be. ;)

I am trying to keep my spirits up and be a cheerful patient. There is no point in being a Debby Downer or not being nice to the nurses and staff here or just plain being in a bad mood. It wouldn't be good for Faris and it would be even worse for me. I have a TV all to myself with all of my channels that I watch at home, NetFlix, magazines & books, internet and stuff to make some necklaces. Plus Princess Sassy Pants (The roommate as Randi has named her) keeps things pretty interesting with what she is going to complain about next.

INOVA Fairfax Hospital is My Current Address

The month of June has been quite exciting for my family. We had just closed on our first house and moved in on the 10th. I was 27 weeks into my second pregnancy and was really enjoying my last few months as just a family of three. Everything was really going very well with the pregnancy. I had no issues, my weight gain was much better than it had been with Hamza (as in not as much), I was feeling great and getting ready to start unpacking baby clothes and items in preparation for this little man in the next few months.

Father's Day 2011:
Ali had decided he wanted a whole little weekend to choose what we do and I had no problem with that! We started at the pool on Saturday afternoon and ended the evening walking around Old Town Alexandria. Definetly one of our favorite things to do and little did we know that it would be our last little family outting for a while.
The next day, I made him breakfast and gave him his card that I had made and hid for a few weeks. The day went on as it normally does on the weekend, quietly and camly.

That was until dinner time.

At about 6 PM I had noticed that certain things that were going on with me were not what they should be. We called Steph who told us immediately to call my doctor to which she returned our call and said to come to Reston Hospital right away. Upon getting undressed and into the bed, she could already tell that my water had broken. At any other point after September would have been fine but I was only 27 weeks pregnant and it was way too early.

I was transferred to Fairfax Hospital that night and put on a terrible drug called Magnesium Sulfate to prevent and/or stop any contractions. I had all the side effects that they said I would get but multiplied by 100. Like seeing a dog in the room (hallucinations), loosing all of my reflexes & strength, double vision and couldn't even talk. Ali even ended up having to brush my teeth and put my hair up for me. For the most part, I don't remember Sunday evening to about Tuesday morning.

So I am here until this little man decides to come out. It could be tomorrow, it could be in Septemeber. I couldn't be more thankful to Steph for taking Hamza those first days and for my mom who jumped on the first flight out and is staying with him now. I don't know what we would have done without you. This is going to be an interesting road we are all about to go down.