Bed Rest Diaries

Today is Day 4 of bed rest and I've been thinking about blogging since Day 1 when I woke up at 4:00 AM with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in my head- specifically the line "Is this the real life?".  I woke up Justin (who was sleeping on the hardwood floor in my hospital room) to ask him who sings it.  For some reason I was thinking Aerosmith which I knew was wrong but the guess made Justin laugh.  He of course knew it was Queen.  I explained that my familiarity with the song is 100% because of the 1992 hit movie Wayne's World which I've probably seen over a thousand times.

Justin then asked if I'd ever seen the video of the drunk guy singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the back of a police car.  I hadn't.  So of course, I had to see it right then, at 4:00 AM in my hospital room.  I was not disappointed.

"Are you gonna cuff me?  Phhh.  Physical violence is the least of my priorities."

It was the laugh I needed at 4:00 in the morning.

Justin and I had had a successful cross country trip- it actually went really smoothly.  We spent some good time in Iowa with our families and they are all really happy to have us back in the area.

We got to Champaign/Urbana on Tuesday July 23rd to look for a place. We did finally find a house that had been for sale but the buyer's financing fell through and the seller decided to rent- our good fortune!  

Anyway, Tuesday night I started leaking fluid pretty substantially.  Long story short it turns out I ruptured a membrane and essentially my water broke so there's not enough amniotic fluid around the baby. At first the prognosis was pretty dire- we were told that we would likely have to terminate the pregnancy.  I've been in the hospital on bed rest since Thursday.   Thursday night the specialist visited us and when he left Justin and I both said we felt like we'd had a visit from an angel.  He told us about his experience with this type of case- particularly when this happened to his own sister- and he basically gave us a reason to hope.  Friday they did another ultrasound and the good news is there is SOME fluid around the baby- enough for the critical lung development that needs to happen in the next month- but not enough to carry to term (at this point).  Other good news is that baby looks good- strong heartbeat, good measurements, got all its organs etc.  that means baby CAN produce more amniotic fluid- the trick is that I have to NOT leak it AND the biggest worry is that because baby is exposed by the leak it is vulnerable to infection which would mean game over.  

At this point we are praying that the rupture would heal itself- it's not overly common but it is possible and would give baby the best shot.  Even if it doesn't heal, it is possible that with bed rest I could keep enough fluid in for baby to survive.  Barring any infection or more fluid loss I am looking at some significant bed rest- like up to 5 months.

I'm in the hospital until Monday (tomorrow) at least when they plan to do another ultrasound and see where we're at.  If I don't have less fluid they will probably discharge me to go "home" and be on bed rest, but I'll have appointments twice a week to keep a close eye on baby and make sure that no infection happens.  If I can carry the baby to viability (24 weeks) they would likely re-admit me to the hospital where I would likely stay until I deliver, which would likely be no later than 34 weeks.

Welcome to Illinois!

So, needless to say, there are lots of unknowns in our world right now.  

But there are blessings too!

We are so blessed to be so close to home- my mom has been here since it happened and has been able to be here with me when Justin isn't.  My in-laws are at the ready and will probably be here this week when my mom leaves. Between our two families being so close by I know that they will do everything they can to support us.  My brother has used his rewards points to secure us a hotel room for the next week free of charge- a huge financial and physical blessing.  We are going to be able to get into our new place earlier than we thought because the guy we are renting from is awesome- and he's even going to leave a bed for us since our furniture won't get here from California until the 9th.  We are blessed.

We have been blessed by all of our wonderful friends with prayer, phone calls, texts, flowers, balloons and more.

Our friend Dan called his dad Chris who is a pastor in Wisconsin and Chris promptly called a pastor here in Champaign who came to visit us in the hospital.  He even found a couple of people who would be willing to put us up when we are discharged since our new place isn't ready yet.  

We were blessed by a couple of other members of that church who stopped by to introduce themselves and prayed for us.

We were blessed with a visit from Dan's parents Chris and Becky who provided us with great encouragement and even went on a wild goose chase in search of a new phone charger for Justin's ancient phone.  While they were on the wild goose chase and sharing our situation with the employee at the Verizon store, a stranger offered to help, took them to Sam's Club and then even gave them cash to give to us because he wanted to help.  We are blessed.

We have been blessed by the hospital employees- we are in a great facility with some amazing medical professionals that are taking great care of me.  They haven't lost hope and that keeps us hopeful.  We are blessed.

We are blessed, but the need is great, so if you're reading this, and you're the praying kind, PRAY!  Pray that the Lord would work a miracle in my body and that the leak would reseal.  Pray that I would be protected from infection.  Pray for Justin as he has a new job to prepare for and meanwhile a whole bunch more responsibilities and worries.  Pray that God would provide us with friends.  Pray for our marriage- we are strong but any relationship can be strained under these conditions- pray that God would keep us strong and solid.

I'll try to update this blog, I know I've told so many people already that I would keep them updated, so maybe this is a good way.  

The other thing circulating in my head on that first night in the hospital is a chant I used to hear- I can't remember if it was at youth group or camp or what:

"God is good, all the time

All the time, God is good."