After a week here I'm starting to feel the 7 days in bed. I just do not have the same energy. I feel all slow when I'm taking a walk & I have to sit down after my shower today.
Today the Nurse Manager came in to say hi. Like everyone, she was really nice - surprise, surprise. She told me about a bunch of additional things they can do through the integrative medicine department, like aromatherapy, touch therapy, acupuncture, and canine therapy. It sounds a little weird, but a break in the routine sounds nice too.
Also, I am getting a tour of the NICU at some point.
Last night I have my first actual complaint - the tele nurse just didn't get it. Other than the tele nurse that was playing party music on her phone in the middle of the night last week, all the nurses have been great (& other than the music, that nurse was nice too.)
Well last night I had a mini breakdown right before taking the Sotalol. It is higher risk for Isaac and even though I know it is what we need to do, I got nervous last night & started crying. It is weird because my nurse was Lorna, who I've had three times and who is the person I was talking to when I started crying, but the other nurse just busted in and kept telling me how everyone takes Sotalol on her floor. (No kidding, I'm not worried about taking it for me. I know for a fact that no one downstairs takes Sotalol on her floor for transplacental treatment.)
Lorna, of course was great & reassured me that they were going to watch him all night & explained how they have a special card that will stop the elevators so they can get into the OR for a C-section in a matter of minutes if there is ever a problem and lots of other comforting things. The tele nurse kept interrupting & saying, "It's ok. You have a right to be hormonal. You are pregnant." over and over. (Um, I think this goes a little beyond being 'hormonal.') Lorna was giving her death stares and she finally stopped and started telling us all about her dogs and her grandkids (still not really appropriate topic in the moment.) She also seemed a little condescending to Lorna, like her skills were more important than Lorna's. Since Lorna is the RN trained to save Isaac's life in the event of an emergency, I couldn't disagree more. Throughout the night she would start talking to me while I was watching TV and when she woke me up for vitals in the middle of the night about the most random things - her dogs, her kids having a party and throwing up on her couch, how her new grandson doesn't sleep on his back (yikes!), etc. It was weird & I was not in the mood to chat. It kind of stunk. Luckily she won't be working again for a few days so it may not be an issue.
The Sotalol is pretty side effect free, with the exception of dizziness for an hour after I take it. It also brings down my heartrate & blood pressure. I learned a new medical vocab word today - bradycardia. It means heart slowness & is the opposite of tachycardia. So I occasionally have bradycardia from the medicine while Isaac has tachycardia.
Isla is doing fantastic, but she is distancing herself from me a little bit. I totally get it, but it stinks too. She is more reluctant to climb in my bed or listen to me, but she does still tell me she loves me and loves Isaac too. She is a trooper & makes me so proud.
Isaac seems to be responding to the meds today! He is still having SVT, but his heart rate in SVT is lower - 200 to 210! It is really exciting to see a change!
Tuesday RN - Vanessa (Are these names starting to be familiar?)
Tuesday Tele RN - Jenny (She is great because she is not a huge talker, & at this point I'm talked out.)
1 comment:
Ooh, aromatherapy and touch therapy? That sounds like a spa treatment ;) You might as well indulge in it! (What's the worst that could happen? You smell good?)
And when you get a tour of the NICU, if they don't bring it up, ask if they have rooms for pumping (they told Jason where they were, since I was still bed-ridden when Nathan was admitted, but then nobody ever told ME where I could go to pump in privacy! I'm glad I knew to ask them!) and what the rules are about food and drink in the NICU (nobody told us until right before we were done there that nursing mothers are allowed to bring a water bottle in! I had just assumed nothing at all would be allowed, even though I watched some horrible lady eat CHEETOHS by her baby's incubator! WTF?? But yeah, my milk was coming in and I was SO PARCHED - I wish I'd known it would have been okay to bring water!)
Post a Comment