Unprepared

I *would* say that maybe you’d noticed a blog silence over the last few days, but I’ve been such a terrible baby blogger the last few months, that my sad ONE post last week has gotten to be par for the course around here.

At any rate, at least this week I had a *reason* for not checking in – many of you who are friends with Mommy on Facebook, or follow me over there, or follow me on Twitter probably know *most* of what’s been going on through the cryptic status messages that have been flying since Thursday, but I’ll post a more coherent clarification here now. (Since FB switched formats and no longer lists status updates chronologically, a TON of people were confused about what was going on with Mommy.)

We? did not have such a great weekend.

On Thursday morning, Mommy’s doctor called and asked her to come in for a few hours of monitoring and a blood test; her platelet levels on some lab work that she had completed on Monday were lower than he wanted to see, and given the fact that she developed HELLP in her pregnancy with me, he wanted to proceed with caution. HELLP is a syndrome associated with preeclampsia, and is characterized by Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, and Low Platelet count. The only known treatment is delivery, and without treatment it can be life-threatening. So, yeah – the lowered platelet count combined with Mommy’s pregnancy induced hypertension set off some alarm bells.

Fun times.

“A few hours of monitoring” rapidly turned into the very real possibility of delivering Squishy that night, at 32.5 weeks gestation. Mommy was even given steroid shots and a magnesium drip to help aid in Squishy’s development in the event that she had to have an emergency c-section. They checked and rechecked her platelet levels and blood pressure, and kept a constant monitor on Squishy. Mommy met with the head of the NICU, who gave her a book about preemie babies, and she nearly lost it entirely when a hospital admin gave her an information folder which included a birth certificate worksheet. Poor Daddy was trapped in class about an hour and a half away, but he rushed down to the hospital the first chance he could.

Fortunately, at the last minute, her levels evened out somewhat, and she was able to avoid surgery for now. She was kept at the hospital until late Saturday evening, being monitored, and was only released with the promise to return today for more testing. Until that time, she is on bed rest, and under strict instructions not to “over do it.” We are all sincerely hopeful, and relatively certain that these restrictions will be modified or even removed entirely after her appointment. Bed rest is *really* not going to be good for Mommy’s mental health, let alone her blood pressure numbers; she is DEFINITELY a control freak, and would much rather do something herself than a) let someone else do it a different way or b) take the time to show them how to do it “right.”

On the positive end of things, ALL of Squishy’s testing has come back totally normal – she is growing perfectly and not in any distress at all. The only reason to deliver would be because of a danger to Mommy’s health, and we will be fighting to keep her as an inside baby for as long as possible – we do NOT want a new baby for 2011.

This experience has highlighted ALL of the ways in which we are totally unprepared for Squishy’s arrival:

• Mommy does not have a hospital bag packed. Seriously though, who DOES at 33 weeks? This was problematic, though, because poor Daddy was trying to bring her things in the hospital and didn’t really know what she wanted. Or where to find them. Also, her phone completely died within the first few hours of being in the hospital on Thursday, leaving her with no way to call Grammy Boo or Daddy – thank goodness she had thought to bring her iPad with her, and that Uncle David works nearby and was able to bring her a charger. I’m pretty sure we will be taking the charger every where we go from now on, just in case.

• I spent the night at Grammy Boo and Coach’s house – good thing I practiced that for the VERY first time last week! Mommy didn’t know when she dropped me off that she would be gone for days, though, so I spent the first night sleeping in my clothes and Grammy Boo had to do a late night grocery run for my organic milk and some things that I like to eat.

• NOBODY but Mommy knows how to clean my sippy cups and put them back together.

• We *have* most of the gear that Squishy will need because most of it is hand-me-downs, but NONE of it is assembled or installed or in any sort of state of readiness. Again? We are supposed to have at LEAST another month.

This was by FAR the longest time I have ever spent away from Mommy. Daddy took me to visit her in the hospital briefly on Friday and on Saturday, but I spent most of the time watching The Little Mermaid with Coach. I held my own, but I was completely off my routine – I didn’t nap for any of the 3 days, and slept super late on Friday morning. I insisted on calling Mommy on Friday night before bed, and had hit my limit by the time I was sleepy on Saturday; I spent some cranky time looking for her. All I really wanted to do was go home to “Mommy’s house.” I was SO happy to see her on Sunday morning, at home, that I spent most of they day clinging and climbing on her. I was entirely displeased every time she left the room. She has her follow-up doctor’s appointment today, and we are hoping that everything calms down a bit.

So that was our weekend. Sigh.