Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The "FUN" part of hospital stays

Last night I got a shower and clean clothes- quite a step up in life. I got a Starbucks drink (strawberry cream frapp) and Emma was asleep by 9:30. The night was going great! Until about 10 'til 1. That's when the nurses started coming in and turned on the lights on the other side of the room (separated by a curtain with mesh at the top so the lights aren't even dimmed on this side of the room). They were prepping it for a new patient. A baby, so they removed the big bed. They had to move E's crib to get it out, thus waking her up. I finally got her to go back to sleep about 20 minutes later. At 1:30 they brought in the crib, the lights were left on this whole time (on that side of the room- as if that matters...). Then around 1:45 they took the crib BACK OUT and brought a regular bed back in!

About 2:30 they brought in towels, blankets and a basin. 3am they brought in a young lady and her dad and the 'quick orientation' to the room and hospital and her vitals. 3:30 a resident came in to talk to her. 4:30 a physician came in. And in any space between doctors they both fell asleep (thankfully Emma slept through most of this) and the dad SNORED LIKE CRAZY. I swear, they should have been able to hear him through the door at the nurse's station!

They did finally turn the light off around 5am and I do think I went to sleep despite the snoring (well, sortof). Then at 5:45 the lab tech came to draw blood from Emma. It was also time for her pain meds (she's been going all night without since she sleeps through the night but I wanted her to have them before shift change). I asked the lab tech to take us to the treatment room for the blood draw since I knew Emma was going to cry- for a while- and I knew our roommates probably got even less sleep than I did. Plus, Emma would have a chance to calm back down on our walk back so that would be good.

So off we went, did the blood draw, got meds, a clean diaper, and Emma went back to sleep on my chest (aww... she doesn't EVER sleep on me!). Eventually I laid her down and she fell back asleep in her crib. The nurse came in around 7:30 to listen to her and she went right back to sleep DURING the exam. This kid is tired!

She is NPO (not that she wants to eat anyway...) after 6am for her sedated echo at 10ish. So we're just hanging out and waiting. I expect that the ENT will be around sometime this morning and we'll hear whether they've given up on her eating at the hospital or whether they want to keep us here for etermity. I know, I know, she'll eat sometime and we'll go home!

Anyway, our eventful night was not due to Emma, but somehow it's easier to be awake all night when it's your kid then when it's nurses and doctors causing all the fuss!! They really weren't doing anything out of the ordinary and some were very quiet about themselves, but reality is that I wanted to sleep and didn't so now I'm crabby :)

Kristopher, Brianna, and Micah are going to the church this morning. The KAD program that K and Bria attended during the school year is extended through the summer and although we didn't intend for them to be a part, our nursery director has graciously extended it to us and we're very thankful!

5 comments:

  1. You're the first blog I visited this morning to find out how your night went. I'm sorry you didn't get any sleep, but I'm glad that it wasn't because of Emma! Praying for good news and talk of discharge today!

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  2. Well hopefull the nights will get better, how was her HR? I am so sorry to hear about your night.
    I know what you mean about it being easier to be awake for your own child and not nurses and drs. One of the last times W was in the hosp. we were there for 8 days w/ breathing trouble. We shared a room with 3 different kids the fourth one came in the middle of the night so after all of the aggravation of lights and all you talked about they get in and the mom starts to snore like I never thought a person could. The nurses felt so bad for me (I didnt sleep all night) they ended up giving me a room for the rest of our stay (2 more days). Crazy days of the hosp!!
    Hopefully you will be on your way home soon.
    April

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  3. This brings back memories of when I was with Benjamin on all his hospital stays. It always seemed like you would be there forever. We put ben on a what they called a "total nutrition IV" for a while when he would not eat. Is that the kind of IV Emma is on until she decides eating would be great to start again. Try to get some rest. Wish you the best with Emma's test today.

    Love
    Mom C

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  4. Don't you love hospital rooms? I remember after Payton's T&A, our roommate was a girl who was probably 8 years old, and she whined and cried the entire time. OMG I was almost wishing we had been there for something that would have landed us a private room!

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  5. I can't believe you can't get a private room. That is crazy that they are that unconcerned about the other patient! Hopefully you can at least get a break to take a nap today if you can't get out of there.

    Kayla

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