Reality Check and My Need to Nest

I'm back! What a week. Two crazy weeks in a row. Its only going to crazier from here on out I suppose.

First, let me clarify a few things about the steroid shots for those who are like, "WTF Kel! Isn't that bad!" Truth? At first I was terrified to get the shots, so much so that I actually had an incident a few weeks after my first trip to the hospital...and I didn't tell my doctor (I told her later, woops!). I had done some research on steroids and was fearful that the negative outcomes I was reading about would happen to us. Fortunately, I then found a very thorough review paper on betamethasone administered IM to improve outcomes for premature babies. Turns out that 1 course of treatment is very advantageous, should the baby arrive early, with minimal negative outcomes for the child. Not only is the incidence of respiratory problems significantly reduced, but so is the incidence of neural hemorage and periventricular leukomalacia (big word!), both of which are linked to cerebral palsy. The incidence of CP in premies who were exposed to betamethasone at least 7 days before delivery is cut in half! In fact, the only downside I found was that these infants tend to have more infections/trips the to doctor in the first 2 years of life than full-term healthy babies. Since I haven't read the actual studies that reported this finding, I have to presume that one limitation is the fact that we are comparing premies to full-term babies, which may increase the incidence of infection in and of itself. So I have to say...bring on the steroids!

The negative effects of steroids are associated with MULTIPLE courses. In this instance, there is a lot to be concerned about, including low birth weight, small head circumferenc, and effects of the hypothalamic-adrenal axis (badness!). There is NO evidence whatsoever that more than 1 course is beneficial and tons of data suggesting that mulitple courses are bad, yet some docs still administer multiple courses. What!?

I explained all of this to Mark and my nurse at the hospital to ensure that I DO NOT get another treatment. I'm sure the nurse is like, "who does this lady think she is? I hate people who tell us how to do our job." I could care less. I trust my abilities to read and analyze medical literature far more than I trust that my doctor and nurses are well read and up to date on recent literature. And I feel more confident than cocky when I say this since my doctor suggested I take over the counter tylenol PM to help me sleep. Umm...sorry lady, but no. Tylenol PM contains dyphenhydramine. I'm not going to rant about why I think its bad to use as a sleep med (after years of writing negative things about dyphenhydramine as a sleep med, I'm convinced). I will mention that I'm taking Alevert...an allergy medication...that contains loratadine...hmmhmm...also an antihistimine. Isn't that bad lady? And people wonder why recent epidemiological data shows that the rate of accidental deaths due to drug interaction is increasing sharply and will far exceed death by homicide if it continues at this rate. Really? Um...yes! Soon death by motor vehicle accident (the rates of which are decreasing) will be the only specific cause of accidental death to exceed drug "mix ups".

Sorry for ranting, but I find this appaling as many people trust their doctors and pharmacists to do their jobs...and clearly there is something lacking here. The moral: feel free to doubt the "expert" and ask for a second opinion, even if its something as simple as double-checking with the pharmacist when you pick up meds.

OK, well this is nice transisition to today's events. I had a follow up appointment with my doctor to make sure all was going well after leaving the hospital and getting the steroids. Turns out my doctor is on vacation until NEXT Friday so I had to see one of her collegues. Essentially we were given a second opinion. Today I was told that if I was his patient I would have been hospitalized for good last week. Meaning I would be in the hospital for 6 weeks. Ugh! He believes that they should have done another ultrasound and at least kept me for 24 hours for monitoring instead of letting me go home. Without this info, he was unable to identify whether or not I had a placental abruption, but based on my history thus far, he would diagnose me with a placental abruption. If it gets worse and I don't make it to the hopsital in time...no baby. Ummm...we freaked!

This doctor then discussed my history with another collegue of his who said he would also just send me home with light activity. Evidently it is a matter of opinion. So now I'm freaked and am going to be a very very good mommy from here on out. I'm staying in bed, I'm knitting, I'm drinking bathtubs full of water. My need to nest is restricted to making lists of things for Mark to do. :) Poor Mark.

He has been very busy with a hectic work schedule lately so keeping up with house work hasn't been at the top of his list. Yes, this annoys me, but not that much. Some days I totally want to just do laundry, or jump in and clean the bathroom...but I don't. My mom has been good about coming over and doing some cleaning here and there on days when I'm totally losing it. I can't fault Mark for neglecting dishes and laundry for a few days in lieu of sleep. He needs sleep. He is also doing the big jobs on the to-do list, which really are more important that the little day to day things that aren't going to hurt anything if left undone.

This past weekend he put in a kitchen backsplash for me! We wanted to use our wedding money and stimulus package wisely, so we decided on home improvements that will payoff. We didn't want to do the tiling in the kitchen after the baby was born because of the mess. We were worried about the chemical odor from the sealer and grout with the baby around (presently I can go and sit at my parents for the day while it airs out). We also weren't sure if there would be a lot of dust from cutting tiles. The one thing I didn't think about was losing the use of my kitchen. As it turns out, this would have probably been the most problematic part of doing this after the baby was born. My friend Joel is usually our go to guy when it comes to this type of thing, but he is busy until this winter. So, Mark decided we could save a boat load of dollas if he did it himself. He's never done anything like this before so we were both a little worried about it. It turned out fantastic!



Boy, give me a whole lotta nothing to do and a keyboard and I'll type til my fingers fall off evidently. I'll end this now, and save my other gripes for another day.

TA!