The Cubby Chronicles IX

Note: Kristin was admitted to Duke University Hospital the evening of Monday, May 5 2008 for leaking amniotic fluid. The following are updates, notes, & observations on hospital life.

Well, after a few days of relative quiet here at Duke we had an adventurous night. At around 2AM Kristin woke me up asking something about cleaning up all of this water that spilled on the floor. In my groggy state I panicked & assumed that she meant she had leaked out more amniotic fluid so I jumped up & grabbed a towel. Turns out she had taken a sip of her water cup and missed putting it back on the tray table so it splattered. Relieved, I dutifully cleaned up & went back to bed.

Of course 3 hours later Kristin woke me again with a similar request. This time, however, she really was leaking tons of amniotic fluid. Her pants, sheets, & bed were completely soaked. While K stayed amazingly calm & still I called for the nurse over the intercom. After 5 minutes passed without a nurse (& K leaking even more) I went down to the nurse station & again requested (maybe more demanded) that our nurse come. When I returned to the room the intercom said the nurse was on her way & I also requested/demanded that a doctor come along too.

The nurse did some initial drying & the resident gave her an internal exam to make sure we didn't have a cord prolapse and to check how dilated she was. Thankfully the cord & baby were all right & her cervix was still around 1cm (the same size as last week) which was great news. The bed was changed & we got her in new clothes & back under the covers. They put her back on the fetal monitor to check for contractions (none) & to watch the baby's heart rate (strong). When the attending physician came by this morning he requested for her to be on the monitor all morning.

The whole ordeal was quite a scare but I think we're looking pretty good at the moment. Kristin has stopped leaking & she & the Cubby are still monitoring just fine under the watchful eye of Ben & Chloe (or at least their stuffed Webkinz avatars). In fact her contraction line is looking better than it has since we arrived--probably because her uterus isn't as agitated without all the extra fluid. The doctors say she's still has a good amount of fluid (the resident's best guess was she lost between 1 -2 liters) & we're fine to wait until tomorrow's regularly scheduled ultrasound to measure it.

Just yesterday the attending doctor mentioned they might need to do an Amniocentesis procedure if we're still here in the coming weeks just to empty much of her extra fluid but clearly now we don't need it. Kristin feels a lot better without all of that extra weight & girth--she looks much smaller & her belly isn't tight & distended. Hopefully it'll also translate into better sleeping for her as well.

We're grateful that everything looks good but it was also a somewhat scary reminder that the situation here can change in an instant. Still, as we've said before we're just happy to have another day; thanks for all your continuing support.....

Addendums:

• Regarding the wastefulness of the hospital--The other day I actually got told to to get a new styrofoam cup when I tried to re-fill mine with ice & water in the staff lounge
• Kristin's food saga may finally be turning around. Last night she received her Amy's Vegetarian bowl and she's getting new menu options to choose from.