July: Temporarily husbandless and labor pending

We moved up to Boise on Monday, July 1st, got a lot of stuff settled in, I went to my appointment with HR to get my paperwork done on the 2nd, then we went back to Firth for the 4th of July. On the 4th, we watched Jace run the Firecracker 5K in Idaho Falls, ate at the community pancake breakfast, my dad and I went to a garage sale while Tyler took a nap, then we canoed/floated the Snake River before eating dutch oven dinner and watching the Idaho Falls Malaleuca fireworks show. We came back to Boise on Saturday, went to church Sunday morning, and I dropped Tyler off at the airport to fly back to Utah. We didn't really want to be apart until mid-August, which had been the original plan, especially it would be so close to my due-date. However, we didn't really know how to fix it at that point, so we decided to just play it by ear.

The next week is when it got interesting. I had just started general orientation at the hospital on July 8, which was conveniently one floor above my OB's office. I was having some funny cramping down low for a couple days, and I wasn't sure if that was normal or not, so I went down to the office on Wednesday July 10th to ask the nurse about it. She was unavailable, but they sent me across the hall to be monitored because they thought the cramping might be contractions. I didn't really feel like they were contractions. I just thought it was him pushing up towards my ribs, because he had been doing that for a while, with the addition of the low cramps. Anyway, they did a non-stress test (NST), and sure enough, I was having contractions! They were fairly consistent, but not too strong. They sent me back over to the Dr.'s office because he wanted to check me out. I wasn't dilating or anything, but because I was only 33.5 weeks along, he was worried that I might go into labor. 

Originally he suggested I be admitted to the hospital to be monitored, but I told him that we didn't have health insurance yet since I had just started working. He then suggested I just stay home and rest, but told him I had just started orientation and wanted to get through the general part because I didn't know when they could reschedule me. He reluctantly agreed to let me continue, as long as I exerted myself as little as possible, took some medication to stop the contractions, and got steroid shots to help the baby's lungs develop (which HURT by the way). For the rest of the week, I parked in the "patient parking" and did very little at home. My wonderful cousin Stephanie and her husband Jason came over that Friday, helped me do a little cleaning (since we still had a LOT of our stuff to unpack and put away), brought me dinner, then took me back to their house for the weekend. I wanted to go back to my apartment Sunday morning so I could go to church at my ward and try to make a few more connections, especially since at this point Tyler was still in southern Utah! I didn't even know when he would be coming up! I was having a lot of contractions that morning, about every 5 minutes, so Stephanie made me stay there. I was a little reluctant, but I'm glad I did. I don't like to ask for help, but it was really nice to have someone watching out for me so I didn't have to be alone. It was scary knowing that the baby might come so early without Tyler there with me.

I continued on through general orientation and started onto the floor for precepted orientation the next week, and things didn't seem to get any worse. I went back to my Dr., and he said I still wasn't dilating so I could keep doing what I was doing. I kept taking the medication, but let me tell you, it had some interesting side effects. Like clockwork, about a half hour after I took the pills, I would get lightheaded, dizzy, and feel like I was going to fall over. Not a good thing when I was trying to take care of patients! I had been doing fine with them before I was on my feet, but that first shift, I learned I needed a plan when I about fell over in front of the charge nurse. I worked it out with my preceptors to take the pills about 20 minutes before we went to lunch so that I was feeling fine by the time I had to go back out on the floor. I worked day shifts for a couple weeks, then switched to nights on the 30th. I was actually scheduled for the 29th, but I got confused with my sleep schedule and missed it! Oh my gosh, I thought the world was going to end. Luckily, as a new employee they were nice and rescheduled it. Note to self though, don't do that again!

Me after my first 12 hour shift as an RN, 34 weeks pregnant and exhausted!

Although I started to work on the floor at 34 weeks pregnant, for some reason Employee Health was having a cow about my shoulder, not my pregnancy. They wanted me to go into a Dr. to have it evaluated, which was impractical because it would take forever to get into a specialist, and I didn't want to pay the big bucks for it anyway! After talking to several people, Employee Health was able to schedule me a "functional review" at the rehab center (more on that next post). 

Night shifts went pretty well, and although the time is inconvenient, I'm actually glad I'll be on nights for a couple reasons: 1) Nights are a little bit slower paced, and I have a lot to learn! 2) If I work nights, there will only be the 3 hours in the evening where Tyler has class that someone will need to watch the baby, and that's if I work on the days he has class. Otherwise, one of us will always be home and the baby won't have to go to daycare!

Next post: Happy Anniversary to us, Happy Birthday to little man!