Wholly Wired Wife October 20 - 24, 2003 Carol found herself in a hospital, where they planned to keep her till she gives birth

	Monday noon

	Tuesday noon

= Sid reporting - Monday October 20 =

On Monday, a few hours past midnight, we had to go to a hospital, for there was an immediate danger that Carol could start giving birth at 32nd week of pregnancy -- our Little Hippo would be substantially premature, especially lungs would not be sufficiently developed, and the poor baby would have nothing to cry with, and worse, nothing to breathe with. At the hospital, Carol got immediately hooked onto a computerized monitor and pumped full of terrible stuff (MgSO₄). This substance made her feel adequately sick. By the evening, her situation stabilized, so they moved her from "action" room to a "waiting" section -- where moms either wait to give birth, or recover from it.

	Tuesday noon

	Tuesday evening

= Sid reporting - Tuesday October 21 =

Who knows my wife, is aware that her mood depends on how well she had slept during the previous night. She did not have much sleep from Sunday onto Monday, but on Tuesday she woke up refreshed. She could have something for breakfast and later lunch; the only thing they did not let her consume freely was liquids, as with intravenous hookup they must measure water balance (oh yes, that applies in both directions; neither phase is pleasant). Her contraction faded away and thanks to magnesium sulphate Carol was quite relaxed (including her eye muscles, so her gaze was not very acute, preventing her from being able to read), but that's a welcome side effect for now. She was capable of getting up from her bed and walk, pushing a wheeled pole with an electronic queasy juice pump in front of her; out of bed, she had to wrap cables of the monitoring system around her neck, to avoid stepping onto and stumbling over them.

For Wednesday, they promise removing the IV and transition her to queasy pills. However, she is to stay at the hospital until she bears our baby full term, which comes in four (4) weeks. Neither of us looks forward to this kind of waiting.

= Sid Reporting - Wednesday October 22 =

It was all more fun today, because they disconnected Carol from the sulphate drip (she continues getting it in pills), which returned her motor control and subsequently the ability to read. She was forced to spend the night in the company of another mother getting ready for a Caesarean, which caused the room to stay unusually busy, as her whole extended family had to show up en masse.

= Sid Reporting - Thursday October 23 =

One person got wheeled out of the room, another was brought toward the evening. Carol was permitted to (finally!) take a shower. For the whole day, however, she was plagued by small contractions, which did not even get registered by the instruments and the doctors claimed she was "not supposed to feel them". Her stay at the hospital and an outlook to weeks in bed contributed to her onset of depressions.

We arranged our daily routine that I would call her in the morning on the phone and then go to work. In the evening I would come visit her, we would chat a bit, I would comb and braid her hair (which is hard with arms punctured by hoses and wrapped in sensors) and stay with her, until Carol felt like sleeping.

= Sid Reporting - Friday October 24 =

With my after-midnight returning from the hospital it only makes sense that I slept like a log, when by eight thirty Carol woke me up (over the phone) and told me that he water ruptured at four in the morning. Doctors seemed calm, they gave her drips into both arms (quite uncomfortable) and apparently they were waiting what would happen.
In this phase I went to the hospital myself, and thus there would be news, when I/we get back home.

Copyright © 2003-2004 by Carol & Sid Paral. All rights reserved.