And it went downhill from there...

I started off feeling pretty good today. I'm glad I had my lap top at the hospital and I'm especially glad today is library day. Since I left school early and unexpected on Friday, I didn't have any lessons ready for today. I talked to Mika early this morning and she is going to get everything ready for my sub. While checking my email, I see that Melanie Johnson, my long term sub, is going to go ahead and take these 3 unexpected weeks. What a relief!

I've decided to type up some lessons for the week and call Melanie during conference time to discuss the next couple of weeks. As I talk to Melanie and type, with the laptop on my lap, I begin to feel hot. Mind you, I haven't been on magnesium sulfate for about 24 hours so this isn't related to the medicine. I try to just brush it off as nothing. It's just the lap top making me hot, perhaps. I am going to suffer through whatever I have to if it keeps Hagen in longer. This time, the nurses did not let me just dismiss my symptoms. My phone call gets cut short and the blood pressure monitors begin to give that sound again. The bad one. The one that says things aren't getting any better. We head to a room nearby to have a sonogram to check on Hagen. He's fine. Of course. I'm falling apart and he's just hanging out. Not that I would want it any other way!!! I promise to take it easy the rest of the afternoon and the nurses left me alone for the most part.

I had already started my second 24 hour urine screen and tried to relax. Sleep did not come. Relaxation did not come. Just boredom. Late in the afternoon the nurses come in to check on me. They ask the same questions they always ask after I get back a bad blood pressure. Do you have a headache? Are you seeing any spots? I told them what I always told them. No. I'm fine. As the nurses left the room and I began to really think about my condition I realized I did in fact have a headache and was seeing silver spots. I looked sadly at my mom and notified her of my feelings and she immediately went to the nurses station.

A few minutes later a team of nurses came into the room. The magnesium sulfate was back, but this time I would have to have an initial boost of the meds and then the drip. This was not going to be pretty. As one nurse hooked me up, two more brought in towels. Had one of them spilled my water? Had my water broken? Had my dirty hospital hair made someone vomit? Nope. The towels were brought in to pad my bed! My mom and I shared a brief look of fear. Mom had them clarify what they were doing. They were padding my bed in case I began to have a seizure. You have got to be kidding me! Seizure! That's when I guess it really hit me. This was serious. This wasn't just going to be 3 easy weeks of bed rest at the hospital. This was not just extra vacation from work. This was the real deal. And it continued to go downhill from there...

The night was horrible. HORRIBLE! My mom stayed with me so Nick could get some good sleep for work the next day. We were up most of the night. Not because nurses were bothering us, but because I was on fire. The magnesium sulfate had caused me to bake from within. Mom would place a cool wash rag on my head and neck and within seconds it was warm. She rubbed lotion on my legs and neck. She kept me in ice chips. Nothing helped. The night was going to be nothing, but miserable. I kept thinking...What does a seizure feel like? What if I die? What if Hagen doesn't make it? Nothing good came of this night. And it continued to go downhill from there...