This Is the Pregnancy Commiseration and Support Thread

Thinking good thoughts for you and babby <3

Lemme know if you want me to bring you something that's not hospital food, carl!!

Like, do not hold back. I will bring you the foods.

Sounds like a problem that thanks to medical knowledge and appropriate planning will not actually be a problem! I'm sorry you have an extra thing(s) on your plate, but your attitude is ace and and you will have a babby to dress up like a turkey and place on a platter on the table for Thanksgiving!

Lemme know if you want me to bring you something that's not hospital food, carl!!

― Untt (La Lechera), Tuesday, October 15, 2013 3:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, for the love of god. Yes.

My mother is handling all of the worrying for everyone.

Genuine lols. Thinking good thoughts for you, carl. Keep your chin up.

Email your order!!

When I was admitted the first time for the blood pressure stuff, I was kind of entranced by the food, especially when I got to pick what I wanted to eat. It was definitely hospital food (my best description of it is that it feels very sterilized) but some of it was not too bad. Then the second time I was in, I realized that the food was the exact same. I got the same dinner that I had the first time (two fried chicken drumsticks, "cilantro rice," spinach, salad, roll) then the same breakfast and then when they came to ask for my choices for lunch and dinner, they were the same choices... I mean, I have a pretty high tolerance for institutional hot turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy but every day for two weeks... I can't imagine.

one of my fears about being hospitalized is being forced to eat institutional food -- i have no tolerance for sog

Will your health insurance cover this extended visit, or are you liable for a portion?

I may very well hit my deductible/out of pocket limit and if that happens, the insurance will pay 100% of whatever subsequent costs I incur. Until I hit those two limits, I think I pay either 10 or 20% of whatever the amount the hospital bills the insurance company, which is less than what the hospital would bill a poor sucker without insurance (I know, right??!?!?!) and is a closely guarded secret. So the answer is probably but I'm not entirely sure. USA! USA! But again, just super super unendingly grateful that we even have insurance, much less really good insurance (we sprung for the costliest plan with the lowest deductible because we were hoping to have a baby this year, so good job, us).

Sounds like a problem that thanks to medical knowledge and appropriate planning will not actually be a problem!

Correct! Amazing, isn't it? It's still a little nerve wracking because there is a list of things that should trigger an immediate trip to the hospital (bleeding, contractions, headaches, blurred vision, upper abdominal pain) so I'm living in a state of yellow alert (so tiresome) but when I'm admitted, I can relax a little because I'm already where I need to be if something happens.

Thank you all for the kind words and well wishes!

It's also pretty much impossible to figure out how much you'll be paying for a "regular" hospital birth in advance.

carl, can you talk to a nutritionist and maybe put together somekind of plan to at least intersperse the hospital diet with some occasional brought-in meals or snacks? Two weeks would drive me bonkers von nutsville.

Since I'm not actually sick or on any kind of restricted diet, I can bring in anything I want, thank god. My cousins are giving us gift certificates to a few local restaurants so Jeff can bring me takeout, too.

Another thing that blows my mind about the food is the sheer volume of it. I don't know if I got a special pregnant lady diet or what, but it was seriously more food than I eat in like two days. Three meals, all of which come with salad AND soup (breakfast comes with oatmeal), bread, desert, milk, juice, and coffee PLUS two snacks, one of which consisted of a sandwich, milk, apple, and (dreadful, disgusting) cookies, aka another lunch.

The second night I was in, my night time snack box had three slices of American cheese wrapped in cling wrap and an apple. I LOLed pretty hard.

I can also wear regular clothes (well, house pants and the like), thankfully.

you will have a babby to dress up like a turkey and place on a platter on the table for Thanksgiving!

THIS AND ONLY THIS

Hugs to you, Carl. It sounds like you are in really good hands. Thinking of you.

I can't believe my grandparents actually love hospital food, they rave about the hospital food in their town and only eat at hospital cafeterias when they travel.

Some of my grandparents' favorite restaurants were about on par with hospital food, so I can see that. It's kind of odd that your gps eat at hospital cafeterias when they travel, though!

I know. They say hospital cafeterias are always clean.

S. still talks about the awesome food and comely nurses in a hospital in Singapore, SIX YEARS LATER!

my very best wishes to you, carl & baby, I hope the waiting time goes happily and well.
signed, yet another fan of your lovely haircut/eyes.

<3 thank you!!!

quincie, I forgot to mention that part of the overall care available includes visits from social workers who specialize in women undergoing high risk pregnancies. As a student of social work, I thought you might find that interesting. And yes, I am 100% availing myself of that service.

Wait, you got a CHOICE of foods?? In the hospital?? I got cream of wheat that wasn't even microwaved, it was like a hockey puck made of horse glue.

The hospital caf had Jamaican beef patties, but could you get those delivered upstairs? Could you fuck.

Only after I'd been there overnight. The initial dinner and breakfast the following day were just whatever they gave me. Then lunch that day day was a choice of veggie burger, Salisbury steak, or hot turkey; peas and carrots or just carrots; mashed potatoes or french fries; potato leek or some other soup (the potato leek soup is the thing that was actually pretty good); garden salad or cottage cheese and tomatoes; a few different things for desert; and then beverages.

Dinner was a set of similar choices - meatloaf, chicken breast, something I can't remember; carrots or broccoli; mashed potatoes or "bread stuffing" (decent); salad or cottage cheese; desert; beverages.

But it was the same choices both times I was there, so you know, once I'm at the point where I'm like "Oh, Salisbury steak just for variety!" then I'll know I'm a defeated woman.

To my eternal frustration, it's an iceberg salad and their dressing selection is Italian, thousand island, Catalina, or fat free ranch. I had a puking incident involving Italian salad dressing early on in the pregnancy and I hate every other dressing option, especially fat free ranch because I like regular ranch dressing just fine, especially on iceberg lettuce (if you're going to go low brow, go all the way I say).

Best health wishes to you and the babby, Carl!

quincie, I forgot to mention that part of the overall care available includes visits from social workers who specialize in women undergoing high risk pregnancies. As a student of social work, I thought you might find that interesting. And yes, I am 100% availing myself of that service.

Oh that's so great! Are you finding it helpful?

First session is tomorrow, but I am comforted even just knowing it's available so I'm going to go ahead and say yes.

Really not impressed with my initial experiences of NCT. First they encourage me to sign up for a direct debit to pay and I leap at the chance, given their antenatal course is costing over £300. Then when I come to pay, it transpires the direct debit only applies to the £40 membership fee, so this is just a tactic to get me to stay a member after the initial year as presumably they hope I'll forget to cancel the payments.

Now I get an email confirming my reservation on a postnatal course, which I didn't book. I write to let them know, and a woman gets back to me with a C&P of a paragraph buried in an earlier email telling me how, since 80% of their members feel they gain from a postnatal class, they have taken the liberty of booking me onto one.

Fuck this. What next, partnership emails from Bounty?

They have taken the liberty to book one for you... What the shit.

bloody hell. I didn't do NCT, we moved and it was too late. I'm glad I didn't bother, not one of my local friends went to the same NCT group, because we're at the edge of so many areas.

They came highly recommended by a few friends - not because of what you learn so much but because of the network of babysitters friends. But this stinks, especially as they're a charity. Of course now I'm now panicking in case the woman I sent a snippy email to is actually leading my class...

I met all of my local mother friends at the local baby group I first went to when A was about 4 weeks old.

How did you find the local group, V? Was it advertised somewhere in particular? I'm avoiding the big online forums at the moment because all the Opinions terrify me.

They did have notices up but it was run by a couple of the local health visitors. Have a look out at local cafes for notices, and go to the library singing sessions too, to meet other new mums. The NCT is an easy, if expensive, way to have a ready made network though

Per my previous update, I am officially admitted for my course of hospital bed rest. So far so good, but it's only been a few hours and they've already sent a social worker in to assess my mental state and to warn me not to be too surprised if my cheery disposition dissipates in a few days.

Hilarious hospital food update: lunch was a hamburger, steamed broccoli, and two (2) different kinds of canned fruit - mixed fruit cocktail and a peach half in a dish on some lettuce. It's one scoop of cottage cheese away from being a diner diet plate! For some reason, though, they've got me coded as having food allergies and being on a restricted calorie diet, which I think accounts for all the fruit. I sorted that out with the nurse, though. Restricted calories my aunt fanny.

Good luck, CA - hope however long it takes goes as smoothly and undepressingly as possible.

Thanks, M!

The plan is two weeks and then a c-section as long as nothing happens to foreshorten that time frame, but the doc told me this morning if I stay stable, they'll delay the delivery by up to a week. I am really hoping that's what happens!

Put your feet up and watch 2 seasons of Scandal on netflix, is my advice.

I'm going to be able to watch the Bulls season opener tonight, which is on a cable channel, so that's kind of exciting.

Scandal has been in our queue forever. Maybe now is the time.

ooooh this is getting so exciting! Babby soon!

Sorry you have to be inpatient, tho. By "bedrest" do they mean "u no getting up, please pee and poop in this pan" or can you do some walking about?

I can get up to go to the bathroom and shower! I'm in the process of lobbying them to let me go to a mysterious place called the "coffee room" so I can get my own water instead of calling the poor nurses to bring it to me (which is nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm going to be here for two weeks plus and I don't want to annoy anybody) and I am going to see if they'll let me go outside for some fresh air later this week when it's not raining. The last one is probably pushing it, but I think they'll let me get the water. I mean, hell, yesterday I walked a mile home from the store carrying a bag of groceries. Shuffling around the corner to the water and ice machine shouldn't be an issue.

hope all goes smoothly carl!

I am dying for the big name reveal!

Oh jeez, that reminds me of Carl and Little Carl from that episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Good luck and here's to a happy and healthy Little Carl!

omg Carl by my math you could choose to have little baby Lexy on november 14 like the universe desires! SECOND COMING. Seriously though, wishing you the best of bed rest, freedom to get your own water and an excellent wifi connection for Netflixing (or is that on TVs in hospitals now?)

good luck CA!! hoping all goes smoothly for you n babby

How's it goin', Carl? Wishing u best.