Update: Cough, Dylan's heartbeat, Hospital Tour

I'm dying. Week 30 sucks really bad. Since my last blog, my cough has become more persistent, and it's uncontrollable at night time. It's really hard for me to sleep, and I'm pretty sure it's hard for Mark to sleep with me coughing so much. I have to force myself to go to the bathroom at least 4x during the middle of the night. It's so ridiculous. I even wanted to cry because it's just so unbearable! Ugh. And when I cough, the top & sides of my belly hurt so bad. I know Dylan's okay though because he's protected, but when the coughing gets too rough, he'll kick and move around a lot more. Mark's aunt was able to make me soup & Mark made me some honey/lime tea, and it helps because the warm food really soothes my throat, but the coughing still is really bad afterwards. I try sooooo hard, so so so hard to get better; I drink so much water, and I spit out everything I can [gross I know], I rest up as much as possible, but it's just so hard when I'm coughing & dying for air every couple of minutes. Another really annoying thing is that I have to wear PADS because of my uncontrollable bladder while I'm coughing. AHHH. Also, the weather yesterday was WHACK. It was all windy, and I just got even more paranoid that my cough would worsen because the wind always makes me prone to allergies. Then last night, I was squatting down, trying to look for paperwork in Mark's drawer, and I felt my ankle sorta snap or it made a weird sound, and now it's painful and bruised. Man. I didn't know my weight was THAT bad, dayum. So yeah, all these things would go wrong with my body in just one week. Lucky, lucky me. Being pregnant has always been a fun experience for me; but being pregnant AND sick?! It's literally torture. I'm limited to many medications that actually help me get better; trust me, if I didn't have Dylan in here right now, I'd load myself up with Nyquil and sleep forever. But I can't ): I have to try using as many natural remedies as I can.

Anyways, right after I posted my last blog [sometime before midnight], I took Mark's stethescope [that Concorde College provided him with], and I tried to listen to what was going on in this uterus of mine. I've always wanted to rent a fetal doppler, but my last OB told me, "I don't recommend it; they don't really work. Later on, you can hear the baby's heartbeat with a regular stethescope." Man, after he said that, I was so frustrated because I really wanted to rent one, and you're not allowed to rent one without a doctor's prescription. Anyways, I took the stethescope & after hearing just a bunch of *thumps* [since Dylan likes to kick and roll around so much], he got close enough to the surface in order for me to hear his heartbeat! It was so cool! I tried finding it before, but now that he's bigger I figured it would be easier to find. I even read online how nurses couldn't even find a baby's heartbeat by using a regular stethescope so I was pretty impressed with myself. Ha! And for sure I know it's his heartbeat because I could hear mine which is just a steady boomboom, boomboom, boomboom while Dylan's is a super fast boomboomboomboomboomboom. I heard it again later on that day because he was pretty active and rolling around. It's amazing. It takes a lot of patience because his chest or what not isn't always close enough to the surface for me to hear, but I catch the short moments when he does. So cool (:

We finally had the tour of Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance (it's a Catholic hospital; pretty sure that makes my dad super happy). It was scheduled yesterday, and I kept thinking, Gosh I hope I feel better because last time, which was 3 weeks ago, I had to reschedule the tour because I was too sick with a cold. I still had my cough, but at least I had the energy to get ready & go out. Last time, I couldn't even sit in front of my mirror without feeling my head spinning, trying to straighten my hair. Anyways, the tour started at 12 noon. There were cookies & tea provided for everyone. I think there were about 12 couples? Maybe more, but it should be around there. And I wasn't surprised that Mark & I were the youngest couple / parents-to-be there. Haha. I was actually surprised at the older couples in there! And I mean obviously the other couples were older than us, but some couples were definitely older older, you could just see it. I sound so mean, haha. Anyways, I was chowing down on some cookies & I constantly kept drinking water because I was trying really hard to control my cough. It was hard. I felt embarrassed because I didn't want any of the other pregnant women feel threatened that they'd get sick too. I just threw in a cough drop & coughed with my mouth closed the entire time; it was a challenge. Anyways, our tour guide explained everything to us regarding the hand outs that were provided which were about different things like car seat safety, doulas available, certain classes that we can take, breast pump rentals, etc etc. Then she explained to us how procedure works in the labor room. Cameras are allowed of course [no tripods, but I would never go that far in my opinion haha], and pretty much anyone can come while I'm in labor. We were also shown a DVD about pain management during labor [like how the epidural is given, etc] and Mark was squeezing my arm all hard the entire time because he was freaking out. Haha! I swear, he's such a chicken. I already know he's gonna freak out in the room while I'm in labor. After the video, I looked around the room & saw a bunch of the pregnant women CRYING. How funny. Good Lord. I thought I was bad with crying after every little thing, but that was definitely at the beginning of my pregnancy. I think I've learned to control my hormones a little more. Ha. Anyways after that, we were able to take a little break. Our tour guide said, "If you need to use the restroom, it's out these two doors, make a right, and it will be on your right hand side." And all the pregnant women just bursted out the door. For once, I'm not the only one needing to use the bathroom every hour. Haha! I couldn't help but laugh. The bathroom was full of pregnant chicks. After THAT, we began our walking tour of the hospital.

Mark & I have already been around the hospital since we had to observe arterial blood gases for our phlebotomy classes a year + back so we were familiar where to go during certain hours of the day. If I'm in labor & I arrive during 5am-9pm, we can use the front entrance, but after that we'd have to use the emergency room. I love the patient rooms for labor. It's pretty spacious (the picture is actually showing half the size of what the room really is), and it comes with a pull out bed in the little sofa where people can sleep. You know what's so funny; the doctor in the picture up there is actually my former OBGYN; the one that frustrated me! ANYWAYS. The bathroom & shower seems pretty cool. And I'm definitely bringing my own pillow because those pillows are so flat & cheap & I like my pillows big and fluffy. Also, they showed us where the baby will be kept warm on; where they'll test for certain things as soon as he's born & all that other medical stuff. They also provide a bassinet for Dylan to sleep in next to the bed (since we're not allowed to have the baby sleep in the bed with us for safety reasons). Mark was very impressed with the room; the lights are all high tech too, and he was just like WOW. I can't wait for a bunch of you guys to be there when I'm in labor! Anyways, after that, we saw the C-section room, the nursery (there was a newborn in there! so cute!), and the postpartum room (which is the room I transfer to after baby Dylan is born). The postpartum room is smaller, but it's nice & seems comfy. I seriously love that hospital, ever since I first went there last year. It's sooooo quiet; it's a small private hospital, and the environment seems so comfortable. The hospital has its own chapel & I'm sure my parents would appreciate that. The E.R. wasn't full & crowded like it usually would be at a big hospital like Kaiser or Harbor UCLA. And I swear last time I went to that hospital, I saw a bunch of nuns walking everywhere lol. This is actually the hospital that Mark would love to work at as a respiratory therapist. He's hoping! After the tour, we pre-registered in order to reserve our spot in May, and we're set with that. We can't wait 'til Dylan comes in 2 months (: So excited.

Next week is going to be insane. I'm really excited for the baby shower! I'm sure some of you guys remember my cousin Kimmie? She lives in the Bay area & stayed with me the entire summer before 9th grade. Anyways, I'm picking her up from LAX next Friday & I'm so excited because it's been YEARS since I last saw her. My mom is "supposedly" coming next Wednesday; let's see how all that plays out. But I'm very excited for next next weekend. I wanna go to the Songkran Festival (Thai festival) in Hollywood, but it's the day right after my shower, and I have to drop Kimmie off at the airport around 3pm. I don't even know if I'll even have the energy to walk around; last year it was blazing hot & it got both Mark & I really cranky.

Ah, yes, and tomorrow is the big D-day for Mark; please PLEASE PLEASE pray that everything goes well. I feel really positive about it; he's a good person & I know good things are going to happen. He deserves it.

Well, I'm going to rest up (like I have been everyday for the past week). Hopefully I get better soon; if not, at least I see my OB this Wednesday & I can ask her what to do.



PS: I really REALLY hate it when people try & act like they're such "a good person" and "a good friend" when all they do is talk & never ACT. In my opinion, people like that are VERY VERY SELFISH. You don't deserve to be in our life, seriously. And my son doesn't need to meet anyone like you. I probably sound like a bitch because you think I don't know you, but I know enough to know that you don't deserve my boyfriend's friendship.