Groundhog Day

“Watch out for that first step! It's a doozy!!”  Ned Reyerson.

That is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies when I was little.  Why don’t they make movies like that anymore?  Bill Murray plays Phil, who must relive the same day over and over.  There are several times in my life where I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of “Groundhog Day.”  In fact, when I was reading back through my book, Full Heart Empty Womb, I had to take that analogy out because I used it more than once!

My most meaningful Groundhog Day experience was when I was in the hospital on bed rest pregnant with my twins.  I had been through a rough couple of year prior trying to conceive.  When I finally was able to conceive through IVF, I had a high-risk pregnancy.  I went into pre-term labor that landed me in the hospital at 22 weeks.

For 11 weeks, I felt like I was relieving the same day.  I would wake up.  Order my breakfast from the cafeteria (blueberry muffin, cheerios, sweet acidophilis milk – which we affectionately called my sweet ass milk ;). Pee.  Lay and wait for my breakfast while I watched The Today Show.  Pray.  Sit Up.  HOORAY!!  Eat.  Lay back down.  Wait for my morning nurse to give meds.  Drink water.  Pee.  Nurse comes gives me meds in my IV. Shift to my other side.  Drink water.  Pee.  Finally the doctor comes to round on me.  Tells me the same thing as the day before.  “Every day we keep them in you, is four days less in the NICU!!”  Pray.  Then the best 10 minutes of my day – SHOWER!!!  Lay.  Drink Water.  Watch Talk of the Town.  Order lunch.  Pee.  Drink.  Shift positions.  Sit Up.  Hooray!!!  Eat.  Lay back down.  Crap.  Gotta pee again.  Get hooked up for my daily monitoring.  Shift and try to get comfortable with all the cords.  Stare at the contraction monitor and wonder why I can’t feel any of them.  Pray.  Shift.  Count the flowers on the wallpaper.  Drift off to sleep.  Wake up when the nurse comes to turn off the monitor.  Pee.  Drink Water.  Pray.  Watch “Everybody Loves Raymond” in Spanish because I am that desperate for entertainment.  Drink water.  Shift.  Stare at the clock.  Eric gets here with supper!!!!  Pee.  Sit up!!  Eat yummy take-out.  Lay down.  Pee.  Watch TV with Eric.  Shift.  Pray.  Watch Eric make his fold out bed next to me like he does every night.  Drink water.  Take my Ambien.  Pee.  And fall into a peaceful sleep. 

Thankfully I was blessed to be able to do that for 11 weeks…. or 77 days …. or 1,848 hours … or 110,880 minutes.  And because I was able to relive that same day over and over and over, my babies not only survived, they thrived.

This was one of my favorite days in the hospital.  Eric brought our dog, Majors, to come visit me!