HBR Whine

SWA80

Tonight is my third night here and I'm working off of 4 hours sleep total. I was all settled in tonight with my earplugs in, starting to doze off and Dr comes in and says she'll be back to do Dopplers in 30 minutes. It's 11:40. WTF? I was too half asleep to ask for an explanation. We were scheduled to have tomorrow so I don't know if there is some kind of problem or if they're just getting them put of the way. She mentioned she's doing an u/s next door.

For others on HBR, when do you sleep? I have vitals and Dr rounds at 5a and 530a and can't seem to nap without someone coming in. So far, lots of time in bed here but no real rest.

claar

I don't know how long you have to stay, but as you develop a relationship with your nurses, I would simply ask them to get all your meds, vitals, etc. out of the way by 9 pm-have them bring you an Ambien with your 9 pm meds!  I don't know how critical you are right now, but the constant monitoring will probably drop off after awhile.  With my first, I was in the hospital for 77 days-after I "settled in" and was considered stable, I told them I did not want to be disturbed after 10 pm.  Have them put a sign on your door to catch people who don't speak to the nurses (you can also do this during the day in case you want a nap).  

Unfortunately, you can't dictate when the doctors round.  Mine would come at the crack of dawn, too!  I hated that, because I could never remember my questions/concerns because I just wanted them out of my room. 

I hope you eventually get some rest!

luvboston

Tell your nurse you need sleep they will post a sign on your door not to be bothered

SWA80

They want to check vitals no earlier than 11:00. Maybe I just need to have a crying breakdown tomorrow, I'm to that point anyway. This afternoon I explained I really needed a nap and managed 30 minutes til the cafeteria called asking if I wanted to order dinner. At 3:30.

I know I'm lucky I'll only be here a few weeks but it is just the lack of sleep that is bothering me.

hoping&praying2013

Mine are over the place. Right now im constantly on all the monitors due to the mag. But normally its like 12 am vitals 4am vitals and blood draw 630 am meds 9 am monitoring and drs visit at random times sometimes high risk comes early 2 days of the wk like 7 am to 10am and ob comes twice a day somedays. Mostly around lunch and then in the evening. Then I get another nst prolly around 9pm or 10pm. So yeah my sleep is very sporadic I just cat nap when I can. Ask for benadryl if it gets too bad.

10-4LilBuddy

I take Ambien to help me sleep through the night. I worked with my nurses to try to consolidate all my meds and tests. I get all my evening meds (procardia, prenatal, progesterone, ambien, etc) at 9:30, then I go to sleep. Then Procardia at 1:30 with blood pressure. At 5:30, blood pressure and procardia. I have them give me my Synthroid and take my fasting blood sugar at that time so I can go back to sleep. Unfortunately, my drs round anywhere btwn 6:30 and 7:30 so I do get woken up.

Maybe you can talk to a sympathetic nurse about how to get more solid sleep time? I know my nurses helped me consolidate my meds and work out a better schedule.

bitsytripmom

Agree with 10-4 and other PPs. I can't get around last NST ending 1030-1100 or first NST circa 500. But I take my ambien at the beginning of the last NST, doze through it, pass out as soon as its over and doze through first NST. I got orders from the doc to not wake and got moved to 12 hour vitals (6 or 8 hour may be more realistic if you are on any kind of iv meds, they'll just have to track you more). Work with docs and nurses and good luck!

SWA80

Thanks all, it has started to get a little easier as I get settled in. I should be able to squeeze in about a five hour chunk at night f they do my vitals early. I've never been a good napper but will have to squeeze in an hour here and there. I think they're going to stop my blood sugar testing so that is 4 less daily interruptions right there.

GoodMouseBadMouse

Sleep on shifts! You can sleep 9-11 and 12 (or whenever they're done) til rounds...