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"HOME SWEET HOME" Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center Week of October 1st Well, things moved pretty quickly for us once we arrived in Phoenix. We got settled into our apartment... we had a great first appointment with Dr. Elliott (babies looked great) ... he put me on full bed rest and home uterine monitoring. And after 2 days of the monitoring, we  found ourselves at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center for preterm labor and with my cervix being already 1 cm dilated. I am now a full-time patient and will continue to stay here throughout my bed rest. I am on an IV of magneseum sulfate (3.5 g per hour) and also a terbutulane pump which is in a sub cutaneaous catherer in my upper thigh. Both are continuous! Both are drugs to treat preterm labor and to relax my uterus from contracting anymore. When I show that I am contracting more than 4x an hour, then they put in a "boost" dose of terbutulane through my pump. Occiasionaly throughout the day my vision is a little hazy and I feel some hot flashes now and then but most of the side effects were over with, within the first 48 hours of my body getting used to the drugs. My blood pressure and temperature is checked every 2 hours or so and the babies heart rate is checked 2 times a day. My lungs are listened to 2x a day as well. (The nurses change shift every 12 hours so I am bascially checked with the normal stuff with every new nurse.) I am also monitored with the contraction monitor 2 times a day for an hour each time. Once in the evening and once in the morning. Carl and Cameron are now staying at the Ronald McDonald House full-time. It is a nice place and a good atmosphere for Cameron as it has a few childrens play areas. Carl likes the room and is grateful for the service that this establishment offers. Everyone has been really kind to him there. Of course Cameron is flirting with everyone Carl says. Cameron seems to be doing really well. He is always happy and enjoys our visits when he is here at the hospital. We try to keep him on the bed with me reading him books, etc. as  letting him run around in the room isn't usually that great. He obivously wants to touch everything so it's sort of hard to have him here after an hour or so. A typical day is that Carl arrives here in the morning around 7:30am after bringing Cameron to school and Carl will stay with me until about 2:30pm. Then he'll go get Cameron, bring him to the hospital for our daily visit and he'll leave around 5:30 for dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. There he will stay as he gets him to bed around 8:00pm or so. I obviously look forward to seeing Cameron each day so much. He seems to be changing everytime I see him in some way. He is so young that hopefully he won't remember his mommy not being around to often for these 3 months. Carl is doing such a great job balancing both the stress of my care and the stress of a toddler on his own. I am so lucky to have them both with me during this time. My spirits are good and I am just taking each day as it comes. This will all be over in a matter of months and hopefully I will be soon enjoying my little newborns before I know it. I am in an atmosphere where there are many women doing the same thing that I am so it doesn't seem too out of sorts. I am grateful to be under such great care of the experienced team of doctors, nurses, councelors, etc. here at Good Sam. Thanks to everyone who has written, e-mailed, called, etc. Your notes of encouragement have really helped us through these first few difficult days. Some of you wanted to know how to reach us... Carls Address at the Ronald McDonald House is: Carl Sgambati c/o Ronald McDonald House 501 East Roanoke Phoenix, Arizona  85004 Phone: 602-798-5063      page created with Webpage Designer (NS)