How Quickly Things Change

I am in the hospital right now listening to three heartbeats and a constant beeping from the pulse thing on my finger.  I have been here since last night because I was having contractions.  With my uterine monitoring, my threshold is 4.  Well, I hit that late afternoon, remonitored and ended up with 5.  The company called the doctor on call and they said that I didn't have to go in unless I felt them getting stronger or other symptoms.  I ate some cereal, but was still having the constant tightening.  I felt horrible because I already rely on Brad to do so much for me and around the house; I knew all he wanted to do was lay on the couch and relax.  Being the wonderful husband that he is, he left the decision up to me and did not try to talk me into staying home.  I figured we would quick go, my cervix would be fine, and we would be sent on our way like the last 2 times. No such luck.

We were escorted up to a Labor and Delivery room, next to a woman in labor.They hooked me up to the uterine monitor for contractions, the three monitors for the babies' heartbeats, an IV for fluids, and the fun little finger pulse checker.  All this after I changed into the ever-so-sexy hospital gown, which does not quite fit my pregnant belly or behind anymore! I was contracting about every 3-4 minutes at that time, so we waited for the fluids to go in to see if that helped. It only helped in a very minor way. A resident came in and said that they would do an ultrasound and then check my cervix because the doctor was in surgery.  Ultrasound was good-fluid, movement, heartbeats.  She pulled this enormous light out of the ceiling, which was cool and scary at the same time-it looked like it was made in the seventies.  She first did the fFn test, which come to think of it, I haven't heard any results from. Hmm. Gotta love that speculum! When she first manually checked myy cervix, she said it was still up high and closed.  Then, a heard her say, "Wait, you are about 1 and 50%." She must have seen the look on my face because then she tried to console me and say that woman come in at 30 weeks and are like that too.  Still did not make me happy.  So, they talked to the doctor on call from the practice we go to.  The decided to first try Indocin to stop the contractions, which were still occuring every 3-4 minutes.  So I took the pills and prayed.  They worked, for about 4 hours. 

In the morning, my contractions were now occurring every 1-2 minutes! Not good! I had not eaten anything since before we left for the hospital, just in case I needed a c-section.  They gave me another dose of Indocin.  So, a hungry, contracting, hormonal girl does not handle stress well, in case you couldn't have guessed that on your own! I had the doctor come in with 2 nurses, and a resident, all of whom I broke out into tears in front of! Junior high behavior, here I come! I just couldn't stop crying! One of the ultrasound techs from our office came down to do our growth scan and also witnessed my blabbering.  They tried to console me, but I wouldn't stop! The doctor said, "Think of your happy place, " and I said, (while sobbing), "Outer Banks, NC."  They all said good and ran out the door as fast as possible.  Except my nurse and us tech since they had things to do with me. The doctor decided we were going to try Terbutaline next, so the nurse shot me up with a booster dose. Thought my heart was going to bounce through my chest and land on the floor! One of the lovely side effects. If this worked, they would plan on setting me up with the pump though, which has a much smaller, steady dose of medicine.  Ultrasound was set and ready to scan me-in my own hospital room.

She was also consoling me (or took pity on me), and was able to help me calm down long enough to look at the screen to see the babies we are doing all this for. So, at 29w2days, Baby A weighs approximately 3 lbs. 4oz!!! I was hoping for 2.5 lbs, so I was greatly relieved by that number.  Baby B is about 3 lbs and Baby C is a little less than that, but all within the normal range for their gestational age! She printed out a ton of pictures for us, (pity does wonders), and said that they looked great-moving well, full stomachs showing that they are swallowing fluid well.  Yea, some good news!

I was still pretty shaky from the medicine, so just laid in my bed and watched tv until Brad came.  He had taken the day off to go to our appointment, so he came back out after only a couple hours sleep-something he does not normally deal well with! He brought the rest of my things that I didn't bring with-like the computer I am updating with! In the meantime, still not allowed to eat yet and was getting very hungry! Something amazing was happening though-the contractions were starting to spread out to every 3-4 minutes, then every 5-6, etc.  The doctor checked my cervix one more time before letting me order room service-it was still the same at 1 and 50%.  I was so happy all those crazy contractions didn't make it worse! So they ordered the Terbutalane pump and we waited.  Brad came in just as the nurse was putting it in my leg.  I ate a late breakfast and we hung out.  I mainly watched tv and he played on the computer for a while.  The contractions continued to go down and I don't think they are showing up on the monitor right now.  I know that can change rapidly though, but I am glad this medicine is working for now.

So, the word  on the street is they will re-evaluate things in the morning and if I stay like this they will move me down to perinatal section where there is less strict monitoring.  If that goes well, I may be able to go home this weekend! While that prospect terrifies me because my cervix changed so quickly, I desperately miss my bed, bathroom, and couch.  I would still be on the pump at home and if my contractions increased again, I would be sent back here again.  We requested to talk with a NICU doctor and have my anesthesiology consult while we were here.  They came in and the NICU doc was pretty doom and gloom, which I had anticipated.  He went through all the problems that babies at our gestational age (29w2d) would encounter.  I asked if 30 weeks is our mini goal and each week and day after that is a bonus, and he agreed.  So, I will feel better again on Tuesday when we hit 30 weeks, and even better when we hit 32 weeks (I hope)! The anesthesiologist came in and you could tell he had already looked up Myotonic Dystrophy! We talked about how we would obviously be doing the epidural if the c-section was planned and to avoid general anesthesia at all costs.  He explained some of the other things they typically do, which will benefit me too-pain drugs injected into the spinal fluid after the c-section for 18-24 hours of pain relief! He said they would monitor my heart and breathing closely, but hopes that since I am not too symptomatic that I should be okay. 

So, I decided to update this blog early tonight when things are still going well-hopefully I don't jinx anything! I will miss the shower tomorrow at Brad's work and we have to rearrange our refinance meeting for the house so the guy will come here, but as long as those babies stay inside where it is safe, it will all be worth it! They have been handling the contractions really well, at least that's what the doctors and nurses have been saying all day.  I just hope they will wait a little bit longer to enter this world.  I am not ready to lose my precious time with them-even if they do kick me in the lungs and intenstines.  I want them to get to a safer zone so we can enjoy them at home sooner rather than spend their first few months in the NICU.  I am past being scared of how we will take care of them-we will love them, everything else will fall into place.  Now we just have to get another name for Baby C! Congrats to our friends (B and K-don't want to put their names in here), and I must say that I love your taste in names!

So if anyone out there in the real world gets bored, first pray for the babies and us, then send me a comment on here or facebook, or on e-mail. I have nothing but time for you all-and that'll be it for about 3 years! :)

Sorry again for typos-I am typing with an IV in one hand and the pulse thingy on my other hand-go easy on me!