32 weeks and in the hospital….

June 26, 20138 Comments

…until the babies are born. Here’s the short version because I don’t have the energy to go into all the details.

Went to l and d on Saturday night at 11:00pm. Was having increasing contractions, couldn’t get comfortable and something just didn’t feel right. Still couldn’t make the decision though and felt bad it was that late.

By the time I was looked at, contractions were 2-3 mins apart and painful, I was 80% effaced and 4-5 cm dilated. Three weeks prior when I was there I was 60-70% effaced and 2-3 cm dilated.

Anyway, they did not want to give me Procardia to stop contractions. It was down to more mag sulfate (probably 24 hrs) or the terb shot. Terb… Something. They decided on the shot. It worked. Practically stopped contractions. They were debating sending me home even though it was 3:00 in the morning. Doctor decided she wanted me to stay.

In the morning, everything changed. All of a sudden I was 100% effaced, 6 cm dilated, etc. Everyone was preparing for labor. Contractions got really painful, more than they ever had been. We prepared for labor too, mentally.

I got the epidural, which was the plan all along in case baby b needed to be a c section. Ahh, epidurals really help. A catheter was also put in.

We all waited for dilation to increase and to be sent to the OR. I told many people we would have babies by the end of the day. We waited, and waited….and waited.

Labor stopped. Went back to 4 cm dilated, contractions spaced out and the ones I did have weren’t changing my cervix. They left everything as is one more night (epidural and catheter) and would decide yesterday, Tuesday what to do.

Now it’s Wednesday afternoon. They took the epidural and catheter out, moved me to regular maternity, and I’m back to bed rest – except in the hospital this time. I have bathroom and shower privileges and that’s it. I’m actually glad to be here this time. Their prediction is that this will be soon and I’d rather already be here.

But you’d think I’m just hanging out in bed relaxing, watching tv. Ohhh no. No, after the epidural wore off I had a pain in my legs and especially hips that’s only gotten way, way worse. I can’t walk without help and even then it’s a shuffle, I can’t turn over in bed, I can’t get up or sit on my own. It’s up there on the list of the worst pains I’ve ever felt. The doctor think it’s bursitis of the hips, and I’m currently waiting for an orthopedist to come check me out. Until then, I forget all about giving birth soon because this hip pain is unreal.

I’ve decided, very selfishly, that if the babies came now at 32 weeks…..I’d be okay with that. I’m a very miserable person physically and I really don’t have much left in me. Nor do I want to stay in the hospital for another month. I don’t sleep, I can’t really take care of myself. And I think the babies would be fine. That’s what all the doctors are telling me anyway. That said, it’s a selfish thought and if I can hold on to 34 weeks I know that would be a great milestone too. I’d rather be in the hospital a month than the babies.

Live from my first trip to labor and delivery

June 2, 20135 Comments

The blog is always the easiest way to update people on the current happenings inside my uterus. Here’s the short version :

On Thursday I couldn’t get comfortable. My lower back was hurting and I couldn’t figure out a position that helped. I figured being reclined on the couch for 5 weeks will do that. I also had some cramping in the morning, like a dull period cramp, but constipation causes that so I let that one go too.

On Friday I started writing down my contractions. They had been so few the previous couple days that I stopped keeping track. This day, I did. I wrote down somewhere between 30-40. They didn’t feel any different than they normally do, but were occurring around the clock, as opposed to the 3 in an hour and then none for two hours kind of pattern I had been following. However, they weren’t occurring completely regularly. They’d be 6 minutes apart, then 13, then 5, then 20. That sort of thing. Still, they didn’t let up even after I chugged a gallon of water by lunch. So, I called the OB (like 3 times – had another yeast infection as well) and in the end, she said it sounded normal and not to worry but if I really wanted to go to the hospital I could. I could not make a decision, but I kept thinking that though it might be normal, it wasn’t normal for me. I never had a day like this.

So after my husband came home from work, we went to l and d. Stopped at Wendy’s on the way too haha. After getting hooked up and checked, I was actually apparently contracting every 3 minutes. I also got my first dilation check – 2-3 cm. However, since that was my first check ever, there’s no way to know how long it had been that way. I also got the fetal fibronectin test (or something like that). Basically, if it comes back positive, you have like a 26% chance of giving birth in the next few weeks (please feel free to correct my numbers, I think it’s somewhere around there), and if it comes back negative, it’s like a 97% chance that you won’t. So the negative result is more of a sure thing while the positive is not. People have gotten a positive and carried far beyond a few weeks. My test came back positive.

I was admitted, and now it’s Sunday and I’m still here. I was put on magnesium sulfate (look up the side effects on google, not pretty). It’s like the drug you dread, but it’s the best one out there. Doctors don’t usually keep you on it more than a few days because of the side effects to the mother. I’ve been on it since Friday around 8pm and in 15 mins (noon) I will be done with it. You can’t eat or drink (besides sips of water and ice chips) while you’re on it so I’ll be looking forward to some jello quite soon.

The mag drip has helped. At this point, at the end of its course, my contractions are more like 20 minutes apart and hurt less than they did yesterday for sure. So the plan right now is this: after coming off the mag drip, I will be watched for 4 hours. Most likely, I’ll continue to have contractions but hopefully they won’t increase much from where I am now. I’ll be put on a last ditch effort drug (procardia), will maybe go home or maybe stay here, and if that fails and contractions increase, there’s nothing else they can do. I’ll be 29 weeks tomorrow.

I’m definitely nervous but the hospital is the right place to be right now.

Contractions and dehydration

May 17, 20134 Comments

I’m smirking right now because I just did a google search on how much water pregnant women need to drink a day. I posed the question because the majority of my contractions ( or BH, whatever they are) occur within the first 3 hours after waking up. I have chalked it up to being dehydrated, hungry, and having a full bladder. I also assume dehydration because once the day really gets going and I’m drinking water in full force, I have to get up and pee every hour, if not every 45-50 minutes. But in those first few hours after waking, an hour and a half can go by and I don’t need to get up.

SO, in the interest of finding out what else I can do to keep these contractions at bay, I did a google search about dehydration causing contractions. Yes, it’s a real thing and I knew that already. But what surprised me were the comments from women. “I don’t understand, I drink 64 oz a day!” Or the fact that a doctor told a woman she needed to drink 2 liters a day, and the woman was astounded.

Math is not my strong suit, so I googled how many ounces were in a liter. Answer? About 33 oz. So, a 2 liter bottle of soda has 66 oz give or take. Okay, so that’s how much one doctor recommended. I did see, in another extreme example, a doctor said drink 5 liters of water for a few days, then go down to 3.

Maybe I shouldn’t be smirking – maybe I should be concerned. I have this jug I got at CVS, and it holds 2.2 liters, or 74 oz. I am drinking 3 of them a day. 3. I have to. 74 times 3 – 222 oz a day. 3 soda bottles – 6 liters. And this doesn’t count the 2 mugs of prune juice I drink a day or the occasional juice box. (Yes, I drink Juicy Juice and color with markers – come at me.)

With all this liquid, I still have contractions. Once the day really gets going and I’m hydrated, they are once every few hours. Until I talk on the phone. Or someone comes over. Or I have to pee. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells (mentally of course) trying to keep these at bay. And when I first was smirking about these complaining women, now I’m wishing I was in their shoes and only had to drink one of these jugs. It’s hard to know if I’m doing this right.

The other bad time of day for contractions (other than with guests, etc.) is at night, an hour before bed or so. My legs get SO antsy – they have a mind of their own and start practically convulsing. It’s like they (the muscles) are dying a slow death and severely twitch to remind me that, if I let them, they’d be more than willing to run the 100 meter hurdles. It’s like I drank a big caffeinated coffee. It is quite annoying. I try to control them and of course I don’t get up, but inevitably I have a few contractions while I’m trying to stop myself from rolling around on this couch. I’ve still not had 4 or more contractions in an hour, but I continue to write down every one I have. Whoever said bed rest was “restful”? No one who has ever been on it, obviously.

Contractions are annoying, worrying about babies all day is mentally draining, and bed rest sucks and while I have other topics in my head, this’ll do for now.

At least Sadie enjoys puppy bed rest. Someone in this house needs to! (Riley has left the room and more than likely made a nest with my bed comforter, but I’m confident she also doesn’t mind.)