I had my 32 week appointment with the midwife on Friday, and much to my surprise, I ended up spending the entire weekend in the hospital for treatment of preterm labor.
Friday started out pretty much like any other day. I was busy in the kitchen in the morning getting some freezer meals baked and the boys were having fun playing (and torturing) with each other. I was supposed to work all weekend, so I was planning to go to my appointment at 1:40pm and then come home to nap before going to work. Travis had come home from work to watch the boys for a little while so I could go to my appointment kid-free since I knew that I would probably have to have a cervical exam done. I arrived at my appointment and got checked in. My weight was good, my blood pressure looked good, and the baby's heart beat was again in the 140's. The midwife and I had discussed repeating the fetal fibronectin test that I had done a few weeks back, but I told her that I was more concerned with how my cervical exam was since I anticipated that the test would probably come back positive again anyway. I also explained to her that I was interested to see if my cervix had changed from 29 weeks since I was again supposed to work all weekend. I had already decided that if I was more dilated that I was going to ask to be taken off of work until the end of pregnancy. I just didn't think that being on my feet and stressing my body out would be in my best interest at this point since I have had a feeling that I would probably deliver this baby early. So she agreed to do a cervical exam ( I don't think she would have done one without my desire to have one done). When she was done with the exam, she got an interesting look on her face and proceeded to tell me that I was now 70% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and the baby was at 0 station (in non-medical terms, that means the baby is pretty low, which I could already tell on my own). She noted the change from my exam at 29 weeks and she then she suggested that it probably was a good idea for me to be off of work from now on. She then started on my leave of absence paperwork (thankfully she didn't have any other patients for a while) and more thoughts continued to come out of her mouth. She decided that I should probably go to triage at the hospital, be placed on a monitor to monitor my contractions and the baby's heartbeat, and possibly stay for steroid injections to mature the baby's lungs in case I went into labor. She called the midwife on call at the hospital and told them the situation and that I would be there shortly. I asked if it would be okay if I went home and packed a bag before heading to the hospital. She said it would be okay, but just don't spend too much time at home. So I raced home and packed a bag quickly, called the sick line at work, called my manager to let her know that I wouldn't be coming back to work for awhile, and drove to the hospital.
I arrived at the triage part of the OB unit at the hospital around 4pm and got placed on the monitor. I was a little worried that I wouldn't have any contractions while I was on the monitor and that the midwives and doctors would think I was making up all the contractions that I have all day long, but luckily that was not the case:) I continued to have plenty of contractions while I was on the monitor and the baby looked great, with a heart rate in the 140s-160s. The midwife on call came to talk to me and notified me that my care would now have to be transferred over to an OB GYN since preterm deliveries is not within their scope of practice. This bothered me just a little bit since I love the midwives and have had them for two pregnancies, and I switched from an OB with my first pregnancy for good reason. But I also realized that it was in the best interest of the baby and it's health and safety at that point, so I was okay with it. (I later found out that if I make it to 34-35 weeks then I can transfer my care back to the midwives- yeah!) So the OB resident came to talk to me about what the plan for me would be and also did another cervical exam. Her opinion was that I was a "good"1-2 cm dilated and that the baby's head was a little higher than the midwife had thought earlier. She explained to me that I would need to be admitted to the hospital to get two injections of a steroid (Betamethasone), 24 hours apart from each other. I would also have to get a med called Nifedipine every 4 hours in order to stop my contractions for 48 hours so that the steroids could have maximum effect on maturing the baby's lungs to prevent respiratory distress syndrome if I would deliver the baby any time soon. After the 48 hours, if I went into labor, they wouldn't stop it and I would just deliver the baby. I really did not think that I was going to deliver the baby at any time soon, but I felt good that if something did happen that the baby would have a better outcome in the NICU.
Around 6pm I got my first dose of steroid (which had to be given in my gluteus maximus- ouch!), had to take a few doses of the Nifedipine to get the contractions to subside, and also got an IV and bolus started. Just as they had warned me, the Nifedipine made me very warm, made my heart race, made me very jittery and gave me a terrible headache. (Fun stuff, but I guess totally worth it for the baby). After that I was transferred to a room on the unit and they continued to monitor my contractions, blood pressures, and the baby while I got fully admitted. Travis came that night and stayed to keep me company after my mom was able to come to the house to watch the boys. It was nice to finally have some company and he was able to be there when the doctor came in later that night to talk with us. She was very nice and answered all of our questions very thoroughly, which we both appreciated.
I was finally able to be taken off the monitor in order to be able to move around a little bit more around 10:30pm, but I still had to be on bed rest. My headache continued despite taking some Tylenol for it, and due to my heart racing, it was very hard for me to fall asleep. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours and then I had to wake up to take another dose of Nifedipine and have my vitals taken at 2:30am, and then I was unable to get back to sleep. My mind was racing and I just felt lousy. So I was up searching the internet for information on preterm labor treatments, preemie clothes, and playing games to pass the time. After my 6:30am dose of Nifedipine I did fall back to sleep for a couple of hours before the doctors came in to do their rounds. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.
Later in the morning, I was transferred to another floor and was able to shower and get ready for the day. Travis and my mom brought the boys to visit me for awhile which brightened my day. It was so nice to be able to snuggle them:) After they left, I was able to rest a couple of hours in the afternoon before I had to get my second steroid shot (ouch again!). I talked to the doctor about going home vs. staying another night and we agreed that it would probably be in my best interest to stay another night "just in case." The Nifedipine was doing a good job at keeping my contractions to a minimum, but he just said it would be better to be safe than sorry, which I agreed with, but was not looking forward to another sleepless night in the hospital. Again, the best interest of the baby was more important than my comfort.
I was finally able to go home early Sunday afternoon. It felt very good to be able to be in my own home and to be able to see something besides my four hospital room walls. I continue to have to be on bed rest, at least until I'm closer to 35-36 weeks and delivering the baby would be okay. I still have frequent contractions, but I know they are a lot less with the bed rest restriction. We are very blessed and thankful to have my mom here to help out since I'm not able to do a whole lot around the house. I seriously don't know what we would do without her! Love you, Mom!
Please continue to pray that this baby is able to stay in my womb for at least another 2-3 weeks! We are prepared for whatever may happen at this point, but 2-3 weeks is my personal goal and I'm going to do whatever I need to to make it;)
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