A Trip to Labor and Delivery...

First, everyone is fine-- before you read the saga. At times it does get hairy so I wanted to let you know that Miss Emily is still baking and I am back home- I don't think I've ever been so glad to be here!

So last night I was on the couch watching TV with Paul and I started getting pretty frequent contractions (ctx) and we began timing them. They were irregular, but closely spaced- 8 mins, then 10, then 6, then 5, then 4, etc. This went on for a little over an hour before we paged the resident on call in OB (a friend of ours- woo hoo!) He called back, told Paul he probably didn't need to see me, just to drink water and go to bed (it was about 10). Well, I got ready for bed, and, wouldn't you know it, as soon as I washed my face and got rid of my makeup (I hate to go out without it!!) the resident called back and told Paul on second thought, he wanted me to come in. We hopped in the car and drove to the hospital.

When we got there they hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor and a ctx monitor. The ctx were coming about every 5-7 minutes and were of varying intensity. I gave a urine sample and they ran it to the lab. Also, we did a fetal fibronectin (FFN) test and I got my first internal exam-- um, OWWW!!! They said I was dilated to 1cm and was 70% effaced, and that the baby's head was right there. Then, another doc came and did an exam, and he said I was 80% effaced. At this point I started getting concerned, b/c the docs did not seem happy about the effacement measurements...

My labs came back and showed I had a bladder infection, so they started IV fluids (I was dehydrated, too) and a bag of rocephin for the bladder issue. Paul likened the rocephin to "shooting a bladder infection with a bazooka"-- it's that powerful. My FFN test, which gives, within 90-95% accuracy, an estimate of whether or not you'll deliver in the next 2 weeks, came back negative- woo! I also got a steroid shot in my butt to speed up her lung development. At this point the ctx were still occurring, and often. They decided to admit me at 2:30am and sent me over to L&D (I had been in triage).

Once I got to my room the on call attending came in and expressed his concern at the ctx and my thinned cervix. He said that the bladder infection could be causing my uterus to be irritated and contract, but he was very upset about me being 80% (and zero station). He said the word, "Bedrest" and I fell apart. I have only had my kids for one week!! He was really nice about it and I apologized for sounding like I only was concerned about my job and not Emmy- definitely not true- and so he said we'd "play it by ear". Paul was supposed to begin work this morning in the NICU and we were very concerned that they'd kick him off the service if his own child was in there- too much of a conflict of interest, you know? At this point they were still discussing how to stop the ctx- they wanted to use a calcium channel blocker, procardia, but it lowers your BP-- and since mine is usually like 88/50, they weren't sure I could stand the dosage.

We got the first dose of procardia in and I was still stable, but when they came back for the next dose, my BP was 78/49-- too low. We just laid there watching the ctx tick by on the monitor. Emily showed a great heartbeat pattern- good accelerations and decelerations. Eventually Paul and I just tried to go to bed, but between all my machines running, docs coming in and out (oh yeah- one more cervical check in there, just for good measure...lol) and my nurse coming in, we didn't sleep a single bit. He drove home at 5 to let the dogs out and get my teacher stuff so I could write lesson plans in case they did make me go on bedrest.

This morning the ctx had stopped for almost 4 hours and then boom- started right up again. They got to 1.5-2 mins apart and my nurse came running in, took my BP to see if I could have another procardia, and paged my new resident. They gave it to me and I was able to get in two doses this time before my BP dropped too low again.

All day I laid in the bed, alternately crying and doing lesson plans. All I could think about was how hard a time she'd have if she were born, and how she doesn't have anything to wear b/c I haven't washed anything (not that it would fit her now, anyway) and how I just got my job and its wonderful insurance, and only have 12 weeks total from FMLA, and how I didn't want to spend 6 of them holding down the couch waiting for her and going back before Christmas, how Paul didn't get any sleep before work, how I wasn't ready to be a mother yet, I haven't read all my books, etc. I was a mess. They brought me their terrible food and as soon as the nurse left I was a blubbering mess again.

This afternoon we had an u/s to check my cervical length and the amniotic fluid around the baby. At this point, things started looking up. She had a good amount of fluid left (he said it looked normal) and my cervix was 2cm thick-- which he said was also OK. The resident was so great to us and let us use the machine to try and look at her-- it even had the 4d feature!! So we got a sneak peek, but she is so far head down, and so smashed in there, that we couldn't see anything more than an ear!! But what an ear it was- as soon as we saw it it was like a "Eureka!" moment and we were shouting, "There's an ear!! There's an ear!!", like we didn't expect to see one or something...lol. Hopefully next Monday when we have our real u/s at the perinatal center our tech will know some kind of trick to get better pics. Her body was so crunched we weren't able to get an estimate of how much she weighs, either, b/c the doc couldn't get enough pics to see.

Once I got back to my room I didn't have another contraction for 5 hours. Paul had gone home to let the dogs out and told me to call our friend the resident and "plead my case" to go home. The doc totally agreed- I'd had a second bag of rocephin, the second steroid shot, 4 bags of fluid (I think I peed 100 times!) He did NOT prescribe bedrest- he said some of our older OBs who treat very conservatively push bedrest but modern research doesn't show that it's actually that helpful. (Now, of course, if I had been dilated to 4 or so I'm sure they would have done it). He said it's common to be at 1cm for several weeks, sometimes even more than a month. I was thrilled that they were going to let me go home (I haven't slept since Friday night- got up Saturday at 8) and that I don't have to leave work after only teaching 5 days. Also, I think I'm going to start washing Emily's clothes and packing a bag for the hospital, just in case. They seemed certain that we will make it to 38 weeks or maybe longer, but this was mighty good scare. I'm so glad our little girl is safe and sound. I have been given strict orders about activity level, keeping up my fluid intake (which I'm terrible about) and not getting overexerted.

Keep us in your prayers- it look like everything is going to be OK, but this was scary and we feel like we had a close call. Our princess needs more baking time! I'll keep you posted, of course, if anything new arises.