Our scary 3 day hospital stay

This will probably be a super long post. It has been a really rough couple of days.

Thursday morning started out normally. We did Yoga, ate breakfast and were getting into the shower when I noticed there was blood in my pants. We emergency-called my midwife and she said just to come into the office. We got there (with little baby Joel in tow who has bronchitis, poor guy) and they did a pelvic exam. Cervix was closed and no more fresh blood. Did an ultrasound. Baby completely fine. Cervix measured good. Some concern about placenta previa, but didn't think that was the cause of the bleeding. Told OK to go home. Well, I had Joel to babysit and midterms to take, so I was all for that.

Sean dropped me and Joel off and was headed back to work. I had a bowel movement and then noticed that the toilet was filled with blood. We called the doctor back and they said to go straight to labor and delivery at Morton Plant. I was so scared and bleeding so heavily. It was coming out like a urine stream would. We get to labor and delivery and got all signed in. I probably filled the toilet 3 more times with blood. They had me hooked up to baby monitors (which baby was still fine, thank God) and they saw that I was having contractions. They gave me a shot of terbuline or something to stop the contractions (made me feel so jittery and crazy!). It helped for a while, but the contractions started to come back. They gave me a second dose (they can only give 3). The warded them off for a while and the bleeding subsided. Joel was still with us at this point, but his Dad came to get him. So we were there from about 10:30 til about 5 and thinking we might be able to go home. My midwife came and did a pelvic exam, which was so painful, and I was still bleeding. Cervix still closed (not dilated). She went back to report this to Dr. Paolillo. They decided I should stay overnight. So they moved me up to the actual rooms where you deliver, which was nice in a way b/c we really got to test drive a room and all the nurses, since we are planning to deliver at Morton Plant. The nurses are awesome there and the rooms are beautiful. It was not quite the tour we wanted, not that in depth any way, but oh well. So, contractions started again and some bleeding. They gave me the 3rd and final dose of terbuline (?) and then started me on Procardia. Both would keep contractions away for a while, but not completely. Th nurses were consulting with our OB and midwife at each step and they decided to give me an IV, put me on strict bed rest and insert a catheter. WOW, all firsts for me! I had never even overnighted at the hospital, let alone get an IV and cath! They also started giving me steroid injections to speed up baby's lung development in case I went into labor. 30 weeks is definitely not optimal for delivering a baby. My aunt works in the NICU right down the hall from where we were, so she was also coming to visit. The cath was very uncomfortable, they still had the baby and contraction monitors strapped to my belly, the IV, the leg things so I didn't get edema, the pulse thing on my toe, blood pressure cuff monitoring. It was crazy. They came in hourly or half hourly to check on me throughout the night so we got little sleep plus I was so uncomfortable with all that stuff hooked up to me. I still had not felt any of the contractions I had been having at this point. They also did another ultrasound. Baby was still fine, did not look like placenta previa, cervix fine. Ultrasound tech was awful and she almost ripped my catheter out!!!!

Friday, everything changes again. They decide to transfer me by ambulance to Bayfront. Morton Plant is not equipped to deal with 30 weeks and earlier deliveries, but Bayfront is top in the nation with high risk pregnancies and they are also right next door to All Children's Hospital. My OB and midwife felt they had done all they could and it was best for me to be under the care of a perinatologist. There are 3 down at Bayfront who are awesome. I was still having contractions, which now I could feel. In one hour I had 14, which is no good. Most hours I was having about 7, still no good. They were not really painful, but I was not 100% contracting. Just felt like a squeezing, wrapping around sensation. So, I got a bed bath from the nurse and then the ambulance team transported me to Bayfront. Another first. I was feeling very scared for me and baby and for Sean and how he would handle losing me or the baby. I was so scared we would deliver yesterday and lose our precious little baby.

So, we get to Bayfront and everything is so different from Morton Plant. We were waited on hand and foot at Morton Plant- not so at Bayfront. They immediately took me off the magnesium sulfate (oh yah, at Morton Plant I was put on that IV drip to control contractions too). Crazy stuff made me feel so hot. I think I must have had our room at 60 degrees. I even made Sean cold! They took me off the IV fluids. Well I should say the bag emptied and they did not bother to notice or refill it. They let my catheter bag fill to the top without emptying it. They did not let me eat or drink so I had nothing but ice chips from 6:30 a.m. until about 6 p.m. They did not continously monitor me and baby. They stuck us basically in a closet that was at freezer temps. They had residents and doctors in and out that did not work together, but said they were a team. They all made me go over the whole story with each of them. It was just horrible at first. We felt like we went from superior care to inferior care and it was totally the opposite of why were were being sent there in the first place. We got another ultrasound done. We saw hair on baby's head! Baby weighs 4 lbs and 5 oz right now. Completely healthy. Cervix still closed. Placenta fine. No placenta previa. No ruptures. They decided to keep me overnight so I was moved from high risk antepartum to low risk antepartum and got an actual room that was pretty nice. We got to eat. Dad and grandma came to visit. Got a decent night's sleep. Nurse came in to do baby monitoring once, give pills another time and that's about it.

Today, they started me on a new medication to stop contractions called Indocin. I can only take it until 32 weeks and they have to monitor my amniotic fluid by ultrasound weekly b/c the meds can deplete it. i have to drink A LOT of fluids. I am not on bed rest, but I am not allowed to work as much, can't do any type of exercise, no malls, no grocery stores, try to relax and lay down as much as possible, no lifting, nothing strenous. No holding my urine in. Call if more bleeding or contractions of course. If I go into labot before 32 weeks, then we have to go to Bayfront again. If after 32 weeks, we can go back to Morton Plant where of course we would rather be for numerous reasons. I am back under the care of our OB and midwife. I have an appointment and ultrasound on Thursday. Baby is very active and doing well, so I just have to keep watching that. I am allowed to not stress or worry. my midwife said i just have to think of myself as an incubator. She said I need to reduce my work hours from 40 to 32. I just really need to relax and take it easy and not do so much. They never did find out where or why I was bleeding. I was still spotting this morning, but nothing now. They didn't find the reasons for contractions either. They discharged me about 2 this afternoon.

I am feeling OK. Mentally and emotionally drained. Tired. Glad to be home and away from the hospital, but also felt a sense of comfort and security at the hospital. We could not have gotten through any of this without God or our friends and family and our Pastor and his wife. I could not have done this without my husband. He remained calm and strong the whole time even though I know he was scared to death. I could only think about our little baby. I did not really think about my health much, but I did think about how I could not let my dear Sean not have me around anymore, he would be lost without me. I think my friends and family would probably miss me too! ;0) My mom was such a wonderful loving mother and she is flying in tomorrow to take care of me for a week. My dad visited every night and was extremely concerned and took care of Miss Allie and brought us food. we really appreciate all the phone calls and support. Now I am a little scared at what I should or should not do; my limitations. I am all bruised up from all the poking and prodding. It was crazy because Faithlynn (our pastor's wife) said that from her praying she sensed that maybe this had all happened as a way for me to realize not to stress so much and try to do so much and that I just need to relax and take it easy. While I know I did not cause all of this to happen b/c of that, it definitely could have contributed to it all.

So, we are going to take one day at a time. For each day that our little one is in my belly, the better. I can only look at it in days, not weeks, but we are hoping for a good 7 to 10 + more weeks of me being an incubator. It has definitely been rough, but God has helped us through.