Update: Part 2 Our little adventure

The saga continues....

Friday afternoon after I had posted my other blog I continued to cramp, contract and feel constipated.

Sean came home from work around 4 with some laxatives for me, yes the doctor recommended this to help with the constipation, and I tried this to see if it would help with the cramping.

Within the next few hours I was feeling worse, one of the doctors mentioned that I may still have cramping/contracting but I was contracting on the dot every 5 minutes. I was supposed to be on bed rest, but every time I contracted I had to pee so I was getting up more than I was sitting down.

I decided to call my doctor's office, they have a 24 hour line and they paged the doctor to call me back. The doctor on call was actually the doctor I saw at the OB's office on Wednesday. I explained to her what was going on and she told me I needed to come back in because it wasn't good for me or the baby for my body to keep contracting.

Sean asked if this whole experience reminded me of anything, oh yes it did. Memorial Day weekend we went to the ER 3 times withing 48 hours for him for his Kidney Stones. Now here it was Labor Day weekend and I was on my second trip to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 6:30 and they set us up in the triage room and my doctor came in to re-check my cervix. Nothing had changed, I was still 3 cm dilated, bulging sac and 90%-100% effaced. She said effacement is variable depending upon doctor and it felt the same to her as before, even though a different doctor had told me 90%. Regardless, I was still very effaced.

They hooked me up to the monitor to check the baby's heart rate and to also monitor my contractions. The baby looked good, as always. Once again the baby doesn't seem to be affected by my crazy contracting uterus.

I explained to the doctor and nurse that I felt great until they sent me home and the Procardia wore off. They told me they only like to use the Procardia for 48 hours to make sure I didn't go into labor before the steroid shot had a chance to work.

They didn't want me to keep contracting though, because the more I contracted the more my body would prepare for going into labor and none of us wanted that to happen just yet.

They decided to give me a shot of a drug called Brethine. Brethine is an older drug they don't use very much anymore. Normally the Procardia works to stop the contractions and they don't continue, but in my case the contractions were continuing. Brethine is a smooth muscle relaxer and was originally used for respiratory related illnesses, but is also used to stop the uterus muscle from contracting. The major side effect of this drug is increase heart rate, but since I have a fairly low heart rate the drug should still keep my heart rate in a normal range.

The Brethine seemed to work fairly quickly. Instead of contracting every 5 minutes, I went to every 10 minutes, and than once in 20 minutes and just about 2-3 times an hour so it definitely was more tolerable. Plus the strength of the contractions wasn't as severe.

I was still stuck in the triage room and of course I came at shift rotation so I had to wait around for the day nurse to talk to the night nurse and than the night nurse came in to start an IV and give me some more fluids. I was drinking water, but they kept telling me the more hydrated I am the better, so I was fine with them flushing saline through my body. Unfortunately the nurse wasn't the best at doing IV's and she put one in my hand and the vessel broke and then she just decided to use the vein they used earlier but she jabbed me so hard. The needle hurt worse then the contractions.

They had a pretty full ward, and the empty rooms they did have needed to be cleaned, so I had to wait in the triage room for a few hours. The stretcher bed was not very comfortable and poor Sean had a very uncomfortable chair to sit in as well. Luckily we had a TV so we just watched TV and waited. Sean didn't want me to get up and use the bathroom since I hadn't been very good about bed rest at home, so I said ok than I have to use the bed pan. Since the nurse was too busy with other patients Sean got to get me the bed pan and empty it for me every 15 minutes or whenever I had to pee. I got the look from him, and I reminded him "For better or worse" his response "this is definitely the worse."

The doctor told me that for any future pregnancies they will start giving me shots of progesterone around 14 weeks and continue through 36 weeks. I will be considered high risk and this shot can help so hopefully I won't experience pre-term labor in a future pregnancy. Good to know that there is a preventative method, unfortunately once you are experiencing pre-term labor symptoms you can't start taking progesterone. It only works if you start taking it from the beginning.

I finally got a room around 9:30, this time 211! Sean jokes that we're just going to keep coming back until we get the big corner room and than stay. Not really though.

They got me settled and told me the game plan that they would keep me overnight to see how the Brethine worked and if it worked well than they would send me home with a pill form that I could take for a few weeks to keep my little one cooking a little longer. Even though I would be 34 weeks in just a few days my doctor stressed that at 34 weeks the baby still has a 50/50 chance of needing extra assistance, and the baby still may need to be transported to a different hospital for care if delivered this early. Not only do I want my baby to end up in the NICU, I definitely don't want to have to deliver at a hospital an hour away where I'm not familiar with their doctors and where I am away from all of my Williamsburg family.

The Brethine will hopefully give me and the baby the extra few weeks that s/he needs and get us to at least 36 weeks. At 36 weeks we should be good.

Sean left to come home and get sleep and they gave me some Ambien so I would get a good night's sleep. I debated getting it, since I don't want to take unnecessary meds, but I really wanted to sleep well and I was hesitant as to how the Brethine would work overnight.

I slept great! Went to bed around 10 and woke up around 7! Of course I woke up a few times during the night to pee, ok more than a few times, but I used the bed pan again, since it was convenient. I also got a dose of Brethine around 1 am, this time pill form. Originally they gave me a shot to get it in my system quicker, but since I would be taking the pill form at home it made sense to give me that to make sure my body reacted well to it.

I had the monitor set up to me all night and the baby did great! I had a few contractions, but maybe only 1 or 2 an hour.

Saturday morning came and I was up around 7 am. I got my meds and was told that I would probably be released later that day as we had discussed the night before. My contractions had definitely slowed down and were much more manageable. Oh and I pooped too, yay! I was still very constipated, but I was able to poop a little so it felt like progress!

The doctor came in around 9 or so to check my cervix again and she said that I was still about the same but maybe a bit less dilated. A tight 3 instead of a loose 3, whatever that means. It sounds like progress though, right?

She wanted to keep me until 1:00 so they could make sure I was still feeling good and that the medicine was working. I felt fairly good, and am hopeful that this medicine will keep me comfortable and pregnant for a few more weeks.

While I was hanging out in the hospital Sean drove to get our baby furniture that had come in earlier this week! Yay! Considering they told us 6-12 weeks and it came in 4 must mean that God wants us to get ready for this baby.

The nurse decided to give me my last dose of Brethine around noon so I had it in my system when I left. I was allowed to take it every 4-6 hours.

Sean picked me up around 1 and it was deja vu...hey didn't we just leave this hospital? Everyone told me not to come back for a few weeks, fingers crossed. Even the Patient Transport person asked, "weren't you here yesterday? I saw your name on the list."

I had my prescription to fill so we stopped at Rite-Aid and "lucky" for me the pharmacist gave me this mean look and was like ooh I don't think we have this. He looked in the computer and said not only do they not have it, but no Rite-Aids nearby have it either. I asked if he could check other pharmacy's for me. He was too busy, he told me he could look in possibly 30 minutes or so, I wasn't going to sit around and wait. What an a**!

I decided to just call a few pharmacies myself so we didn't have to run around all town. Target pharmacy was closed for lunch, awesome, and Walgreens had it...yay! We went over to Walgreens and it was like the first of the month at the grocery store, everyone was trying to get their meds. Luckily they had chairs for us to wait in, I was supposed to be on bed rest, not running around town trying to fill a prescription.

We finally got home around 2:30 and I was exhausted. I decided a shower was definitely needed and then nap time! It felt like I hadn't taken a shower in days, even though I had taken one Friday afternoon. Being at the hospital makes you feel dirty and a fresh shower is the best thing in the world! I also was able to poop too, which was awesome. It still wasn't an "emptying of my bowels", but it was a start, sorry guys I like to talk about poop!

I laid down to nap and the contractions seemed to be closer together and more painful. I was immediately discouraged, and thought I was never going to be comfortable. I think all the walking around and being on my feet wasn't good. I decided to take my meds a little early at about 3.5 hours instead of 4 because the contracting was almost every 10 minutes. This helped and I got a nice hour nap!

I woke up feeling rested, but I definitely didn't feel like myself. I was feeling anti-social, a bit depressed and just overall crummy. I hate feeling sorry for myself, and I was trying to be happy but I just wasn't happy. I have such wonderful friends and family that tried to reach out to me, and I didn't feel like talking with anyone.

I spent the rest of the evening in bed on the laptop watching a netflix movie, Big (I know it's old but I'd never seen it), and playing on a few different sites. While I did this Sean painted the nursery! He got the first coat done and it looks awesome. I'll post pictures once everything is done.

When Sean was finished he asked if I wanted anything. I was starving, I had no appetite all day and had barely eaten anything but now all of a sudden I was starving. The only thing that sounded good thouogh was Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Sean said why don't you just call in an order for Chinese food. I didn't want Chinese food though, it didn't sound good. I kept thinking to see if I could think of anything more substantial than just ice cream. I finally decided Spaghetti-o's and meatballs sounded good too. I think Sean must have rolled his eyes at me. He just doesn't appreciate such fine cuisine!

He got me my ice cream and spaghetti-o's and meatballs and a frozen pizza for himself. He missed out! Of course my eyes were bigger than my stomach, as is the case these days, and I ate about half a can of spaghetti-o's and decided the ice cream would have to wait.

We both ate dinner in bed, since I wasn't going anywhere and than snuggled in bed which was so nice. I missed being with him at night. I hadn't slept in my own bed since Tuesday! Bedtime was around 11 right after my dose of Brethine. I was able to go the entire 4 hours this time between doses so I think that I was just too active leaving the hospital and getting settled before.

I slept fairly well getting up just to pee, and I was definitely hydrated because every time I peed it was a satisfying release not just a few dribbles like before. I made sure to take my medicine in the middle of the night too and I continued to only have a few contractions and hour.

Sunday morning I was up at 7. I still felt good and took my meds to keep the contractions away. I've definitely staying on the side of caution and taking them at 4 hour intervals instead of 6. At least for the first few days. I was able to poop again, yay! I showered and than tracked all my buddies online while they were racing the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon.

The morning has gone by fairly quickly and I'm feeling more positive today so hopefully that is a good sign for the coming days!

The medicine seems to be working, although something else I had forgotten to mention was that the doctor said the medicine may feel like I drank 6 cups of coffee. I haven't noticed my heart rate increasing, but I have gotten some jitters especially in my hands and feet. I guess I can deal with that though, I can't always feel 100%.

I'll continue my updates as things change and I'll do a 34 week update summary with photos later.