31 Weeks, Thank Goodness!

So this past week has been a little scary on the pregnancy front. It started out wonderfully, with a beautiful baby shower on Sunday, thrown by our family. We got just about everything we needed for little Owen and more. And seeing everyone after being on bedrest was really, really nice. But unfortunately, on Tuesday, reality came slapping us back in the face as the reason why we are considered high-risk reared it's ugly head: Pre-Term Labor (PTL).

Every Tuesday and Friday I go to my regular OB's office to be hooked up to the NST monitor where they watch babies heartbeat and check for contractions. On Tuesday I went in, just like any other day. Not feeling particularily different. However, once I sat down in the recliner and the test started, I began to notice something strange. I felt like the top of my uterus was squeezing on and off. When the nurse came back to check on me, I asked her if I was having contractions. She picked up the strip and looked it over and said "yep. I'm gonna go talk to Dr. Crain and see what she thinks of this". (Dr. Crain is the other attending OB at our office, my Dr. was in surgery that day). And of course, due to my history of classical c-section and premature rupture of membranes, I was told to go to the hospital.

So I went in to triage where my dad came and met me so he could help communicate with our family on what was going on (my hubby was trying to get out of work and my cell phone gets very little signal in the hospital). We spent the afternoon there where the nurses did a fetal fibro test to check for pre-term labor. It came back negative which was very good. However, that didn't solve the problem of the contractions which were coming about 2-4 minutes apart. Normally, a woman can have contractions and as long as she isn't dialating, it is ok. But for me, with my up and down incision on my uterus, the doctors don't want me to contract at all if possible due to the risk of rupture. And since I am on bloodthinners to boot, a rupture would be, very, very, bad.

At that point I was given a dose of procardia, a medication I already take, to try to calm my uterus down. When that didn't work, I was admitted and taken to Labor and Delivery. At that point the doctor decided to give me everything for the in the event that I did rupture and the baby would need to be taken. I was given steroids for the babies lungs and I was put on antibiotics to prevent infection. Then to help stop the contractions, I was put on a magnesium drip. Magnesium is a miserable medication to be on if you ever get the displeasure of experiencing it. Although it works, it makes you feel really yucky.

I spent that Wednesday in L&D waiting to be moved to a room on the antepartum floor since it seemed like the magnesium was starting to work, and the contractions were getting further and further apart. Eventually, they stopped and I was able to be taken off the magnesium and moved to the other room. I stayed there another night for observation. Thankfully, I woke up on Thursday and had made it to 31 weeks pregnant.

When I was discharged I was given new instructions for home. Whereas before, I was allowed to walk for periods of 10 minutes at a time, I am now no longer allowed to. I have bathroom privledges and I can be up to eat and I can go to my doctors appointments. The rest of the time, I am to rest as much as I can to keep my uterus calm. The doctor's new goal is to get us to 34 weeks pregnant, which is when a baby who is born early has a reduced risk of complications. I am hoping we can make it even further.

Here's to hoping we see week 32!