Here's the story:
Probably around the time I last posted, I had started experiencing some braxton hicks (BH) contractions. Again, not uncommon in your third trimester. Unfortunately I seemed to be experiencing them more often than I should have been. I let it go for quite some time, pushing it off to the back of my mind and continuing on with my very hectic life. A week ago Friday while sitting at work I had been feeling okay and was hit by several BH right in a row accompanied by sudden intense back pain. Normally I wouldn't think anything of the back pain as that's been present for most of my pregnancy but I had a mother to be massage earlier in the week and my back was actually feeling quite good. My sister said she thought it was time I called the doctor. We go to the same OB/GYN and her having 4 kids herself, I trusted her judgment. I know she's like me and tends to push herself more than she should so if she thought I should call, then I should probably call. My midwife was on call as it was already after hours and she told me to leave work, take some tylenol, a nice hot bath, drink a lot of water and rest. Doing these things seemed to help some and I went on with the weekend as normal. Monday morning was my scheduled appointment. We discussed the contractions I'd been experiencing and the Friday night incident. She decided to check me and do a fetal fibronectin test since I was still pretty early along. The check proved that my cervix was still long and closed (great news) and the test results would take a few hours to come back. I was informed that if I did not hear from her, the results were negative and everything was fine. The downside to this appointment was that I failed my second 1 hour glucose tolerance test by a few points and they wanted me to take the 3 hour one plus I was slightly anemic and needed iron supplements.
Side note: A fetal fibronectin test is a better indication that preterm labor will NOT occur. It is usually used to rule out this possibility. If positive, that really only means that there is a chance the woman will experience preterm labor in the next 2 weeks.
I did not hear from my midwife on Monday afternoon so I assumed the results were negative and everything was peachy. On Tuesday morning she called me. She said the lab did not contact her with the results and she followed up that morning. My test showed positive (a chance I could experience preterm labor) and because I was still early at only 33 weeks, they wanted me to to get steroid shots to help develop the baby's lungs. I was sent over to the OB triage unit at the hospital for the first shot and monitoring. The shots must be given 24 hours apart so I knew I would have to make a trip on Wednesday as well. So Tuesday was fun. I spent about 5 hours in l&d. Once hooked up to all the monitors they could see that I was contracting quite often, even ones I didn't feel. I was put on IV fluids and given two doses of some other medicine (can't remember the name) to help stop the contractions. This medicine made my heart race like crazy. I was checked again and had no change in cervix. After the second injection of this medicine, they agreed that I could go home.
Tuesday night I was awake all night with consistent, long BH. They weren't necessarily painful but they were strong. I didn't call because I knew I was going back in the next day, but perhaps I should have. I was back at triage around 12:30-1 on Wednesday, hooked up to monitors, getting more shots and just hanging out. I was checked again and was 30% effaced and 1 cm. Not good because that means it happened overnight. My OB came in to see me and decided she wanted me to stay for monitoring until at least 8pm. They were going to continue with fluids and try some meds to stop contractions. It became apparent pretty quickly that these methods weren't working so the next step was magnesium. I've heard some things about this and I wasn't excited. Apparently it's very beneficial for the baby but not a party for the mom. It made me hot, weak and gave me flu like symptoms. I did fairly well on it for the first 12-15 hours but after that I was starting to lose my positive attitude. I couldn't get out of bed during that time so that means a catheter :( and I couldn't sleep. I was on magnesium until about 4:30pm on Thursday and then they started an oral medicine called procardia. My contractions had not been eliminated completely but they had definitely spaced out. My OB felt that should they be held at bay overnight during observation, I would be allowed to go home. Friday I was released with a prescription to take procardia every 4 hours and bed rest.
That leaves me here, living by an alarm. I'm really not allowed to do much but go to the bathroom. Fortunately we have one on each floor. I can't do steps more than 2-3 times a day. It's really hard to stick to these guidelines but Seth has been amazing and my sister Kelsey is staying with us for the week. My doctor would really like me to get to Tuesday - 34 weeks - and then work on making it to the following Tuesday at 35 weeks. She said she won't keep restrictions on me at that point even though it will still be early. It will give the baby sufficient time to have the steroid shots do their job and there will be a greater chance he won't spend any time in the NICU. Of course there could still be issues but I'm trying not to think about all of that. I'm leaning on the support of all my wonderful family and friends. I know that other than following the doctor's orders, this is out of my control. Some women experience these things and then go on to carry full term. I honestly don't believe that will be the case for me because I do still have some contractions, although not consistent. I have a strong feeling that once I'm off the meds and moving around again, things will kick into high gear. A preterm baby is never anyone's expectations but it happens. I just want him to be as healthy as possible when he does finally arrive.
Hopefully these aren't the last few pictures!
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