Week 29

So in the craziness that has been Thanksgiving I haven't had the chance to do my weekly update. I went to my doctor's appointment on Wednesday. They said they would fit me in at 12:30. I ended up sitting in the waiting room by myself for a good 15 minutes. They did the ultra sound pretty quick and then I ended up sitting in the exam room for another 25 minutes. The wait wasn't really exciting because Gavin had to work and  couldn't be at my appointment.

Finally, the doctor came in to give me the update. My amniotic fluid was down to 10 but they was still in the normal range. That meant that I could keep taking my medicine. My cervical length hadn't changed so I was still at 1.4 cm. He said we would just keep doing what I was doing and check back in next week. He had me schedule a full ultra sound to get measurements of the babies growth and make sure everything was going well in that department.

My appointment isn't until Friday, which is the longest I've gone between appointments so far. I'm predicting that my fluid level is going to be low next time and they will have to take me off my medicine. The good thing will be that I will be over 30 weeks at that point so in the event that I do end up going into labor we can stay in Twin Falls. The last time they took me off my medicine my cervix shortened .8 cm in one week. That was even with me going into the hospital once to have my contractions stopped. If my cervix shortens that much again they really won't much left to go and I'm guessing that I'll have a baby fairly soon.

I'm not sure at this point what they doctor's plan is going to be if they have to take me off the medicine. I guess it will depend on what they find in my ultra sound. Before I was willing to risk the effects of taking medicine against the possibility of having a baby at 25 weeks. Now that we have gotten into the 30 week range and out of the real danger zone I'm less inclined to want a whole bunch of medication. I know that the longer he has in my womb the better, but I also don't want to cause him other issues.

Then their is the fact the I am still on bed rest. I'm not sure how much more of this my body can take. I can already see and feel the amount of muscle mass I've lost. The prospect of recovering from that and being in a condition that I can return to my very physical job is daunting to me. At least I know a few rehab tricks to help the process along. I will do anything to keep my baby healthy, but I need to be able to take care of him as well.

So cross your fingers we get a few more weeks!

28 weeks!

Well it is already half way through the week. It is interesting how everything in my life has become about what week it is. If we can just get to next week everything will be so much better. Then we get there and start all over again...if we can just make it to next week.

After the fun adventure we had at the hospital on Monday, which seems like an eternity ago, I was really interested to see what my next appointment would hold. There were probably a couple times between Monday and Thursday that I could have warranted going back to the hospital, but I held out. Wednesday night was probably the worst, as far as how many contractions I had, but I decided that I would rather sleep in my own bed and go to my appointment at 9:30 a.m.

My ultra sound went pretty well. My fluid had gone back up to 13.7 which is what we had hoped to see. I waited for the  doctor to come in for a while. When he finally did he looked through the numbers and asked for a reference from last week. Then he said he needed to step out for a minute. That is never a good sign. Turns out my cervix had shortened again to 1.37 cm. Not very good. So he had gone to consult with another doctor on restarting my medicine. At least they know if they take me off the medicine my fluid will go up. The problem is my contractions increase when I'm not on it. That in turn shortens my cervix.

So I am at home taking my medicine and trying to do nothing. Any time I get up my contractions increase. I'm just trying to get though past next weekend. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. We have already had to change our plans once and I'm really looking forward to seeing my family. So hopefully we can make it to at least 30 weeks until this baby decides to come.

On the comforting side, the doctors are really pleased that I have made it to 28 weeks. That gives Jack a lot better chance of having minimal complications.

Labor and delivery....not the most comfortable beds

Well it turns out the medicine they took me off of was doing something good for me. Since I was taken off my contractions have been gradually increasing. Yesterday I got up to 6 in an hour for two hours. This is the magic number they told me to go to the hospital for. 

I wasn't sure what they were going to do. I wasn't looking forward to being put back on magnesium. When the doctor came in he told me they weren't going to do magnesium. They would repeat my fetal fibronectin test. He checked my cervix and I was still not dilated. He decided to try a different drug called terbutaline. Not super fun. It made my heart rate go up to 105-110, made me super tired and my hands were shaky, but it stopped my contractions. My ffn test came back negative, meaning I wasn't in active labor. 

They decided to discharge we home and to follow up with my doctor on Thursday at my appointment. So the whole thing was a little anti-climatic. I'm not going to complain about that too much. I'm just stuck in this cycle of stress and worry never knowing when to go in and when I'm being too careful. But the doctor said it is better to be safe than sorry. I could go in and nothing would be different or I could go in and be 4 cm dilated. Not really something I want to mess with. 

Gavin said maybe I should just wait to go in until my water breaks. I told him that is kind of a point of no return. You really can't stop labor once your water breaks. It isn't good for the baby. We are almost to 28 weeks (tomorrow), which was our first short term goal. The next big milestone to reach is 30 weeks. That will mean that we can stay in Twin Falls and that I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. 

But through it all Jack is doing really well. His heart rate always looks good and he doesn't seem to be in any distress. I always worry that all the drugs they keep giving me are going to injure him in someway. But I'm trying to have faith in the system. The problem with that is I know the system has flaws and doesn't always work the way we hoped it would. Still putting my trust in the Lord and I know no matter what happens everything will turn out the way it is supposed to. 

Week 27

Sorry if this starts to get old, but it is really they only thing happening in my life right now. Plus people keep asking me for updates so here you are.

At my appointment this week:

Glucose test: 114 mg/dL which is just below normal. I didn't really have any problems with this test ever though everyone I talked to made it sound like the most horrible thing they had to go through.

Amniotic Fluid Index: 5. Normal at this stage is 8-18. One of the medications they had me taking to decrease my contractions has decreased my amniotic fluid. This was one of the side effects, which is why I've been getting an ultra sound every week. So they had discontinued this medication. Hopefully, my contractions don't start up again.

Cervical length: I measured at 2.2 cm, which is a little more than last week. You have to factor in error of measurements, but I haven't gotten shorter so that is good. I'm still not dilated at all so that is a good sign.

They put me on a fetal monitor for half and hour. Jack was moving around like crazy. He doesn't like to be squished apparently. He is doing great. His heart rate is normal.

My instructions were to keep doing nothing, as in lay on the couch. As much as I hate it I really believe that will be the only thing that keeps this baby in. It has been better with things to do for work. It makes my day go by a lot faster.

Week 26

So the past week has been a little hard. Anyone who knows me know that I like to be busy. I like to be up and doing things. We learned that modified bed rest needed to be lay on the couch unless you need to use the bathroom. That gets boring pretty quick.

My boss is the best ever and she asked me if I would like them to find me some work to do from home. I was going to ask her if I could do just that, but she beat me to it. It was slow starting, but I should be busy until this baby decides to come (hopefully not for a while).

I didn't have to go back to the hospital this week, but came close a couple times.

At my doctor's appointment I had an ultra sound which showed my cervix had shortened a little more, but not enough to put me back in the hospital. My contractions were under control for the most part with my average being 1-2 an hour. Pretty much they said to keep doing what I'm doing.

Back again 25 weeks

I started this a long time ago. Sorry it took me a couple weeks to finish. Not that I haven't had the time.

When we got up to labor and delivery I told the nurses I was just sent home this morning and they told me to come back if I had more than 4-6 contractions in an hour. So they set me up in a room. The nurse who came into to do my intake was not my favorite. She treated me like I was making everything up and I didn't know what I was talking about.

First she hooked me up to the wrong monitor and couldn't pick up any contractions. She asked me if I was having any and I thought I had a couple but couldn't tell for sure because of all the equipment in the way. She wanted to know how long I had been having six contractions in an hour. I was getting frustrated. I told her it had happened twice that day and they didn't tell me to track it over a couple hours. They told me to come in if it happened once. She took my blood pressure and I was in the 150/90 range. Gavin was not happy. I told him that I was just stressed out and everything would be fine.

They nurse finally got the equipment set up and started to pick up contractions. I had six in thirty minutes. I think by this point I had been at the hospital for at least and hour and a half. I still hadn't seen a doctor and I was about ready to ask for a new nurse, when I discovered that the nurse helping me was the charge nurse. Meaning that I didn't have to put up with her all night.

The resident doctor came in and said if I started to go into labor they would just deliver the baby in Twin Falls. I was not happy to hear that, as the NICU in Twin Falls is only credited for babies after 30 weeks. Later when the actual doctor came in he assured me if my fetal fibronectin test came back positive they would be shipping me to Boise. That came as a relief, but I was really hoping I wasn't really in labor. So they did their test and sent it down to the lab. Then they hooked me up to and IV and started fluids.

Lucky for me the test came back negative. That didn't change the fact that I was still having too many contractions. So they started me on a lovely Magnesium drip. Let me tell you not the most exciting thing I've ever been on. It made me really hot and then left a weird feeling in the back of my throat for the next 24 hours. They had to monitor a lot of things while I was on this drip. I got my blood drawn every 6 hours. For the first hour my nurse had stay in the room with me to make sure I was okay with the bolus (large first dose). Then after that I had to have my vitals checked every hour. I don't know about you, but I don't fall asleep very well so being woken up every hour was pretty rough. The first night I didn't get much sleep, but the next night I was completely exhausted (just ask Gavin) and I was able to fall asleep in between vital checks.

I should have taken a picture of all the things they had hooked up to me. On one side I had my IV. The other arm had a blood pressure cuff and pulse-oximeter. Then around my middle they had a fetal heart monitor and another monitor for my contractions. It was quite the task to move in bed and get up to go to the bathroom. Gavin got pretty good at helping me unhook/re-hooked all the machines.

In addition to the Magnesium, I also got two steroid shots to help develop Jack's lung more quickly in case he is born early. Then they gave me my Rhogam shot for my rH negative blood. So I had three shots in my butt within 3 hours. That was a first.

So I was in the hospital for two midnights. I was exhausted when I went home. They had my contraction slowed down to one every couple of hours. I was released home on modified bed rest.

Pregnancy saga continues

Well I suppose this pregnancy is turning out to be nothing like I thought it would. I went to my appointment last week only to go through the same tests as always and have them tell me everything was going well. The doctor then gave me my 6 month instructions on coming in if I start having pain or more than 5 contractions in an hour. I thought to myself I don't think I would know if I was having a contraction. So upon asking her to give me the signs, Gavin and I both looked at each other and knew that I had already been having some. They weren't very frequent so we thought nothing of it.

Over the next two weeks that followed that appointment I drove to Rexburg and Salt Lake City all by myself. Both times right after I have worked a full day at the hospital. After going to Rexburg and returning home I started to have increased contractions. I think the most I counted was 9 in a day. That definitely made me start paying more attention. After my trip to Salt Lake, I had to work the next two days and then had a day off. My first day off, Monday, I count 12 contractions, all while I was doing nothing but watching tv and resting. The next day, Tuesday, I started to get a little more nervous. I still hadn't had more than three to four contractions in an hour, but that was the most I had experienced so far. I had a presidency meeting I needed to go to and then a Stake Leadership meeting to follow. That is a lot of sitting.

During the Leadership meeting I started writing down the specific times of my contractions. I determined that if I made it to five I would get up and leave. I said a prayer hoping that they would stop. I really wanted to stay and listen to the whole meeting. After the meeting we went to the gym for refreshments. I didn't eat anything and after talking to my friend for 5 minutes I decided I needed to go home.

When I got home I told Gavin what had happened. They still weren't really close together, so I decided to just relax. I tried to follow all of the guideline to stop contractions. I emptied my bladder. I laid on my left side. I was drinking a ton of water. Still nothing seemed to be help. After an hour I had written down 10 contractions. This was now midnight. I called the on call doctor (PA) and she told me to drink water, stay off my feet and keep watching the contractions for a few hours. If they didn't die down I should come in.

I was a little frustrated with her. She wasn't really listening to me and I got the feeling that she thought I was over reacting. What did she think I was doing at midnight. I definitely wasn't up working out. I continued to keep track of contractions and then decided to call my sister-in-law, who had gone through problems with contractions, and asked what she would do. She suggested taking a bath. Just for the record I hate baths. They do not relax me. I don't fit right in the bath tub and I am uncomfortable the whole time. To add to the fun of contractions I was also having some pretty bad back pain on my left side.

I tried to get comfortable in bed. I had counted 12 contractions that next hour. That makes 22 contractions in 2 hours. I really didn't feel like that was normal. At the same time, I didn't really want to go to the hospital and have that PA treat me like a little girl who didn't know anything. So Amanda suggested I try sleeping. So finally at 3 in the morning I fell asleep. When I woke up at 6:45 to get ready for work I wasn't having any contractions. I was so excited that they had gone away. As soon as I rolled over to get out of bed I had a contraction. It didn't take me too long to call my boss and let her know I wouldn't be coming in that day.

The clinic didn't open until 8:30 so I decided to track my contractions until then. Yeah I ended up with 12. So I called in to see what they wanted me to do. The receptionist transferred me to one of the nurses phones I left a message and didn't get a call back for an hour. After convincing her that I was sure I was having contractions and was only 25 weeks, she decided I should come in. I got an appointment for 11:45. Longest two hours ever.

So I went in for my appointment. The nurse taking me back kept trying to see if something else was going on. Are you sick? Could you have a bladder infection? None of her wondering was making me feel any better. When I finally saw the doctor he started doing tests. He checked my cervix. I wasn't dilated but he felt like I was pretty thin. So he ordered an ultra sound. Because my appointment was so close to lunch time all the ultra sound techs were unavailable. I think we ended up wait in the room for a good hour.

Finally got the ultra sound done. They measured my cervix length and then checked Jack out a little. He was being camera shy and had his arms up over his face. Not the best pictures of him we have had so far. The ultra sound tech left to go talk to the doctor about what she found. She came back 15 minutes later to tell us that the doctor was currently in a surgery. The waiting continued. When the doctor finally made it in he told me that my cervix was really short for how far along I was. I was measuring on average around 2 cm. At this point I should be more like 3.5 to 4 cm. I was 50% effaced. He told me this wasn't good and wanted to get me hooked up on a monitor to see if he could stop my contractions. He gave me some things to read which stated that I have a 30% chance of going into preterm labor. That is a big percentage in the ob/gyn world.

So they took me over to labor and delivery. I got my gown on and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor as well as a monitor for my contractions. Every kept telling me how small I was...the doctor told me to be prepared for that. They wanted me to tell them when I felt a contraction. I told them I had to feel it with my hand, but because they had the monitor strapped on so tight it wasn't difficult for me to tell. I was contracting more than they felt comfortable with. So out came the suppository. Lucky for me the nurse was kind enough to explain what I needed to do and let me put it in myself.
So I had three doses of suppository through out the night. I got woken up every four hours or so. I swear every time I finally fell asleep they would come it. Add the fact that I was sleeping in the most uncomfortable bed imaginable and you would find that I didn't feel that chipper in the morning.

I had still had some contractions through out the night but we were definitely out of the 12 an hour range. So they decided they would try to manage me with some medications and let me go home. On my way out of the hospital I had another contraction. Then we went to the pharmacy to fill my prescriptions. They didn't have what I needed at Fred Meyer's so we went to a different pharmacy. I was glad I did. The pharmacist was amazing and checked into everything they were giving me. Called the doctor, talked to nurses, called insurance company (which was the biggest thing). One of the medications they wanted me to take is pretty expensive and the insurance company didn't want to pay for it because it can be used as a fertility treatment. They wanted proof that I was actually pregnant. It seemed like to me that they could have just looked at my past claims, but I guess the Rx and medical sections of my insurance on in separate places. They had to fax something to my doctor and then get a paper signed. In the mean time the pharmacist said he could give me something similar to tied me over until they got this other medication in. While we were at the pharmacy I had five contractions.

Gavin just wanted me to go back to the hospital, but I wanted to see if they would die down again. Plus I really wanted to take a shower and take a nap. Gavin was a little annoyed with me, can you blame him. So by five thirty when I woke up from my nap and had another six contractions I said we could go back. We stopped by Kiwi Loco first to grab some dinner. We figured we would be staying the night again....