Fourth of July Festivities

Our Fourth of July weekend started off with big plans, we were going to paint a shelf for the baby's room, hang some curtains, clean the house, then head up to Kingwood on Sunday to enjoy fireworks. 

Here we are are in our paint clothes getting ready to paint

I wasn't feeling my best on Saturday because Jeff and I had done lots of shopping earlier that week (shopping seems to be a big trigger for contractions) so I tried to take it easy. About 6 pm that night my contractions were really painful and my medicine was not kicking in... then I started bleeding. So we called the doctor and he told us to go to the hospital immediately. I figured we would go in, they would check to make sure the baby was okay, tell me the severe pain was caused by kidney stones, that I need to drink more water, and suck it up then send me home. This should take 2 hours? 3 hours if they are really slow, right?

We drive to the hospital and they have a room ready for me. The nurse starts collecting blood and other samples to run tests on. Then they begin administering injections into my shoulders that make me vomit but stop the contractions. At this point it is decided that I'm not going into labor (I'm still in a lot of pain) and I am transfered to another room. At this point the nurses and doctor start saying things like we will give you another dose of this in 12 hours. Perhaps due to the pain I don't put two and two together and still expect to sleep in my own bed that night. Then an IV is stuck in my arm, and I'm offered sleeping meds. "Oh I guess I'm sleeping here tonight" passes through my mind. I am grateful that I now wear contacts that can be slept in, and don't worry that I don't have a toothbrush. Then I throw up the sleeping meds. That was probably the lowest point of the whole evening. I was in so much pain and the sweet relief of sleep starred back at me in the pink puke bucket held in my hands. I asked the nurse if I get more sleep meds and I am told no -because there is no way to know how much I absorbed. Those pills had been in my stomach less than 2 minutes and I could see both pills in my pink bucket still looking like pills. I seriously considered re-consuming the contents of my pink bucket -I was that desperate for sleep.

I sleep lightly for an hour here and there throughout the night in-between nurses giving me drugs and poking and prodding me. About 5 in the morning I start expecting to be discharged soon since the pain has finally lessened.  I have monitors attached all over my abdomen, one of which is showing that I'm still contracting. I'm given more meds to swallow and more shots in my arm. This time at least they gave me an anti-nausea pill with the injection. Then my doctor shows up saying things like I'm going to be given steroid injections (in my hip- OW!) to help the baby's lung development in case she is born soon, and I am given consent forms for delivery and emergency c-sections protocols. He also mentions I might be in the hospital until the baby is born. CRAP! It was this moment when it finally hit me that this was more serious than I thought.

With the suggestion that we might be in the hospital for weeks, Jeff drives home to change clothes and pick up items like toothbrushes, deodorant, and fuzzy slippers. We spend the day sleeping and asking the CNAs for ice packs. (Magnesium was being administered through my IV and burning pain is a common side effect, ice packs offered some relief). We also spoke to the Neonatologist about what to expect if our baby is born early. At that point, I am 31 weeks along and my baby is 3 1/2 lbs.  I am told our goal is to keep the baby in until 34 weeks at least.

That night my monitors show that things are finally starting to stabilize. I'm taking a lot of pills every few hours, and I'm measuring my urine output which is a popsicle orange color -a side effect from one of the many drugs I'm on. Yes, very fun. With my stabilizing condition, my doctor is more optimistic that the baby is going to be staying inside me for a while longer. He says I may be able to go home Monday. That night Jeff watched the fireworks intermittently from the window of our hospital room. He took a few pictures on his cell phone that he showed me, since I couldn't see them from my view on the bed.

Monday afternoon comes and things are still good. So I finally get discharged. I am sent home with loads of medicines. Some of which I have to take every four hours until the baby is born. I am on full bed rest. I am allowed to get up to use the bathroom and to shower, other than that I have to restrict my activities. For those who know me, this is going to be REALLY HARD.

After the hospital we went straight up to Kingwood so Jeff's parents could help take care of us. We were both so exhausted. Here is my delicious post-Fourth of July meal.

Jeff has been so wonderful throughout the entire time. He held back my hair as I threw up the contents of my stomach many times, he massaged my feet, he slept on a crappy couch each night, and now that we are home he is taking great care of me running around doing all the errands himself, cooking, cleaning, everything! He gets one month of summer vacation and this is how he gets to spend it, and he hasn't complained once. 

I received a lot of nice phone calls and text messages from friends and family while we were in the hospital. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

I'm sure that after all this ordeal, the baby is not coming early, and in fact, will come a week late. Do I have any takers?