My Second Home

Well, things have been busy around here again. Things are always exciting and I'm becoming more accustomed to my "special case" title.

Greg and I went to bed around 10:30 Monday night (which is WAY early for us) because he had to work at 7 the next morning. I woke up at 12:00 to use the restroom, pop some Tums, and then again at 2:00 (this every 2 hour schedule must be my preparation). When I got up at 2:00, I came back to bed and started getting really bad cramps that wouldn't go away and actually progressed to pretty severe ones. I turned over to Greg and asked him to hand me the water bottle because I thought maybe I needed more fluids. After laying there a few more minutes, Greg decided that he needed to take me in and have me checked out since the pain was still there and not easing up. We quickly got dressed, grabbed the number for Dameron's Labor & Delivery and took off for the hospital.

We got there at around 3:20 and they hooked me up to some monitors. They showed that I was having contractions every 4 minutes or so. They quickly gave me a huge glass of ice water and an IV for fluids. They say that many times dehydration is a source for contractions and can be stopped with adequate fluids. After about 1 1/2 -2 hours they decided that lack of fluids was not the reason for the contractions. The doctor ordered a shot of Terbutaline, which is supposed to relax the soft muscle tissue in the uterus, in turn stopping contractions for most women. The nurse warned me that I may have some side effects due to my mitral valve prolapse. Fortunately, the side effects were minimal (increase in pulse and shakiness), but more importantly, the pain went away!

The doctor came in to check my cervix and perform a swab test on me. Thankfully my cervix was long and closed, meaning that even though I was having contractions, they weren't causing my cervix to open and allow my little ones to escape! The doctor told me about a test that they do now to predict whether or not you are prone to deliver within the next 2 weeks. The test is called Fetal Fibronectin and it's very similar to a pap test (oh, joy!), whereas they swab fluids around the cervix. They're looking for some fancy protein that shows up usually 1-2 weeks before labor begins. It took about an hour to get the results, but all is good... the test was negative! Yay! Greg and I were both SO tired and just wanted to sleep. Greg was able to squeeze in about an hour, but I was so uncomfortable and worried that I couldn't get a wink of sleep in. About an hour an a half after my shot of Terbutaline, I started getting some irritability back. The nurse said that they may need to give me another one. The doctor was seriously considering admitting me, and I was freaking out about that. I was just so frustrated with my body and couldn't understand why my uterus was doing what it was doing. It's something way out of my control, but it's so upsetting when I think of my babies coming too soon. It makes me so emotional. It's a hard concept to put your mind around when you know how great your babies are doing inside of you, wiggling and dancing all around, but if they were to come out at this point they could face so many complications. You feel like your failing to take care of your babies and putting them in harm's way. It's very overwhelming. The doctor and nurses reassured me that it isn't anything I can control. This is very common for twins and seeing how my uterus hasn't ever been stretched before, it's stretching at a more rapid rate the first time around. Based on what my doctor measured last week, I should be measuring about 37 weeks now (I'm 28 weeks tomorrow), obviously close to someone being full-term.

As the doctor was deciding on whether or not he should admit me, he asked if I worked. When I told him that I didn't, he asked if I could do this same thing (laying around, AKA bed rest) at home. He finally decided that I could go home seeing how the contractions had pretty much stopped and I had another NST in just a couple of days (tomorrow). So after 8 hours in the hospital, we were free to leave!

I'm glad to be home, but it's so lonely and boring. I hate laying down because I can't get comfortable and my heart burn is ridiculously out of control. I don't even have to eat anything to make my throat and chest feel like they're on fire. I feel so bad for people that have this as a normal condition.

Sorry for the downer post... I just want to keep everyone updated on what's going on. Please pray for me and the babies. We just keep praying that the Lord's plan is to keep them in me for at least another 6 weeks.