Friday, November 12, 2010

Just a wee bit 'o Preterm Labor...

Wednesday night I felt... meh. Just off. Tuesday night I was in crazy, psycho nesting mode and organized every last article of baby clothing in the twins room. Wednesday during the day I was ravenously hungry. Like seriously hungry. Wednesday night? Like I said, just off. I was crampy, having back pain, contractions... the works. I woke up yesterday morning and felt okay. I really think I had forgotten what it's like to NOT have contractions, so I have really begun to hardly notice them anymore. Around 1pm, the contractions started to come more frequently, and I had the return of the back cramps. By 3pm, I thought it would be a good idea to give the OB office a call. The nurse decided I needed a visit to Labor and Delivery, just to be sure. Well, I took my sweet time... waited for Brian to get home... changed my clothes... dropped some soup off at The Litton's house since they had been a bit under the weather... left Brian and Logan at home, and went by myself to L&D. I honestly in my heart of hearts thought they would tell me that I was having Braxton Hicks contractions, and to go home, drink some water, take a bath, and lay on my side. At first the two nurses I had (who were AMAZING by the way. Side note: I think nurses are the nicest, most comforting, and kindest individuals on this planet) didn't seem too concerned. However, when I started explaining the back pain... the cramping... the pain radiating down the front of my legs... they started to get a little quiet. They hooked me up to the monitors, and took my blood pressure... a tad bit high. Not too much alarm for concern, I was in a stressful situation. It was when the nurse came in with a giant needle and said "Okay Lindsay, Jessica is going to give you a shot to stop your preterm labor". SAY WHAT?! Who's in preterm labor? Turns out, I was having regular contractions about every 4-5 minutes, and was only feeling every other contraction, or so. Yikes. The nurse warned me that the shot would "hurt like hell", her words, not mine, and that if the shot didn't stop the labor they would try one more shot. If that didn't work, I would be headed to "the Big House Across the River", otherwise known as UIHC. This is when I leveled with these kind ladies and told them that a) I could not be in the hospital, b) I could not be on bedrest, and c) these babies are not ready to come out yet. So bottom line, lets stop these bad boys so I could go home and watch The Office. At this point my blood pressure was 147/97, which is high for me, but again, I was a tad bit worked up. Turns out the nurse was right, the shot hurt like hell, and she was also right about the fact that the makes your heart race, and failed to tell me I would be shaking uncontrollably. Nice. But again, the task at hand was to STOP LABOR, and I was willing to try whatever possible to be back home with a Chocolate Milkshake watching Thursday night TV with my Hubs.

Luckily, that's just where I ended up. Within the span of about 40 minutes I only had one contraction, the babies looked perfect, my blood pressure was down to 108/51, and it looked like my labor had stopped. THANK GOD! I am feeling much better now. I have had very few, minor contractions, actually slept pretty sound, and overall feeling okay today. I am not on any strict instructions for bedrest, but I need to do some serious chillaxing from now on. This mostly means more housework for Brian, and more instructions from his large, and loving Wifey.


This is the monitor I stared at for a couple of hours last night, just watching my babies heart rates, and praying for the contractions to stop. Parker is on the right, and Cooper is on the left. Their heart rates got as high as 200 after the Trebutaline shot, but the nurses said that was normal. Did I mention how much I love L&D nurses? Love.

2 comments:

  1. So glad you were able to stop the pre-term labor... scary! Now just relax for a while and let those little boys cook some more :) If you need anything please ask. I'd love bring dinner or help out in any way I can. Take care!
    Kate

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  2. Thanks so much, Kate! I may take you up on the dinner offer sometime. Regardless, we should totally meet up sometime! I am sure the boys would have fun playing!

    I also hope you are feeling well! I am still just so elated for you!

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