Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Wonderful Life of Bed Rest!

So, as many of you already know by now, I have been on hospital bed rest since Monday afternoon - boo :(
Monday started off like any other day, but this was a great day because it was baby appt day!! Jason and I arrived at the doctor's office for our 3 o'clock appt and went back for our standard sono (I'd like to mention that Colleen our trusted sono tech was not there today - coincidence? hmm?). So we go back and the very first thing they check each time is my cervical length. Well... apparently in the course of two weeks my cervix had shortened from 47 to 18! No bueno! At this point, your cervix should not be any shorter than a 25 :( I don't know what caused it to shorten, but needless to say, we were both very scared and unsure about what this all meant for me and the babies. The sono tech checked the babies and they were both doing great - so that was a major source of temporary relief!
We went back to the Dr. G's office and he basically told us that he and I were about to become even better friends and that I would need to go straight upstairs and be put on bedrest :( My heart was racing and I could feel the tears begin to swell behind my eyes - preterm labor was my biggest fear and worry - and everything had been going so, so well leading up to this, I was just left wondering if there was something that I did to cause this. Dr. G tried his best to reassure me and tell me that it was just so that they could monitor me and that it may just be a few days and not to freak out. So... we made our way up to labor and deliver (they didn't have any open beds in the antepardom section). They pretty much immediately hooked me up to the monitors to check on the babies and to see if I was contracting. Well... low and behold, I was contracting every 2-3 minutes and had absolutely no idea! I felt nothing! No tightening, cramps, pain, nothing! Scary! On the positive side - the babies did no seem to be bothered at all by the contractions and their heartrates were perfect! After about 20 minutes of being monitored they gave me a shot of terbutaline -  a medication to stop the contratcions. It worked like a charm, but it also made me very shaky and jittery - very strange feeling! Luckily, within about half and hour/45 min the shakiness wore off - and even better, no more contractions! They also started me on procardia which apparently also helps keep contractions from starting back up (pretty much no side effects to this one - at least not that I can tell) - which is good because that means no more of the crazy shaky medicine! They also gave me a steroid shot for the babies to aid in their lung maturity just in case (had one on Monday and one last night) - and ooohhh did it burn, but only for about a minute. They have been monitoring me twice a day, once in the morning after breakfast and once at night after dinner, and I am pleased to report that I have had no contractions - woo hoo!
Jason and I had part one of a two day child prep class designed for multiples, day two is supposed to be this Saturday when we will get to take a tour of the hospital - well I guess I can skip that one! Since being admitted on Monday, I have been in 3 different rooms, so at least I get a change of scenery! I started out in L&D Monday night, then on Tuesday they switched me to a different L&D room (because it had a window), but by Tuesday evening (10:30pm) I was being moved yet again, but this time to the antepardom section (smaller rooms). I really, really loved all of the nurses in L&D - I hope I get them again in about 10 weeks! Not that  the antepardom nurses aren't nice - but those L&D nurses were the bomb! I see some special treats in their future!
So... here's the situation now... they told me on Monday night that they would need to do a test called an FFN (fetal fibronectin test). Fetal fibronectin is a protein made by the amniotic sac that attaches the amnion/chorion layer to the uterus. It is found in the normal vaginal discharge of pregnant women until about 22 weeks gestation (I am 27 weeks today). After that point, it isn't released again until 2 or 3 weeks prior to birth. If it is present between 24 to 34 weeks it means that there is a higher chance of preterm labor. It's a pretty easy test - just a quick swab of your cervical area and then that swab is sent to a lab - but, nothing can have been in your cervical area for more than 24 hours or it can cause a false positive - so they had to wait until this morning to run the test. Through lots of prayer and the grace of God - we got the results about an hour later that it was negative - woo hoo! It's like a huge weight has been lifted! Now, the nurse said that they can often have false positives, but a negative is always a negative :) YAY!
So now we sit (or in my case mostly lay) and we wait until Friday when they will check my cervical length again. Dr. G said that it can either continue to shorten (worst case), stay the same (not good but not bad), or it can even begin to lengthen again (ideal). So, it all comes down to Friday - I am very optimistic and I know that we our in God's hands and he will take care of us. I am so very thankful for all the blessings we have received, even though I know we do not deserve them - God is so good. 
If in the event I have to stay here longer, Dr. G has told me that I will be able to get a day pass and go to my showers :) So that made me very happy! And get this... Lucy can even come and visit me! I know it's only been a few days but I really miss my fur baby! Hopefully, I will get to go home Friday or Saturday - so keep your fingers crossed and continue to send up those prayers! Thank you all so very much for all of your generous offerings of love and support - we are truly blessed to have such amazing friends and family in our lives, and we really do appreciate you all. I will keep you updated if anything changes! 

In other news... I am 27 weeks today and am officially in my third trimester - woo hoo! And even better - the nursery is almost complete! I would post pics but the camera cord is at home - Jason is going to bring it tonight - so I will post pics tomorrow :)

2 comments:

  1. SO glad to hear that the test results came back negative and am still praying that you get to go home tomorrow. Let us know if you need anything and I mean anything! I would love to help in any way I can. And yes, that turbutaline stuff is the worst! I had to have it when I went in around 32 weeks with contractions and it made me feel super-duper shaky, tingly and drunk. I felt totally out of it and was SO glad once it wore off. Keep us posted! Sending more good thoughts and prayers your way!

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  2. So glad the results came back negative! What a blessing:) That's awesome that Lucy will be able to visit you, but I'm sure you're hoping you'll get to go home soon. God is definitely good and he will always watch over you and those precious angels. Oh yeah, my Doctor gave me terbutaline to stop my contractions when she decided to do a C-Section. Ryan was freaking out because I was shaking so much. Haha It's not a kind drug. Yay for awesome L&D nurses...that's always a plus! We're going to bring you food on Thursday or Friday...so think about what sounds good:) Anything you want!

    Hang in there! We love you guys.

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