Setting up camp at the hospital

I have been meaning to post about all of this earlier but quite frankly I haven't had the emotional energy. Stephen and I left for our fabulous babymoon/Stephen's brother's wedding last Sunday. We were going to spend three nights at the Grand Resort in Point Clear and then head to Destin on Thursday for the wedding. On Tuesday night I started having contractions and was sent to the hospital in Fairhope. When I got there I have having contractions four to five minutes a part lasting about 45-60 seconds a piece and by the time they got me situated and got ready to give me a shot of medicine to stop them I was having them 2 minutes apart. They admitted me on Tuesday night, gave me a couple of bags of fluid, and a shot called brethine to stop the contractions. I stayed overnight and was allowed to come home in the morning. We left the hospital thinking that was fluke and thank goodness we won't have to go through that again. Well we were wrong!

On Thursday we were heading over to Destin and I started having contractions at the Alabama/Florida state line. I called my doctor and told them the situation and they said back to the hospital. We saw signs to a hospital and we took our second detour of the vacation. On a side note, I have never appreciated those blue hospital signs so much in my entire life...they really do work! At this point I was a little frazzled , but still holding it together pretty well. We got to the hospital and they sent me back up to Labor and delivery. I got another IV and they got me on the monitors and did a ton of tests. I was given a Fetal Fibronectin test which test for an enzyeme that is released 10-14 days prior to labor. This is one of the first tests they give to test for pre-term labor. Luckily mine was NEGATIVE! They also did a full ultrasound to measure the baby and check for cervical length. They want a length greater than 2.2 and mine was 3.1 cm so another great sign! They gave me another shot and sent me home to the condo. They said if I stayed on bedrest I could go to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. So I laid around all friday and did what I was told. I got up to get ready for dinner and we made it through ordering before I had 10 contractions in an hour. They told me the day before that if I had more than 6 in an hour I had to come back...so back to the hopsital.

At this point I was absolutely fried and I started crying at the table at the rehearsal dinner because I DID NOT want to go back to the hospital. Anyhoo, Perron apparently does not care what I want and we were back at the hospital. Two shots of brethine later, and a few hours on the monitor and we were out again. We decided first time is a fluke, second time is bad luck, third time is a pattern and we better get the hell home. We got up on Saturday morning and started driving back. I was really stressed and scared I was going to start contracting on the way back. Luckily we made it home and I stayed on bedrest the remainder of the weekend.

I went to the doctor on Monday morning and told him my sad saga. He gave me a oral prescription of brethine and gave me a shot of some steroid that helps the baby's lungs. I thought all would be fine now that I was home and had gotten to see my own doctor. This morning I got up and got ready for work. I noticed that the baby really had not been moving much so I called the doctor's office on the way in to work. They told me to come in immediately to get checked out, so I literally threw my stuff in the office and ran back out. I picked up my mom on the way to the office and Stephen met us there. They got me back and checked out the babies heart rate which was great. I was having some little contractions and she did a cervical check on me. Unfortunately she thought I might have thinned a little from the day before and I was dehydrated so I had to get fluids. So needless to say, it was back to labor and delivery. They hooked me up to the monitors and they gave me another IV. I started contracting again while on the monitor so I had to have more brethine. The story of my life. After they gave me a bag of fluids I was able to go home and will hopefully make it at least to my next appointment on Thursday morning.

Please pray that my cervix stops effacing and that the contractions can get under control. I am thirty weeks tomorrow and I will feel better when I can at least say that. At this point, we are hoping we can make it to at least 32 weeks. After that I will feel a lot better. I think when I go in to see the doctor on Thursday we will discuss the possibility of bedrest and see what my options are. I am torn between wanting to keep working and take the brethine and not wanting to have to take a medicine that can potentially affect the baby and going on bedrest. It has been really stressful and emotionally draining. Luckily we are blessed with wonderful friends and family who have been taking care of us. Please keep us in your prayers and pray that he stays in as long as the good lord will let him and he is a healthy baby. Also, please pray for Stephen and I that we are able to find strength and reassurance during this difficult time. We love you all and I promise I will do a better job keeping everyone up to date.

Love!!!