Another visit to Labor and Delivery

Last night I woke up at about 3:13am. I was having a dream that I was showing my sister Liz how you could lie on your side and rub a spot on your leg that would give you hard menstrual cramps. And the cramps were so bad they woke me up...because I was actually having them. Contractions!

I waited a moment and had another at 3:16, and another at 3:19. I got up and went to the bathroom to check things out. Nothing scary there. I brushed my teeth and drank some water. Nothing else happened. I sat on the edge of my bed and wrote a list of things I would need to take to the hospital if we went. (I have yet to actually pack a hospital bag of course.) But still nothing was happening. So I laid back down on my left side, like I'd been before, and tried to relax and stop worrying. At 3:51 I had another contraction. That was enough for me. I got Tom to hand me the phone and called the OB on call. She said to come right in.

It was so early in the morning, and I wasn't willing to wait anyway, so we took Nicky with us. It still took us a good 30 minutes to leave the house, but I was busy getting things ready so didn't notice if I had more contractions or not. We were in the car by 4:20 or so, along with a very sleepy Nicky, my laptop, my cpap machine, the camera, my purse, our phones, and a lunch bag of peanut butter crackers, about 7 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a juice box for Nicky, water for me and a soda for Tom. I had no idea how long we'd be there, and wanted to make sure we had food, especially for Nicky, but also for us.

On the drive I rested and tried to tell if I was having any more contractions. Because no matter what, I was going to feel really stupid if I'd gotten everyone up for nothing. But I know it would have been my advice to anyone else who'd had at least 4 contractions like that to go to the doctor, so I was trying to take my own advice. Finally, right as we were turning into the hospital parking lot I had another one. They were really strong and unmistakable for anything else. Phew!

We managed to get a handicapped spot (guess getting there before 5am has some perks) and we headed up to L&D. I still hadn't pre-registered at the hospital, but they didn't lecture me this time about it. They got me all hooked up to the monitors and were able to get Baby B's heartbeat right away. But Baby A was very elusive. After just a little while the OB came in and she looked at the readings and said I was definitely contracting. Whew! At least I wasn't in for nothing! She did a pelvic exam and said she would guess 50% effaced which isn't unexpected at 30 weeks. (I'll be 30 weeks Friday.) She also did a Fetal Fibronectin test to help determine if I was possibly in pre-term labor.

With the gestational diabetes the best first step was to try Procardia to see if that would calm things down and stop the contractions. I needed to take 3 pills, 20 minutes apart at first and then we'd see if my regular OB was in and could decide if I should continue with the Procardia every 6 hours or not. They didn't want to have to do the injections as that would require a 2 day stay at the hospital on an insulin drip because of the effect those can have on glucose levels.

They actually put me in a room and Tom took Nicky home where he was going to be able to rest as his Grandma was on her way over. Once I was in the room they started the Procardia, just about 6am at this point. I couldn't sleep because I didn't have my cpap with me. We'd left that and the laptop in the car figuring we'd have them if I was admitted, but not just to carry up for nothing. Boy I was wishing I had my cpap though! I was so tired!

After the first pill I was still having contractions. After the second pill, I was having a headache and dizziness, and the contractions were definitely milder. After the third pill I had no more contractions. My headache subsided some too. I was able to see my own OB around 8:30 or so. He wanted to get me in to see the diabetes education people before I went home and start on insulin today, so they kept me till he could arrange that. I called Tom to come back (he'd been catching a little sleep in the meantime) and he arrived after a bit. We both tried to doze a little. No more contractions were happening so that was good.

Finally at about 10am I was released to go up to my OB's office. They couldn't get the diabetes people on the phone, so they gave me a briefing on how to do the insulin, which I'm so glad I have Tom to do the injections! I'm to do 20 units at night after I do my glucose test after dinner. It's a slow acting insulin, so shouldn't make me crash. After a few days I'll email my glucose levels to my OB and we'll adjust as necessary.

He's also going to call the hematologist to see what's going on with my anemia. Sounds like I'll be seeing them again sooner.

I'm also to start doing biophysical profile ultrasounds every week and seeing the OB every week too. We even set up all the appointments between now and the due date.

Tomorrow I go to rerun the titers for Fifth's Disease. My first results showed that I'm not immune, but also no evidence of recent exposure. It's been 2 weeks, so time to run them again just to make sure of the results.

When we left the OB we went straight to pre-register at the hospital. It took a while and we were both exhausted, but better to have that DONE! Now at least we won't have to worry about that anymore.

We finally made it home right about 12pm. Luckily Grandma had taken Nicky to school, so we were able to pretty much have lunch and fall into bed. I just woke up when Tom brought Nicky home from school at 5:30. I could have slept much later, but figured better to get up and sleep well (I hope!) tonight.

No real noises about bed-rest which was both surprising and welcome! I need a little more time at least to make sure I have everything prepared for my leave at work. That's definitely going to be a priority though! This was quite a wake-up call.

I also have a presentation, quiz and group project all due tomorrow. I will be so glad when this semester is DONE!