Wednesday, September 9, 2009

home on bedrest.

a quick update!

i was sent to the hospital saturday because i was having contractions and not able to hold anything down (again). got hooked up to the monitors - this time, three - and was contracting about every 3-5 minutes. they bolused me with 2 liters of fluids, hoping it would help, then gave me two more doses of Brethine to stop the contractions.

the kicker, though, was the doctor ordered a fetal fibronectin test, which can predict early labor. if the test is negative, it's very reassuring. a positive test indicates that your chances of delivering in the next two weeks goes up by about 20%... and mine came back positive.

because of this, i was sent up to labor and delivery, where i spent the most awful night of my life. i was still hooked up to all 3 monitors, and i literally couldn't move in the bed, because every time i would shift positions, one of the babies would disappear off the monitor and the nurses were coming in to readjust everything. my ob also ordered the 48 hour round of steroid shots to help speed up the babies' lung development, just in case anything were to happen. sunday morning, i was taken off the monitors and sent up to the med/ob floor for observation, with plans to go home monday morning.

monday rolls around, and lo and behold, the contractions return.... 10 to 12 an hour. the specialist came in and told me he was going to start me on procardia, which is a cardiac med that works on all smooth muscles, including your uterus. my ob came in next, and told me that he was going to keep me another night to see how i tolerated the procardia and if it would work.

tuesday morning - contraction free - thank goodness! i had been in bed, hooked up to a continuous iv for almost 72 hours straight. i was discharged home, but on bedrest orders until these babies decide to arrive - which hopefully isn't for another 7 weeks!

i missed this week's belly pic, but will catch up at the end of the week with a 30 week pic. but here's one for you of my grossly swollen cankles from all the iv fluids:

4 comments:

  1. wow! those is some swollen feet!! sorry about that awful time in the hospital! hope you have lots to read & watch while you stuck in the bed! can't wait to see sadie & jeffry pics!

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  2. I'm glad everything is okay! Hopefully time will fly by while you are stuck on bedrest. And your cankles will deflate quickly!

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  3. ok-because you are pregnant and was in the hosital-i will correct the days for you-you actually came home on tuesday so you need to back up the days by one day. hehe. lol. .
    so excited i get to help you out while your home. put those legs up adn rest girl!

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  4. okay, it's fixed now. =) i've totally lost track of days since last week.

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