Here We Go Again ...

Well, it seems like I just can't do anything the easy way (warning: lots of pregnancy details to follow). I was hoping to sail through this pregnancy without any problems, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. I started having some contractions the Monday before last and went up to the hospital to get checked out. They couldn't pick the contractions up on the monitors and all my labs and tests came back normal. They sent me home and told me to take it easy and follow up with my doctor at my regular appointment in two weeks. After a week went by and I was still having the contractions, I called my doctor's office and told the nurse I wanted to talk to my doctor -- they put a message through to my doctor's partner, since my OB was on call up at the hospital. He called me right back and he agreed that we needed to call my doctor and figure out what to do. They got back to me in a few minutes and said that my doctor wanted me to come up to L&D and get checked out again, run some more tests, and talk about if we needed to change our game plan. Since she was the on call doctor at the hospital, I'd be seeing her up there.

So, I trotted off to Labor and Delivery (again) -- this time the monitor was picking up some contractions and the irritability that I've been feeling. The ran a couple of labs again, but all my labs from the previous week had come back clean, so I didn't appear to have any infections. They sent me down to the perinatal assessment center to look at the baby and to get another cervical length. Baby looked great -- she was bopping around in there -- no boy bits to be seen, so we're still about as sure as we can be that I'm having a girl. She's a good size for her age -- measuring in at over 23 weeks (I was 22 weeks at the time) and they estimate her to be about 1 lb., 4 oz. They had a resident do my initial cervical length check and at first they thought the measurements hadn't changed. But, after showing them to the head doctor, the head doctor came back in and did them herself -- the resident wasn't measuring the right place, so I was actually quite a bit shorter than the previous week. No funneling and no dilation (and, as per physical exam earlier, cervix is still nice and hard and closed). My cervix also appears to be dynamic at this point, so it's kind of changing back and forth all the time, possibly due to the contractions. Since this was a change from a week before (even though I think the scan from a week before was probably off, since it was done with the wheel-in little ultrasound and the specialists didn't do it) and it was in the low normal range. My OB, my perinatologist, and another big dog doctor (forget the specialty) had a pow-wow and they decided to keep me overnight for observation and start me on some meds.

They put me on indomethacin, stuck a fluid IV in my arm (it literally took them 45 minutes to get the IV in -- it was awful), and stuck me in bed. The meds seemed to help settle down the contractions. They took another cervical length the following morning and it was the same as the day before, so they consider me stable at this point. I was discharged Tuesday afternoon. They sent me home on indomethacin every six hours and fairly strict bedrest (lying down as much as possible, avoid going up and down stairs as much as possible, no baby lifting, no toddler chasing, etc.). They want me on the indomethacin until about 24 weeks -- at that point they'll probably switch me over to nifedipene, since long-term indomethacin use can cause problems (decrease of fluid around the baby, PDA issues for baby, etc.). I'll be getting weekly cervical length checks for now -- at 24 weeks they'll start the fetal fibronectin (early labor) tests and reassess the situation. If things look at all dicey, I'll probably get preventative steroid shots -- if things look more stable, they'll try to hold off on steroid shots for a while, since they think they are more effective at later gestations. Thankfully, I already had a contingency plan in place for my work, so I'll be able to work from home while I'm on bedrest, as long as my condition and the doctors allow it.

Being in the hospital stunk, although I'm glad I went and I'm glad the doctors are being very proactive. I forgot how uncomfortable the hospital beds are (I have bruises on my hips!), how awful the food is, how impossible it is to sleep, and how much of a drag it is to try to use the restroom while dragging around an IV trolley and a monitor cord. I was only gone 24 hours, but I missed Max so much! It is the longest I've been away from him since he came home from the hospital. He didn't want to go to sleep for Dad the night I was gone and the following morning he was banging on the doors and calling for "Ma ma." It was so nice to be able to come home and see him and read him his bedtime stories.

We going to have a rough couple of months here, even if everything goes well. We're already mustering all the help we can get, since we're going to need some help taking care of Max and the big kids while Dad is working. The meds really seem to be helping, which is a good thing. With all the preventative care, I'm still hoping to keep this baby cooking for a long time. I go back to the hospital on Monday for another cervical length check -- hopefully there will be no change (unless it's for the better, which can happen).

So, for a while this blog will probably be more about me and less about Max. ;) I'll send out notifications for the Max-related posts or major news, but probably not for my trivial or day-to-day posts. You can always check back here for updates if you're interested. I have to spend the next few months on the couch or in bed, so I'm going to have some serious free time to spend blogging. ;)