Monday night we went to my parents house for a Memorial Day dinner. I didn't eat much at dinner but made Matt drive through Sonic on the way home for some tater tots. Later that night I started feeling sick and thought, "well, I guess this is karma for getting fast food" and tried to go to sleep. I think I may have slept about an hour or so and tossed and turned the rest of the night with a major stomach ache.
Tuesday morning I was still feeling pretty bad and starting to have some cramps, but just thought it was more from the Sonic. I tried to stay in bed that morning and remember deciding not to take a shower since my stomach was hurting and I didn't sleep well. That afternoon Mrs. Diana took me to BRU to exchange something and when she dropped me off at home I remember thinking how I couldn't wait to get to the couch. I just felt so...blah. I was tired from not sleeping and my stomach was hurting and I was having cramps. I went through my usual routine when my contractions get really bad of laying down, drinking 2+ liters of water, heating pad, bath, but nothing seemed to help. By the time Matt came home and we ate dinner I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk or stand up. I knew from our past experiences that if I waited too late to call the doctor and she sent us to L&D we would have to go in through the ER, and I did NOT want to do that again. So I called the doc around 8pm, she confirmed that I needed to head up to be monitored and we were in triage by 8:30. I remember thinking we wouldn't be there long since I wasn't having too many contractions and it was just cramps.
BOY, was I wrong! They started monitoring me, did my blood work and started my IV in triage, and by 10pm decided I needed to be admitted and transferred to Antepartum. What?!? We're just talking about a few cramps here, people!! They said since I had a cerclage and was high-risk they were not comfortable sending me home, and I was showing a lot of contractions on the monitor (I don't remember feeling many of these, but maybe I was.) So off to Antepartum we went, which was great because the room was huge and the bed was so comfy. Matt needed to go to work on Wednesday to administer a final so we swapped out him and my mom around midnight. Around 11:30pm they gave me Demerol, Phenergan and Ambien to help with the cramps and let me sleep- they called it the "sedative approach" so they could see what my uterus was doing while I was sedated and go from there.
Something went wrong and I had a bad reaction to the medication and ended up being awake most of the night with TERRIBLE restless leg syndrome. I remember feeling really good before Matt left and telling him how "drunk" I felt and kissing him goodnight before he left. I thought (as did he) that I would just pass out soon thereafter but that didn't happen as planned. I usually struggle with RLS but this was NOTHING like I had ever felt before. My legs were jumping every 8-10 seconds and moving on their own. I was half asleep/sedate and half going crazy over my legs. They couldn't figure out what was happening and all I can remember is praying to God in my head to PLEASE let the pain in my legs stop. My mom said I finally stopped moving around 2:30am and slept until 6:00am. At that point the nurse and doctor on-call came in and talked to us about my contractions. I remember being really confused because they kept saying "contractions" and I kept saying "cramps" and telling them I knew the difference. I guess in the end my cramps were so painful I wasn't picking up on the contractions and the contractions were showing up on the monitor. They recommended administering Magnesium to help slow my contractions.
So Wednesday morning about 7:00am they started the Mag. Y'all...mag is NO JOKE. They told me before it started that it had awful side effects, but at that point their main concern was getting my contractions under control so my cerclage didn't rip out. I was on the mag for about 12 hours and it got worse as the day went on. First I remember thinking I was literally on fire...I kept telling my mom how hot I was and touching my head/face expecting to feel burns. Fortunately it didn't spread to my whole body and my mom kept a cool washcloth on my face most of the day. Then the nausea/vomiting started and lasted all.day.long. It was so completely awful with absolutely no reprieve. I was so thirsty and would throw up after every sip of water I would take. By the end of the day I was completely delirious and not really aware of what was going on. It was hard to read and comprehend anything so I couldn't watch TV or text or play on my iPad. I know I slept a good part of the day and Matt came up there after school was over. I couldn't really walk so the nurses and Matt had to help me do everything, including going to the bathroom. I remember my legs feeling super heavy and not being able to lift them onto the bed.
Also, Wednesday morning Dr P came by and decided we needed to go ahead and remove the cerclage. I was contracting too much and was far enough along that it was best to just remove it and let the mag try and keep things under control. I was SO HAPPY when she told me that, but also scared about it hurting when she took the cerclage out. I mean, I was under anesthesia when she put it in, surely it would hurt coming out, right?!? They switched out my bed to an L&D bed and the procedure literally took 60 seconds and I felt nothing. Hallelujah!! I have a picture of the cerclage but I won't include it on this here blog. After the cerclage removal I was 1.5cm dilated, 80% effaced and at a -2 station. Dr P said I might be having a baby today or tomorrow!
They were able to transfer me to L&D around 1:00pm. At this point they were still trying to stop my labor so I was under pretty close care by the nurses. I had cords going everywhere connected to everything...I'm still finding band-aids on my body, lol. I slept most of the day in L&D as did Mom.
About 6:30pm a nurse came by and said I wasn't breathing enough and started watching my oxygen levels. I don't remember much of this, but apparently from what Matt told me I was pretty out of it and she immediately called the doctor and told her to take me off the mag. She told Matt that sometimes we just need to have our babies when they come and at that point it was doing more harm than good so to get ready for baby.
Within 30 minutes of her turning off the mag I felt human again. I was awake and aware of what was going on, the nausea subsided and swelling went down. We ordered dinner and called our families and had his mom go pack our hospital bags for us. The nurses switched at 7:00pm and our new nurse, Al, said we were no longer preventing and baby would come when baby was ready. At this point my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and Matt was having a good old time watching them on the monitor. He would tell me every time how strong they were and comment on my moans, "Oh hush, that was only an 8" or "whoa, that was a BIG one." Thanks, babe. You can have the next baby.
So happy to be off the magnesium. Notice the swollen face and hands.
So we ate dinner, hung out with his family for a little while, and went to bed wondering if it was our last night as a family of two. They gave me another Ambien so I could rest and have energy if Thursday ended up being Baby Day.
Thursday morning we woke up and my contractions had completely stopped overnight. The nurses were perplexed because I was having so many contractions on the mag, but none once they stopped the medicine. I was so mad that they put me through an entire day of torture, but also relieved that baby boy would get some more time to bake and it wasn't my last day to be pregnant. It's no secret that I haven't loved this entire pregnancy gig, but I wanted it to last a little longer.
Shortly thereafter they unplugged all the cords and we packed up our stuff and went home. Just like that we went from prepping to meet our son to walking out of the hospital. It was surreal, but SO good to get out of there and know that we weren't having a baby at 35 weeks.
So I'm officially off all medication and restrictions! Yay! Baby can come anytime now, however I've talked it over with Carter and he's going to stay put awhile longer. There's no need for him to come out anytime soon and we're going to take it easy just a few more weeks so he can continue to grow and grow and grow. And since his PawPaw will be in Azerbaijan for the next two weeks we are really hoping he stays in place and comfy so he can meet his PawPaw in person and not on Skype.
Whew! It's been a whirlwind of a week and I'm so glad to be home with my baby still in my belly. I'm also so thankful that I have such a good doctor who has taken SUCH good care of me and Monkey. I truly believe if I did not get my cerclage at 20 weeks we would be on the other side of a very different story right now and that is not somewhere I want to be. Thank you, Baby, for cooperating and please continue to stay inside Mommy for a little while longer. I promise you can kick me as much as you want, just don't try and come out anytime soon. Love you, Baby!
5 comments:
Oh my goodness- you have been through a lot! I'm praying that Carter stays put as long as he needs to, but I'm also anxious for him to come out just so your body can have some rest! (Although I know having a newborn won't exactly be restful... you know what I mean :)
Goodness gracious! You are almost done! Hang in there! You are a strong mama! Praying for all three of you! :)
You are my hero!
Oh my gosh! What a yucky week! I was on magnesium at 31 weeks and you are right...it is no joke! I didn't have all those terrible side effects, but I did go delirious a few times! I called a couple of my friends late at night without knowing what I was doing. I told one of them that I was lucky because I had 4 TV's in my room! (I really only had one of course, but my blurred vision added a few more!)
I am so glad you are home and doing well now!! You are doing a wonderful job!!
Man! I hate that you had to experience that nasty Magnesium after all! It's no joke! But I'm glad that uterus finally calmed itself down and your kiddo is hanging in there a little longer. Wont be long that's for sure!
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