Monday, May 26, 2008

home from the hospital

The story:

Saturday night I started bleeding. It wasn't tons of blood, but it wasn't stopping either, so we called the hospital and they told us to come in and get checked out. The doctor said it probably wasn't a huge deal but I should be checked out to make sure. We got there about 10 pm, went up to Labor and Delivery and they set me up in a triage room. The first year resident came in and did an exam. She said there was quite a bit of blood in there and had the attending come in to look. He checked me out and then checked my cervix and discovered I am 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and -2 station. Not a good thing when I'm only 30 weeks. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and I was having contractions about every 3 minutes. The crazy thing is that I wasn't feeling them at first. I had to pay close attention and then ask the nurse to confirm I was having one. I wasn't in any pain. There would just be some tightening and my abdomen would get hard.

Another resident then came in and did an ultrasound. They wanted to check the baby's size, etc in case labor progressed. Asher is head down and partway in my pelvis but he looks great. They guesstimated his size is even a week or two ahead of schedule--about 3 1/2 pounds. Good news. And his heart rate is perfect.

So the doctors said I'd have to stay the night and be watched. They gave me a shot of steroids to help Asher's lungs mature should he decide to make an early appearance. They also hooked me up to an IV to get some fluids in me to help slow things down. Over the course of the next few hours, I continued to have contractions but they eventually slowed down. (Although they did get strong enough that they were very obvious to me.) They checked my cervix again and I hadn't dilated anymore so they decided I wouldn't need to be on any other medication to stop labor, took me off all the monitors and let me sleep. It was about 2 am at this point.

The next morning they moved me up a floor to the Maternity ward. I felt good all day, except for the boredom. I wasn't even allowed to leave the room. I could only get up to go to the bathroom. I was still bleeding a bit but it slowed down a lot. And I wasn't having contractions. But it was a long day stuck in a hospital bed. Poor Jared was getting pretty antsy.

About five my relief society president and visiting teacher came to visit. It as a very nice distraction. Thanks for the yummy cookies, Dianna! I also talked to a couple friends on the phone which helped too.

I went to sleep about 10:30 and then they woke me up around 12:15 to give me another shot of steroids. I slept until about 6:30 this morning. A resident came in about 7:30ish and told us as long as everything looks good we'd be going home soon. She came back a little later and checked my cervix again--still a two. I wasn't bleeding any new blood and hadn't been contracting, so she said I could get dressed and she and the attending would be in soon to talk to us before I left. The nurse hooked up the monitors one more time to check on Asher and make sure I wasn't contracting. Things still looked great. The doctors came back after 9 and we talked about what I can and can't do.

Basically, I'm allowed to return to normal activity but I need to be hyper-vigilant about everything. Any little thing out of the ordinary is a reason to call my doctor/hospital. I also realized after talking to them that I've been having more contractions than I realized. Times where I thought Asher was just pushing on me were actually contractions. And Braxton Hicks are no longer part of our vocabulary because I'm dilated. If I have more than 4 contractions in an hour, I have to call the doctor.

So tomorrow I'll be calling my doctor and hopefully getting in to see her very soon. I'm allowed to go back to work as long as I take it easy. The big thing this week is that we are moving (just across town) and there is still much packing to do. Some of the lovely ladies from church are going to come over a couple nights this week and help out. I'm so grateful for that support system. I can't imagine how we'd manage without that.

I have been having a few mild contractions this afternoon and am trying to pay really close attention to them and keep track. I just never realized that contractions could be so hard to discern. I have had no pain or discomfort. But Asher is doing great. We just want to get through at least another 4 weeks so he can get a bit bigger. And chances are he'll stay in there longer than that. But keep us in your prayers! I'll keep you updated.

11 comments:

  1. so glad to hear that both of you are doing well. hang in there, baby! for at least another four weeks. hopefully a lot more.

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  2. Oh Katrina! I am so glad everything is OK! Please take it easy. I can't believe they didn't put you on bed rest. Seriously I hope you don't get carried away with moving...its hard to resist thinking you can do things-- but really rest that little body.

    We'll keep you in our prayers!

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  3. I'm glad they got things to stop!

    Thank goodness for people coming to help you. Really take things easy if you can, I know with my first pregnancy and birth I ignored the advice and it really took me so much longer to heal.

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  4. Wow, that's quite an adventure, an unpleasant one at that. Sorry about all that drama you had to go through, I'm so glad things are okay. Take care and rest!

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  5. Katrina,

    I'm glad you and baby Asher are doing better. I will keep you in my prayers!

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  6. What a stressful weekend! And those steroid shots don't feel nice (I've had more than my share of those).

    I hope things go well for the next few weeks. We'll keep you in our prayers.

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  7. I'm glad you enjoyed the cookies. It was fun visiting on Sunday and I'll see you later this week!

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  8. oh my gosh, you have no idea how far up my throat my stomach just jumped. i'm SO glad you're doing ok. since it's all i can really do from AZ, prayers are on their way!

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  9. Wow, that's kind of scary! I hope you're able to keep yourself rested as much as possible to finish a great pregnancy.

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  10. good luck katrina! keep that guy in there!

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  11. sooooo glad you are okay! please keep us posted.

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