The Hospital Stay

I'll try not to get too wordy with this one! :)

To sum it up:

-At 24w2d, I was taken to an amazing hospital with an amazing NICU. I am so so grateful for this. I was told it's a level IV NICU, but I don't know if that's accurate.

-Another quick exam indicated that because I was too far dilated and with my water bulging, I was not a candidate for a cerclage. Bummer.

-I wasn't having any regular contractions - just a tiny bit of irritability on the monitor (nothing I could feel) when I was admitted. I was monitored around the clock during my stay.

-I was told I would be at the hospital until I delivered, and that it would be very unusual if that were more than 1 or maybe 2 days.

-The neonatologist laid it all out for us. We decided they have one of the toughest jobs on the planet. They did a great job though of being personable and also clear and professional. They told us that the odds of survival (50%) at 24 weeks, many of those facing risk of significant long term problems. They told us to consider how hard we would want to fight if we were to deliver at 24 week baby, with the biggest risks being intraventricular hemorrhaging (due to immature blood vessels in the brain) and I cannot recall the other. They told us ever hour inside is critical, and how statistics dramatically improve over the next few weeks. And so we had our mission. Keep that baby in (as if you have any control over it...)

-The doctors ordered that I lay in the trendelenburg bed position, which means that the bed is slightly tilted such that your head is below your feet. In other words, they were using gravity on their side to keep pressure off my cervix and hope that my water didn't break. They did let me sit up to eat.

-I was put on a Magnesium Sulfate intravenous drip. Magnesium Sulfate is meant to decrease uterine contractions and delay labor, although I think I've heard some controversy regarding its effectiveness. I surely hope it helped because it makes you feel really awful, especially when you're laying upside down!

-I received one round (consists of 2 injections, 24 hours apart) of steroid shots to increase fetal lung maturity. The doctor's goal for me was to stay pregnant long enough to get both injections. We were very happy to make that goal.

-Towards the end of my stay, I received 2.5 rounds of Indomethacin to try to stop uterine contractions when the magnesium sulfate wasn't enough. A risk to this medicine presents itself to the baby because it may result in the heart ductus not closing on its own after birth, but it was worth that risk that could be addressed later.

-My body hates catheters. That's enough about that :)

-We had not even talked about names....we came up with a boy (Andrew) or girl (Clara) name.

-I couldn't do a lot (I was too dizzy and "upside down"!) but we had visitors, celebrated Christmas with presents, decorated my room (well, I watched!), colored, ate all day and ordered strawberry shakes at night, prayed a LOT, played a ton of Euchere (I won a lot more than I usually do because I was loopy and taking huge risks!!) and Gin Rummy, I got massages (doctors orders!), and I did some yoga in my bed (well, what I could do with my arms!), and had inspirometer contests (I was getting fluid in my lungs so I had exercise them by blowing into this device that measures lung capacity!)

-All we wanted for Christmas was to still be pregnant. Best Christmas present ever. Oh, and my friend brought me a mini real Christmas tree and our familes had Christmas in my room :)

-I came up with a whole list of things I wanted to patent to improve hospital beds, patient comfort and entertainment, etc. but I never did that. I should.

-My husband and I are Catholic and probably were closer to God going into this situation than we'd ever been. I'm so glad we were because it really helped us get through it. The priest came to visit us, in a blizzard, on Christmas Eve for an Annointing of the Sick. I also wore a Scapular during my stay (and later, Andrew had it at his bedside), which was loaned to me by my grandma, and has been passed to various members in our family in emergency situations.

-I stayed pregnant for...ready for it...2 WEEKS!!!!! *insert cheering here*

Although I have a whole lot of people to thank for this, and I really have to give my husband huge props. He can get pretty stressed out easily in tense situations...but in this situation, the most stressful situation either of us have ever been in, he was amazing! He was so optimistic and calm, and so I was too. He told me that I was the best wife, the best mom, the toughest person he never met, and that whatever God's will was, we were okay with it. And that's how we truly felt. We were hoping God's will for us was a healthy baby, but we recognized that we don't always understand His will and that he has bigger reasons that may be beyond our comprehension so we have to trust Him.

-Finally the night came. I knew it wasn't going to be long. I was bleeding for the whole 2 weeks and it got really heavy. I could feel contractions and they were starting to get painful! I hadn't had any cervical checks prior to this point (did not want to risk disturbing anything!) so we really didn't know how fast I was progressing. I had very painful contractions all night long. They were giving me more and more meds, and Nubain (wonderful drug...!) for pain the last couple of hours, but contractions were getting more and more intense. They told me to call and tell them if anything changed, so I kept buzzing the nurses "it hurts more!!" and eventually the answer was "there's nothing more we can do."

-My favorite nurse came in at the start of her shift at 7 AM and said "I think it's time." We all knew it was.