Bedrest Blogging

Okay okay I know it's been forever, but time just kind of got away from me each evening. But rest assured, now that I'm on bed rest I have some time. I'm trying my best to keep myself busy to help the days go by fast, so I figured it was time to get back into my blog. So, a LOT has happened since I last blogged in February....A LOT!!!! So I will try my best to hit it all. My pregnancy was going fantastic, I felt great, and time was just zooming right along. I remember feeling my first few contractions at 23 weeks, but nothing regular or worrisome, just some tightening. But all my drs visits went well, and all of my unofficial ultrasounds in th office I work in looked great! And then Thursday, April 26th came and everything just kinda went south from there. I had some pretty consistent contractions starting that evening, so being the good nurse that I am, I didn't bother my dr and put myself to bed with a big jug of water. I woke up feeling okay the next morning (Friday 4/27), but still feeling some contractions, so after some convincing, putting myself on the monitor at work, and not feeling the greatest I called my OB. She started me on some medicine and said "check in with me Monday to let me know how the weekend went". She even gave me the okay to go to the Cardinals game with friends that Friday night, and I did so good. Even though they scored 13 runs, I cheered from the sitting position. Saturday rolled around and I spent all day cleaning our house and getting it ready for our open house the following day. And when I say all day, that's only because I had to stop and take so many breaks. I think I'd clean for about 10 minutes and then rest about 20. It was quite the experience!! So that evening we packed up and headed to my parents house to spend the night where I lounged the entire evening. And I honestly felt great, just tired. I woke up Sunday morning feeling good and I even took my medicine a little later so that it would be in effect while I was at church. Everything was hunky dory, and then all the sudden I was sitting in Sunday school class and felt a contraction (approx 10:45), and then another. So at 10:56 I decided that I better start recording them for the day since I knew I'd be checking in with the dr on Monday. I went into morning worship in the sanctuary and sat down and they just kept coming. Within about 20 minutes I had 6 contractions. So, I told Chris I was going to go lay down in my dad's office, drink some water, but to keep his phone handy in case we had to leave. So I went and got a bottled water, laid down, and they still kept coming. In about a 45 minute time span I had > 10 contractions, so I thought I better call the exchange to see what I should do. So, I did just that and after saying " yes, I did that" and " yah, tried that too" the on call dr felt it was best for me to go to the hospital to and I quote "get some Terb and get these stopped". So off to the hospital we went. Due to a really LONG story, and an emotional journey that I'm not quite ready to address quite yet, I will try to just hit the highlights of the week. So, after attempting medications by mouth, a shot, and a fluid bolus to try to get the contractions to stop, they just kept coming. So the decision was made to admit me, give me steroids to help the baby's lungs, and IV magnesium to try to stop this preterm labor. I ended up being on Magnesium until Friday, and then getting to go home on bed rest on Saturday. To say the least it was quite an emotional week for me!! But through it all baby looked great on the monitor, so that was very reassuring!!! So, backing up a little bit, I had an ultrasound on Friday after they stopped the magnesium and disconnected me from my IV. Baby looked great, but that is when we discovered another issue...my fluid level was low, 7.7 to be exact. So Dr.Ladd decided that she wanted another ultrasound done Saturday morning before I left to go home to measure the fluid again. So Saturday's level ended up being 8.9, still on the low side but better than Fridays so I was hopeful. I was out the door about 10ish....hallelujah!!!! We had to go to my papas house bc we had 2 scheduled viewings on our house that day, of course. But I honestly didn't care where I was going, I was getting out of the hospital!! So I rested there and then mom and papa cooked me a home-cooked meal after a week of hospital food and eating out, and it was delicious!!!! So we finally made it home late Saturday evening, which made it a full week since I had been home. Sunday came and we got another phone call that afternoon that someone else wanted to come see our house, so we scurried around to look appropriate and charades out the door with Zoe. All this week has been pretty uneventful going between the couch and the bed. Thankfully I've had some visitors to help keep me sane, and mom has been here with me everyday. She really is the bet!! Which brings me to today. I get a wake up call from an agent telling me that someone wanted to view our house at 12:45. So I quickly called mom to tell her I needed her sooner rather than later since chris was at work and there was some picking up/ cleaning up that needed to be done. I hate not being able to do anything!!! And poor Angela who thought she was just coming to visit me got conned into washing dishes and help put some stuff away while I entertained Ava on the couch. Thankfully, we had already planned to be out of the house during that time frame bc I had an ultrasound scheduled at 12:45 and then an appt with Dr. Ladd, and Zoe had a groomers appt, so that all worked out great!! So, now about the appt. ultrasound came first and I got to have that done in the OB office I work in, so it was great seeing all my coworkers, AND they got me flowers for nurses week. So sweet!!!! Ok, anyways so my fluid level measured at a measly 5.1 today, but baby looked great and we got a couple pics. So off to my OB I went feeling very nervous and scared not knowing what she was going to say and more importantly what she was going to do. I "prepared" myself for getting admitted to the hospital again, if not for induction at least to get IV fluids to try to get my levels higher. All along praying that the right decision be made!! After some talking and doing her normal routine, she wanted me to go home but come back Saturday to have my fluid checked again. I was so relieved! I sjust wasn't so sure I could emotionally handle another week of sitting in the hospital not knowing the outcome. But I can honestly say that if she said that was the best plan and best for 'Youngin, I would have done it in a heartbeat regardless of what I wanted. So, the plan as of now is that I will go back on Saturday morning at 9am to have another ultrasound, and if it's any number above 5 then I'm good until Thursday when it will get checked again. BUT if it's lower than 5, she said I could leave and would be able to go to my shower, but then to come back to the hospital to most likely have a baby. So, needless to say, I'm nervous,scared, excited, unsure, etc.....kind of crazy how many emotions one can feel all at once. I just keep telling myself that God has everything under control and He has a perfect plan. This is obviously not at all how I planned or thought my pregnancy would go, especially after such a great first 2 trimesters. So, bags are packed, baby clothes are washed, crib is up, and that's really about it. I'm somewhat "prepared" if it's this Saturday or 3 Saturdays from now. Prayers are of course appreciated for the right thing to happen and Gods peace through it all. Sorry this was a rather lengthy post, but I guess that's what happens when one doesn't blog for a couple months and has a crazy last week to catch everyone up on. Oh, and did I mention that having our house up for sale has proven to be quite interesting while on bedrest :-). I have spent a lot of time learning how to use my sewing maching and craft the last couple of days so I'm hoping to blog about that tomorrow and post some pics of my crafts. Hope this wasn't too boring for y'all!! Hope everyone enjoys their Friday tomorrow!!