Monday, October 13, 2008

A little blip in my pregnancy

I have been in such awe of this pregnancy and how much freedom I have had but now I am afraid it has come to an end. I certainly cannot complain, I never dreamed I would still be doing as much as I have been doing the past few weeks - nobody did. I have been contracting and last week went to my full dose of the procardia but yesterday I just couldn't get the contractions under control. After three hours of 6-7 contractions an hour and some pain with each contraction I decided I better call the doctor. I was hoping to increase my dose of procardia but they wanted me to come to labor and delivery. I must admit it was a sobering time for Jeff and me and I am not sure we said more than 5 things to each other on the way down. When we arrived they made Jeff put me in the wheel chair and wheel me to the same area we went when we arrived in labor with the triplets. A few minutes later the midwife walks in and it is the SAME midwife who was there the night we arrived with the triplets (it was almost scary). The midwife checked me and seemed a little unsure of things, she said my cervix felt soft but she felt my stitches in place and wasn't sure (not my idea of a good medical opinion but whatever) so she decided to call the doctor. I was contracting every 9 minutes so they had me take my dose of procardia, do my weekly progesterone shot and added a shot of terbutaline. I did get some good relief for about an hour. They gave me another dose of procardia but couldn't get the irritability to stop so they had so put me on the WORST drug ever, an IV of the mag sulfate. It works but for those who have never heard of it, it is awful, you feel like you have been hit by a semi truck - but it works. It is what held my labor off with the triplets for almost 24 hours. Finally around 4am I was able to get some sleep. I went down this morning to the perinatal ward for an ultra sound and cervical check. The baby looks great and my cervix is holding strong around 2.9 to 3.0, the doctor on call said the pictures didn't show a significant change from Friday so that was great news. They decided to stop the mag around lunch time and put me on the oral terbutaline to see how that would work. I was moved up to the long term high risk ward (but I will not be here long term)!! This afternoon I have had great relief from the contractions so we are hoping that will continue and that my cervix will not lose anymore length. I am only allowed to get out of the bed to use the bathroom and shower in a chair once a day in hopes to keep things in control. I am anxious to see Dr. K or Grogan tomorrow since they weren't here today. I also hope to go home tomorrow...we shall see.

As annoying as all this is, at least I have a great team of doctors here. The doctor we saw today was here when we delivered the triplets and he was wonderful. He seemed to think I could go home this week but he didn't seem confident I would make it at home for very long (I will be proving him wrong)! Every week longer with the baby is so important and I know we can make it, I hope 8 more weeks but at least 6 more. I will keep you posted. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Katie

7 comments:

Jennifer said...

Oh Katie, I am so sorry your contractions have gotten so bad and you are now in the hospital. I am praying for you and know that everything will be ok. You have made it this long, and I will pray that you make for atleast a couple more weeks (hopefully at home).

Please know we are thinking of you and sending lots of prayers your way!

melissa said...

I check you blog daily for updates and have been following your blog for awhile now. hang in there, if anyone can prove them wrong and make it 6-8 weeks, you can. I don't know you but I sure am thinking about you!

MBKimmy said...

So sorry this happened, but it is okay! If you go home STAY OFF YOUR FEET! I know that the power of prayer is strong, but you must help it along!

I will continue to pray for you and your family! Looking forward to more updates!

MattandErin said...

OMG, I had no idea. Please disregard my voicemail from earlier... You are in my prayers. Please keep me posted. I will give you a call tomorrow - let it go to voicemail if you need to. HUGS HUGS HUGS Erin

Katie said...

Kate, I am thinking and praying for you and am here if you need anything at all. I will come visit you if you end up having to stay or when you go home. I will get updates from Erin. You are almost there! We are so happy for you.

The Partins said...

I'm praying for you and little bit! Maybe the hospital is the best way for you to get bed rest because you are like me and the idea of bed rest is only doing half the chores. :-) It is so hard to not go when you are a "go-er" Look on the bright side... Remote Control bed - you don't have one of those at home! :-)

Chris said...

Checking in here to see how you are? I'm saying prayers for all of you every day! I'll check back for another update tonight.