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Whoever said girls are harder than boys is right… especially if the past 36 hours is any indication.
Sunday night I had a tasty dinner of leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole…and lots of gravy. At 2 am, I was miserable. I had terrible pain at the top of my uterus, that radiated around to my back, I could not get comfortable in either bed or recliner. I threw up, a lot. I finally woke Matt at 5 and told him we needed to get to the hospital, right away. I had never, ever, ever been in so much pain.
By the time we woke Andrew and put him in charge and got through admissions, it was 6 am. I forgot…it is a bad idea to show up at L&D an hour before shift change. I also did not realize how much more uncomfortable it is to have monitors for two strapped on. Babies appeared to be doing fine, I was contracting every few minutes, and I was dialated to 4 centimeters. I was still very uncomfortable. The day nurse suspected gall bladder problems and when my doctor arrived around 8 he agreed. He ordered drugs (THANK YOU) and ordered labs and an ultrasound. My lab work came up normal and my ultrasound came up with sludge and not gallstones, which was good news.
Thankfully a dose of nubain knocked out the pain, and did not make me nearly as loopy as the dose I had in labor with Andrew 13 years ago.
At noon my doctor suggested we see if we could stop my labor, since at 35 weeks and 4 days, we would be looking at at least a week in the nicu. I had a shot of terbutaline, which made me jittery, but did calm my uterus for a bit. By 4 pm, my uterus had not changed, but I did begin contracting again. After a long talk with my doctor we decided to do an overnight trial of oral terbutaline, and I could also eat. I had been NPO status all day, not knowing whether or not I would go into full blown labor. So I spent the night in L&D as comfortable as I could be strapped to a monitor…though we took off all but the two baby monitors by 9 pm. I swear I had at least 9 elastic belts attached to me…every nurse who had trouble tracing a baby heartbeat would add another belt to the monitor to keep it in place. It felt very uncomfortable. The terbutaline kept things under control through the night…though we can tell when the next dose is due…contractions start up ten minutes beforehand.
Miraculously, my cervix has not dilated beyond 4 centimeters, so now I am at home, on oral terbutaline every 4 hours, which means setting two alarms at night. I only have to do this for a few more days though, by Thursday I am 36 weeks pregnant, and I have a Dr. appointment then as well, and we will re-evaluate then. At this point, when labor hits, things will move quickly.
At least now all of my consents are signed, including the one clearing the hospital of responsibility when Matt passes out in the OR. I’ve had my anesthesia consult, and we are ready to roll.
So, once again, pray that I stay pregnant for at least the next few days, if not a week!
tags: life as we know it
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Girls are definitely more "exciting" than boys. It's always drama, drama, drama. I'm so glad you 3 are home. May these little pumpkins not join the real world until 2010!
That's what I get for not being online for two days! Praying for you, sweet friend, and those girls of yours. I've got to get crackin' on one more teeny sweater! Yikes! Loves you!
Wow Pam, I thought I was having drama lol!!I'm super glad the Meds are calming the Uterus. I can't wait to meet your girls
Stay Blessed
Praying you get some more time-but wouldn't it be weird if one of the girls was born the 31st and one on the 1st!?!?!
Oh Pam! I pray that you can keep these babies baking! You've done a wonderful job so far, so keep it up!
Pam, you are right, this is only the beginning of the drama with two girls. Mine are 7 years apart and there is still lots of drama! Good luck and keep on cooking!
Ahhh, this brings back memories of my twin pregnancy!
Hoping those babies stay cooking a bit longer!
Happy New Year!
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