To start from the beginning, I had some extra discharge that was abnormal so I called my doctor and waited for a call back. I really thought everything was okay, but I wanted to double check with my OB. Later in the afternoon the medical assistant called back and told me it would be best for me to go to the hospital and get checked out at Labor and Delivery.
Dad stopped by and picked me up and brought mom and I to the hospital. We went in and they did a swab test on the discharge to see if it was amniotic fluid. While they were waiting for the test to come back, they hooked me up to the contraction monitor. During the wait I was having contractions every 2 minutes lasting for more than 40 seconds. At this point, they had to admit me to the hospital.
They immediately started me on a shot Terbutiline (sp?) that helps stop contractions and makes your heart race like crazy. Then they hooked me up to an IV and started Magnesium. The two drugs are fast acting and really help in situations of pre-term labor. Unfortunately, the medications are not very comfortable to be on. I had hot flashes like crazy and later in the evening I started getting sick.
After a night of close monitoring in Labor and Delivery, I was transferred back to the Antipartum department where I was last time I was in the hospital. After several time of throwing up, I finally felt like myself later in the day on Thursday.
Jesse was here and we got a chance to talk to the doctors. At 25 1/2 weeks, the babies have some chance of survival, but each day I can stay pregnant will do wonders for the babies. The immediate goal is to get to 28 weeks where the survival rate is 95%. The girls would still have side effects of premature birth and would have to spend several weeks in the NICU, but they would have a fighting chance.
So the plan as it stands now is to keep me in bed at the hospital until I reach 28 weeks and if they can control the contractions on oral medication, I can go back to bed rest at home with a goal of getting as close to 36 weeks as possible.
I have very limited internet access, but I hope to get on the computer at least once a day to post any updates.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I hope the contractions stay away and you get to carry those girlies several more weeks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting!! I'm so sorry you are going through this - it is so scary. Hopefully, the contractions didn't do anything to your cervix, and you'll be able to get off the mag and just stick with those oral medications. It took a combination of 2 for me, but there really is a lot they can do to keep that under control. 28 weeks isn't so far away! - Tkeys
ReplyDelete