From Bad to Worse to Not-So-Bad

This email was started in the hospital and finished at home. I'll start the email by saying as horrible as things sounded in the hospital. I feel that much better now. This email was not proofed. Sorry for all the switching of tenses and grammatical errors. :)

Written from Hospital

Well I have to be honest, I never expected pregnancy to be like this. Up until week 12 I was having a relatively awesome pregnancy. Yes, I know the first trimester is when most people have their hardest time, but I am no normal gal. Right when I hit the second trimester my pregnancy did a 180. Let me just start out by saying that I am still pregnant and we are very happy about that!

I'll start from where I left off.

Thursday night - my pain level went off of the charts. I actually started having contractions and my bleeding increased. If memory serves me they were 40 - 60 seconds long 3 - 5 minutes apart. It was absolutely awful. Luckily, I called the doctor on earlier in the day to make an appointment for Friday am.

Friday am - At this poing I hadn't slept in 3 days. Shelli, Lar and I went to the perinatologist bright and early. He took us in right away. I
absolutely LOVE this doctor. I got an ultrasound and the baby was doing great. He said the source of bleeding was gone as well. Unfortunately, with no source of bleeding, my pain level and contractions should have gone away or at least reduced, but they were getting worse. Over the course of 3 days my cervix shortened from 3.2 to 2.8 cm when resting, but when contracting it went down to 1.6 cm. They generally feel a safe cervix is 3.5 cm. We will hopefully cross the cervix bridge in a couple of weeks when we get through this phase. Right now, we need to get over the imminent miscarriage threat. The doctor decided that it was best to check me into the hospital and "snow" me. This means drug me up good so that I can rest.

Friday afternoon - after an hour wait in the labor and delivery waiting room (not the place you want to be when you are told that you are more than likely going to miscarry) we were admitted into the hospital. That's when
the good stuff happened. For the sake of my fingers and your time I am going to keep this short. I ended up with some kind of infection and had to be put on antibiotics. I ran a fever, chills, body aches. It was awful. They had me on morphine for the pain and a crazy strong antibiotic to fight whatever else was going on. Here I was avoiding caffeine. :) By the end of the day I was bleeding worse than ever and the pain was off the charts. I was having constant contractions and was kinda miserable, but felt better being in the hospital under constant care.

Saturday - I woke up with worse pain! I was having contractions every 1 - 3 mins. The nurses told me that this was the baby coming out and as soon as it did I would feel better. Lar and I were so sad, but I also felt that if this was going to happen, then please just let it happen because it was so painful. I ended up passing a huge clot (Lar called it a scorpion), but no baby. My
doctor said to expect the contractions and bleeding. I would know if I was passing the baby because a 3 inch baby would come out. She gave me an ultrasound and said the baby is actually super happy and in a great place. It hadn't descended at all. We were so glad, but couldn't believe the rollercoaster of emotions. I am so glad that my doctor came in on her weekend off to check in. It was so nice to see and hear from her vs the nurses and residents on staff. She made us at least a little more hopeful. After I passed the clot, the contractions and bleeding reduced. I felt great!

Sunday - the migraine kicks in. I am finally off morphine, only to be put on vicodin. But, nothing else. I actually felt great all things considering. the doc said the migraine is normal and to expect it for up to 4 weeks. Here I am the girl who decided not to read any maternity books because I didn't want to psychosomatically take on what I was reading. I end
up getting everything you can get. My doctor did visit again and sat down with us for about 20 minutes to discuss any questions. She told me the specialist would come in on Monday morning to determine whether or not I could be discharged based on my ultrasound.

Written from home

I actually wrote a lot more from the hospital but I guess it wasn't saved. Better off.

Sunday evening - Besides the headache I feel great! The only negative of the night is the woman in the room next door kept knocking out her IV so it beeped every 5 minutes. I didn't get a good nights sleep and my head ached, but all things considering I am in a good place.

Monday am - The specialist arrived bright and early for the ultrasound. The baby looks and is doing great! WIth all of the bleeding and contractions, the baby was not impacted. In fact, it had grown since Friday! When I asked him about my cervix, he told me it was smaller but he didn't give me the measurement. He said that he is no longer worried about me and that I can resume seeing my OB regularly and if I need to I can see him when worried.

Today - I feel sooo much better. I have absolutely no cramping and very little bleeding. In fact, I had no bleeding for almost 18 hours, but just had a little. I'll take the spotting as a little reminder to take it easy and appreciate how far I have come. Larry and I were saying that last week may have been one of the worst of our lives. The unknown is and was awful. The fact that we have made it home with a baby still in tact is very promising. My hope is that I will be taken off of bed rest in the next couple of weeks. I'll definitely keep you updated as I get more info.

Now what?

As it stands, I am still labeled a "high risk" pregnancy. I am on bed rest until further notice, but if things go well there is potential to be taken off. A nurse will come to the house weekly to administer a progesterone
shot, which helps smooth the uterine muscles.

I am camped out upstairs in my bedroom until we get a bed delivered for the main level. Lar set up my desktop on a breakfast in bed tray so now I have access to internet! Visitors are welcome anytime! I plan on being as productive as possible with my time. Maybe I will take a few online courses and learn a language. Has anyone tried Rosetta Stone?

in general, the best place to reach me is on my home phone. The cell is annoying me to use while laying down.

Thanks for all of your love and warm wishes.

xoxo,

Sam