Baptist Round 1, Day 1

As I posted earlier, today has been a little hectic. I can’t really figure out where all the time went. I was wide-eyed at 4:00am so I thought I would get a lot accomplished today. I did but I was hoping to do this much earlier. Sorry to keep you hanging!
The hardest part of the day just occurred; Blake headed home for the night . He was her last night and, as expected, got very little sleep. His boss was gracious enough to let him have the afternoon off. But, he has a full day tomorrow, by himself. So, he needs a good night’s rest tonight. But I would rather have him here with me… Can you tell I am feeling a little sappy? I will stop before I become a puddle.
On to the latest news. I think I managed to post some detail about my ultrasound yesterday. Terrible, ugly, scary are just a few words that come to mind! Dr. B let me know I would have another one today when he made his rounds last night. Fortunately, they like to do inpatients first thing in the morning. It was with MFM, and Dr. C came in to hear the report. To back up just a bit, I was contracting every 5 minutes when I arrived yesterday. They pumped me with oral terbutaline, indocin and 3 rounds of intramuscular terbutaline before they were stopped. Luckily, magnesium was not required. By this morning, I was having very minimal uterine “irritation.” When I went in for the ultrasound, no contractions were felt. Baby boy was measured and this one estimated him a little heavier, at 2 pounds 4 ounces. I was thrilled with that! Then she performs the “non abdominal” scan. No contractions this time. It was like night and day. I could see what appeared to be a full length cervix. Sure enough, she got several measurements, all around 3.6cm/36mm. I could not believe my eyes. The only time my cervix length shortened was when she applied pressure, during which it dropped to 1.3 cm/13 mm. All in all, my cervix is very “dynamic”. When I contract, things get ugly pretty quickly. I feel quite blessed to have had my appointment when I did. More than likely, I would have blown off the contractions as par for the course and may have taken an extra terbutaline. Scary to think it could have sent me to the “point of no return.” I am so grateful Dr. B had me admitted. I feel a million times better knowing that I am being monitored. I do not have to make the decisions. Should I call? Should we go in? Is this more intense? Are these more frequent? Do you see how that can start to make one a little crazy??!!!
For the most part,my day has been quiet as far as my uterus is concerned. I have had lots of calls, posts, emails, posts on the Facebook wall and of course nurses and staff in an out. I have had a steady flow of visitors tonight, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have had little time to sit and write. Wouldn’t you know I was just given Ambien to help me sleep. So even this may be a little shorter than expected!
There are a few future plans I know off. Of course, they could change. The last I hear, I can expect to be here through next Wed. Trying to make sure we get to 28 weeks. We will reevaluate then. For now, it will be important to monitor my contractions. We need to decrease the “dynamics” of the cervix and just not keep testing it! It will eventually go if we let it. But we are trying to stay ahead of the game.
Dr. B will be in sometime in the morning. He was off today but did you really think he would stay away. Not Dr. B, he was in at 7:30 just to check on me…love that man. Not like I love Blake but you know what I mean. It is precious. Anyway, my nurse said he called to get the report from the ultrasound and was pleased but is still cautious with how quickly things go haywire. I expect he will be in before 8:oo and again at the end of the day. I will let you know what I learn from him, for sure.
We are in good spirits. We are grateful for you prayers. The providence of God is the only why such a significant increase in cervical length can be explained!!! I give Him every ounce of the Glory! I am thrilled to be monitored around the clock and will gladly stay here as long as they feel is needed without complaint! I do miss Nugs and Miss Bitty. And of course I miss my right hand man. But I will once again stop with all that. J At least I am being lodged in “Karen’s room” aka “The Predators Suite” aka “Nicole Kidman’s room” and “Steve McNair’s kids room.” Pretty fancy I must say. Not sure how I qualify For such luxuries! I will take it while I can get it. I will on my best behaviour so they won’t kick me out. With the staff I have had so far, that should be no problem. They have been wonderful. Karen told me ALLL about them. She, Chad, Max and Kate are very famous in these parts. Too be she was being discharged as I was being admitted. Barely missed her. I hope to see the little ones I asked you all to pray for. And keep Karen in pray as she is trying to manage some pretty heavy medications at home .
Please keep praying for minimal contraction activity, safety and health for our growing boy, wisdom for my doctors and peace of mind for us. We are really feeling peace despite the circumstances.
Of course there is no adequate way to thank so many people for all the support we have received. You don’t know how much it lifts my spirits to see so many comments from people who genuinely love our family. Thank you so, so much. Prayer have gotten us so far and I believe they just may get us further than the rules of medicine would expect!
Starting to feel loopy no. I am not even going to spell check this because I can hardly type at this point. Bare with me. Ambien is my friend…
More tomorrow! My eyes are getting very heavy and I have to brush my teeth before crashing!!! Lets hope I make it!