My Little Drama Queen...L&D Visit #2

Well this little one is already full of drama...I wonder who she gets it from ; )

So a little update, we had some unexpected excitement on Monday. Sunday night I noticed that I felt a little crampy below my belly button and sort of all the way across. It was noticeable, but I had another bottle of water and went to bed early. I woke up okay Monday but it started up again mid-morning. It wasn't anything in any sort of pattern, just a constant discomfort. It didn't feel like menstrual cramps, more like what I call "pre-cramp cramps", the cramps you get right before you get the period cramps, you know? Anyway, it was bugging me, not painful, just "new", so I put a call in to the nurse (Dr. Swaim was out of town) and headed home with a plan to lay on the couch. Well the second I walk in the door, I get a call from the nurse. She asks a lot of questions, they don't like my answers, and they want me to head down to the hospital for a couple of tests. I actually tried to talk her out of it, but she said no way, they need to do the tests. So I call Patrick and he heads home, the whole way there I'm apologizing (we have cleaning to do since my mom and cousin are coming this weekend) that I know nothing's wrong and I'm sorry we're going to be stuck there all evening. We get to the hospital a little before 6pm.

So I go to the antepartum unit only for them to tell me that Dr. Swaim called in and requested I be worked up in L&D. So we get all settled in one of the nice big rooms with the pretty flooring etc. It was a little surreal being in there...freaked me out a little. They have the little infant warmer in there and everything, and the rooms are huge. Anyway, they get some urine, do a fetal fibronectin test, check my cervix, hook me up to the monitors, and with a little luck, they said I could get out of there in an hour or so. No such luck....I was still feeling fairly uncomfortable, but the contraction monitor was flat. Then the shift change at 7 brought a different nurse who decided the contraction monitor was too high. Low and behold as soon as she moved it, within seconds, it showed a contraction. I didn't believe her that it was real, but she ran off to check my lab results. While she was gone, small peaks kept showing up, and then I was able to associate them with a tightening...I thought it was just her stretching, nope, contractions...coming regularly at that (every 4-5 minutes). So she comes back and says they want to give me meds to stop the contractions. I get 2 shots of terbutaline, and the contractions stopped after the first dose. Terbutaline sucks though, made me WAY shaky. Well then this little brat kept moving all over the place and kicking the monitor away (they said IV fluids make them more hyper). So her heartrate chart looked like she was having decelerations, but really the nurse and I just think it was her moving too much. Anyway, the dr. on call decided that I needed a complete ultrasound just to make sure (to check fluid level, cord, etc.). So off we go down to Radiology. It's fun down there at 10:30 at night when it's not busy. The u/s tech took her time and showed us everything. I think Patrick really liked to see it all, the vessels in the cord, her (what looks to be) humongous foot. Thankfully, everything checked out just fine. My cervix was also very tight (it should be, it's sewn together) and way long...3.9cm...the darn thing keeps getting longer!

So we finally got home a little after midnight, and I've been home taking it easy for the past couple of days. I'm going back to work tomorrow though. I do feel better, but the idea that she might just decide to come early is terrifying me. Luckily, my fetal fibronectin test was negative, so in theory we have at least 2 weeks. What was scarier is that the dr. on call said that after 34 weeks, they won't stop the contractions anymore...yikes!

Anyway, that's the latest with us!! Here are the 30 week pics! We go for our 4D ultrasound on Saturday and we have our maternity portraits on Sunday, so it will be a busy weekend!!!!