32 weeks and in the hospital :(

Our little guy!!!

So two weeks ago today I found myself being admitted to the hospital for preterm labor. It all started the previous night when I began contracting. Now, contracting is nothing new for me, but it was accompanied with an uncomfortable pain that kept me up all night. I finally climbed into bed at about 5:30 am, just as Mark was getting out of bed to study for a huge Organic Chemistry test that he had to take in the afternoon. I slept until about 9:00 am and then got up to drive Mark to school in downtown Denver. Mark asked me to call the doctor, but I was in denial. The pain I had all night was gone, and I felt like the contractions had mostly stopped, but I forced myself to call because nothing is more important to me than having a healthy baby.

I was told to go to L&D ASAP to be monitored. I got all hooked up and kinda felt like a crazy, over concerned pregnant lady with hormones and that the monitor would not show nothing, but to my surprise I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. They watched me for about 30 minutes and then tried to stop the contractions with a shot of terbutaline. This worked for about 15 minutes, but they started again. The nurse came in to check my dilation and I was at 1 cm and 70% effaced which does not seem like a lot, but I guess is a huge deal for a first pregnancy. The Nurse Practitioner came in and told me that I was going to be admitted and given IV medication to stop labor and that I needed to have an amniocentesis. WHAT? I kinda started to freak out! An amniocentesis is basically when you get and BIG, LONG needle place into the uterus and amniotic fluid is aspirated for testing. They do this with the assistance of ultrasound so they don't hit the baby. I was still in triage when Mark called me after his test. I was suppose to pick him up. I asked him how his test went and then informed him I would not be picking him up because I was getting admitted to the hospital. I told him to rush to the hospital because the were going to stick me with a huge needle and I needed someone to hold my hand. Luckily he made it just in time.

To make a long story shorter, I was in the hospital for two days, got stuck by 10 different needles and a catheter (which was the worst ever!), and gained about 8 pounds of fluid which caused me to have difficulty breathing because of fluid buildup in the lungs. On the up side, baby is healthy and we got some awesome 3D pictures of him, his lungs are now mature if he does decide to come early, and I don't have to work anymore!!!

So bedrest is the doctor's order!