Day 2 of my captivity

Tuesday night was rough for me. I didn't sleep a whole lot - maybe 1 1/2 hours sporadically throughout the night. The nurse offered to give me sleeping pills but I didn't want to do that yet. I figured it was the combination of being away from home, missing my hubby and kitty terribly, and learning to get comfortable in a horrible hospital bed (is that even possible!?).

The main reason for lack of sleep was contractions. I was having about 3 an hour and they asked me to page them if it got to 4+. Well, by 3 am they were 5+ and very consistent and strong!! I'm still taking my Nefidipene medication (which helps decrease contractions) and it wasn't working - they were getting stronger and closer together. My nurse monitored me for 1 hour and they were getting worse so she paged the on call OB doctor (not my doctor). The doctor ordered me a shot of Terbutaline. It's a shot that goes directly in your arm (similar to a flu shot). This seemed to do the trick although it made me feel horrible. It was like I just finished a 12 pot of coffee in a matter of minutes and my heart was racing. Ugh. We could see on the monitor that within 15 minutes the contractions were already beginning to subside. Whew. We were nervous.

My Perinatologist came to visit me mid-morning on Wednesday. He said he didn't want me getting more shots of Terbutaline and made this very clear to the nursing staff. For a woman pregnant with one baby this medication is fine but when you're pregnant with twins, triplets, or more it increases your chance of pulmonary edema, etc. Dangerous side effects. He said if I started to have another "episode" of contractions he would prefer that I was moved to labor and delivery for monitoring. If this happened during week 33, he would order a Magnesium Sulfate IV - which isn't pleasant at all. This is also hard on the body but effective. Basically he said our "target date" is a moving date and right now they want to get me to 34 weeks at least. If I went into labor now they would try and prevent it. Once I hit 34 weeks they might not stop it if the babies are doing fine and I am as well. Either way, he said Ben needs a bag packed and ready to leave at a moments notice in case the delivery turned into an emergency. Otherwise, he would miss the birth. Doc said it's amazing I've made it this far already w/o complications and every day beyond today are "bonus days" for the babies. He also said a baby born at 33 weeks typically spends 2 weeks in the NICU. Not bad. We're still praying for take home babies and a couple more weeks of them inside.

The rest of the day was uneventful. I worked all day and only had to take a few breaks when the nurses came in to dispense medications or take my vitals. In the next day or so the NICU staff will come down and discuss what to expect if the babies are admitted to the NICU after birth and also give us an idea of what they see with babies born at the current 33 gestational mark. If I'm lucky, they will also give me a tour of the unit and show me some babies that are born in the same window - 33 weeks. I am looking forward to this "field trip". It will help me mentally prepare.

Last night I was moved to a larger room. Praise the LORD! It's twice as big and much more comfortable looking. Ben even gets a bigger pull out bed for when he decides to stay over. Hooray! I also got a present from one of the nurses. She gave me three cross stitch bibs to make that have 3 peas in a pod on them. She said it can get boring here and when she saw those she thought of me. Too cute! I don't have a clue how to cross stitch but I guess I'll learn quickly. I told her I referred to them as my three sweet peas and she was super excited. She had no idea - great minds think a like! :)

I'm praying for my shower privileges to start today. I will feel so much better once I'm showered and cleaned up. They're making me wear hospital gowns right now so it just makes you feel sick when you're not. Oh well - it saves my clothes from all that ultrasound gel. :) I will email out my hospital room phone number so people can reach me if they need to. I am trying to use my cell phone for work and Verizon to Verizon only otherwise I will burn through our minutes too fast this month.

Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers. I will send out another update when I have time.