Wanting more information? Don't we all.

So somewhere deep down inside my mind I keep hearing voices that say don't post stuff on facebook, but I then do regardless. Since this update is much too long for facebook (or text message) anyway I thought I would just update you all from here.

First, I am doing fine and still pregnant. By fine I mean... still pregnant. The better I feel physically, the more stressed I become mentally at not being able to be in school and trying to rewrite all my lessons for a sub. And I've been in the hospital off and on for the last 3 days so I guess that is enough to try anyone's nerves. Now for the details:

Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week my belly just hurt. I think just normal achyness. Saturday night though I went to bed with some bad cramping. They did not feel like contractions. I have been getting the braxton hix contractions since 20 weeks and put myself on a modified bed rest then. I came off that bed rest in preperation for school last week. The cramping did not feel like any belly hardening. For some history on me, my last labor consisted of a lot of contractions that just hardened my belly and didn't hurt in any way. Those contractions sent me into labor at 34 weeks. I did not really feel painful contractions until I was about 7 cm dilated after my water broke. So, when I was laying down Sunday afternoon feeling mildly painful cramps that were coming in waves about 4 minutes apart I became very concerened.

We headed into L&D where my husband had to leave me. We had our 2 year old fast asleep in the car for his nap time. That is when I decided to post on facebook. I had made a few calls to baby sitters trying to find someone but then had to give up and just go with it for the moment. We got several calls from amazing friends who volunteered to take Logan but at that point I wasn't sure what the prognoses was going to be and he was fast asleep. I was hooked up to an IV for fluids (it took 3 trys!) and monitered. I was contracting about every 3-4 minutes. They gave me 3 rounds of turbutaline and managed to get the contractions down to nothing for an hour so they sent me home. No one checked my cervix. After talking with my dr. S, the doc on call and Dr. B the doc I saw on Monday it turns out the resident dropped the ball on that one.

As soon as I got to the waiting room I felt contractions coming back on. It was dejavu from my first pregnancy all over again. I ignored them. They were weak. They were very few. I went home and went to bed. The nurse had given me the ok to head to school the next day so that was my plan. As I was laying their Sunday night I could feel contractions off and on but again, I ignored them hoping they would just go away. At 3 am I was woken by the contractions which seemed much stronger and upon timing them were coming about 2-3 minutes apart and continued to do so until 4:30 when I finally woke DH up pretty upset. OBVIOUSLY upset. For one thing, this was exactly like when I went into labor with my first and I was only 30 weeks along. For another thing, it was my first day back with kids at school! I was angry and scared to death.

We piled Logan in the car and headed to the hospital. Apparently no children are allowed in the hospital so DH had to take Logan in to daycare at 6:30 when they opened. While he was out anyway he ran a bunch of errands to get things situated for the both of us for the day. In the mean time I was hooked up to an IV again for fluids (took 3 trys again, both hands and arms are bruised up and down now!) They gave me another round of turb and sent me in for an ultrasound. It was the longest ultrasound of my life. Seriously, like an hour long. I have no idea what they found but they measured a lot of stuff and did finally get a close up of our little girls face! She has the biggest poofy lips I have ever seen. I only can hope she will grow into them! Cervix was still long but open.

Dr. B is my favorite emergency doctor of the group and ironically the only man OBGYN I have seen. He is a wealth of knowledge that he freely shares on all things. Here is the rundown of what they found: my ffN test came back negative. This implies that my body is not trying to go into labor. It is not fool proof, but a good confidence builder that the baby will not deliver in the next 2 weeks. I am 1 cm dilated which is not great being so early, but doesn't mean a whole lot. He thinks I will deliver early given my history but he also thinks we can make it 2-4 more weeks at least given bed rest and the procardia he prescribed. Procardia is a smooth muscle relaxant they use often in blood pressure patients. The procardia knocks me out. Good help for bed rest.

One thing I didn't understand then was why all the contractions. After being poked around in the ultrasound my contractions picked up big time and were actually painful and coming more frequently. Both the doctor and the nurse assured me that they would likely not go away and that I would just get use to them. My nurse had 7 children, all preemie. She had been on similar treatments and told me that if I was actually going into labor, then I would know it. There was nothing more they could do for me in the hospital that I wouldn't be able to do for myself at home until I was actually in labor. They did give me the steroid shot to help the little girl's lungs develope more quickly and I had to go in for a follow up today.

Today's follow up was horrible. I was late. The office lady had the nerve to make me feel guilty when not once have they ever gotten me in on time. (One time I even waited 2 hours to be seen). This sent my blood pressure through the roof. (Although I didn't have many contractions this morning. They seem to come on in waves.) Dr. S was not as positive about the ffN test, but she agreed that my cervix was still good and hadn't changed in the 24 hours since I had been in. She wanted me on bed rest only a week and then reevaluate. How am I suppose to manage this with school?  Things need to be planned. I love Dr. S. She is really nice. But she stressed me out.  I got my second round of steroids. My weight had gone up 5 more pounds in the last week (probably from all the IV fluids!) One thing I do have to say is that my nurse was wonderful today and very understanding in the doctors office. It helps.

And I am still pregnant, thank God.