A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I went into preterm labor. I’ve been dreading this day coming and actually get pretty emotional when I stop and think about it. I remember what I wore that day to work (gray cable knit sweater and black pants) and that the receptionist said that I looked like I had dropped (I agreed with her on this). I was 29 weeks and 6 days and was following my usual morning routine of doing kick counts (time how long it takes to get 10 kicks – you’re supposed to get 10 in 2 hours) at my desk. On this particular day, Brady wasn’t moving around as much as she usually did so I just figured I’d try again later. At around 1, I felt her kick again but again I couldn’t do the kick counts (this is fuzzy but I think I only got four in a two hour period). Around 6 I started getting worried and started doing everything I could think of (or that was suggested by mom or online to do) including drinking a bunch of OJ and water, laying on my side and being still, putting headphones on my belly, and banging two spoons near my belly and nothing. Casey and I finally decided to just go to the hospital for peace of mind. We figured they’d think I was paranoid and find out everything was fine, that Brady was just having a lazy day and go home.

Since I got pregnant I had been wanting to attempt a natural birth. I was going to switch providers and end up going to a midwife because only Memorial Hospital North had birthing tubs and seeing how much I love the bath, I figured this would help my cause. The night I went to hospital, I was in between providers. Meaning, I had already had my records transferred from my OB to the midwife but I hadn’t been seen, my appointment wasn’t for another two days. The night we went to the hospital it was bitterly cold. There was snow on the ground that hadn’t melted and a very chilly wind. We went to the ER and as soon as they found out I was pregnant, redirected me to OB. The door was locked and I had my badge on me, so I badged my way in. After walking up to the desk I was lectured on badging myself in and how I wasn’t supposed to have access. Not exactly like I could have come and gone unnoticed with that electronic record. Anyway, I was brought to triage and after they took my stats I changed into a gown. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and I was having contractions (that I wasn’t feeling) really closely together. They brought the doctor in who was concerned and gave me a shot to try and stop the contractions. Whatever shot they gave me (terbutaline) made me shake so badly and made me so cold. They did a fFN (fetal fibronectin) test which is a swab that tells whether or not someone is likely to go into labor in the next two weeks. The problem with the test is that it has a high false positive rate, but that when it comes back positive at all, it is cause for concern. At that point, I ended up being admitted to the hospital and was given my first dose of surfactant (drug to help Brady’s lungs develop more rapidly were she to be born prematurely). Since my contractions were not letting up and I was only 30 weeks (by this point) and Brady was having bradycardias (aptly nicknamed brady’s, which are slowing of the heartbeat) I needed to be transferred to Memorial Central where they had a higher level NICU and were more equipped to deal with this high risk turn of events. They called for an ambulance around 5 and it got there around 6. While I was waiting, I called my parents who didn’t know that I had gotten admitted or what was going on because we didn’t know how serious things were. Since my mom works at the Central hospital it really worked out that I was being transferred. I was pretty freaked out being transferred by ambulance. They had to hook monitors up to my belly to monitor Brady during the ride and then to check my stats too. And since Casey drove us to the hospital (and we couldn’t leave the car there) he had to drive back home to let the dogs out (who’d been all alone all night) before going to the hospital, so I had to ride all alone. It was so scary and I cried as I was being strapped to the stretcher and wheeled down the hall and out into the cold to the ambulance. I laid in the ambulance with my eyes closed and prayed and tried to keep calm and my heart rate measured. Both hospitals are off the same (albeit long) street so I just imagined where we were along the way. By the time we got to the other hospital Brady was still having brady’s, they had to put me in the Trendelenburg position (this is where they raise the foot of the bed over the head of the bed) to try and get more blood flow. They also put oxygen on me because my O2 sat kept dropping. The head of maternal fetal medicine came in and did an ultrasound and found the cord was wrapped around Brady’s neck several times. By putting the bed in Trendelenberg, this could loosen the pressure of the cord and maybe even have it slip over her head.

I ended up staying in the hospital from Monday night through Friday night. I was on magnesium sulfate (mag) to help control the preterm labor and hopefully delay things. It caused double-vision and was cold where it went into my arm. Oh another thing about being bed bound was I had to get a cath (ugh and ouch) before getting on the ambulance (which stayed in till right before I was discharged). I got to go home Friday night through Sunday afternoon, was in the hospital for another 2 hours, was discharged, was in labor, and was admitted again 2 hours later and the rest is history.

So til Brady’s birthday, next Tuesday the 22nd, I’m probably gonna be constantly reminded about my time spent in the hospital. Luckily, during my stay Casey was off (use or lose PTO during that time) and was able to stay overnight and keep the dogs at my parents, my dad took some time off to stay in the room with me too during the day, and since my mom worked at the hospital was able to work out of my room! Overall, if I was to have such a hard experience, that was the way to go – gotta see the good points of it all – and of course BRADY!