I Hit 35 Weeks--and Baby Got a Little Anxious!

I woke up Saturday morning and felt a little funky in the tummy.  Which wasn't a huge surprise since Toby had been dealing with some kind of funk the day before.  Nevertheless, this kind of funk isn't good for staying pregnant (I have a pattern!).  So, I stayed in bed,  stayed on my left side, and hydrated and hydrated and hydrated, trying to make up for the numerous trips to the bathroom that day.  I felt some tightening of my abdomen which I was pretty sure were contractions.

By about 4:30 PM, I decided maybe it would be best to go to the hospital.  I quickly grabbed my toothbrush, contact case, and glasses and figured if I needed some other things, James would get them later.  James packed a small overnight bag for Thomas and Toby and we were all off to the hospital. (Later on, James called a friend who was ready to come retrieve the boys from the hospital if this was "the real deal"!)

I got admitted to the hospital and was taken to the maternity wing triage.  They got me hooked up to some monitors and it was quickly determined that a) the baby was NOT under any kind of distress and b) I was having some fairly regular contractions.  I was hooked up to some IV fluids even though it was determined that I had done a fairly good job at keeping myself hydrated (I told you so!).  Well, after the first bag of fluid, my contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes.  I was, in the nurses own words, "not behaving at all" and "do you want to stay the night here?" A quick call to my doctor (who was in the hospital delivering a baby I assume) and it was determined that I needed to be given some terbutaline to try to stop the contractions.

I was surprised but in a good way.  I assumed that since I was past 34 weeks, I would have the baby.  The nurse told me that I could have up to three shots of terbutaline to try to stop the contractions but after that, they'd probably stop the medical interference.  After the first shot, I could feel my body relaxing.  It took a second shot to stop them completely but it worked! After about six hours at the hospital I got to go home.

At this point, we are hoping for a couple more weeks.  There is some worry that the baby's lungs are not fully developed yet, but he is past the point where he can receive the steroids (34 weeks is the cut-off). And the other concern is his immune system.  Once I hit 37 weeks, I can have a new goal at making it to 39 weeks and getting induced.  I'd really, really, like to try out that thing called an epidural!

I am not on bed rest but have been told to "take it easy"--whatever that means.  For me, that means that I am making more of an effort to literally put my feet up more often during the day.  I am staying well-hydrated.  In the meantime, we are finally pulling the baby things out and trying to get organized.  It is a slow process, right now it looks like we just moved in again.  But, I figure if he were to be born this week, he'd most likely spend some time in the NICU so we still have some time to get ready for him.  It will be OK.

Until later,

Emily