Labor and Delivery Visit (LONG!)

I wanted to write all this down for my memory and for anyone who cares to read about the fun day we had at the hospital.

Shawn and I wanted to take one last trip as a family of two so we went to St Louis because we wanted to go to the free zoo. We left work early and got in town halloween night and met up with Uncle Keith and the gang.

The next morning we went to the zoo. It was an absolutely perfect fall day there. The leaves were all falling and it was about 65 degrees. We saw some incredible animals. We must have walked about 4 miles throughout the day. Around lunch time I started having contractions. We went into a restaurant at the zoo and I had a real strong one which freaked me out. I sat down for half an hour, ate some food, and then they stopped so we went on walking. Keri met up with us and we finished the last half of the zoo. I bought one water bottle while we were there. Next we went to an area called the Loop. I was not feeling good. We walked up and down the street and I was having more contractions. Anyways I'll shorten all this. We got back to keiths, more contractions, went out to dinner, more contractions. We came home I tried to drink a bit of water and went to bed early. Woke up with contractions and laid on the couch and read to take my mind off it.

The next morning we drove home. I did NOT want to go to a hospital in St Louis for fear that if something did go wrong then we'd be stuck 4 hours from home for who knows how long. We made it to back to Branson around noon. I called my doctor and told her I had been contracting but they were never regular or consistent. She told me to go to Labor and Delivery to get checked out. We walked in there and I felt silly cause I wasn't really feeling anything. I thought it was probably nothing and they were just going to think I was paranoid. Boy,was I wrong.

They hooked me up to this machine by putting two devices on my belly. One was to measure the baby's heartbeat (which was strong and normal the whole time) and the other to measure if I was contracting. The machine fed out paper that had 2 graphs on it measure the ups and downs of the babys heart and my contractions. I was laying there thinking that nothing was going on with my belly. ( I didn't know how to read the graphs yet) The doctor came in looking a little worried (awesome, right?) and said she didn't like what my uterus was doing. She said I was contracting a lot and although I wasn't dilating, she was worried I might. She told me they were going to give me and IV and a shot called terbutaline which is supposed to relax my stomach so it stops contracting. Also if the contractions didn't stop then they were going to take me to a hospital in Springfield with an NICU. While she is saying all this there are two nurses all over me. One nurse is putting a shot in the back of my arm while the other is putting in an IV. She poked me wrong or something because blood splattered everywhere. (awesome again, huh?) Everyone looked worrried and poor Shawn was in the corner of the room trying to not look at everything.

I was absolutely shaking like a leaf. I was pretty terrified although not really anxious. When things are actually horrible my body protects me from anxiety attacks I think.

They did a pelvic exam and luckily my cervix was not open at all. The did a test that came back negative which is good because that means I'm unlikely to deliver in the next two weeks. I guess it checks for some hormone or something. All of this happening within the first like 30 or 45 minutes of being there.

I was still having contractions but they were stabilizing. I finally knew how to read the graph and I wanted it to be completely flat lined. If there was a little mountain then that meant contraction. Whenever I stopped shaking, I would get another contraction. Shawn tried to talk to me but I had to absolutely be in my head. There was a good 2 hours where we didn't talk at all. Later once things settled down he told me that it was nice to have me back again and talking. The fluids from the IV and the meds started to kick in so luckily my contractions got down to like one an hour.

The nurse came in a little later and said that I would probably be going home and that I could eat solid food. Praise the Lord!! I did not want to spend the night in the hospital! She ordered me a cheeseburger, french fries, and a coke (real healthy for being in a hospital) Shawn discretely ate the burger cause I could barely get the fries down. I was monitored for another hour or so and then my doctor came in and filled me in. She said to take off work the rest of the week and rest and that the meds stopped the contractions. She said that it was mostly dehydration. I had to get the first of 2 shots in my butt to give the baby steriods that would mature her lungs. They unhooked me from everything and got my discharge papers. Shawn and I hobbled out and went home.

I slept bad because whenever I felt a contraction I would shake and get nervous. I was having a few an hour still. Out of sheer exhaustion I was able to go back to sleep. I guess I was still dehydrated because the contractions didn't stop that morning till I drank half a huge bottle of Gatorade. After about 9 o clock yesterday morning I have been fairly contraction free. Maybe 1 every 2 hours or so.

Throughout this whole ordeal baby Mae was perfectly fine. She was kicking and playing around like nothing was happening. I'm so happy she is still in my belly. My prayer is that she stays another 8 weeks at least which will put me at 37 weeks. God is so good to us and I'm so thankful that I'm at home and we are both healthy. Shawn has been amazing and exactly what I needed. He knows me so well.

Sorry for how long this was but I warned you. :) I'll put up a picture of me in the hospital when i get a chance. You can see how absolutely pathetic I look.

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