August 11th, a turning point

You'll probably see a lot from me over the next week or so in terms of new entries. This next week is full of milestones we had with Colton and I feel the need to write about them. One year ago today was the day that I was admitted into the hospital with pre-term labor. Its strange to me that a day can be so engrained in your memory when it started out so ordinary. August 11, 2008 was a Monday. We had spent time with Donny's family the day before and I recall being really tired that evening. I woke up on Monday morning feeling "off". I couldn't put my finger on it, still can't today, but just felt kind of wierd. I worked for a couple of hours that morning answering emails and doing some tasks, but at about 10:30 am I went downstairs and sat on the couch. Just couldn't concentrate on work and attributed it to being tired from the day before. I fell asleep and took a couple hour nap. When I woke up I had to go to the bathroom. Now, without getting too graphic (those of you who are women and have had children know what I'm talking about!) my body was obviously trying to clean itself out. That was my first eyebrow raise. Just because I'd been around so many pregnant women, I had heard the stories. But I thought in my head, ok, I'm 26 weeks pregnant, this is just a fluke. As the afternoon wore on I started feeling a bit crampy, but really nothing out of the ordinary. I attributed it to the walk I had taken the day before. At about 5pm I started feeling the cramps at an almost regular interval...odd. In my head I'm still saying, its nothing, I'm 26 weeks pregnant! I called my mom and after telling her what was going on she told me that I was in labor. I told her, no way. I'd heard about labor and I envisioned doubling over pain and losing the ability to talk. She convinced me to call the doctor and see. So I made the call and the doctor said I was too early in the pregnancy to be having those symptoms so I should come on into the hospital and they would hook me up to a fetal monitor and see if I was having contractions.

Donny and I made the 5 minute drive to the hospital and even then, I expected to be told I was the crazy preggo and they would send me home in a couple of hours. The events that unfolded were shocking, to say the least. They admitted me into Labor and Delivery to check me. The monitor picked up that I was having contractions (still not what I expected) and they checked me internally to find that I was not dialated, phew! They gave me an oral dose of Tributalene (sp?) to stop the contractions and we waited about 1/2 hour. Nada, contractions continued. They checked me internally again, 2 cm dialated. Not good. They gave me a shot next to stop the contractions. That stuff makes you so jittery and your heart races. We wait. Doctor gets called in and checks me. 3cm, really not good. Once you go to 4cm you are in active labor and its really, really hard to stop. They tell me that they have to dose me with Magnesium. Lord, I had no idea what that really meant. Worst drug ever. First they have to give you a catheter because they have to monitor your fluid input/output so carefully, and in my case, because I was no longer going to be getting out of bed at all. They did a loading dose of Magnesium which immediately sends a massive wave of nausea and makes your eyes go blurry (you literally cannot focus) and you get hot and more thirsty than you have ever been in your life. They also proceeded with the Steriod shot in the butt in case Colton did come that evening. It is a 48 hour course they give to try and give rapid development to the baby's lungs. After being poked, prodded, checked and re-checked I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be going home the rest of the pregnancy and they were going to try their best to get me to 32 weeks.

I'm telling you at this point, I really just feel like I'm in a dream. Who is this really happening to? Finally at about 2am my contractions die down and I have officially stopped at 3cm dialated where I will stay for the next week. I'm hoping and praying that the crisis has been averted, for now.