…or…”Thank God Early Labor Was Prevented”

Back in January, I was given a diagnosis that I had gestational diabetes.  Because of this, my doctor’s office orders mandantory weekly non-stress tests at the hospital.  My first weekly non-stress test came this past Thursday morning at 9 am.

I was only supposed to be there for 45 minutes or so.

“Supposed to” is a huge, huge phrase in hind sight!

After being on the monitor for 30 minutes, they inquisitively asked me if I knew I was having contractions.

Uh.  no.  I sure didn’t!

I was having contractions every 2 to 4 minutes!  The nurses at the hospital conferenced with the doctor, and he ordered a fetal fibronectin test for preterm labor.   During the test, she barely made it inside when she felt a bump. “That must be baby head,”  was her conclusion.  When she went in with her glove, she determined the baby was extremely low (it was baby head she felt).  She also estimated at first that I was already 3 CM dialated and 70-80% effaced (thinned).  So they went into overdrive.

The contractions were there - yet I felt nothing.  Absolutely nothing. 

I was admitted to the labor & delivery by 11 am Thursday.  When the actual doctor got to check me he summized that I wasn’t quite as dialated as they thought - only 2 centimeters.  But they were still worried - so I the treatment for preterm labor was immediately started in hopes of preventing my baby boy from arriving at only 34 weeks.

An IV was started and I was given a loading dose of magnesium - a relaxant that was to calm uterin contractions and hopefully prevent labor.  The bad thing is that magnesium causes bad side effects such as hot flashes and general cruddiness.  I felt like I had a 3rd degree sunburn at times! 

I was also started on steroids (2 shots in the bottomus maximus! OUCH!) 24 hours apart, and antibiotics.  The steroids, they said, would build his lungs up and if he is born earlier it will help his chances of being healthy and avoiding a longer stay in the prenatal ICU.  The antibiotics were given as a precaution in case an infection was going on - and because I had not had my beta strep test yet (it was scheduled to be done at 36 weeks).

I was kept in the labor room all day Thursday and Friday.   Around 9 am Friday they slowed the magnesium down from 2  per hour to 1 CC (1 gram?? i dunno) per hour, and the heartbeat / contraction monitor was kept on me the entire time and we were relieved when the contractions started to slow. 

Around 3 PM Friday, I was moved to a post-delivery maternal care room and Saturday morning, the IV with magnesium was removed.  (The IV was probably the most physically painful part of this ordeal!  Well, besides the shots in the butt).  I was also taken off of the constant monitoring and vitals were only checked periodically. 

By mid-Saturday afternoon, with all of the medicine wearing off I began to feel soreness and having a hard time breathing.  I was still having hot flashes from the magnesium as well (not a very pleasant experience).  At least I was allowed to take a shower and change into a fresh gown though!  I felt like everything was one big blurr however - my body ached, my heart hurt (from grief) and I feared every fear that a woman in pre-term labor can think of.

After an hour monitoring sessions Saturday from 2-3 pm, the doctor suggested one more night stay (we had hopes until then that I’d be going home). 

One good thing though, it was determined that I actually do not have gestational diabetes!  The doctor who was with me through this ordeal (not my regular doctor - he was a doctor on call this weekend), studied my case history and ordered tests done.  All tests came back that there is no evidence that I am diabetic.

That was a small miracle in these past few days!

Last night was my final night in the hospital.  This morning, from 6 am to 7 am, I was put back on the contraction monitoring.

Finally, I felt something.  During the monitoring session I had 5 contractions, 2 of which were (to me) not very pleasant at all!  Ironically, we were all glad I could actually feel the contractions and now knew what to look for.

After 2 more sessions with the doctor (about possible complications, things to look for, etc), and an instructional session with the nurse (the do’s and don’t of bedrest), I was given my discharge papers this morning at 9 am and was wheeled out into the fresh, wide world - I hadn’t seen the outside world in 4 days!

Everything had happened so unexpectedly, and really puts into perspective that old saying “you can’t plan a death or a birth”.  Not once had it ever crossed my mind that I could end up going into pre-term labor.  It’s something that happens to other people.  Not you, you now?

The doctor who worked with me this time was excellent (I wish I would have found him first and used him the whole time).  He’s a very honest, no-nonsense kind of guy with a white beard and a gentle, straitforward grandfatherly touch to him. 

He ordered strict bedrest (sitting as much as possible, with laying on my side preferable).  They have no idea when the baby will come, although they are hoping the pregnancy extends for at least another week - with 18 days being ideal.  With the steroids that were given to build up his lungs, they believe he (baby Jack) will have a good chance if he does come on now. 

So we’re now playing the waiting game. 

I am to do no lifting, no cleaning, no shopping, and very minimal walking.  That’s hard!  We had so much planned for April and it didn’t occur to us that this might happen.  It was so unexpected!  What’s even more ironic is that our scheduled Lamaze class (at that same hospital) was for yesterday (Saturday).  The nurse who first saw me on Thursday would have been our teacher.  The class was something that we had looked forward to so much.

It’s weird at how much grief one goes through at the thought of pre-term labor.  I felt grief over lost plans, fear for my health, fear for my baby’s life, grief over not having “things done” (cleaning, final nursery preparations), and (my biggest) fear that I had done something wrong.

I don’t think anyone understands either how much pre-term labor can affect a woman’s psyche - I know I didn’t.  The grief and thoughts I experienced ranged from the deepest pain (”What did I do wrong??”) to the essentially mundane (”Our video camera isn’t even charged”).  Before I went through this experience I would have considered such thoughts to be rediculous - people have a tendency to get self righteous and say “Don’t think about that - you should be just concerned about your self and the baby!”.  Believe me I was - but the emotions that ran through me over every level were so strong. 

It makes me a lot more empathetic and aware of what other women have gone through.  It’s a private world, with lots of mixed emotions, and hard to describe to someone who hasn’t gone through it.  Thursday afternoon was the hardest part of the grieving process for me - at one point I mentioned sadness over not having our video camera ready (taping the birth is something, I realized, that is deeply important to me).  Yet the nurse cut me off saying I shouldn’t be concerned about that.  She was not empthetic at all, and her worlds only hurt more.  (It sounds silly to even describe, but I’m trying to get across the wide range of emotions that occured to me.)  

 I’ve always thought I didn’t have any expectations about delivery - but this weekend showed me just how much hidden expectations I did have (the last minute shopping sprees, the lamaze class, a final beach trip, final nursery decorations, preparing mentally).  And it hurt to say goodbye to them all.  One wonderful nurse (who would have been our Lamaze teacher) gave me the best emotional support - she’s the one who put a name to my fears and emotions.  She’s the one who said it’s like going through a grieving process, and she was so right.  It felt so good to share my thoughts with her, and she didn’t judge me at all.  She knew my emotions had nothing to do with my love or concern for my little boy.  I hope to one day console another mother like she consoled me through this hard time! 

So anyway, now I am at home.  My husband and I were at my parents all day today after the discharge and I just slept.  We just walked into our home tonight around 10 pm - the first time I’ve been home since Thursday morning.  It’s amazing at how fast things happen in life when you least expect them!  Now I’m waiting, and watching, and praying that everything goes well and my little boy is ok.  After the grieving process of unexpected complications, I’ve now reached the end point to where I can finally relax and focus on “being ready” at any moment.  

Baby Jack can appear any time now.   The final waiting stage has begun!

Tagged: Dr's Visits

What Next?

• A Baby Story: Labor Day (Part 1) (Viewed 0 times)
• Pregnancy Wrap Up: 3rd Trimester Experience (Viewed 0 times)
• Bleh. Ouch. and Owwwey. (Viewed 0 times)

Don't be shy...Leave a comment!

4 Responses to “My 4 Day Non-Stress Test: Preventing Pre-Term Labor”

Leave a Reply