The last two weeks have been stressful, eventful, & we very nearly met our sweet boy way too soon at 28 weeks. Thankfully things turned out far differently than they could have.
I was at work on a Tuesday evening 2 weeks ago trying to finish up, I had spent the day working triage on the phones, in my chair basically all day but had felt Braxton-Hicks sporadically. It was the easiest workday I've had since I started this new job.
As I finished phoning in a prescription for a patient I suddenly felt a warm gush, I ran to the bathroom & found quite a bit of blood. I yelled at the doctor what was happening, grabbed my bag, & ran to my car. I called Chris & we frantically drove home to meet to make the trip to the hospital together. I changed my clothes & met Chris at the door when I heard his tires screech to a halt in front of the house. I hopped in the truck unprepared for what was coming & even though the drive took place during rush hour, we made it to the hospital so much faster than we could have hoped.
We walked up to Maternal Observation, announced why we were there, & were immediately transferred to Labor & Delivery. I changed, got into bed, was hooked up to a fetal monitor, given an IV, labs were drawn, and things got rolling. The monitor revealed that what I thought were Braxton-Hicks were actually legit contractions that were occuring between 6-10 minutes apart without regularity, I could feel every single one but was not in pain, I still thought that they should have been Braxton-Hicks but oh, was I wrong!
I was observed for several hours until I finally went for an ultrasound & consult with the High Risk Perinatoligist. Dr.T informed us that Brit was breech, the placenta was presenting as Marginal Placenta Previa, but most importantly that I was in Pre-term labor, he said that we were facing trying to stop labor using Magnesium. Once we got back to my room I had to ask Chris to tell me again what had just happened, I couldn't process any thing after hearing the words pre-term labor. I was immediately given an injection of betamethasone in my hip which is a steroid that stimulates the production of surfactant in the baby's lungs to help prevent respiratory distress in premature infants. Throughout this all Brit was an ornery guy, he was not enjoying the contractions & told us about it by jumping, kicking, & climbing all over the place. He was the most active I've ever felt but with a great heart rate.
My nurse was candid with us when asked what all this meant. She told us that we were possibly facing delivering our baby much sooner than expected, he would be delivered via c-section due to breech presentation, & would be be immediately taken to the NICU. She said that we would get to see him as he was whisked away, I'd go to recovery, get started on a breast pump to try to stimulate my milk production, & once I could get up-go see my son. We were both numb, this was not our plan. As a few hours passed things seemed to settle down slightly, I sent Chris home to take care of the dogs & get some sleep in case the following day was to be what was being predicted.
Around 12:30 am I began having contractions every 5 minutes, the nurse monitored me closely, put me on my left side again, & was on the verge of calling the doctor to start the magnesium. I didn't quite realize what was happen because I was so exhausted, somehow I fell asleep in the chaos. I woke up 3 hours later. As I slept my contractions had stopped completely & Brit had settled down. No intervention had been necessary. The only reason we had gone from panic to absolute calmness was that God was in control, He gave us a swift 180 degree change without any medical intervention.
It was a whole new day, I finally got to eat & drink, I was visited by the doctors who saw no reason in keeping me in L&D. Soon I was transferred to the Ante-partum unit for observation & bed-rest with bathroom privileges. I stayed in Ante-Partum for two days without any uterine-drama, they gave me my second shot of betamethasone & sent me home for more bedrest. I followed up with my doctor a few days later, had another ultrasound, & got fantastic news that the placenta previa had resolved & Brit was now turned head down. My doctor reluctantly gave me permission to return to work but only light duties with frequent breaks.
Fast foward two weeks, all has gone well at work & home, we had even started the first of six of our childbirth classes. My boss would only allow me to work the phones, I stayed off my feet would elevate them frequently.
At the begining of Tuesday morning I had a headache, then as I took a phone call I was hardly able to read the patient chart-I had bright spots clouding my vision, I asked my coworker to check my blood pressure-it was high. We rechecked a bit later, still high. As the morning progressed my headache improved slightly, as did my vision. I performed a urine dip on my urine & found no traces of protien, I notified my OB office & was told to monitor further & head to L&D if necessary. After lunch my coworker came to check my blood pressure once more & it was even higher, so I sat & tried to relax. I finally got up to send a fax in the front office & as I was standing there I had the sudden sensation that I had just peed on myself. I tried to get a look at my backside & the other nurse said with alarm 'oh honey, you're bleeding"! Blood was everywhere, all the way past my knees. The nurses were freaked out, trying to shove my things at me to leave, but I stood there & tried to update them on what items I was working on so that they could finish it up. I grabbed my stuff, called Chris, & drove home. We repeated our trip to the hospital with my mama praying form work with her close friend for protection over my womb & son. Once in Maternal Observation I was put on the fetal monitor, labs were drawn, went for a sono & consult with the high risk perinatologist, & made to rest on my side for a couple of hours. Since I was in no pain I felt dumb for even being there, my nurse hushed me up telling me sternly that I was exactly where I needed to be & Chris confirmed that I was being way too casual about the situation. Surprisingly no one was able to find where the issue lay or the source of bleeding, so I was sent home on bedrest, again.
I have followed up with my doctor, it's difficult not knowing why I continue to have issues, I will see him once a week for biophysical profiles, non-stress tests, & an exam to very closely monitor the remainder of my pregnancy.
I am now categorized as full blown High Risk, I am not expected to make it to my due date, I have been placed on moderate bedrest with permission to run an errand & get back to my couch or bed quickly, we are required to be within 30 minutesof the hospital at all times, & of course: I'm not allowed to return to work. We are so grateful that Brit is still hanging out in my belly but can't help but to feel stressed by the situation. It's another chapter in my "this happens to someone else, not me".
We were not prepared to suddenly lose my paycheck, I know it will work out somehow. I notified my job today that I won't be returning for several months, I felt so guilty although I have no control over the circumstances, I hate to leave them hanging. Since it is a private practice & I have only been just over 60 days I don't qualify for FMLA or short term disability, this is even more frustrating since I could have had all of this from my last job that I had to leave only because my patient began attending school & the district won't allow a nurse to attend with their patient.
Overall, the news is good, I still have my baby boy exactly where he needs to be...
Fast foward two weeks, all has gone well at work & home, we had even started the first of six of our childbirth classes. My boss would only allow me to work the phones, I stayed off my feet would elevate them frequently.
At the begining of Tuesday morning I had a headache, then as I took a phone call I was hardly able to read the patient chart-I had bright spots clouding my vision, I asked my coworker to check my blood pressure-it was high. We rechecked a bit later, still high. As the morning progressed my headache improved slightly, as did my vision. I performed a urine dip on my urine & found no traces of protien, I notified my OB office & was told to monitor further & head to L&D if necessary. After lunch my coworker came to check my blood pressure once more & it was even higher, so I sat & tried to relax. I finally got up to send a fax in the front office & as I was standing there I had the sudden sensation that I had just peed on myself. I tried to get a look at my backside & the other nurse said with alarm 'oh honey, you're bleeding"! Blood was everywhere, all the way past my knees. The nurses were freaked out, trying to shove my things at me to leave, but I stood there & tried to update them on what items I was working on so that they could finish it up. I grabbed my stuff, called Chris, & drove home. We repeated our trip to the hospital with my mama praying form work with her close friend for protection over my womb & son. Once in Maternal Observation I was put on the fetal monitor, labs were drawn, went for a sono & consult with the high risk perinatologist, & made to rest on my side for a couple of hours. Since I was in no pain I felt dumb for even being there, my nurse hushed me up telling me sternly that I was exactly where I needed to be & Chris confirmed that I was being way too casual about the situation. Surprisingly no one was able to find where the issue lay or the source of bleeding, so I was sent home on bedrest, again.
I have followed up with my doctor, it's difficult not knowing why I continue to have issues, I will see him once a week for biophysical profiles, non-stress tests, & an exam to very closely monitor the remainder of my pregnancy.
I am now categorized as full blown High Risk, I am not expected to make it to my due date, I have been placed on moderate bedrest with permission to run an errand & get back to my couch or bed quickly, we are required to be within 30 minutesof the hospital at all times, & of course: I'm not allowed to return to work. We are so grateful that Brit is still hanging out in my belly but can't help but to feel stressed by the situation. It's another chapter in my "this happens to someone else, not me".
We were not prepared to suddenly lose my paycheck, I know it will work out somehow. I notified my job today that I won't be returning for several months, I felt so guilty although I have no control over the circumstances, I hate to leave them hanging. Since it is a private practice & I have only been just over 60 days I don't qualify for FMLA or short term disability, this is even more frustrating since I could have had all of this from my last job that I had to leave only because my patient began attending school & the district won't allow a nurse to attend with their patient.
Overall, the news is good, I still have my baby boy exactly where he needs to be...
