Splat!

Sunday, August 8th was a bit more exciting than we anticipated. After church, Scott and I headed to Walmart for a few groceries and in search of one specific item for a friend's baby shower that afternoon...and we didn't even find it. Bummer. But the BIGGER bummer happened when I managed to trip over the ledge of the sidewalk walking out of Walmart and ended up falling on my hands and knees. It wasn't a very hard fall, and I didn't hit anything...in fact my left knee is really the only proof that I fell at all. :-P

So being the good little patient that I thought I was, I went home, filled my water bottle again and got comfy on the couch to make sure Monkey was moving and happy. She was, but I was tired and decided to go lay down for a bit and ended up falling asleep for over an hour. When I woke up, I figured I had better let my Dr know what had happened just in case, and also so I wouldn't get scolded at my appt on Tuesday when I showed up with a skinned knee. I was shocked, but even though I wasn't bleeding, wasn't contracting and Monkey was moving around lots my Dr said I definitely needed to come to the hospital for an NST--which stands for Non-Stress Test. This consists of being hooked up to the monitor to track baby's heartrate and contractions for 20 minutes to make sure she is happy in there.

So we headed out almost immediately (it was about 1pm), hoping that we'd still be able to make it to our friend's baby shower, albeit late. Well, 20 minutes on the monitor turned into a minimum of 4 hrs complete with lab work and an ultrasound to check for placental abruption (separation of the placenta from the uterus). I guess this is the standard "trauma protocol" for falls and other accidents. Everything was looking great, Monkey was extremely happy, and I was not contracting initially...but when I got hooked back up after my ultrasound I started contracting quite frequently...in fact, I told Scott at one point when they were consistanty 2-3 minutes apart and about a minute long that it was a beautiful labor pattern! LOL, not what we wanted! Fortunately they were not painful...they just felt like a squeeze or tightening around the abdomen...slightly uncomfortable, but not painful...if that makes any sense. Also, my FFN (basically a test they do to predict pre-term labor/delivery occurring within the next 2 weeks) was negative, which means Monkey WON'T be born in the next 2 weeks (obviously this test does not account for emergencies). AND, my cervical exam was 0/thick/high...translation: NOT EVEN CLOSE! Lol. So even though I've been contracting here and there since about 27-28 weeks, they have truly just been Braxton Hicks "practice contractions" and have done nothing to my cervix. Very good!

Soooo, since the contractions continued, my Dr decided to keep me in L&D and monitor me overnight. I was to stay connected to the monitor continuously except for bathroom breaks. She didn't give me anything to stop the contractions initially because stopping them may have masked a problem down the road...but once all my labwork came back normal (and showing no sings of abruption), she decided to give me Procardia to settle my uterus down. It worked, and I got 2 doses through the night. The next morning I had labs drawn again just to compare (all normal again) and we skipped the Procardia to see if the contractions came back. I did keep contracting occassionally, but the frequency died waaaaay down and there really wasn't a pattern anymore so they let me go home Monday afternoon!

I can only laugh at how a simple text message to my Dr "I don't need to come in, right?" turned into a 20 minute NST, then 4hrs, then a total 27hr stay!! But I am very happy that I DID go and even happier that everything turned out fine. Hopefully we can keep this little Monkey cooking for at least 2 more weeks!

I am being allowed to go back to work, which happens to be tonight...but I'm under strict orders to monitor contractions and if I have more than 4 in an hour that is a big no-no. If that happens, they will keep me out of work until 36 weeks...at which point if I do end up contracting and going into labor they would not stop it. For the record, though, these contractions I've been having for several weeks and also the ones on Sunday/Monday were not labor, just an "irritable uterus". I prefer grumpy uterus, lol. :-P I am a little worried about going back to work tonight, as I did start contracting again when Scott and I went out for my Dr's appt yesterday afternoon and then to the store afterwards. We were gone for less than 3 hrs total and I had had over a gallon of water already yesterday, but I started contracting anyway. As soon as we got home I got comfy on the couch and put my feet up and they stopped. But I'm wondering how I'm going to do at work for 12hrs. Granted I'm not *constantly* on my feet, but I wouldn't say there's much time for relaxation either, lol. Oh well, I guess we shall see. The good news is that I am training someone and she is at the point where she does most of the work and mostly just comes to me with questions and problems. Also, IF I were to have to stop working, I am less than 2 weeks away from that 36 week mark...so I wouldn't have to miss much work. I just hate to use ANY of my time off before she gets here, because that means less time after she arrives...but I also know the most important thing is getting her here safely.

Oh yeah...and "The Day" has finally arrived. I am off the heparin. After my fall, my Dr said it was best to stop it now as the risk of abruption or other issues is now greater than the risk of stopping the heparin. I am kinda bummed that I have to stop now, but in all liklihood she would have asked me to stop in 2 more weeks anyway. Still, it is nerve wracking. EXTREMELY nerve wracking. I am thankful she allowed me to stay on it this long, though, as originally I was supposed to stop at 16 weeks, and then 20...but I made it to 34. I feel so helpless without it! I felt helpless WITH it, but at least there was the comfort that came along with physically DOING something by injecting heparin twice a day. Now I just try not to think about it (yeah right). *Sigh*...these next 6 weeks have the potential to go by veeeery slooooooowly. Please Lord, deliver our little Monkey safely into our arms!

Phew!! That was long. I really don't expect many people to actually read all of that, but I wanted to write it all out anyway so I would remember all the details.

~Abigail~