Monday, September 5, 2011

First trip to Labor & Delivery

The last three weeks have been rough with being on my feet all day for work.  You would think that I would take it easy on the weekends but I can't seem to figure that one out either.

For the long weekend we had a nice surprise of Jeni and her new husband Brian visiting from Iowa.  They called about a week ago and asked if they could come visit and of course we were of course thrilled that they were coming!  When we have company in town we like to do tourist things and this trip was no different.  Yesterday was a beautiful day so we decided to spend it at the zoo.  I figured that if I can walk around work all day then I can walk around the zoo for a couple of hours.  Boy was I wrong!   I tried to sit and rest when I had the chance, but by the end of the day I was exhausted. 

We left the zoo at about 4pm and something just didn't feel right.  My belly was hurting and I had the odd feeling that I was leaking amniotic fluid.  We went home before calling the doctor because both of our phones were pretty much dead.  The last thing I wanted was to call the on call doc and have the phone cut out.

I called the on call doc and it wasn't someone I was familiar with.  She was covering for my doc or something this weekend... I'm guessing he was out of town.  Anyways, she said that I could wait it out and see if things changed or I could just go to L&D and get checked out.  I'm not one to really be good at "waiting" so I decided it was better to get checked out than just sit at home and worry. 

We got to the hospital about 6 and checked in..... it was super easy and I am soooo glad that I pre-registered.  It saved lots of time and hastle.  We went up to L&D and got hooked up to the little round monitor things that measure the babies heart rates and a thingey that shows contractions.  They also did a test to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid or not (which I wasn't thank goodness.)  The babies were fine, but there was one problem.... I was having contractions!  Every time I talk to the doc he says to call if I have more than 4 in one hour or if they become "regular."  The problem with a first pregnancy is that I didn't really know what a contraction felt like. 

As soon as I saw one on the monitor I realized that I have been feeling them for a while now.  I thought it was just the babies moving around and pushing themselves up against my ribs but I was sure wrong.  I kind of feel like an idiot now for not knowing what one was! But, now I do so its all good.  Ok, so while I was there I had like 3 contractions in a 30 minute period.  There were some more too I think.... I just wasn't watching the monitor thingey. 

Needless to say, the other on call doc (who was on call from 7pm on) didn't want me sent home with this many contractions.  I was administered a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions and then got monitored for another 30 minutes or so to make sure that they were gone.  By this time Brian and I were super exhausted.  We hadn't eaten since lunch time and had spent the day walking around the zoo.  We finally got sent home with some meds and instructions to follow up with the regular OB doctor.  The pills were more of the same stuff that was in the shot.... I am supposed to take a pill if I have more than 4 contractions in an hour and then call the doc.  Also, I already had an appointment for Tuesday with the doc so that just happened to work out well. 

Lets hope for no more scary visits to L&D and that the babies keep cooking another 3 weeks at least!

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