Many of you have probably heard that I was hospitalized on Friday for pre-term labor at 32 weeks. I had an OB appointment Friday morning. I had been feeling increased pressure over the previous week and just had a "feeling" that something was happening. At my appointment I was checked and my OB discovered that I was dilated to 2 cm. I was sent over to Labor and Delivery slightly panicked, more because I was worried about Hailey and getting her settled. I knew at that point that I would be admitted for at least 48 hours. I talked to Cinder (who is in Charlotte, NC about 5 hours away) and she said that her and Tori would pack their bags and be on their way. Until then, my wonderful friend Amy had Hailey with her and was making sure that she was taken care of until either Dave or Cinder could pick her up. (Thank you Amy, I owe you!!) Once I was admitted they started me on Nefedipine which is a medication that is used to stop contractions. I wasn't really having any contractions at this point, but they were seeing some irritability on the monitor. They also started me on Penicillin to prevent infection and gave me steroids to help with lung maturation for Madison. My OB came in a couple of hours later to recheck me and I had dilated a little more, but still wasn't having any regular contractions. At this point it really was just a waiting game and we were hoping that I would stop dilating and that Madison would stay put. I did start to have regular contractions about every minute to minute and a half, my contractions were starting to increase in intensity and I was a little worried that Madison would make her entrance. Dave was at home with Hailey and as you can all imagine a total basket case, because he really wanted to be with me, yet I felt that he needed to stay with Hailey. I promised him that if I continued to progress that I would make sure that he had plenty of time to make it to the hospital. I was checked again and I had dilated to 4 cm and Madison had dropped down to a -1 station. My contractions continued, but when they rechecked me, I hadn't made any more progress, which was great news. At about 11:30 p.m. on Friday night, the contractions slowed down and became pretty irregular, which was a sign that the medications has kicked in. In the end, I was discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
I am very glad to be home. I am taking it easy, because we are not out of the woods yet. Madison, obviously has a mind of her own and will make her entrance when she is ready. If I do start contracting again, they will not stop the contractions. The medication that they give is a one time deal. We are hoping that I can make it to at least 35 weeks if not 36 weeks, which is mid-December. From the ultrasound that was done on Friday they are thinking that Madison is about 4 lbs 6 ounces. She looked great on the ultrasound, but of course would be better off staying where she is for now.
Brett, Cinder and Tori are coming back up to spend Thanksgiving with us tomorrow and will stay through the weekend. Cinder will be a huge help, not only with Hailey, but also in helping me get some things ready for Madison. We are so lucky that they are close and so flexible to be able to help the way that they have. I also have a great support system out here and a few of my girlfriends are now "on-call" in case something happens. We appreciate all of your support and prayers and we will keep you updated with any changes. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!
