February 9 - 13, 2007

Pregnancy Journal Week 23

Wow, you little Pincus boy, you really scared us this week!!

We went to Orlando for Ryan Fritz's wedding and I had been feeling kind of weird for the last few weeks. I had this weird pulling feeling in the bottom of my belly and at night, it was hurting me to turn around. On Friday night (Feb 9) I started having cramps. These got worse during the night and during Saturday all day. I figured I just ate something wrong, maybe a stomach flu. I knew that I have been drinking enough fluids, so I wasn't dehydrated.

I had a hard time walking around and dancing was so uncomfortable. After I danced with Robert and our bellies were pressed together, it was really hurting me. I laid down on a sofa outside the ballroom during the wedding reception most of the night. I thought about going to a doctor's post in Orlando but really didn't want to be so far from home. The next day we started driving home (leisurely); stopped by in Vero Beach outlet malls but walking was getting really hard for me.

When we got to Robert's parents home in West Palm Beach I didn't feel much better. I looked abdominal pain up on babycenter.com and it said that with the symptoms I had (cramps, lower back pain) to immediately go to a doctor. It could have been a symptom of the placenta separating. That kind of freaked me out, so I asked Robert if we could go sea a doctor right away. He obviously agreed and we drove about 30 minutes to a hospital called JFK, which was supposed to be a great hospital. We got there at 4.45 pm and I registered, telling them I was 23 weeks pregnant and had severe abdominal pain. 1 hour later we went into triage and she (the nurse) did not realize I was pregnant until she asked me my last menstrual period. Even though she knew I was pregnant, we still had to wait 2 hours. After a 3 hour wait, Robert went to the front desk again and told them about my situation. There was another woman (patient) waiting and she heard Robert. She told him we are in the wrong hospital and that they don't take maternity patients. The woman behind the desk confirmed but said that they do take in labor patients, they just transport them to another hospital. She also said there are no beds available and won't be for a while. Robert was upset with the woman behind the counter and the police officer wanted to interfere but Robert told him to back off as he was talking to the woman and not the police officer.

I was so upset and asked Robert to leave right away and go to the right hospital: 'Wellington'. We got there and they triaged me within 30 minutes (my blood pressure was very high!). Since I was over 20 weeks pregnant I was brought to the Labor and Delivery triage right away where they examined me. I was told that I was in labor (that was the LAST thing that I expected!!). I was 1 cm dialated and had contractions. After about 30 minutes I was brought to a private room and they did an ultrasound on me. They found out my cervix had shrunk to
1.4 CM and they were afraid I was going to deliver the baby that night. They were not set up to take care of 23 weeks old babies (level 2 hospital) and had ordered an ambulance transport for me to another hospital (level 3). First they gave me an IV with a magnesium drip (on a very high drip so that I could take the ambulance drive of 30 minutes), I got a saline and antibiotics IV. The magnesium was burning up my vain and the rest of my body so I got an icepack. The ambulance ride took about 30 minutes.

I think I arrived in St. Mary's medical center at 2 am and was exhausted by then. Luckily there was a nice nurse (Deborah) from triage that helped me settle in and the doctor (dr. Harding) was great. They gave me indocin to stop the contractions (along with the magnesium). They did some swaps for tests and I got an oxygen mask and a blood pressure reader around my arm that would take my pressure every hour. Every 6 hours my blood was drawn to see if the magnesium wasn't damaging my kidneys. They also kept checking the babies heart beat. Emily, the night nurse was awesome. Robert slept on a little pull out sofa and actually woke up sick the next morning. On his way home he was throwing up in the car and had to stay in bed all day. Luckily Rae and Jules (his parents) were around and came to visit me in the afternoon and at night. I still had contractions the next morning, every 15 minutes. After lunch, the contractions seemed to slow down and I guess the medication was working.

The day nurse, Helen was also great and that night, Emily was back on duty. I was very out of it because of the magnesium. I could hardly talk or keep my eyes open. The magnesium was still hurting my vain. They gave me another antibiotics IV just in case. As my cervix was so small, I was told that most likely I would have to be on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. My goodness, I am not a very patient person, but to stay in a bed for 17 weeks, that would be very hard!

The next day Robert came back. I had asked him to bring my 'what to expect when you're expecting book' and we read about preterm labor. They had done exactly what was described in the book except for a FFN test (to see if I would deliver within 2 weeks). We told the new day nurse (Stacha) about this and within an hour someone came in to do the test. I had not seen another doctor since I was admitted and we asked to see one. We were told that dr. Jones would be there any time soon (at 10.00 am) and we waited all day. The FFN test came back negative and I still had not had any contractions since the previous day. We had hoped that they would wease down the magnesium (did I dislike that stuff, it gave me flu like symptoms and I was wiped out!). Robert, Rae and Jules had gone to Tom's place BBQ for lunch (obviously Robert was feeling much better) and they brought me back a sandwich (yummy, so much better than the hospital food).

That night, the doctor still had not shown up. We were told that she had forgot in the morning and she would come by after hours. Luckily the nurse had asked about the Magnesium and they took me off right away at 5.30 pm. The doctor finally turned up at 8.00 pm and ordered another ultrasound. The cervix came back at 2.8 cm (Tuesday night) and I was ordered a release from the hospital. I finally left at 10.00 pm that night! Wow, was I relieved!! It was weird to stand up again after being in bed for so long and I was a little dizzy. I was ordered to take it easy at home. I could not do anything but lay down and go to the restroom. No problem!! I called my doctor in Miami and have my appointment next week on Wednesday (Feb 21). We will see how to go from there. But right now I am positive and this little munchkin will have to wait 17 more weeks to introduce himself :)