[disclaimer: i'm about to overshare, so if you disapprove of internet oversharing, please stop reading now :) ]
we had quite the scare almost two weeks ago, when i was 29 weeks (and 2 days) pregnant.
i woke up sunday morning feeling like i had your average head cold. i wasn't surprised, because i had felt super run down and depleted for the last few weeks. i had definitely been pushing myself too hard (with both fun and not-so-fun activities), so i thought i just needed to take a day to rest and recover.
we were in california, because we had driven down 9 days before, to spend the week of thanksgiving with my family. then we had driven up the coast to newbury park (where nick grew up) to spend the weekend at jo's (a good family friend) house, for nick's 10 year high school reunion (lol, i know).
anyways, back to sunday morning...i woke up feeling sick, so i stayed at the house while everyone else left for church. i was laying in bed, relishing in the quiet, about to fall asleep for a much needed nap, when i had a super strong urge to pee. (ha, not so out of the ordinary for being largely pregnant.) so i begrudgingly pulled myself out of bed, and went to the bathroom. i was completely shocked when i stood up, turned around, and saw that the toilet bowl was full of bright, red blood.
obviously, that's not something that's ideal to see when you're 29 weeks pregnant, so i immediately started to panic. i called nicolaus, who told me specifically to not google it (ha, because i have a bad habit of self-diagnosing via google), and came straight home. he called our doctor, who told us to go to the hospital, just to make sure it's not placenta previa.
if you know me, you know hospitals give me the heebie jeebies, but i was still relieved to be going, since at this point i was starting to get some cramps in my lower stomach. they checked me right into labor and delivery (which felt really strange/surreal being only 29 weeks pregnant), and hooked me up to all sorts of things. baby's heartbeat sounded good, as did my heart rate/blood pressure. they drew my blood to run some tests, then sent me to go get an ultrasound.
baby girl looked healthy and happy and huge (i was measuring at 31 weeks), my cervix was still closed, and my placenta was in the right position. so things seemed good, and i was feeling super grateful and relieved.
uuuntil, they wheeled my back into my room, and my cramps had kicked up a notch or two, to what felt like actual early labor contractions. for about 15-20 minutes, they just kept getting stronger, and i started getting shooting pains up my back (and with niels i had bad back labor). and the nurses said they were measuring a lot of uterine "irritations" and contractions.
at this point, nicolaus and i were both feeling confused and scared. i just kept thinking, 'it's too soon. it's too soon. she can't come yet.' the nurses gave me a shot of something to try to stop/slow down the contractions, but it didn't work at all. so the gave me another dose in my other arm. the medicine made my heart beat super fast, and first my hands starting shaking, then my whole body started shaking. again, something that happened during niels' birth. it felt like niels 2.0, but way worse, because it was too soon. 29 weeks was too soon.
then, as i was already living my nightmare of needle after needle, the nurses/doctor said they were going to give me steroid shots to help quicken the development of baby's lungs, in case she comes early. they poked me right in the bottom, and the pain of that shot was instant. my bottom and leg instantly felt like it was colossally bruised and dead.
so i feeling pretty discouraged and uncomfortable between the sore arms, bottom, leg, stomach and back, when the doctor came and told me since the shots of medicine weren't stopping my contractions, that they were going to try procardia (another medication that's supposed to slow/stop contractions). luckily, procardia came in pill form! ha, not so luckily, it didn't work as well as the doctor was hoping.
but, instead of getting noticeably stronger and stronger, my contractions had leveled off quite a bit, the back pain had subsided a lot, and the shaking had gone away. the doctor told me he thought all of this (the bleeding and irritations/contractions) had most likely been due to a minor placenta abruption. which is when a small piece of your placenta breaks off, and causes bleeding and irritates your uterus.
buuut, just in case all of this had been caused by an infection in my amniotic fluid, they were going to put me on an antibiotic. i hate taking any sort of medication when i'm pregnant, so i was pretty bummed about the amount of drugs that they were pumping into me. but, i chose to trust the doctor (who was luckily one that our friends had experience with before, and everyone had rave reviews about him), and do what he said. since i was not ready for this baby to be born.
by the evening, even though a premature delivery didn't seem as imminent as it had earlier, the doctor still wanted me to keep me at the hospital overnight, since they were still measuring a considerable amount of irritations/contractions.
so nicolaus went to jo's house to pick up nielsy (thanks kerry for being the best, and watching him), and food. i got some good nielsy snuggles, ate dinner, and had some sweet visits from friends, who brought me treats, books and magazines. plus nicolaus and a few of the boys gave me a nice, comforting blessing.
i always thought staying overnight at a hospital by myself would be terrible, but it actually wasn't that bad. i had sent nicolaus back to the house, because i knew he wouldn't get any sleep at the hospital, and niels wouldn't sleep at the house without us there. but i slept pretty well, and i loved the nurse i had during the night. plus my contractions had slowed way down! by the next morning, they were mellow enough that the doctor said as long as i stayed on strict bedrest, and came in the next day for a non-stress test, that i could go home! so they gave me the second dose of that awful steroid shot and sent me on my way.
and when baby and i passed the non-stress test the next day (aka the day we had originally been planning on driving home), he said i should be okay to drive home in a few days if nothing else went awry. and that i just needed to stay to stay on bedrest (literally only get up for the bathroom/showers and meals), until my doctor at home told me otherwise.
so after a few super mellow days at jo's house, we drove home, a little nervous that something would go wrong, a little sad to be leaving our friends, but very anxious to make it home and be near our own doctor and hospital. after a long, uncomfortable 10 hours we made it home! and after a weekend of bedrest with a lot of very appreciated help from friends and family, we saw my doctor, who told me to take it easy, but that i don't need to be on full-blown bedrest! he said he also believed it was probably a minor placenta abruption, which happen randomly and usually take care of themselves. and that while there's always a chance of an early delivery, that some women just starting getting contractions early on (i've still been feeling pretty mellow ones every day since the whole bleeding incident), but still deliver full term babies.
so THANK YOU for all the love, help, support, good vibes that have been sent our way. we have felt them and we really appreciate them. and please keep sending them our way, because we really want this baby to keep cooking for another 6-9 weeks! :)
aaaand now, after that saga of an update, here is my run-of-the-mill update for pregancy:
how far along are you? 31 weeks! and trying to never again complain about being 'sooo large', and still having 'sooo long to go'. i'm just grateful that she's still cooking!
sleep? most nights are bad, some nights are good. i've been building a giant pillow fort around me every night, and that's been helping with comfort and support.
movement? still sooo much of it. she loves dancing/flipping around. and her range is pretty impressive. sometimes i'll feel jabs super low, and feel a swift kick in the ribs at the same time.
symptoms? ha, oh just mellow contractions a few times a day...but there have only been a few times that they've really been alarming, because they haven't gone away after a few minutes, like they usually do. also, NESTING. i'm going a little nuts. (with quite a bit of help) i've been tearing our house apart, trying to get things in order for this new baby.
cravings? i want to eat all the things. every time i see someone eat something on tv, i can't stop thinking about it until i eat it. haha nick and i have been re-watching new girl, and they had cake on it one night, and the next day i neeeeded cake, so i ate cake. ha, and last night they had chinese food, and i think we're going to go on a chinese food date tonight. :)
looking forward to? honestly, just checking things off my "to do before baby" list. every time i get something done, i feel super relieved/accomplished that it got done pre-baby.
we had quite the scare almost two weeks ago, when i was 29 weeks (and 2 days) pregnant.
i woke up sunday morning feeling like i had your average head cold. i wasn't surprised, because i had felt super run down and depleted for the last few weeks. i had definitely been pushing myself too hard (with both fun and not-so-fun activities), so i thought i just needed to take a day to rest and recover.
we were in california, because we had driven down 9 days before, to spend the week of thanksgiving with my family. then we had driven up the coast to newbury park (where nick grew up) to spend the weekend at jo's (a good family friend) house, for nick's 10 year high school reunion (lol, i know).
anyways, back to sunday morning...i woke up feeling sick, so i stayed at the house while everyone else left for church. i was laying in bed, relishing in the quiet, about to fall asleep for a much needed nap, when i had a super strong urge to pee. (ha, not so out of the ordinary for being largely pregnant.) so i begrudgingly pulled myself out of bed, and went to the bathroom. i was completely shocked when i stood up, turned around, and saw that the toilet bowl was full of bright, red blood.
obviously, that's not something that's ideal to see when you're 29 weeks pregnant, so i immediately started to panic. i called nicolaus, who told me specifically to not google it (ha, because i have a bad habit of self-diagnosing via google), and came straight home. he called our doctor, who told us to go to the hospital, just to make sure it's not placenta previa.
if you know me, you know hospitals give me the heebie jeebies, but i was still relieved to be going, since at this point i was starting to get some cramps in my lower stomach. they checked me right into labor and delivery (which felt really strange/surreal being only 29 weeks pregnant), and hooked me up to all sorts of things. baby's heartbeat sounded good, as did my heart rate/blood pressure. they drew my blood to run some tests, then sent me to go get an ultrasound.
baby girl looked healthy and happy and huge (i was measuring at 31 weeks), my cervix was still closed, and my placenta was in the right position. so things seemed good, and i was feeling super grateful and relieved.
uuuntil, they wheeled my back into my room, and my cramps had kicked up a notch or two, to what felt like actual early labor contractions. for about 15-20 minutes, they just kept getting stronger, and i started getting shooting pains up my back (and with niels i had bad back labor). and the nurses said they were measuring a lot of uterine "irritations" and contractions.
at this point, nicolaus and i were both feeling confused and scared. i just kept thinking, 'it's too soon. it's too soon. she can't come yet.' the nurses gave me a shot of something to try to stop/slow down the contractions, but it didn't work at all. so the gave me another dose in my other arm. the medicine made my heart beat super fast, and first my hands starting shaking, then my whole body started shaking. again, something that happened during niels' birth. it felt like niels 2.0, but way worse, because it was too soon. 29 weeks was too soon.
then, as i was already living my nightmare of needle after needle, the nurses/doctor said they were going to give me steroid shots to help quicken the development of baby's lungs, in case she comes early. they poked me right in the bottom, and the pain of that shot was instant. my bottom and leg instantly felt like it was colossally bruised and dead.
so i feeling pretty discouraged and uncomfortable between the sore arms, bottom, leg, stomach and back, when the doctor came and told me since the shots of medicine weren't stopping my contractions, that they were going to try procardia (another medication that's supposed to slow/stop contractions). luckily, procardia came in pill form! ha, not so luckily, it didn't work as well as the doctor was hoping.
but, instead of getting noticeably stronger and stronger, my contractions had leveled off quite a bit, the back pain had subsided a lot, and the shaking had gone away. the doctor told me he thought all of this (the bleeding and irritations/contractions) had most likely been due to a minor placenta abruption. which is when a small piece of your placenta breaks off, and causes bleeding and irritates your uterus.
buuut, just in case all of this had been caused by an infection in my amniotic fluid, they were going to put me on an antibiotic. i hate taking any sort of medication when i'm pregnant, so i was pretty bummed about the amount of drugs that they were pumping into me. but, i chose to trust the doctor (who was luckily one that our friends had experience with before, and everyone had rave reviews about him), and do what he said. since i was not ready for this baby to be born.
by the evening, even though a premature delivery didn't seem as imminent as it had earlier, the doctor still wanted me to keep me at the hospital overnight, since they were still measuring a considerable amount of irritations/contractions.
so nicolaus went to jo's house to pick up nielsy (thanks kerry for being the best, and watching him), and food. i got some good nielsy snuggles, ate dinner, and had some sweet visits from friends, who brought me treats, books and magazines. plus nicolaus and a few of the boys gave me a nice, comforting blessing.
i always thought staying overnight at a hospital by myself would be terrible, but it actually wasn't that bad. i had sent nicolaus back to the house, because i knew he wouldn't get any sleep at the hospital, and niels wouldn't sleep at the house without us there. but i slept pretty well, and i loved the nurse i had during the night. plus my contractions had slowed way down! by the next morning, they were mellow enough that the doctor said as long as i stayed on strict bedrest, and came in the next day for a non-stress test, that i could go home! so they gave me the second dose of that awful steroid shot and sent me on my way.
and when baby and i passed the non-stress test the next day (aka the day we had originally been planning on driving home), he said i should be okay to drive home in a few days if nothing else went awry. and that i just needed to stay to stay on bedrest (literally only get up for the bathroom/showers and meals), until my doctor at home told me otherwise.
so after a few super mellow days at jo's house, we drove home, a little nervous that something would go wrong, a little sad to be leaving our friends, but very anxious to make it home and be near our own doctor and hospital. after a long, uncomfortable 10 hours we made it home! and after a weekend of bedrest with a lot of very appreciated help from friends and family, we saw my doctor, who told me to take it easy, but that i don't need to be on full-blown bedrest! he said he also believed it was probably a minor placenta abruption, which happen randomly and usually take care of themselves. and that while there's always a chance of an early delivery, that some women just starting getting contractions early on (i've still been feeling pretty mellow ones every day since the whole bleeding incident), but still deliver full term babies.
so THANK YOU for all the love, help, support, good vibes that have been sent our way. we have felt them and we really appreciate them. and please keep sending them our way, because we really want this baby to keep cooking for another 6-9 weeks! :)
aaaand now, after that saga of an update, here is my run-of-the-mill update for pregancy:
how far along are you? 31 weeks! and trying to never again complain about being 'sooo large', and still having 'sooo long to go'. i'm just grateful that she's still cooking!
sleep? most nights are bad, some nights are good. i've been building a giant pillow fort around me every night, and that's been helping with comfort and support.
movement? still sooo much of it. she loves dancing/flipping around. and her range is pretty impressive. sometimes i'll feel jabs super low, and feel a swift kick in the ribs at the same time.
symptoms? ha, oh just mellow contractions a few times a day...but there have only been a few times that they've really been alarming, because they haven't gone away after a few minutes, like they usually do. also, NESTING. i'm going a little nuts. (with quite a bit of help) i've been tearing our house apart, trying to get things in order for this new baby.
cravings? i want to eat all the things. every time i see someone eat something on tv, i can't stop thinking about it until i eat it. haha nick and i have been re-watching new girl, and they had cake on it one night, and the next day i neeeeded cake, so i ate cake. ha, and last night they had chinese food, and i think we're going to go on a chinese food date tonight. :)
looking forward to? honestly, just checking things off my "to do before baby" list. every time i get something done, i feel super relieved/accomplished that it got done pre-baby.
having vast collection of bedroom furniture like Kids Beds toddler bunk bed with slide
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