I was born here at Sharp hospital and in the past few years I have heard nothing but amazing things about the women’s hospital here called Sharp Mary Birch. I knew this is where I wanted to have my baby if and when the time came. Unfortunately I am here a little sooner than I had hoped.

Sunday morning 1 day after stopping the Terbutalene my cramps came back with some contractions so I took a bath and we headed to Triage. Once I was there it all started to feel so familiar. I was hooked up to a contraction and a baby monitor and sure enough I was knocking out contractions every few minutes, some of them getting a bit painful. I was given a dose of Nifedipine (which was the same thing they gave me at Mission Hospital but it lowered my blood pressure) and told to hold tight 30 minutes and then she would check on me. Sure enough nothing happened so she gave me another dose and said she would be back in one hour. I could feel the contractions coming consistently so I knew the meds weren’t working. She then checked my cervix and said I was dilated 1 cm. That’s when the Dr. came in and said I was going to be admitted into the Perinatal care unit. Plan was to hook me up to a Magnesium Sulfate IV which is a muscle relaxerfor 48 hours, continue taking Nifedipine and start on some antibiotics as I am continually monitored. That was just the start of it.

My room is nice, just big enough. I have my own bathroom, a TV and wireless. So far so good. Once I got the IV in  that’s when everything happened. In a matter of 2 hours I had my blood drawn, my finger pricked for a Glucose test, another Cervical check, a steroid shot for baby’s lungs and the demanding task of ordering all my meals for the next 2 days. The nurse who did this cervical check said she didn’t think I was dilated at all but my cervix did seem short. So now I have had a total of three different women check my cervix and they each had a different thought on my poor cervix.

Once the drugs were pumping through my IV, the nurse said it usually takes about 30 minutes until the contractions start to slow. This did not happen to me. A couple of hours later they bumped up the magnesium and that’s when I started to feel the awful side effects of the drug.  Dry mouth, headache, feeling hot, blurred vision. I tried my best to stay cool and get comfy but sleep wasn’t looking to be in my future. I had the contraction monitor on the whole time, so every time I needed to use the restroom (every 45 min. with an IV in me) I had to unplug myself from one side of the bed and then unplug my IV on the other side of the bed and roll my new drug machine to the bathroom with me. The best part is I have to record everything that comes out of me in cc’s each time I go. Then I would plug myself back in and try to get comfy and sleep only to do that over and over all night long. They bumped up my dosage of magnesium for a third time and then I really felt awful. It was like I had the flu.

In the morning, it looked like my contractions had slowed way down and baby was still looking great. My Dr. came back and said that he was lowering my Magnesium dosage and taking my off constant monitoring. Every 8 hours me and baby will be monitored for one hour. If these contractions stay calm they will take me off the IV and give me oral doses of Nifedipine and do another cervix check. If the drug keeps the contractions away and my cervix is long and closed then I can go home Wednesday.