I was released from the hospital earlier today. It’s nice to be home and it was so nice to shower with my own products and in my own shower.  I think the best part was getting the IV out of my arm. That was becoming a nuisance. I am on bedrest for the most part and was told to keep up my Nefidipine every 6 hours and to drink 3 liters of water a day. I also need to keep track of baby’s kick counts each day.

I have a follow-up appointment on Monday where they will hook me back up to the monitors to see how things look. Let’s hope I am still home by then. I am feeling fine so I think everything will be ok.

After 48 hours of the Magnesium IV, I was taken off of it at 12:00pm. At the same time I was given an oral dose of Nifedipine.  They will continue to monitor me every 6 hours and if the contractions do not come back I will be released tomorrow. It’s been an hour and so far so good!

Dr. said they want to see me back in the office on Monday to recheck things but other than that I am to be a “blob” at home.  One of the first things I am going to do when I get home is make sure I get a hospital bag ready to go…just in case. If I do end up back here I want to be prepared.

See you in 6 hours!

After the Dr. left this morning I asked the nurse if I could take a shower. She said yes..Yipee! I felt super funky after being poked and prodded, hot and cold all night and peeing every hour. I was so happy. After my shower I was able to put on my own clothes and no more monitors. Finally feeling so much better. My dad came to visit and my good friend Annemarie. It was nice to be able to visit without feeling strapped down and drugged up. Having visitors really does break up the monotony of the day. As my friend was on her way out the nurse asked if I wanted to go to Baby class, “Sure” I said. Who wouldn’t want to get out of a room they have been in all day and night?

It wasn’t much of a class but 3 prego gals and a nice instructor who was able to squeeze in a little bit about breastfeeding after we used all the time up talking about ourselves. Both girls had been here since last week and both of them will be here until their little ones arrive. unfortunately both their babies have health problems and will need to go straight to Children’s hospital right away.

I left that class feeling thankful that our baby girl is healthy so far, but the reality is I will most likely end up back here and baby girl will be in the NICU. I asked the nurse if I could go visit the NICU tomorrow to get a sense of what it’s all about. You know, kind of get the initial shock out of the way and watch all the great things happening in there. However the nurse said I don’t have wheelchair privileges here yet. I guess with time you earn these things. Maybe not a bad thing. I can ask the Dr. tomorrow when he or she shows up.

The nurse sat down to answer some of the questions I had, one being; “what happens if I am let go Wednesday on some meds, will I continue to be monitored?” She said that at if the contractions don’t come back frequently and with pain then at 32 weeks I would come back here and be put on a contraction and baby monitor twice a week. She didn’t sugar coat it. She said that women sit in chairs for hours and hours being monitored. It can get really uncomfortable, nothing like the nice bed I get to lay in as I type this. If they notice contractions coming at a good rate or baby’s heart rate is abnormal they will re-admit me. Plain and simple. She suggested making sure I eat a good meal before I come to wake baby because if baby is napping the longer I would be here. I also think it’s time to finally pack my hospital bag if and when I get home!

I just had my 8 hour monitoring and it looked good. No big contractions and baby is happy. Probably the chocolate pudding I was eating 🙂 I feel so much better and I am really hoping this lasts through the night. Oh who am I kidding I hope this lasts til May but I will take one day at a time.

Keep your fingers crossed that all is well and cervix is closed. I will be back tomorrow when I know more!

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.

Since my  wonderful husband got me my new Mac Air I couldn’t figure out how to get WordPress  downloaded. I guess he must have figured it out cause here I am. Wow so much to catch you up on.

Last Thursday I started having a bunch of Braxton Hicks contractions followed by cramping and backache. I tried not to worry too much about it, took some Tylenol and went to dinner since I was feeling better. During the night I kept waking up with more cramping but then it would go away. Finally the next morning when a warm bath wasn’t helping the cramps and backache I decided it was best to head to the Hospital. Kicker was, I was in Orange County. My mom took me to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and that’s when the fun began.

They hooked me up to a contraction monitor and a baby monitor and right away could tell that I was indeed contracting, and a lot more than I thought I was.  They ran a bunch of tests and did a cervix check and they all came back with good results. Baby wasn’t on her way yet. However I was still contracting 2-3 minutes apart and some were getting pretty uncomfortable.

Then came the drugs. They gave me injection after injection of a drug called Terbutalene, no luck. Then they tried an oral dose of another drug that did help but lowered my blood pressure so they couldn’t give me anymore. The next morning a specialist came in and performed a vaginal ultrasound to check things. Everything looked fine, cervix was long, baby looked great. She is now measuring 3 lbs. The Specialist put me on an oral dose of Terbutalene to see if that would stop the contractions. After 5 hours or so I felt so much better, contractions calmed way down almost stopping. Once the Dr. came back and saw that things looked better she released me and gave me a prescription of Terbutalene to fill and take every 4 hours. As she handed me the presciption she was notified that the FDA just black listed the drug. I went home hoping I could fill it anyhow because at that point I just wanted out of the hospital and into my own bed.

The pills did help slow down the contractions but the side effects were terrible. I was shaking uncontrollably and couldn’t even form sentences without my brain and mouth getting jumbled. I felt awful. The next morning I did some reading on why the FDA black listed it and after reading a few articles including this one:

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/pregnancy/2011-02-18-fda18_ST_N.htm

I  decided I wasn’t going to take it anymore. If the cramps and contractions came back then I would go to Triage at Sharp Mary Birch.

It’s amazing to me how hard of a time I had finding a couple of things for baby girls room. First was the hunt for an all white crib skirt. Seemed like an easy enough task except that nobody makes them. They have ugly browns, creams, stripes and polka dots and of course all the skirts that come with the bedding in a bag. The second item I wanted was a kids size bookcase. Something I could use for toys and books but was small enough for the space I had left in her room, apparently no furniture stores sell them, they just have the crib, bed, dresser and nightstand. I told one salesman that I thought it was crazy that bookcases aren’t available, all children should have books in their room. That’s my opinion. So I turned to Amazon.com where I found both of the items I wanted but that means it also comes with a shipping fee which is what I was hoping to avoid but what do you do? The bookcase was inexpensive so it probably wont last very long but will suffice for a few years, giving me time to find a decently built and well priced one preferably here in San Diego so we can pick it up! Ya know now that I think of it, I didn’t even think to look on DirectBuy. Oy!

Here is the final decision from Amazon:

I also ordered 2 pink bins that fit inside. Perfect for loose toys!

Once these arrive I will be all set to hang some shelves above the bookcase which should wrap up the nursery. Except for the diaper changing necessities, oh and a crib mobile. That is another thing I can’t seem find, well I can’t find one I like.

I went back to see the Pregnancy Specialist this morning for the monthtly follow-up ultrasound. It’s always fun to see baby girl, especially when it’s a positive experience. Kaili is doing great! Measuring 1 week ahead, weighing 2lbs. 11 oz. Everything looks fine, Dr. says that the Velementous cord doesn’t seem to be bothering her one bit.

We also talked about D-day and it looks like there is no reason for a C-section. She doesn’t think any of the issues I have will affect her. She did follow that up with “1 out of every 5 woman having a vaginal delivery end up with a C-section for some reason or another”. However, the OR is right across the hall from Labor and Delivery which makes everything a bit easier.

Here are a couple pictures of Baby.

                                                                              Hands covering her face

                                                                          She is most definitely a girl

I did it! I managed to get the tree decal up on my own even though the directions strongly recommended using two people! I am happy with the results, now onto the crib bedding!

We got the furniture in for Kaili’s room and it looks great!

   What do you think of this tree with a pink owl right next to the crib?