Labor & Delivery Trip # 2

So yesterday I was sent back to labor and delivery for what I was certain was another bladder infection.  I told everyone in the office it was no big deal and that I was fine.  I even went and ate lunch before I went to L&D, knowing they would not let me eat after I arrived. 

It is my last week at work, I put in my notice a little over a week ago and I was positive that I was going to be able to work until Friday and then if I had to be put on bedrest...that would be fine!  Sometimes things don't go as planned! 

I called Michael and had him come and pick me up from work and take me into the hospital.  They checked me and set me up and much to my surprise I was between 2 and 3 cm dilated and contracting every 5 to 7 minutes.  So we started fluids and brethine once again.  And that is when it sunk in that I was actually in labor and that there was a chance I was going to have babies!  There were tears, but Michael was great.  He had Angela and Tracy come sit with me while he went and picked Riley up from school and took him to Holland and Reeds house...he was happy as a clam to be playing with his best bud Chappell.  Meanwhile my Mom had been planning to come and see us today, so she was grabbing all her stuff and hit the road in a mad dash a day early.  Riley's last day at ECDC is today so she was planning to come and stay with him for my last two days of work and then help me around the house this weekend with my sister and my dad...how else do you spend your 30th birthday weekend when you are pregnant with twins?

So that was how yesterday went and below is the email I sent out this morning detailing the medical side of things: 

"I want to preface this email by saying it sounds like a lot of complaining, but please know that I know how blessed I am and I have just had a miserable day (sleeping exactly 0 minutes in 24 hours) however, the babies heart rates have been fantastic the whole time, so my misery is purely my own.


So since I arrived here I have had three bags (or more) of magnesium sulfate...not a fan, although my nurse leslie says I have handled it so much better than most people (again so blessed). Magnesium sulfate is given when patients are dealing with preclampsia/high blood pressure or in my case to act as a muscle relaxer. Because it is acting as a muscle relaxer they have to check my reflexes. They have also been checking my oxygen saturation levels because it can interfere with breathing. So nothing to help with my sleep last night as they needed me to continue breathing first and foremost. The other thing to know about Magnesium Sulfate...you are not allowed out of the bed at all! Can we say bed pan...I am just lucky my nurse saved me from the catheter.

I have also had three blood draws, 3 shots and my central IV has had three lines in it at almost all times. I am becoming really good at finding squirming infants on the heart monitors and my stomach probably looks as though it is covered in shelac from the tons of ultrasound goop it has been coated in.

Anyway, as I was writing this Dr. Kouri came in and said that everything looks great. He is taking me off of the magnesium sulfate and switching me to a pill of some sort at noon. He is getting a second round of antibiotics into me in case labor proceeds. Then they plan to monitor the girls rates until noon. This afternoon I will have the second dose of the shot that helps with their lungs. This afternoon and tonight they will be watching me to see how the new anti contraction meds work and if everything goes well, I will get to go home tomorrow. He also said that we may be able to keep labor at bay until 37 weeks.

All that being said I have been watching the screen since the mag was removed and I can see my contractions increasing. They can not start the new med until new bc it has interaction with the mag.

And for the record I will only wish Irish twins and friends and family in the future...the last 20 hours has been awful.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, and feel free to pass this email along to anyone who you thinlk might care to read it.

Allison"