OH WHAT A NIGHT!

Ok, so it wasn't December or 1963, but it WAS a crazy night.

I WAS IN LABOR. EARLY.
AS IN PRETERM.
AS IN WAY NOT GOOD!

Here's how it went down:

4:00 I noticed contractions coming more than 4 an hour. That was the marker at which I was supposed to call the doctor. I didn't want to call the doctor. I didn't want to go to the hospital. I didn't want to be in preterm labor. I took a shower instead.

5:00 When I got out, I did call the doctor. They suggested I drink 2 LARGE glasses of water and lay down for an hour and see how I felt.

6:00 Lighter contractions, but they're still coming. Nurse tells me to get in to the OB Dept and be seen. So, I call Timmy (who doesn't believe me right away), then I pack up the kids and a diaper bag for TJ. Dumb, dumb momma wasn't thinking that they'd be having a sleep over, so I never packed clothes. I got ahold of Kathy's hubby about 6:45 and he told me where to find her. So we go looking. She was at the track with the kids for a kiddie track camp thing. So, I pass the kids off to her, chat awhile and then drive myself to the hospital.

7:45/8:00ish-11 Get all cozy with the staff at RCMC Birth Suites. GREAT FACILITY, btw! Get checked in, get on the great gown, do a urine sample for them to send down, thinking it may be a UTI causing this. Nurses call my doc who is too far from Menomonie to assume care for me. She orders Terbutaline to help stop the contractions and tells them to call the oncall doc. They get a hold of her and she orders fluid and magnesium sulfate to stop the contractions. FOUR pokes and 3 nurses later, they get the IV going and start the mag sulfate. It doesn't work. So, they call all the docs they can and no one wants to care for me since I'm a VBAC. One doc did say he'd take me if I'd agree to a C-section. Uh. NO! So, they did finally get ahold of my doc and by then she was in the area again and came in. Since they couldn't get the labor stopped, and they are not equipped to handle babies delivered before 36 weeks, the transferred me to United Hospital in St. Paul. So, about 11 they get me into the ambulance and we head out to the hospital.

MIDNIGHT: Get me to the hospital in St. Paul. The contractions were getting stronger the whole while and I was a bit nervous that we were gonna have to deliver in the ambulance! But, we made it. When we got to the hospital, the plan was to let me deliver or whatever my body was gonna do, so they unhooked the mag sulfate and left me on just the IV fluids. You would THINK that the contractions would continue, but no. The stopped. About 2am I asked for a sleeping pill. I could use that everynight! Sometime in the night they unhooked the monitor and I woke up this morning having NO RECOLLECTION of that what-so-ever! I slept so hard til the phonecall from mom woke me up. Then 2 seconds after I got off the phone with her, Tim called. The nurse came in and gave me breakfast and got me up to speed on what I'd missed since 3am (it was now 7:30). I WAS BEING DISCHARGED!! Mom and Grandma were on their way, so they ended up bringing me home. I am so happy to be here, but I'm on bedrest and have to learn to take it easy. Not an easy task, especially for me!

So, Kelly is coming to take the boys tomorrow, Kathy had them overnight and is going to call and check on me tomorrow. Edna from church has offered to help. So, I think we should be good to go.....provided I learn to sit still. While mom and Grandma were here, they cleaned up the yard, washed 4 loads of laundry and fed supper to the boys. It was so hard to sit still that long!! So, Apparently, I'm going to be getting more than my fair share of computer time trying to sit still. I've got a book and a couple of movies. That should do me for a day. lol!

The nurse (Andrea) that I had at RCMC was awesome and she just kept laughing at how calm I was. Really, there was nothing that I could do, so why get worked up, right? I was totally freaking out on the inside, but I needed to hold it together. I wanted Timmy, but I got my mommy. That's not the worst trade off. I sure was glad to see her (and Grandma, too!)!!

So, that was our night last night. Hopefully tonight is calmer and has FAR less activity!