Monday, July 28, 2008

My BUSY Weekend

Well so far I've coasted into 31 weeks........................ or so I thought. As the weekend approached my Doctor and my family were discussing how far I could go and were trying to set a date for delivery. If your thinking this seems strange, it is if your caring only one baby, but with four, 34 weeks is considered full term, so that means 3 weeks if possible.

Well the if possible seems possible, but scheduling is not so easy ..... to deliver the babies it takes 2 OR rooms, one for me and my doctors and staff & the other one for the 4 babies to go into with their staff. All in all coordinating over 16-20 people maybe more with 2 units involved (Labor & delivery and the NICU .) Finally, it seems as though this crazy pregnancy has some schedule and consistency ............... BUT as Dr. B. stated that's if you can go that far so we can set a date, but it can all change in a day. So I know my date, but it's a distance still to go, so when I get closer you'll know too.

So it's Saturday, the date was set, family was visiting and helping me finish my scrap booking of Kyle's baby book, big brother t-shirts, & isolette pics for my babies to see when were not at the hospital .....Well...................... I started to feel different. My uterus was contracting and I was starting to feel cramping and pressure. Enough so that I decided to lay down and relax. I started counting these feeling I was having. They were 10-15 min apart. I notified the nurse and continued to rest and focus on relaxing. The Toco monitor was picking up the contractions also ............... So in came Dr. Webb a very nice and handsome fellow who I've met 1 other time prior to today. He decided we needed to check my cervix ............. it had thinned 70-80% and my safety net or cerclague might have opened or is loosening. He said you know what this means................as he paused I could only think gee I guess it might be today, man I was hoping to go further, I can't believe it's my only nephew's birthday and I'm gonna do this to him, then my last quick thought was I guess Dr. Webb will be the Doctor Delivering me I hardly know him............................ his answer STRICT BED REST.
Auugh ....... I said what does that mean ............. no more wheelchair rides, just bed rest, bathroom privileges and a quick 10 minute shower. I replied, "I cannot wash my hair in 10 minutes, laughing", he said," just make them shorter". He put me on tocolytics (Procardia XL 30mg BID) to halt contractions and dilation. It's working!!!!!! He also said, "Jill you are and have been doing great", I agreed and said "I'm lucky I've made it this far without total bed rest and medication. I'm O.K. " He rubbed my shoulder and said "your gonna make 34 weeks." I think he was expecting me to cry, but instead I was elated not to have to deliver so unplanned instead. So the weekend continued and more steroids were administered to protect and mature the babies lungs and my bedhead and side laying have become my new comfortable position and look.

O.k. so that was Saturday. ...... On Sunday, at 5 a.m I woke up with more contractions. My 2nd dose of procardia was due at 5:30 so I got up to go to the bathroom. As I walked across the room still asleep I didn't quite comprehend my pants were getting wet. I sat on the toilet and went to the bathroom and woke up enough to realize or think - Did my water just break? I stood up and waited for more fluid to be released but nothing happened so I lied down, and waited. 15 minutes later, the same thing happened only less this time ............. of course I called the nurse . The resident appeared to check my cervix for leakage - lets just say this exam was painful and very awkward, but no fluid leakage .................she also stated that my sutures were intact and my cervix was closed, as she finished the exam (this could only happen to me - the speculum was caught in the open position, the bolt to open the device wouldn't release with out some Kelly clamps to loosen the bolt so after a few minutes I was free and scared to death that this device was going to be caught/stuck there requiring more issues.) Oh well a little scare but no harm done. Apparently, the contractions and walking forced my bladder to release. Just one more thing to deal with. Dr Webb said, "he's was surprised it hasn't happened before now".

The rest of the day was set up for growth testing of the babies and a Biophysical profile. That requires a whole different blog so hang in their I'm catching up with time.
Jill

3 comments:

Jessica said...

Jill~

We are all thinking of you and praying for you and the little Schwartz "litter"!

I am so proud of you...you are doing awesome!

In hindsight I would have voted you "most likely to have quads" when we were in high school...lol!

See you soon!

Jessica (JJ)

barnesquads said...

Well I wish the BEST to make it farther than 32 weeks. That would be so awesome!!!Think of how far you've come without any major intervention, that's amazing in itself.
Oh one more thing about 16-20 people in the c-section room is a very low estimate...double that between the 2 O.R. rooms. Unless of course things are done differnetly 2 years later...we had 38 people. There were interns peering thru the windows of the 2nd O.R. during the c-section. If I make it up this week I'll bring our birth video.
Jamie

3 good eggs said...

Girl you hang in there!! You are doing a great job and it wont be long until you meet your new little ones.

I hated bedrest and didnt handle it as well as you are. My guys came at 27w 3d. You can do it!!

Hugs,
Christine
Mom to Ian, Spencer, & Oliver