Here is what has been going on for the past few weeks with the pregnancy and the little one:
31 weeks:
I had my usual check-up appointment on Monday, March 26th at 31 weeks and 3 days along. It was just your typical appointment that took about 5 minutes. Go in, get weighed and blood pressure taken, measure the belly, listen to the heart, answer questions (which I really didn't have any). Everything checked out great.
The little one that week according to online sites was about 16 inches long and 3.3 pounds (which we know from our ultrasound two weeks before that she was already 3 pounds 13 ounces on March 15th...so I think she is a bit bigger than that). She was also supposed to be preparing for a growth spurt at this time, which is a bit scary to think of with how big she was already measuring.
The little ones movements are turning from kicks and punches to more like rolls and squirms as she feels like she is running out of room in there. This week she was actually on a really nice sleeping pattern. I felt her a bunch in the morning and early evening and then she seemed to sleep at night from 10ish to 5ish. It was really nice because I was able to sleep too (well, as well as one can sleep at almost 8 months pregnant).
32 Weeks:
My belly at 32 weeks and 4 days.
I am not sure how week 32 came and went before I could even know it. I think we were all just so busy with work and life that it flew by. It was a pretty uneventful week with the exception of me getting my first case of heartburn/reflux. I was starting to wonder if this little one was going to grow some hair at the last minute, but I am not so sure. It may have just been what I ate that night. It hit for the first time on Monday evening and then again after lunch on Tuesday, but both days I had rather spicy food. This week I also began to feel really big and tired. I commented to several people during week 32 that I don't remember feeling this way this early on with Morgan. I guessed it was because I didn't have another child at home to be caring for when I was pregnant with Morgan. I also had a few people comment to me how it looked like I was carrying low and that the little one had perhaps already dropped.
During week 32 the little one was busy putting on her finishing touches. According to online sites this week she finished growing her toe nails and finger nails, she has hair growing, and is plumping up all around. Her movements this week continued to be really good and although I wouldn't classify her as an 'active' baby she definitely has her active moments. I am hoping that this means she will be a chill little girl who can have fun and run and play, but not be constantly on the go. Hopefully she will be able to sit still for a bit so she can enjoy stories with her big sister and playing babies with her too. We shall see.
33 Weeks:
My belly at 33 weeks and 2 days.
So, after our egg hunt before heading to Donna and Charley's went out back as a family so Morgan could be her artistic skills to work on my belly. (Please excuse my big belly and wardrobe, I didn't want to get paint all over a good shirt).
Morgan's hand prints.
After putting on her hand prints Morgan grabbed her paint brush and started adding more details.
The lighting is terrible, sorry.
Can she tell she liked the purple and blue paints best?
After a while Morgan decided to forgo the brush and just use her hands.
Poking what is left of my belly button.
Morgan thinks this is hilarious.
Morgan's masterpiece.
Every Monday while Morgan is at school I spend my time doing all my lessons plans for the upcoming week, grading, etc... so that I don't have to do school work when she is at home. It works out very nicely. Anyway, since I have had a weird maternal instinct for about a month now that I would not be making it to May 25th I have been working on sub plans just in case. It actually was nice because it was causing me to get really organized for the entire 4th quarter so I felt like it didn't really matter if I ended up needing them. If I did them now then in a week or two when I was done with them I could then enjoy my Mondays and not have to spend them doing school work. So... I sat one my computer doing school work all morning.
At 10:35 I left to get Morgan from preschool. We came home and did our usual routine of lunch and leg stretches. Then Donna came over. She was going to stay with Morgan so I could go to my doctor's appointment and then I would meet them over at Morgan's PT appointment.
That was the plan....things at the doctor's did not go as routinely this week as they usually do. I got there and got in almost right away which is always nice. They did the usual weight and blood pressure check and then put me in the room. As I was waiting for the doctor to come in I felt a contraction or two start, but I figured they were just Braxon Hicks. A few minutes later, my doctor came and in started the usual routine of measuring the belly and listening to the heart. She then asked what questions I had. Usually I do not have many, but with my instinct that things were happening faster this time I had some questions about the hospital, like where to go, when, etc... I also wanted to talk with her about the contractions I had last night. I figured they were Braxon Hicks, but I wasn't sure since they were waking me which they usually aren't strong enough to do that. As soon as I mentioned them she handed me a cover-up and said, "Let's examine you." Once she examined me she said that I was already almost 2 cm dilated and that she wanted to place me on the monitor to see if I was having any contractions. Thank goodness I brought a book with me to read.
As we were walking over to the room to be monitored she informed me that she would most likely be placing me on bed rest for the next two weeks. Oh great I thought. She left me in the monitoring room with the OB nurse to get hooked up and said she would check back on me in about 30 minutes. So I got settled in the chair, grabbed my book and thought I would have some nice time to catch up on some reading. Well, as I settled in and the machine started I began to get nervous. I could see the machine read outs and could see that I in fact was having contractions. I didn't feel all of them, but there were some I could definitely feel. They weren't painful, but I was feeling them (like a 1 out of 10). After about 30 minutes of monitoring my doctor came back in. She said she was definitely putting me on two weeks of bed rest and that she immediately wanted me to go over to the hospital because I was contracting and pretty consistently. She wanted me to go to OB triage and get an IV with some medication to stop the contractions. She also wanted me to get a shot of betamethasone (a steroid) to help the little ones lungs mature. As she was talking to me I immediately burst into tears. I am so excited to meet this little one, just not yet... it is too early. I don't want to have to do another NICU visit with this little one. My doctor is so wonderful and immediately calmed me down explaining that so far everything with this little one has checked out perfectly and that although it is early, it really isn't that early. She pointed out that I am 33 weeks and 3 days and that by 34 weeks they feel much better about the vital organs. She was also confident that they would be able to get my contractions to stop. So she said to head over to the hospital and that she would come by to see me there in a bit.
I left the office and immediately called David to let him know what was going on. I tried to remain calm on the phone so I wouldn't freak him out, especially since he took the bus to work that day and would have no way to come right to my side. I told him to call his mom and let her know I would not be meeting them at PT and suggested that she could pick him up at 4:15 after therapy and bring him by the hospital. I told him that would be best anyway since it was already almost 3:00. I knew that by the time I got to the hospital, checked in, hooked up, etc... it would be almost 4:00 anyway. He agreed that that plan would work and asked me just to keep him informed.
While heading over to the hospital I called Georgia to inform her what was going on. She just happened to be at her first day back in work (temporarily for AI.MS testing) so I asked her to call our principal and fill him in letting know about me being placed on bed rest and telling him I would call him when I knew more. I am so thankful that I have my best friend at work with me. She has been an amazing help over the past two days with this whole thing.
I checked in to triage at about 3:30 and by 4:00 they had me in a bed with an IV started. Ughh... I HATE IVs. I swear that they are most painful part about having a baby. I remember with Morgan that I had very little pain after her birth, the most painful part was the bruise I felt from my IV. Anyway, they hooked me up to an IV drip and the fetal monitor and contraction monitor. At first my contractions were about 7-10 minutes apart, but again not strong. While the drip was going they began to tapper off a bit. By 5:00 David, Morgan, and Donna had arrived. Since only David and Morgan were allowed to stay in triage with me Donna said she would run some errands but stay in town in case we needed her to come get Morgan. Morgan and David hung out with me for a bit. Morgan enjoyed checking out all the tubes and things attached to me. I think she was grateful that for once they were not attached to her. I think that is also why she handled things so well. Although she wanted to know about what was going on it did not scare her at all. By 6:00 my first IV was done, the contractions were spacing out but still there so they decided to try another bag of IV drip rather than giving me a shot of terbutaline, which can increase your heart rate. They were also getting ready to give me the steroid shot of betamethasone which they informed me would be painful and injected in the buttocks. Oh yeah! I decided now might be a great time for David and Morgan to go grab some dinner. So they took off to go get some Chipot.le together and I stayed put preparing for my shot. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated, but it did sting especially a few minutes later. While David and Morgan were out my doctor stopped in to check on me. She said that things were looking good and that the contractions were definitely now spacing out. She said that she would like to send me home on strict bed rest (up to change to a new place to lay and to use the bathroom only) for two weeks. She also said that if the contractions came back and were occurring with 6-10 per hour for 2 hours I should come back. So we finished up the last IV drip and by 7:30 were finally heading home. The contractions were now more than 30 minutes apart and not really consistent.
We were all pretty tired. By the time we got home around 8 poor Morgan was a tired mess and now I was told I couldn't really do anything to help. David sent me straight in to bed and then proceeded to get Morgan prepared for bed. I helped as much as I could having him put Morgan in bed with me. Lying down together I flossed and brushed teeth with her and read her stories. Once she passed out we then did our usual night time routine of watching TV together while stretching Morgan's hands and arms. At least that is something I can still do while being on bed rest.
By the time David and I were ready for bed around 9:00 the contractions had seemed to stop completely. Well, by about midnight that night they were back. I woke with the first one just about 11:50. I had asked David to give me a pen and notepad by my nightstand before we went to sleep just in case, so I recorded it and then went back to sleep. About 10 minutes later I was awoken again. Again, I recorded it and went back to sleep. Again, 10 minutes later I was up recording another contraction. By this time I couldn't go back to sleep since I was starting to get nervous. They were not painful, but they were there and consistent again. By the 4th one there was no way I was going back to sleep so I grabbed my laptop and started working more on finishing up those sub plans since I knew now with bed rest that I would be needing them, at least for the next two weeks. While typing my plans I continued contracting about every 10 minutes or so. Around 2 David heard me up and woke up asking what was going on. I told him that I had been contracting every 10 minutes or so and that in total I had had about 11 contractions in the past two hours. He immediately got out of bed and started getting stuff ready to go back in. He didn't want to take any risks with this little one coming too early. We called Donna and asked her to come stay with Morgan so we could head in. Between the time of calling Donna and her arriving at our house I was still having contractions and I thought they were maybe getting closer together, but at that time I wasn't recording them still because I was busy helping (ordering) David from bed on what still needed to be packed. Thankfully I already had a to-go bag almost ready so it was just the last minute toiletries and things.
Donna arrived just before 3:00 am and we headed for the hospital. Thank goodness it was the middle of the night so there were no cars out (or cops for that matter, David was driving like a mad man). In the car I started recording the contractions again and on the way in they were coming about every 3-5 minutes. Again, they were really not painful (the strongest I would may rate a 2 or 2.5), they were just consistent. We were checked in again to triage by 3:30 am. They hooked me up to all the monitors again and sure enough I was contracting. By now they were spacing out a bit to about every 6-7 minutes. After evaluating my lovely pee cup they knew that I was incredibly well hydrated (I had already chugged 4 of my Star.bucks cups of water since leaving the hospital at 7:30 that night) so they decided to skip the IV drip and go straight for giving me the shot of terbutaline. That seemed to work almost immediately. Within a few minutes my heart rate was up (nothing scary though) and my contractions were spacing out to 10-12 minutes. By about 5:30 they were down to about every 20 minutes. Things were looking good.
Around that time we received a visit from a friend of a friend, Jamilla. She is a good friend of my girlfriend Faith and also lives 3 doors down from Donna and Charley. She works nights in labor and delivery and saw our name up on the monitors. She is such a wonderful person and so sweet. She actually was working the night we went in to have Morgan. Anyway, she came over to visit and check in on how we were doing. While she was there my contractions actually started picking up again. The other nurses in triage gave her such a hard time blaming her for my contractions restarting. After visiting for a bit she took off. Right before she left I had what I would say was my strongest contraction, about a 2.5 or 3 on the pain scale. They were now coming again about every 7-12 minutes. By 6:30 when the on call doctor called to check in on me they decided that I should stay and be monitored for another hour. By almost 7:30 the contractions had began to space out again and still were not strong, mostly 1s and 2s on the pain scale. They decided that I may just be one of those women who contract for no good reason and that I should head home for bed rest (strict bed rest) and come back if they are consistent and STRONG. They said for me it might mean waiting until the contractions are making me stop talking and almost ready to cry.
So, a little after 7:30 we were heading home. By 9 yesterday morning they had stopped and I was able to finally get some much needed rest (I had only slept about 3 hours that night). I napped for about an hour and half and then woke up to start finishing up my sub plans. Thankfully since I am in a pull out class they were able to just cancel my classes for Tuesday to give me (and the school) time to prepare for me being out. As I said before Georgia has been an amazing help for me. I was able to email me her all my sub plans and she printed them, organized them by grade level, and set them out for my sub. She also put in what I needed for copies and got all those together. Then this morning she came by to get a few other things I needed to send in. She truly is the best!
I spent the rest of the day trying to stay put and relax. But around 5:30 we needed to head back to the hospital, this time thankfully not for contractions. I just needed to go back and get a second round of the betamethasone steroid shot for the baby. We were supposed to be there at 6:00, but ended up running late. We didn't arrive until almost 6:30 which ended up begin shift change. I had originally just had David and Morgan drop me off thinking I could run in, get the shot, and be right back out. Quickly I learned this would take a bit longer than planned. By 7 David and Morgan made their way in to sit with me, by 7:30 I still had not gotten my shot. Morgan was bored with the one book they had brought in from the car so they decided to head back out in get more since the nurse had just informed us that I would be getting the shot any minute but then would need to stay 30 minutes afterwards to be monitored for reactions. Oh great! So they went out to the car for books just in time. I didn't want Morgan to be there while I got the shot just in case I was not able to hold my "brave face" for her. By the time they got back I was done with the shot and we just had to kill time reading books for 30 minutes. By the time we were finally allowed to go it was after 8 and we were all exhausted. David hadn't napped at all, I had only napped for an hour and a half, and it was past Morgan' s bed time.
Morgan thankfully fell asleep quietly in the car and within 20 minutes of getting home I think I was out too. Since yesterday at 9 I haven't had any major contractions. I have had a couple here and there, more like Braxon Hicks this time where they are not consistent or painful. They have been so far and few between that I haven't bothered to record them. In fact from the time I went to bed til around 10 this morning I did not have a single one! Hopefully the little one realized that she still needs a bit more time to 'cook' before arriving.
In the meantime, I have now had the 2 shots. A friend who is a NICU nurse (she was actually one of Morgan's nurses and now I have had two of her daughters in class) said that they just ask for at least 48 hours after the shots to really help the lungs mature. In addition, she reiterated that after 34 weeks things usually start to look very promising as far as all vital organs being developed. She also reminded me that this little one has always been measuring big so that could mean she is slightly further along than we all think (or maybe that she is just a big, strong girl). Either way I hope this little one decides to stay put for a bit longer.
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