In The Hospital

So I woke up Sunday morning and immediately thought something wasn't right. I was feeling some heavy cramping that just wouldn't go away. I thought it couldn't be contractions because contractions are supposed to come and go and not be a steady cramping feeling. So I thought maybe I was just backed up a bit and needed to use the restroom. Tried that succesfully :), and then laid down to feel the contractions coming and going. I told Andrei to call the doctor, and the doctor said to go to the hospital right away. So off to the hospital we went. They immediately hooked me up to fetal and contraction monitors, and sure enough my contractions were strong and about 2-5 minutes apart. They decided to give me a shot of terbutuline and when that didn't work, they gave me two more shots of it in a one hour period. The side effects of that was horrible. Lots of trembling and uncontrollable jitters. That seemed to help the intensity of the contractions although I was still having them. Then they decided to give me Procardia which is a pill that stops contractions. The babies did really well the entire time I was there. They also told me I would be staying at least overnight to monitor the babies and my contractions. They moved me to a high risk labor and delivery room which was HUGE. I knew they had remodeled the L&D section of the hospital since having Ava but I must admit I was pretty impressed with the room. I'm sure lots of it has to do with the fact that they need tons of doctors and nurses in there at one time for both babies so making it large was necessary. It was pretty surreal to see the little isolettes in the room for right after the babies are born. I wasn't quite ready for that yet.

On with the story. All night I was feeling the contractions again. They were coming anywhere from 2-5 minutes but not very strong, just mild cramping. Oh, I forgot to mention, they checked my cervix several times throughout my stay and my cervix was completey closed and plus 4 which means I wasn't in true labor which was a good sign. They also told me they were going to give me 2 steriod shots to help the babies lungs develop in case they were to be delivered anytime soon. I had my first shot at 3pm on Sunday and needed to get my second shot 24 hrs later so I was guaranteed to be at the hospital until 3pm yesterday. The nurses were absolutely wonderful and the doctor who delivered Ava happened to be on call that day so overall I was very pleased with how the whole thing was treated. Dr. Gulecyuz even asked me what my thoughts are about how I want to deliver, vaginally or via c-section, since both babies are head down. I am really unsure at this point and she said we could decide that together when the time comes. I really would love to go vaginally since I had such an easy labor with Ava even though I was told my small pelvic size and the fact that she was big was going to make my delivery difficult. I remember the nurse telling me Iwould be pushing for hours and I pushed her out in about 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Dr. Gulcecyuz remembered that and said the fact that these guys would be much smaller would make it that much easier, but that you always risk the chance of the second baby turning when the first is delivered, therefore having to do and emergency c-section anyway. It would be great to come home with the twins and not have to also recover from a c-section and have Ava to deal with as well. I guess I will just see what my instincts tell me when the time comes.

To finish off about my hospital stay, after around 4 in the morning the contractions were coming every hr or so and not at all noticeable. So the drugs seemed to be working. Dr. Gulecyuz sent me home with two weeks worth of the Procardia to stop contractions which would put me to 35 weeks. After that, if I go into labor I will deliver the babies. I decided to do a little poll so please take the poll when you have a chance. I've always assumed these babies would be born in early October for some reason, but looks like it could very well be September. Dr. Gulecyuz did tell me that just because I stop the Procardia, doesn't mean I will immediately go into labor. Especially since my cervix is not dilated at all. It could happen within a matter of days or weeks. Thus the reason for the poll.

And not to sway anyone's polling choice, but with Ava I was induced at 41 weeks because I just wasn't doing anything on my own. After they kept increasing my pitocin, I finally asked for an epidural at 8 cm dilated. The nurse kept coming in prior to that asking me if I wanted any yet but I wasn't feeling too bad at all and was afraid I would get it too early and it would wear off when I really needed it. She told me I was lucky I didn't wait a second longer or Iwouldn't have gotten it at all.

In the meantime, thought I'd share with you some lovely pictures of my swollen elephant trunk feet and me preggers at 33 weeks 2 days (today).

This is me at about 20 weeks