Another trip to Labor & Delivery

Early Friday morning, May 8th, I woke up with some cramping and back pain. It wasn’t all that bad, so I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. I managed to get a little bit of sleep on and off through the pain. When the alarm clock went off at 5 am for Phillip to get up and get ready for work, I noticed that the cramping was a bit more painful and my lower back was hurting more. I asked Phillip to massage my back to see if that would help, but it just seemed like it irritated my back more. Then I noticed that my belly was tightening up a bit when the cramping would start. I thought to myself “I hope I’m not in labor”. My mind started thinking a million and one different things. I remember my OB telling me that pre-term labor can occur with placenta previa, which I have been previously diagnosed with. I couldn’t think straight. But I did manage to call the after hours number to my Ob office, and the nice lady immediately got one of my doctors on the line with me. I explained to him what was going on, and he suggested that I head straight to the hospital and into Labor & Delivery where they could diagnose me better. So I got ready and off I went. I arrived there at 7 am. A nurse showed me right away to my room, had me change in to one of the very lovely gowns, get a urine sample and lie down on the bed where she proceeded to hook me up to the fetal monitor. She asked me all the normal, routine questions, then went to call my OB to see what course of action they wanted to take. ‘Lil Bean’s heartbeat was very strong, and he was very active. He kept kicking the monitor! It was such a relief to hear him! There weren’t many strong contractions at first, but there were definitely signs of an irritable uterus. The nurse came back in and told me that there was a lot of blood in my urine, and my OB wanted me started on an IV and a drip antibiotic, so that got done immediately. The nurse had a hard time finding a good vein – she stuck me 3 times with the IV needle, to no avail! She had to call on another nurse to come in and get it done. Finally, on the 4th try, it was a success! It was after that that the contractions started back up. Once again, my nurse had to call my OB, which luckily, was there at the hospital already making her rounds, to see how she wanted things handled. So my OB came in and checked to make sure my cervix and cercalge were still ok, which they were, thank God, and then decided that I could get a shot in the back of my arm to hopefully stop the contractions. She also said I could get Stadol to help with the pain. I gladly agreed to both, and was given both before too long. A few minutes after receiving the Stadol, I was in dream land! That stuff works wonders! My Ob also ordered an u/s on my kidneys, because of the amount of blood that was present in my urine. I was taken to get that done, and the results came back fine. No kidney problems! And the shot also worked, because the contractions started going away. I took a nap, and when I woke up, I felt a lot better than I did when I first arrived. It was around 1 pm when I was discharged and sent home with the same restrictions as I already had – bed rest with bathroom privileges and meal privileges.

So far, I have not had anymore episodes. My OB said that luckily, I was not having full-on contractions, or she might have had to keep me in the hospital for the duration of this pregnancy, which would have been AWFUL!!! Thank God that everything turned out the way it did! God is so good, and I praise Him for all that He has blessed me with. I am praying that 'Lil Bean and I remain healthy and problem free until delivery.

I have an u/s on Friday, May 22 at 10 am followed by an OB check. I have a few things that I need to discuss with my OB, and hopefully, the u/s will reveal more about my placenta and about ‘Lil Bean’s development so we can go ahead and finalize a date for my c-section. I’d like to have things panned out, as I feel like I’m running out of time and still have a lot left undone. So I guess for now I just have to wait and see what my next appointment brings! Pray with me that everything works out! Thanks and God bless!