We are still in our 33rd week :) After a weekend of bed rest, I feel much better and well rested. Mom came down for the weekend to keep me company and Jonny's been super husband/dietician (helping me pick less salty foods to keep down the water retention). The swelling has gone down a lot! My legs are still swollen, but not as severe as they were last week. The doctor thought I'd be ok returning to work since I mostly sit at my desk all day.
By Tuesday I noticed I was having Braxton Hicks more regularly. I started counting them and had 7-8 every hour. I called my doctors office to let them know. My fear is always to be that "crazy patient" who calls about EVERYTHING. But since they asked about them at my last appointment, I thought it’d be best to let them know. I got a call a few hours later from Mary, the triage nurse. Their office was going to be closing within the hour and she recommended I go straight to labor and delivery at the hospital. I reminded her I wasn't in pain, and they mainly happened when I would get up and walk around. I've never felt a real contraction from labor so I’m not sure where mine stack up. She let me know if they are strong enough to notice the tightening and trigger me to count them, they are too strong (definitely considering how far along I am). I asked her if I could rest for the night and come in to see my doctor the following day. She said false labor contractions go away when you walk around. The fact that mine were more pronounced with activity was a huge concern. She said she would let the hospital know we were on our way. The whole way home to get Jonny we went back and forth on what to do. I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be put on monitors for a few hours and sent home. We ultimately decided to go...
When we got to the hospital they immediately checked my blood pressure which was way too high.... 143/93. They started an NST right away to make sure baby was active (which I could already feel) and to see just how bad my contractions were. A nurse came in and drew more blood for another preeclampsia test. We spent the next two hours waiting on results and watching the monitor screen. We also watched an episode of Friends, which happened to be the one where Phoebe has twins, how appropriate! Finally, the nurse came in to let me know that I was once again negative for preeclampsia. She gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and sent us home. My blood pressure was back down to 128 over something….. Since I was lying down for a few hours it had gotten better. They never checked to see if I was dilated or anything. Walking to the truck, the contractions started again. We decided I would just call my doctor the next day to see what was going on.
After talking with the MA on Wednesday, she recommended I come in so they can put me on daily medication to ease my contractions. My doctor wasn't in, so I saw Laura the NP. She checked my cervix and found that I'm already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. His head is down and he's getting ready to make an entrance. Laura did a Fetal fibronectin (fFN) test to send to the lab which should tell how high my risk is for premature delivery. fFN is a protein produced during pregnancy. It acts as a biological glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. If fFN is detected before 35 weeks of pregnancy, preterm labor is indicated. It usually suggests you will go into labor within the next 2 weeks. They said the hospital technically should have done all of this when I was there! They also put me on a hypertension (high blood pressure) medication called Nifedipine to ease my contractions. The NP is thinking I will probably wind up on bed rest until delivery after my appointment next week. They want to make sure Ollie cooks till at least 36 weeks at the absolute earliest. They are pretty much set on delivery at 37 weeks though. Which lands us right on our 1 year anniversary (11/13/2011)! What a wonderful gift :) It's a bit overwhelming to think that our little boy could be here in 4 weeks or less... there is sooo much to do! and to buy! We've been slacking!
Luckily, I already had this week scheduled off work. I decided to come stay with mom since Jonny is headed to NY for his brother’s wedding tomorrow. Today my routine has been: sleep, eat, pee.... usually in that order. It's been nice to relax and finally get some sleep. Hopefully my fFN test results will be in by tomorrow at the latest. We are really looking forward to meeting with our doctor next week to try to set a more permanent plan in stone for delivery... and hopefully see that I'm not dilated any more.
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