Wednesday evening (the 20th) we were in the store and i started to feel hot, clammy and uncomfortable cramping. I told DH that we needed to go because i didn't feel right, and that it was the first time the entire pregnancy that i felt pain/uncomfortable feeling that really really concerned me. Being the dummy that i am i told DH i didn't want to go be seen, i wanted to go home, shower and lay down for a while to see if it would ease up.
2hrs later i was still laying in bed, not feeling any better and DH insisted i go be seen because he was starting to worry. We got to the ER and they rushed me back to L&D to be monitored. They continued to tell me that they weren't picking up any contractions but that she had a great heart rate and was moving around. FINALLY after a few hours (i think) they started picking up my contractions and i was contracting every 1.5 - 4mins. They called my OB who instantly ordered shots of terbutiline (sp?) to stop labor. After the first shot of terb (its given in 2 parts) i asked the nurse very upfront "what happens if this doesn't work" because i didn't want to be left in the dark. The nurse told me that if the terb didnt work they would have to break out the "big guns" and give me an IV of magnesium sulfate and i would have to be transfered to a high risk hospital with a leve 3 NICU incase i needed to be delivered. After the 2nd shot of terb, my contractions had hardly even slowed down and i knew in my heart what was happening. I heard the nurse on the phone with my doctor, and heard her order the mag sulfate and knew i was leaving but wouldn't be going home anytime soon.
The called for the transport and told me that the only problem would be if i was contracting at all, they would not take me due to the risk of rupture during the transport. Thank god that the mag sulfate stopped my contractions. When we got to DMC in Modesto i was starting to contract again and the nurse told me "hopefully it is just from the rough ambulance ride and within the hour we can get your uterus relaxed again". I saw the doctor and they kept me in L&D. I wasn't allowed to have anything for the pain or discomfort because they wanted me to feel if i was to start contracting. After spending the entire day of the 21st in L&D and not contracting they decided to move me to anti-partum on floor 2 to be monitored for the rest of my pregnancy as i was told.
sometime after getting to the hospital and before moving up to anti-partum i was able to meet and talk to the NICU doctor and he told me exactly what to expect if we had to deliver her and gave me a lot of hope that she had a fighting chance.
While in anti-partum i was doing really really well but the mag sulfate was taking its tole on my body. The doctor i saw on the 22nd (i think) told me that 48hrs after i had received the 2nd sterroid shot for her lungs (which would be monday) they would start weaning me off of the mag sulfate and see how my body/uterus reacted to it. They didn't want me to be on the mag for any longer than i had to because of the long term side affects from it. My mom and sister came to see me. (on the 23rd) and i was having around 4 contractions an hour. The nurse told me they allow up to 6 an hour but i still needed to push the contraction button everytime i had one so they could see how often i was having them. Pretty soon i was feeling them more and more, and they were no longer just a 3-4 on the pain scale, but they were more like a 7.
The nurse called the doctor i had been seeing and he came to see me right away. He decided that he was moving me back down to L&D because he was not comfortable with the amount of contractions i was having. They gave me a doube dose of mag sulfate, upped my IV dosage, gave me a shot of terb and some morphine. They got everything ready and moved me down to L&D, and the doctor was waiting for us when we got there. He looked at me and said "i am not comfortable with these contractions and the fact that we dont have a little window to see in and see whats going on in there. Given your previous history and the risk of your uterus rupturing again i think the baby has a better chance if we deliver her now than she does if we wait it out. So if you are ok with it, we are going to prep you for surgery and take her ASAP". I started crying and told him i was OK with it, whatever it takes to get her here safe.
They did all the preping for surgery and got my in as soon as they could. i was able to be awake and just get the spinal and they let phillip be in there too. They started surgery and Phillip kept me calm the entire time, he told me "look, its 11:30 already" and right after that we heard them call her birth at 11:31am! She didn't cry that we know of, but her cry is so quite we wouldn't have heard it even if she was crying. They passed avery right from the operating room, through the little window into the NICU and started working on her right away. I started to feel really hot and i coughed, the doctors started yelling telling me i had to stop coughing that i had to hold them in. I told them i couldn't and i was starting to feel sick. They quickly rushed Phillip out of the operating room, put towels next to my face and gave me a barf bag. The barf bag fell on the floor and thats when it happened, i lost my entire breakfast, puking all over all of the towels they put by me. They gave me a shot of zofran in my IV and my stomach started to settle down.
They finished surgery and took me to recovery where they FINALLY (after being in there for 40mins) let phillip come back to see me again. We got told that she was 2lbs 4oz and 14.25in long. Neither of us were able to go see her yet though. We got moved into our postpartum room and we waited there with my mom, my sister and Phillip's mom so we could get the go ahead to see her. They finally let us see her but i wasn't cleared to go see her until later so phillip went down to the NICU and took pictures for me to see.
