Weekend Update..

This past weekend was all about Baby!! For the past few weeks I have had ongoing contractions that I assumed were Braxton-Hicks contractions and at my OB appts told the doctor about them. Every time she asks "Are they more than 4 an hour? Does it last longer than 2 hours?" The answer is always Yes. She then tells me, repeatedly, that I need to call Labor and Delivery if that's the case and go in for an evaluation. My response would be "When they get more painful." And she would say "If you are having more than 4 an hour for 2 hrs...." So finally this past Friday afternoon I had been having "more than 4 an hour for 2 hrs.." so we decided to go in for evaluation. We also already knew that the contractions were not just Braxton-Hicks and were doing something because she had checked last week and I had already started dilating. We had to wait a long time, I guess all the sunny weather had gotten babies ready to come out, so by the time it came to shift change guess who the doctor was to come see me?! My very own! So that was cool, plus she got to see that I did finally follow her advice :O).

Well, I guess I was having way too many for them to be comfortable with, but the baby was having a grand ol' time moving around and had a great heartbeat going as well...(Tyson had a fun time dancing to it). We got to have an ultrasound to make sure everything was ok inside and the baby was soooo cute! (Ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, everything was moving and looked pretty clear!) Can't wait to meet him/her!

1. One of the options was transferring me to St. Vincent since they birth preemies (wasn't anything 'wrong' with the baby, just that it was a too early to be born.)
2. Another option was giving me a blood pressure medication to stop the contractions.
3. Another was giving me a steriod injection to help the baby's lungs develop quicker and then doing one of the first two options.

Fortunately the baby specialists thought the baby would be fine and said that the steriods were not needed. (And I still wasn't in active labor!! Just having a lot of contractions and continuing to dilate). The decision was then that I would take the bp med and stay an hour to see if the contractions would stop. They did slow down significantly, didn't stop altogether, but enough that the dr. felt comfortable with me going home. She did give me the option to spend the night if I wanted. Uh..as fun as that would have been...No. The side effects were HORRIBLE, but then all day Sat it was actually pretty nice not to have a contraction every 5-9 min.

We did go back for an evaluation on Sun evening as contractions had been going every 9 min for over 4 hrs, but I am now at a point where they are comfortable with the baby delivering normally if it comes to that. Obviously it will be best if it stays put for 3-4 more weeks at least, but there's no need for worry if it does decide to come early. So, now I can disregard the "if you have more than 4 an hour..." and I'm supposed to follow the "get lots of bedrest and keep off your feet" rule.

But there are a few things I want to get at Ikea....hmmmmm....

You can pray with us that the baby would keep growing safe inside for awhile longer, patience for me to accept the sitting down all day rule and peace of mind for Jason while he takes care of us all and continues to go to work.