Unexpected turn for the worse

So, things didn't turn out anything like I expected today. . . to say the least! Jarrod and I went to my Dr. appointment with the expectation that the doctor would either tell me I have made good progress and I can be off bed rest, or she would say I was doing about the same and for me to stay on bed rest and come back in a week. So you can imagine our surprise when after examining me she took a deep breath and said "I think we need to put you in the hospital."  Uh, Do What?!?!  I was really shocked. It was not at all what we were expecting to hear!! She is under the impression that my cervix is thinning even more (and I am dilated to  2cm) and that along with all the back pain I am having is enough to bring on labor at any time. She sent us straight over to the hospital. She wouldn't even let us go home and get our stuff!  We did run by sonic and get a snack, since we had planned to eat lunch after we got out of the Dr's office!

They have put me on magnesium sulfate (through an iv) to stop the contractions and I am strapped with two monitors. One for the baby's heart rate and another detects the contractions.  They tell me this magnesium is going to make me really sick feeling. I am ok right now. The first dose was kinda rough. It makes you feel really really hot, like your burning from the inside out. . .very strange feeling! They said it makes a lot of women nauseous, but it didn't bother me too bad. The worst part was them trying to put a catheter in. I am still convinced I have a bladder infection, and it was really painful, probably the worse pain I have ever had. Finally, after the one they put in wasn't working they gave up and took it out. I WILL NOT be having another one put in. They will have to sedate me to do that again!! It was horribly painful. I was crying so hard, I felt really bad for Jarrod. He was on the verge of crying, too. I know it was hard for him to see me in such pain and not able to do anything about it. Things are better now.  I am resting as comfortably as possible. They brought me my "supper" and I have been put on a liquid diet, which is the pits! I am starving. But I guess they don't want me to eat and then get sick to my stomach. I am having blood drawn every 6 hours to monitor the magnesium level. They have also given me the first of two steroid shots. This will help give Stratton's lungs a boost if he is born prematurely. They will give me another one on Sunday. Jarrod's Mom and Dad have been here and Brandye came by to check on us and of course my mom is still here. I hope we don't have too many visitors this weekend, since the meds are probably going to really kick in tonight and tomorrow and make me pretty sick.  

So here we are. We are not sure what to expect. I know we will be here at least through the weekend and they will revaluate the situation on Monday. The best case scenario is on Monday things will have improved and I can go home back on bed rest. Worse case. .  . Stratton makes an early arrival and they will transport us to Little Rock.

Please say a little prayer for us!  Hopefully the meds they are giving me will work and we won't have to be here much longer.

Two days down. . .

First let me say that the "A" key on my lap top is not working properly. You have to hit it really hard for it to work? So, if my posts contain words that lack an "a" it's because I am not hitting it hard enough. And I haven't been able to get Live Writer downloaded properly, so the formatting is messed up. . . Today wraps up the 2nd full day on bed rest. I got up when Jarrod did this morning and tested my blood sugar and ate breakfast. I am afraid if I continue to sleep in like I did yesterday, I won't sleep at night and I already don't sleep well at night so I don't need any more problems! I think if I get up at normal time and take short naps during the day maybe I won't get my sleep schedule to messed up. If the doctor tells me that bed rest looks like something I will have to deal with for the rest of the pregnancy I will have to get on some sort of schedule. So far I haven't been experiencing much back pain. Which is a relief. I am trying to stay in bed as much as possible. I have been a little sick to my stomach, but I figure that is from the antibiotics I am on, or just the combination of all the vitamins and meds I m taking. Besides getting up to go to the bathroom, to get a drink or a snack I pretty much stay in bed. Jarrod has been so great. Last night he came home from work and cooked us a great supper (grilled pork chops, baked beans and mixed veggies) then cleaned up the kitchen, did my laundry and cleaned part of the house. I feel really bad that I can't help. I hate to see him working so hard at the stuff I am used to doing. I already miss cooking. . . now the cleaning maybe not so much! Tonight he has gone to church, another thing I will miss out on. In our Sunday morning class we just started doing the Ten Commandments of Marriage and I was really looking forward to it, so that is just another thing I am bummed about. It just really hit me today that I may not be able to get out and do anything, besides going to the dr, again till I have this baby! Hopefully, things will get better and the Dr will at least let me get out, if even just for an hour or two, a couple times a week. Think of it, no work, no church, no shopping. . . the list goes on and on. And to make it worse Father's Day is Sunday and we had planned to go to Searcy Friday night, and HR on Saturday and Sunday for family get togethers. I know everyone will understand if I can't go anywhere but it just stinks to be missing out.

and it just keeps getting worse. . .

What a week?! Things have gone from bad to worse! If you haven't heard by now, I have been put on bed rest. I went to the Dr yesterday because I was sure I had a uti, well it turns out the back pain and other symtoms might have actually been labor related. I was dilated about a centimeter and so they put me on a monitor to check the baby's heart rate and to see if I was having any contractions. She told me that if I was having contractions I would have to go to the hospital, thankfully I wasn't having any contractions and the baby looks great so she just send me home with instructions to stay off my feet as much as possible. I have another appointment on Friday, I assume she will check me again to see if I have progressed or (hopefully)if it looks like things might be closing back up. She told me to expect to be on bed rest at least for a couple of weeks. The best case senario would be for things to close back up and I stop having back pain and then I can maybe go back to work and be off bed rest. The worst case would be that things continue to progress and I will have to stay on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy, which if I make it to my due date will be another 9 weeks! That just sounds impossible! I am thankful that I wasn't contracting, I'd much rather be here at home in bed than in a hospital bed. Please keep us in your prayers. I am doing pretty good, but since the dr told me no housework or even laundry, Jarrod may need the most prayers!

What's the deal?!

It seems like since I hit the 30 week mark I have been falling apart! I don't know what happened? It's like someone flipped a light switch!  I was doing so well. The only things I have had to deal with up till now was some fatigue and a little pain from the stretching scar on my belly.

It first started last week with the blood sugar problems, which by the way is going fine. Most of the time my readings are right at or below the acceptable level. Then last Thursday I started getting a sniffle which has now lead into a full fledged summer cold. Which of course makes it even harder to sleep at night since I can't breathe! And I have another Dr. appointment today to see if my suspicions are correct (and I have a uti) or if something else is going on. And if you have had a uti, you know how painful and miserable that is. I rested all weekend, trying to stay off my feet as much as possible,  hoping that would do the trick and I would be feeling better by today. Nope. I think I feel worse today than I did yesterday. I am not good at enduring pain and sickness, so I am anxious to feel better. . . . SOON!  I honestly don't think I can but up with feeling this bad for another 9 weeks. 

Progress has been made in the baby's room. We finally got the crown molding put up in the room last week. So, Jarrod spent most of the weekend caulking, sanding and painting it and it looks great. He worked really hard on it and it turned out so nice! We are all ready to start putting things together in there now!  I hope I am feeling better soon so I can get some things done!

So far so good. . .

I emailed the dietitian my meter readings from the last couple of days yesterday afternoon and I got an email back from her this morning that said to keep up the good work and email her my readings again next week. So, I guess I'm doing good enough that I won't have to go back to see her for another week at least. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Appointment with the Dietitian

It wasn't as bad as I thought. The Dietitian I am seeing is Bilinda Norman, and she was super nice. They gave me a cute, PINK meter and I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day. Once in the morning as soon as I get up and then 2 hours after every meal. I also have to keep a log of everything I eat.  And I have to limit my carbs, which isn't going to be easy but at least I get to have some!  She gave me a neat book that has a lot of restaurants and it lists the values of the food items that they serve. It's very interesting! Like did you know there are LESS carbs in a Chick-Fil-A, regular fried chicken sandwich than one of their grilled chicken wraps?! Who would have thought??

The whole appointment was very informative. The reasons why it's important to keep your blood sugar regulated was eye opening. Gestational diabetes has little or no effects on the mother, it all has to do with the baby. The most worrisome are the baby gaining too much weight (which can also lead to respiratory problems and also require a C-section delivery) and then it can more importantly lead to complications, like hypoglycemia,  after birth. Did you know that the baby doesn't receive any insulin while in the womb? Their bodies won't start producing that until after they are born. But they do get all the sugar that you are eating and drinking.  As soon as the cord is cut after birth the baby's pancreas starts producing insulin. The amount produced is based on the amount of sugar their little body is expecting to receive based on what they have gotten while in the womb, which can be dangerous. I wish they would tell us all this stuff at the beginning!  Maybe I wouldn't have indulged in as many milkshakes and dingdongs!  Oh and by the way, there is no way to prevent this from happening. It almost always a problem brought on by pregnancy hormones. So, all the lettuce and exercise in the world, while it doesn't hurt, doesn't mean you won't develop gestational diabetes. And Bilinda was pretty confident that once I deliver my blood sugar levels will all normalize and I won't have any lingering problems.

I am supposed to take my readings from last night and this morning and afternoon and email Bilinda later and see what she says. So far all my readings have been low. Hopefully my readings will stay in an acceptable level and I won't have to do anything else. In fact if all goes well I might not even have to go back, I will just stay in contact with her by phone and email.

Just say a little prayer that this doesn't get any worse and that maybe it will just be a bump in the road!

Short but sweet visit to the beach. . .

 

 

Why do vacations seem like they take FOREVER to get here and then when they finally do, they are over in a blink of an eye?! I am so glad we had the opportunity to "get away" for a few days, but man it went by fast! For those of you who don't know. . .we went to Perdido Key (Pensacola,Fl) with Jarrod's parents and his sister and her husband. We left Thursday morning and got back late Monday night. We had such a good time! The condo was really nice and spacious! We hung out at the beach and pool for most of the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then all went out to eat at night. All the seafood was so good! We ate at the Crab Trap, LuLu's, Flipper's and a little hole in the wall place called the Original Point Restaurant .  We also took one of those dolphin cruises one evening and it was a lot of fun! Sunday night we had family pictures taken by a local photographer. I am excited to see how those turned out! I did make a decision. . .while it was fun, it's not a trip I would take again while 7 months pregnant! The car ride was pretty uncomfortable, and we had to stop about every hour or so because of my constant need to visit the bathroom and my left leg kept going to sleep! And while the idea of laying out in the sun all day doesn't sound like a problem, for some reason I couldn't stand the heat! I got so hot so fast! Plus, it took all I had to get out to the beach (it's really hard walking in sand with already swollen feet!). I wouldn't do it again, but I am so glad we went! The weather was perfect and we got to get some r&r and spend time with the fam, so it's all good!  Thanks to Terry and Margie for everything! It's a family vacation that we will always remember!

And I got the results back from the 3 hour sugar test and some of those readings were a little on the high side again. So, I am scheduled to see a dietitian on Wednesday afternoon. I have no idea what to expect at this point. I am just hoping and praying that it isn't something drastic . . . like [dare I say it??]. .  .NO CARBS?? Hopefully she will just give me a better idea of what foods I need to start eating and what things I need to cut back on. Please send up a prayer for me, I am a little nervous about my appointment!