Tuesday evening update

We saw the Dr early this morning and she decided to take me off the magnesium sulfate at noon today and continue to monitor to see if I have any more contractions, then she will check me in the morning tomorrow and I will be tested again for the fetal fibronectin and if that comes back negative then we can for sure go home, she didn't say what we would have to do if it came back positive again, I am hopeful we won't have to cross that bridge. I have been doing good today, since they weened me off the magnesium I have felt much much better, much more like myself. I will be so glad to get back home and in my own bed. I am so tired of laying in this uncomfortable bed. Jarrod did go buy me an egg crate mattress topper last night, since we thought we would be here till Thursday and it has helped quite a bit, but it's still soo uncomfortable! Jarrod went to work today and my mom stayed at the hospital with me. I have been trying to rest but between the different nurses coming in to get this or that and all the visitors I have had it's been hard. A hospital is definitely not a place you go to get rest!! They have also decided to stop taking my blood every 6 hours, since I am not on the mag, so I am hoping that we can get more uninterrupted sleep tonight. It seems like just as soon as we get good and asleep we are awoken by one of the nurses for something. Maybe tonight will be different! I am crossing my fingers that this time tomorrow I will be in my own bed! Which if that happens, Dr. Layton made it perfectly clear that I would be on strict bed rest, only up to the bathroom. She said if I can't do that at home they would have to keep me here, so I am going to do my very best if given that chance! Thanks again for all the emails, calls, thoughts, and prayers! Continue to pray for the safe arrival of our little guy!

Monday update. . .

Well we are still here. It looks like we are going to be here for a while. The doctor came in this morning and just wasn't ready to sound an all clear yet. She is going to wait until Thursday to check her again so she doesn't disturb anything or anybody. They don't want to cause her to go into labor. And she didn't come right out and say it but from the things she said I took that to mean that we will most likely be here till Christina delivers or goes into labor. If she goes into labor they will try to send us to UAMS.  Since nothing is really happening yet Jeanie is going to come up and stay tonight and tomorrow night with Christina so that I can go home and sleep and work on Tuesday and Thursday. She is still only on the monitor every 6 hours and they backed the mag down a little (her levels were getting pretty high) so that has made her feel a little better. Other than that we are still just hanging out waiting on something to happen. Thanks for all the calls, thoughts, and prayers they are very appreciated. Jarrod

Oh! and Happy Father's day!

I think this has got to be the crummiest father's day weekend ever for poor Jarrod!! Spending his time in the hospital with me running around getting stuff for me and helping me to the bathroom. . . .poor guy. He is indeed showing his true colors, and I know he is going to be a great dad. I can't get over how he just stepped up and took control of things. I am not a good patient to say the least! I hate having him, or anyone, do things for me! He is being very patient with me and I know I am so blessed to have a husband that takes such good care of me and our unborn child. I do hate that I missed Father's Day with the rest of the family, but I know they know we would be there if there was any way we could! To all the Dad's out there, Hope you had a Happy Father's Day!!

We're still here. . .

I made it back to the living today!! The magnesium sulfate they are giving me has some nasty side effects, one of the worst is flu-like symptoms and heavy chest. So I am really tired and not feeling good at all. But the good news is that none of the monitor readings can track any major contractions at least not with any sort of pattern that they can see. And the baby's heart rate remains great. We are really anxoius to talk to the dr tomorrow morning to find out where we go from here. . .if anywhere! At least if they keep me I think they will take me off the IV, I really hope so anyway. Thanks so much for all the emails, calls, thoughts and prayers! Keep the prayers going up! We are in good hands and are fully confident that the Lord will take care of our little guy.

Our Hospital Stay

Well we are in our second night here at the hospital. Everything seems to be going pretty good. She is only being put on the monitor every six hours now for 30 minutes at a time. She is able to eat real food now and i think that has made her feel better even though the magnesium still makes her feel bad. The second steroid shot has been given and they at least wanted him to make it 24 hours after that before he comes if he decides to still come early. As of now if she has him anytime soon we will still be going to Little Rock to deliver if at all possible. We will see her regular doctor again Monday to decide where we go from here. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this time. Thanks, Jarrod

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.