What A Week!

Baby Girl -

Well, 26 weeks went by quickly and without anything interesting happening.  Then week 26 came and everything changed.

At 26 weeks, I began to have a sharp pain in my side.  Not that I really cared about the pain and felt like, maybe I was just being whiny, I only cared about you.  My mom talked me into calling the doctor's office.  They suggested I go to a local hospital and let them check you out and make sure everything was going ok.  Luckily, you were doing GREAT!  Your heartbeat was around 140 and you were movin' and groovin'.  However, after getting to the hospital and being hooked up to several monitors, they realized I was having contractions.

At 26 weeks, this is not good.  You were not ready to come, and neither your daddy nor me were ready for you to come.  They gave me shots that night to try to stop the contractions with no avail.  Finally, realizing I wasn't going anywhere for the night, I settled into my hospital bed expecting to go back to work next week and continue with my "normal" pregnancy.

The next morning, my OB stopped by to see me and wanted to have an ultrasound run one more time (we had already had one the night before - we found out that you were 2 lbs and growing!).  So one more ultrasound, another shot to stop contractions and a test to make sure I wasn't going to deliver you at that point, the oncall doctor said my OB wanted me in Huntsville.  I was not excited, but told her I would call my mom to come get me and take me straight to the hospital.  She laughed at me and told me that we (you and I) would be going by ambulance.  This made me realize things were a little more serious than I thought!

Our ambulance ride was very exciting.  We rode all the way with the lights on going 85-87 mph.  On the way we had a "follower."  The ambulance drivers felt she was making the situation more dangerous than it needed to be and ended up calling the police to report her.  Once we arrived at the hospital, we were taken to triage.  Here, they hooked me back up to monitors (you were doing great) and realized I was still contracting.  They gave me two more sets of shots to try to stop them but they continued.  They gave me 2 steroid shots to help develop your lungs in case you decided to grace us with your presence, and magnesium sulfate to try to stop the contractions.  This led to an interesting string of events for the night, but luckily I didn't respond as badly to the "mag" as they had anticipated.  The next day they moved us to yet another room (3 at this hospital, and 4 if you count the the stay in the local hospital). My OB was very concerned that we would not even make it to 32 weeks with you (normally it is 40).  You have found your home very, VERY low in my tummy.  You have always been this low, but now it has started to cause a few problems. We were here for the long haul.  It was Labor Day weekend and we weren't going anywhere until at least Tuesday.

We had family and friends come visit every day to try to make the stay more "comfortable."  Your daddy stayed with us every night and brought us breakfast, lunch, and dinner (We are picky eaters - hopefully you will not be).

Finally, Tuesday came and we were released - on bed rest - to our house.  So for the next (now 12 weeks) we would be on bed rest, except when we had to go to the doctor each week.  Bed rest is not as luxurious as it sounds!  We have done a lot of reading, sleeping, word searches, and TV watching.  Bentley and Zoey (your four-legged siblings) have kept us company each day.  This made me very sad, because there were a lot of things I needed to get done before you made your grand debut!

Luckily, you are being blessed into a wonderful family who has come to help at every chance.  Nanny and Papaw have brought food and got your nursery furniture here for us.  Your daddy, my mom (we don't have a name for her yet), and your Aunt Jenelle helped paint your nursery.  Friends have sent gift cards and brought food for us to eat (which really helped your daddy).

We have now made it 29 weeks (still on bed rest) and you are doing well.  The doctor told us Tuesday we could go out to eat or to a movie every once in a while.  She feels more confident that you will at least make it to 32 weeks.  So, we will continue to sit here and see exactly how long past 32 weeks you will make us wait.  Don't get me wrong, your daddy and I can't wait to meet you, but we want you to grow strong and healthy and stay in as long as you can!  So far now, we are waiting until October 5 (our next doctor's appointment) to see where we go from here.  Hopefully, you will still be doing well and will stay in for a little longer.

I may have given up some hope that you will be born in December, but I am hoping you will make it to 34-36 weeks.  Your due date is December 5, 2012.  You have proven to be stubborn so far and, even after this scare and 12 weeks of bedrest and worrying, you will probably make it that far!

Love,

Mommy