Thursday

damn, i am tired

Yesterday at about noon, I started having what felt like Braxton-Hicks contractions. Painless, but quite definite. They picked up all afternoon until they started feeling pretty uncomfortable, and I was feeling quite a bit of pressure with each one. At about 4:30 pm, I called my doctor's office from my office. They told me that since they were about to close up shop for the day, they wanted me to head over to the hospital to be checked out at L&D.

Damn.

So I met Jon over there (he kindly picked the children up and took them to their Aunt Betsy's for playtime with cousins and a good supper) and after a short time in the ER, they took me up to the maternity floor, where I spent the next 4 hours hooked to a monitor.

The monitor showed I was having about 4 definite contractions each half hour (duh, I could have told them that), which meant I was "having some preterm labor."

I had a GREAT nurse who was really attentive and communicative all night. She told me this is not that uncommon with 4th and subsequent babies and while it's not something they want to see in someone in the second trimester, it's not necessarily that worrisome unless they can't make it stop or it happens repeatedly. The good news was that I wasn't dilated at all, and the baby's heartrate and movement looked excellent.

My bloodwork determined I was dehydrated. Dehydrated? I drank, like, 56 glasses of ice water all day. But whatever.

So they hooked me up to an IV bag of fluids and gave me a shot of brethine in the arm and told me these treatments should stop the contractions. WIthin an hour they had and we were finally back home at about midnight. I was exhausted and sore, but the brethine, which is technically a stimulant, kept me up all night.

So this morning I am very, very tired and sore, but now it's time to get the kids up and off to school, and me to work. My doctor wants to see me in his office sometime this morning, so I guess I will somehow now squeeze that into an already jam-packed work day.

When I am tired like this, I find it's important to not think about it or give in to it all day. You just have to pretend you are NOT actually tired and proceed through your day that way.

I work until 8 tonight (THursday is the day I tape the TV show I produce, and the children spend the night with their Dad). So after I get off at 8, I will come home and collapse. I'll bet I'll sleep like a log tonight.

And keep your fingers (and legs) crossed that I don't have any more preterm labor.

5 comments:

Leslie said...

That sounds scary. You keep YOUR legs crossed; I'll say some prayers for you!

Anonymous said...

Your attitude to handle this with some reverence, but not enough to stop your daily routine is great. Lots and lots of preterm contractions happened to me as well with my 4th. There were times it panicked me, but as long as I was wasn't dilating, the midwives were not concerned.

What was really frustrating is that I dilated to 3cm in my 37th week, and we got all ready to go. Ha! The baby did not come until 2 weeks later.

But keep drinking that water....

Anonymous said...

Please be careful. Maybe this is the baby's way of telling you to start delegating more and doing less.

Anonymous said...

That sounds stupid and not like I intended. This is beyond your control. I was just worried for you.

Anonymous said...

You have a very hectic work and family life and taking it a bit easier is never a bad idea. If you exercise, you should probably stop. Do you have an office door; can you nap for 20 minutes during your lunch? Start this on a regular basis before you get ordered to bed rest.

Hydration is important however, I will guess you are not eating enough protein.
Every meal you should have protein and salt to taste.