my babies must have made a pact in heaven ;)

{I realize some of my posts lately have been more on the edge of the "To Much Information" type...

however, my main goal in blogging and posting pictures is to be able to better create a family 

journal for our small family and keep my close family members who live far away informed 

with what is going on in our crazy lives! The following is kind of lengthy, but enjoy!!}

So....I am sitting here in the hospital....once again. Yesterday morning around 10:30, I thought I felt a contraction coming on. It came and went and then another one came about 12 minutes later. I decided I better start timing them just in case they decided to continue. They went on for about an hour, every 7-12 minutes and so we decided to call the midwives. 

Patty had me take a second dose of my Nifedipine and then watch to see if they calmed down for the next two hours. Needless to say, they didn't stop. They slowed down for about an hour and then picked up again. I gave her a call back, she contacted Dr. Kim Cox to consult with him, and they decided to have me come up to Labor and Delivery to hook me up to the monitors once again. She said that if there was no change with my cervix, they would just monitor me and try another medication. If my cervix had changed, then they would hook me up to the magnesium sulfate IV drip for 48 hours which is the last resort when it comes to trying to stop contractions. 

So, Justin and I quickly packed our bags and headed up to L&D (at least this time, we came with some things to do in the hospital room AND we knew where we were going!). The nurses hooked me up to the monitors where it showed my contractions and then Patty came in and checked me and told me that I was dilated to a 2 already. She talked to Dr. Cox who then came in and said that the plan was to hook me up to magnesium to see if they couldn't stop the contractions. I was on a magnesium drip for 48 hours with Gracie and it was MISERABLE! It made me extremely hot, skewed my vision, made my legs feel like a rag doll....crazy stuff! At least I knew a little bit about what to expect! 

Dr. Cox also talked to us about the fact that the baby is breech. Because he is still so early, they will not attempt to do any aversion (movement on the outside of my stomach) to get him to flip the right way. If they were to try and do that this early, the likelihood of going into labor is extremely high. So, if contractions continue and if the baby is indeed coming, and he DOESN'T miraculously flip before then, we will be anticipating a C-section. I've really dreaded that thought, however I think I've come to terms that whatever will be will be and getting this baby here safe (should he decide to come NOW) is really the only thing that is important. So, I guess we will see. 

 

At 4:15 yesterday, they started the mag and did a loading dose of 6 grams with 2 grams every hour after that. That loading dose was intense. I literally felt like my blood was boiling! Justin said that I didn't feel hot to the touch, but I could just feel my insides burning. Luckily, that only lasted about 45 minutes and then it tapered off. SO FAR, the 2 g/hour hasn't been bad. I haven't been hot (although Justin does have the room temp down to 50 degrees in here and he is freezing....poor guy!), but I have started to notice today that my vision is a bit more skewed and when I get up to use the restroom, I have to think about my legs. The next 24 hours are going to get interesting! They gave me a second dose of the Betamethazone steroid that they gave me 2 weeks ago. They call this dose a "rescue dose" that is given to help the baby's lungs again, just in case he comes early. Every little bit helps when dealing with possible preemies. 

After they gave me the loading dose of mag, the contractions pretty much stopped for 45 minutes. They started coming on pretty regularly from 5-6:30pm, about 3-4 minutes apart. After that they began to slow down to about 7-10 minutes apart. The last contraction I remember having was around midnight. I then fell asleep and didn't notice any contractions, at least any that woke me up. The nurse said she could see a few small ones on the monitor throughout the night.

This morning, the first contraction that I noticed was around 8:40 am. They have been coming fairly consistently since then about every 10 minutes apart. We spoke with Dr. Cox this morning -- the plan is to see where my contractions are at tomorrow afternoon when they take me off magnesium. If they have slowed down or stopped, there is a chance that they could send me home on Saturday. However, because the contractions have kept coming WHILE being on magnesium, the chance that they will stop after being off magnesium is not that good. But, it's like the nurse said -- every situation is different. They have seen everything! For this baby's sake, we will keep praying that the contractions stop so that he can have all the time he needs to grow and develop! 

Speaking of growing and developing, we received good news yesterday when the ultrasound technician came in and did an ultrasound on the baby. She said that she is measuring him at 4 lb 12 oz and measuring me at 33 weeks and 4 days. This was GREAT news!! Obviously, as she said, it's very subjective and they like to give themselves about a pound leeway and 2 weeks leeway on how I'm measuring. BUT, even if he was on the higher end of 3 and even just over 4 lbs right now, that would be a decent weight should he decide to come early! Gracie was 4 lb 2 oz and although she was in the NICU for 3 weeks, she did really well. They say that baby boys don't do as well as pre-term baby girls...they just struggle a bit more. So, the bigger he his, the better! 

Justin and I just have to laugh during all of this. We are pretty sure our babies must have made pacts with each other up in heaven before they came to join our family. Gracie probably told Preston "Okay, I'm going to give mom and dad a hard time and get to earth EARLY! Just to stir things up! You have to promise to do the same thing!" Our kids WOULD do something like that :)

Of course we are a little worried. However, we have both felt at peace on so many levels -- the fact that we know a little bit more about all of this routine -- the mag, the pre-term possibilities, the NICU possibilities. We have felt at peace with the good care we are receiving -- the fact that Dr. Cox is friends of the family and was there when Gracie was born [ALTHOUGH, he is leaving town tomorrow morning with his daughter, so he won't be around IF we have to deliver this weekend.....even at that, I feel good with the doctors that are on call. I haven't met them yet, but from what I have heard from others who know them, I feel a little more at ease]. We feel at peace with knowing that if this baby comes, he will be small and he will have to be in the NICU, but we feel that I have had a healthy pregnancy and things will happen how they are supposed to. Dad and Justin were able to give me another priesthood blessing last night and I just felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort! We are blessed to have the priesthood in our lives and to literally feel the blessings that it can bring! 

Not the most flattering picture....but we are still smiling (and a little flushed from the mag!!)