In the hospital....BOOOOOO!

Monday morning, I woke up with a little extra pressure and a new pain I hadn't felt before. I decided to try to get in to see my doctor a day early. She was out of town so I grabbed an appt with her nurse practitioner. That was probably a very good move. I tested positive on my fetal fibronectin test which says I have a 60 percent chance of going into labor in the next 10 days. However, my cervix was closed (a very good thing) but softening. I was admitted to the hospital around 6pm for observation. After another exam, they decided to move forward with a steroid shot. This is done to finish developing the babies' lungs over the course of two days. Then they put me on magnesium sulfate to hold off labor for at least long enough to give the steroids time to work. Dr. Berry, my perinatololigst or high-risk doc, came to check out the babies on the ultrasound. They are doing fantastic. Charlie is 3 lbs, 7 oz and Henry is 3 lbs, 13 oz. They are somewhere between 31 and 32 weeks along.

Harrison was at his Mee Mee and Pop Pop's and Adam was with me around 8:00 pm the first night when they gave me the mag. It made me have hot flashes, weak, a little dizzy, so we thought it was best for Adam to stay with me that night. I had 6 things hooked up to me. An IV, finger cuff, blood pressure monitor, contraction monitor, and heart monitors for the babies. So getting up to the bathroom required help and that was many times throughout the night! Also the heart monitors were constantly shifting so someone was coming in to mess with the things strapped to my belly every half hour or so! So not much sleep for either of us that night.

We were woken up very early that morning by a woman giving birth next door without an epidural. I got the scoop later that she had woken up in active labor and by the time she got to the hospital she was 5 or 6 cm dilated - which means too later for the epidrual!!! My worst nighmare I think. The screams were just horrific but didn't last long. Not the most pleasant alarm clock!!!!

Adam went to pick up Harrison around 7am. They had breakfast and watched a little Finding Nemo and then come to see me. Harrison didn't know what to think at first. I imagine it was scary seeing me all hooked up. But we have done as much as we can to prepare him for what he was going to see. He told us "Hospital make mommy feel better" and "Mommy Ok". I did my best to let him see me smiling and laughing and I think he is dealing with everything well. It was hard for us because I couldn't even really hold him or give him a good hug because of all the equipment. They went home for awhile and I caught up on my celebrity gossip and actually read 2 whole magazines! They decided to take me off the magnesium and I immediately took advantage of my freedom (no cords!) and took a shower and changed into my own nightie. I threw up quite a bit today. I think it was mostly related to the reflux and not being able to move around which helps digest the food. But the magnesium could have had an effect on that too. So it felt good to get cleaned up and fresh again! Adam and Harrison spent a few hours with me. We read books and watched cartoons and I could actually snuggle with him on the bed. They have made a few trips to the nursery while they are here and he seems to really like seeing the babies. They gave me my second Steroid shot to complete the lung development. The doctor strongly suggested I take an Ambien to get a good night's sleep. So we said our goodbyes and I popped my first Ambien. She was right, it was probably a good idea and I slept well. I missed my boys though of course!

The hope was that this morning my doctor would examine my cervix, find it closed, and let me go home. Unfortunately it was no longer closed, it was dilated 1 cm. She thought I was 75% effaced, but came back later and said 50%. They decided no more mag (thank goodness!) but gave me a drug called Pro Chardia? (Sp?) that is meant to calm my uterus. When she checked me out, I had been having contractions every 5 minutes for 2 hours. They were mild or just the Braxton-Hicks (tightening, no pain), so I didn't really notice! For that reason, she wants to keep me at least another night. She is doing another exam around 5 to see if there has been any progress or if everything has stayed the same. If its the same and the same tomorrow, I think she will send me home. If its progressed and keeps progressing, then they might put me on the mag to delay it some more and those babies could just