Hospital Update 6

29 Weeks 5 Days Pregnant

5 Weeks in the Hospital

News for this week thus far...

Stress test on Tuesday went well.

Yesterday I saw my Doctor and he discussed my situation with the other high risk specialists. They decided to schedule me for an ultrasound today to measure the growth of the babies and the condition of my cervix. The last time they checked my cervix was a couple days after I was admitted to the hospital, which was 5 weeks ago. They decided if my cervix measured a 2 or smaller tomorrow I could go home. YEA! Finally something to look forward to! I have been trying however to not get my hopes too high.

My nurses check the babies heart rates twice each day. Once in the morning and once at night. Last night when she was listening to Baby B's heart rate I got nervous because he was lower than usual, around 120-130bpm and then it dipped all the way down to 112bpm. The nurse reassured me that it was just a variable because it only dipped for a second and that it was perfectly normal. I was still a little worried however because Baby B is my most active baby he's usually between 140-150 and he has never ever dipped like that or gone below 130. She said she would hook the baby up to the monitors to put my mind at ease.

She put a monitor on my belly and we then listened to Baby B's heart rate for 15 minutes, no more scary dips. She hadn't put on the contraction monitor yet however. She then decided, why not do it right and put the contraction monitor on. She wasn't concerned but it was protocol.
Immediately after putting the contraction monitor on I started contracting every 3-4 minutes. She waited 20 minutes and they were still strong and steady so she called up the Resident to see what they wanted to do. The Resident had them check my blood pressure and since it was in the safe zone they gave me another dose of nifedapine. She then instructed my nurse to continue monitoring me for the next hour and see if the nifedapine worked at all.

My contractions were slowing to 6 minutes apart....still not good but better than 3-4 minutes apart. The Resident said if my contractions were still steady after that hour she would check my cervix. I REALLY didn't want my cervix to be messed with. Especially since they were going to check it today and if it was good they'd send me home. I was worried if she checked it she might start something. So my nurse talked her out of it. They took the monitors off and I went to bed, to be woken up at 4:30 for another dose of nifedapine.

This morning I felt a considerable amount better and was anxious for my ultrasound to determine whether or not I'd be going home and to see how big the babies have gotten.

Finally around 2:30 they called me down for the ultrasound. The babies all looked great & here are their measurements:

A: 2lbs. 13oz.
B: 3lbs. 8oz.
C: 3lbs. 6oz.

Then came time to check my cervix. They used the ultrasound first and frankly...there was nothing left. The thickness measured .5cm. My Doctor wasn't in so Dr. P (aka Dr. Big Hands) checked to see if I was dilated. He was a considerable amount more gentle this time...I wonder if he got word I was complaining about his big hands. Anyway, he measured and it was bad news...my cervix is measuring between 3-4cm. No going home for me. I tried really hard to not get my hopes up and I think I did pretty well because I haven't cried yet, but I am still really bummed. 5 Weeks in the hospital is a long time. I wonder if I'll even recognize my house when I finally go home. Maybe the tears will come tomorrow.