This week I had my first little scare with the pregnancy. I went in for my regular checkup on Tuesday (approximately 29 weeks.) I had mentioned before that I would get to have an extra ultrasound to check the location of the placenta. The ultrasound was awesome! I got to see all his little body parts again and the tech even switched to the 3D view so I got a quick shot of his face.
As she started measuring his head, stomach, and femur, I saw that his measurements are pretty small. Some as low as 26 weeks, none bigger than 26 weeks and a few days. She didn't seem too concerned so I figured he was close enough to normal. As she was checking the placenta, she showed me that the placenta is still very low but the baby's head is right against the cervix, so the placenta is not blocking the cervix which she seemed very happy about. She did some more measurements and pictures for my doctor (Dr. B) and didn't say much else to me, but all in all I left the ultrasound room feeling like everything looked great! As I sat in the waiting room for my OB checkup I even sent out some texts saying "baby is small but healthy, everything looks great!"
As soon as I walked back for my appointment I saw the doc chatting with another doctor, no big deal but then she asked her nurse, Nurse C, to hook me up to a monitor. Again I just assumed that was something they did for everyone at that stage. As the nurse took my blood pressure it was high for the first time in my life, that's when it hit me that everyone else is concerned about something, something wasn't right, this was not going to be a normal checkup!
They had me lay in a dark quite room with the monitor checking baby's heartbeat and movements. The nurse came back in about 10 minutes later and my blood pressure was perfectly fine, she guessed it was probably just elevated from the heat outside. When my doctor came in the other doctor came as well. She had him read some of the info from my ultrasound and explained to me that the baby's cord pressure was elevated and they were concerned about the his delayed development. Then she said she wanted me admitted to the hospital for more monitoring and another ultrasound. She said they would be giving me steroid shots to develop the baby's lungs just in case they decided to deliver early. That's about the point that I got scared. Then she told me to go straight to the hospital!
I got to the hospital at about 5 pm. They hooked me up to the heart rate monitor and checked all my vitals as well, gave me an IV and took some blood samples. They gave me the first steroid shot and explained that the second one would be administered 24 hours later. That's when it hit me that I wasn't going home for the night. It was too late for the ultrasound to be ordered so they told me that would happen first thing in the morning. My boss went to check on the dogs and brought me some clothes and my phone charger and I started calling friends and family to let them know what was going on. At that point I didn't know how long I would be there or how concerned the doctor really was about premature delivery. I just knew that if they were giving me the steroid shots it must be a possibility.
I could not fall asleep so after midnight they gave me a mild hypnotic, which worked like a charm. The nurses came in a lot during the night to adjust the heart beat monitor but I was able to fall right back asleep after they left. Doctor B came to see me early in the morning and said the baby's heart beat was great throughout the night, the real test was going to be if they saw any change in the cord pressure on the ultrasound. The ultrasound tech came in at about 9 and took lots of measurements, most looked to be right around 26 weeks again. He took lots of info from the cord but I had no idea what the numbers meant and I knew he probably want supposed to tell me anyway. My doctor was in an operation but came by at 11 to tell me that the cord pressure was down and I would be able to go home but I would be on bed rest, no working, no running errands, only getting out of bed to cook or shower. I still had to come back that evening for the second steroid shot and set an appointment with the doctor for the following day.
That's where we are now. I'm at home laying in bed. Bored. I'm not sure how long I'll be on bed rest. The doctor made the comment that she would be checking his growth and I would be on bed rest until he starts developing or if it looks like that's not happening they would intervene early. So at this point I'm not sure how long they will give him to catch up. I really dislike being on bed rest but I also don't want to deliver so early, so I'll do what the doctor thinks is best. I'm hoping to get a little more info at the appointment today, maybe an idea of how long the bed rest might last and how likely they think it is that they will intervene and deliver early.
