We really cannot express how much we appreciate all the care and concern everyone has shown. We're pretty sure we're not reaching everyone when we send out email updates, so we've decided to go to the even less personal option of posting to our blog. It feels a little cold to do things this way, but we want to make sure that everyone that would like information can access it. Thanks so much for all the calls and emails, even if we can't reply or call you back, we really do appreciate hearing from you, so please feel free to keep calling and emailing. It means a lot to hear/read your messages. What follows is my attempt to tell you about the roller coaster we've been on for the last week and a half....
Last Monday (April 28) my uterus was measuring too large at my monthly prenatal checkup, so my OB sent me to have an ultrasound to see if I had a huge baby (as Jeff said at the time - maybe the cubby is just the Hulk) or too much amniotic fluid or what was going on. On Thursday, May 1, we had the ultrasound and learned that I do indeed have too much amniotic fluid (a condition known as polyhydramnios). I was allowed to continue to work but told to rest when I got home (no cooking, cleaning, walking the dogs, etc). I was told to call my doctor if I thought I felt contractions or if I thought my water broke.
On Monday, May 5, I had a feeling that perhaps I was leaking amniotic fluid. I went to my regular OB that afternoon, and she confirmed that I was leaking fluid (meaning my water broke). She sent me immediately to Duke University Hospital and told me that I could have the baby that night or several weeks from now. When we got to Duke, they immediately gave me a steroid shot (to help the cubby develop - particularly his lungs), put me on magnesium (to inhibit labor and contractions), and started giving me antibiotics. Over night I had the fun joy of getting a catheter and dealing with the effects of the magnesium. I also had some contractions and it was really touch and go on going into labor. Needless to say, Monday night was pretty difficult.
Mid-day Tuesday they took me off the magnesium. I had a few more irregular contractions that afternoon. But I made it to the second round of steroid shots that evening. Apparently the two steroid shots are really a key to making sure the baby has the best chance if he is delivered prematurely. We also had an ultrasound which showed that the cubby looks good (and we got some 3D pictures of him). Even though I am leaking fluid, at Tuesday's ultrasound, I still had way too much fluid (even more than at last Thursday's ultrasound) And I continued to get antibiotics. The antibiotics are to fight off infection. Apparently infection is the biggest concern right now and is what will most likely send me into labor.
On Wednesday, we made it to the 48 hour mark (48 hours after my water broke Monday morning) which is a real milestone as 50% of women who have premature rupture of the membranes (water breaking) will deliver within 48 hours. The next big milestone is 2 weeks - 80% of women deliver within 2 weeks.
Right now, we're doing well. I slept well last night with some mild abdominal cramping but nothing I couldn't sleep through (it seems as though as long as I can sleep through any pain/contractions the doctors don't care too much). This morning the monitors (I go on every 20 minutes once a day) picked up some more low level contractions that I couldn't really feel (the same thing happened yesterday). I also took a shower for the first time! Woohoo! After that we went down to pediatric cardiology for our echogram. The attending OB wanted to do a more detailed ultrasound of the heart just to see if there is anything wrong (although the standard ultrasound wasn't picking up anything). Anything they can detect now we'll help the neonatologists immensely when the cubby is born. Anyway, the cardiologist thinks the cubby's heart looks good. He might have a small-medium hole between his upper chambers but from other views the doctor said he couldn't see it. The doctor said it is something that would probably close up after birth and/or be something we'd worry about a few weeks after he's born. The doctor also thought his heart looked a little stiff when it releases blood (something like that - we can't remember the exact terminology) which is probably from the pressure of the excess fluid. But overall, he thought everything looked really good and those were very minor problems - if problems at all.
I'm sure that I'm forgetting some things and may have to come back and update this with some more background information, but hopefully that is enough to bring people up to speed.
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