So, It's been a while since I've done a blog post. Everything had been going along like normal. There was nothing really to report other than feeling frequent movements, getting uncomfortable, etc. so I didn't really feel the need to update. Well, now there is something to report, and it's definitely not great news. Eli and I are now confined to the bed for the duration of the pregnancy. We had a really scary weekend, and I am just thankful that my little turkey is still cooking!
I had been feeling a bit strange Thursday, pretty worn out and a little sore, but I attributed that to the fact that I had cleaned my bathroom. I just thought it wore me out since I'm getting so much bigger. Mark got home from work and we were chilling on the couch when I felt this huge gush of fluid. TMI maybe, but it felt like I peed myself, and I knew I didn't. I jumped up off the couch and headed to the bathroom where I found it was not in fact pee, it was blood. A lot of blood. So I calmly yelled, "We have to go to the hospital. Now." down the hall to Mark and off we went. We got to the ER after what felt like forever (I swear, every single light turned red when we got to it and stayed that way), and they rushed me up to l&d. They tried to get a urine sample, but unfortunately I was still bleeding way too much. They hooked me up to the monitor, and they were able to find his heartbeat fairly quickly. It was really strong, which meant that he was still doing well. They also hooked me up to a contraction monitor and found that I was contracting every 2 minutes. The doctor came in about half an hour later and did an ultrasound. The equipment was kind of old, but he saw what looked like a small placental abruption (where the placenta pulled away from my uterus). He said that he didn't know for sure, that we'd have to look with better equipment in the morning, but that it didn't look bad at all, was very small, and baby was doing well so it probably wasn't as serious as it could be. They then gave me a shot of brethine to stop the contractions (evil, evil medicine. It stopped the contractions but I didn't react well to it and the side effects were horrible) and a steroid shot for Eli's lungs. I also got the first of 3 huge bags of fluids and the first of 3 bags of antibiotics. He also put me on strict bed rest for the next 24 hours (bed pans are not fun). My contractions stopped and I was still bleeding, but it wasn't new blood from what they could tell, which was a very good thing. Eli continued to do well and I probably managed to get a few hours of sleep.
The next day the bleeding (all old blood by now) continued to taper off. While being monitored, they found that I was still contracting every 3 to 7 minutes, so I got another shot of brethine. They did another ultrasound to look for the source of the bleed and a biophysical profile to make sure that Eli was still doing well. The ultrasound turned out really well. Baby is already 4lbs 12oz, measuring a week to two weeks ahead, and doing things that they don't expect to see a baby his age doing. They also were unable to find the source of the bleed. They're not sure if the old ultrasound equipment malfunctioned or if it was such a small tear that it repaired itself. But for right now, the placenta is still attached to my uterus! Yay! They lifted the strict bed rest provisions and gave me bathroom privileges as soon as the contractions stopped. I still needed another steroid shot, so they kept me over night to give me the shot and to monitor me. And then they set me free the next day!
I am still on bed rest, and I most likely will be for the duration of the pregnancy. Each week I will go to see my doctor as well as go to the hospital to have Eli and my contractions monitored. I'm still contracting, but they aren't close enough together at the moment to be a cause for concern. And still no more bleeding!!!! So with the way things look now, we should be able to keep him cooking until November at least. That is the goal anyway.
