Bed Rest???

On Tuesday, September 1, I had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Wright. She is a great doctor. I told her that I had been having some slight cramping on Sunday, and so she gave me a quick check. She was alarmed though, that my cervix was open already and thinned out (I was only 30 weeks at the time). She sent me straight to the hospital where I had a few interesting experiences. Getting an IV stuck in me (ouch-- they got it on the fourth time); having the fetal monitor stuck on me; having a contraction monitor stuck on me; getting a shot of some medicine to stop contractions; getting a short of steroids for the baby's lungs to develop in case he came early, and last, but not least, getting a catether to check my urine. Um, yeah, so apparently I was having contractions, but I wasn't really feeling them. I was also really dehydrated, and it looked like I had a urinary tract infection as well. They gave me lots of liquid through the IV, and then some antibiotics for the UTI.
What a scary experience it was to be there; Rick and I were both freaked out, because we didn't know what was going to happen, and we both felt like we weren't prepared at all for the experience. I had Rick give me a blessing of comfort, and then Rick and his dad gave me a blessing of healing later. I think this helped a lot with me. My mom, dad and the rest of the family in California were totally freaking out because we didn't really know what was going to happen-- it all depended on how my body reacted to the drugs. I was very calm though, and I am proud to say that I handled the situation well. I had decided, okay, I can be freaking out and all stressed and that won't help the baby, or I can just wait and see what happens. I managed to calm my parents down and tell them that as soon as I knew more information, I'd let them know what was going on. I ended up spending the night on Tuesday.

Wednesday, the doctor told me that I would need to stay over night again. The drugs that they were giving me to stop the contractions weren't helping that well. Apparently a shot of this stuff was supposed to help stop the contractions for 24 hours; my contractions started within 7 hours of that shot. They moved me to the more hard core drug-- Magnesium Sulphate and gave it to me through the IV. This definitely helped with slowing down the contractions. My body responded pretty well to the Magnesium Sulphate. It was supposed to give flu like symptoms and the worst it did for me was make me a little dizzy when I got out of bed after sleeping.

Thursday the next doctor I saw told me that I would be staying the night again, and that they would be monitoring me some more to make sure that my body was responding well to the treatment. At this point, I really couldn't take it any longer, and I called my mom. I asked her if she would be willing to come to Arizona. The hardest part about all of this was that Rick wasn't able to be with me from 2:30 to 1:30 AM because of his training schedule. I told him that he needed to make sure that he went to work, because it was only his second week. He came back to the hospital every night to sleep in the same room as me. So, my parents came to AZ on Thursday evening, and spent some time with me. My mom insisted on staying in the hospital with me on Thursday and my dad, whose shoulder was bothering him, stayed in a hotel.

On Friday I saw my doctor, Doctor Wright. She told me that everything was looking good and that they were going to start putting me on the pill that would be prescribed to me and she was going to monitor me that day. I would have to spend another night in the hospital though. She gave me an exam and told me that things were much better than on Tuesday. She let me shower, and took out the IV (Thank goodness, I felt alive again!) and allowed me to sit out of bed. She eventually took off the contractions and fetal monitor also. I spent another long night in the hospital. (Those beds aren't meant for sleeping in for long periods of time!) and then Saturday morning, she told me that I could go home. I was so grateful to her!!! She came in at a like 7:30 to tell me, so I was able to pack up and be back at our apartment at 8:30. She also told me that I was on bed rest for 5 weeks (until I was 36 weeks pregnant) and that the only time I was to walk up those stairs to our apartment was on the way back from a doctor's appointment.

So, I came home to a really nice clean apartment (thanks to my parents who cleaned and did laundry for us on Friday), with two prescriptions for us. I am so thankful for technology and my family. I am so happy that Evan is still inside of me, growing strong. Especially since the little punk wanted to come out way too early. Overall our hospital experience was very positive and I am happy in the choice of my OB and the hospital (which is in a totally ghetto area and about 30 minutes from where we live).

Now starts my 6 weeks of bed rest. I really don't have any idea of what I can do. I guess I will be doing lesson plans for my classroom and reading. I am also thinking of taking up crocheting and even making hand made greeting cards and baby thank you cards. This was a really interesting and eye opening experience that we had. The pregnancy has been completely smooth up to this point really, so this was kind of a shock for us. I thought that I would be able to continue teaching up until I had the baby. Well, it's a good thing that Heavenly Father knows me much better than I know myself. I think that He probably knew that this was what I needed to get myself to slow down and focus on the next couple of months. I really like to take a lot on in my job and my life, and I think that this was the only way that I would be able to relax on focus on those things that I need to. So, the next 5-6 weeks are all about me time. Any suggestions on hobbies to pick up while staying in bed would be excellent! I am going to need a few things to do over the next month or so.