31 Weeks - Bed Rest

Yesterday Felicity and I got in the car and took off for a girls weekend!  We were so excited!  We were planning to drive a good few hours South to my friend Katie's house (whom Felicity Katherine is named for) and have a relaxing weekend of swimming, movie watching, and treat eating to our heart's content.  Lissy was so cute.  She was so excited to go and would say, "We're on the road, Mama!"  Well, it wasn't far into the trip before I was plagued by braxton hicks.  I normally get a lot, so we continued on, though I hoped they'd go away because a long drive with braxton hicks the whole way would be tiring.  A bit further into the trip, the braxton hicks felt different.  It wasn't long before I knew these were no longer braxton hicks, but contractions.  In the middle of no where, I pulled the car over and had to explain to my sweet, excited girl, that we could not go on, could not go see Katie, and must return home.  We both shared a good cry over our disappointment, and then turned the car around.  How hard it must be for such a little one to understand the severity of pre term labor and why it must cancel her special and much anticipated trip.  I felt miserable over it all.

So home I drove, as fast as I could.  We were already about 2 hours into the trip, so had another 2 hours to get home.  On the way, the contractions got worse.  Locked in my seat belt, my whole body hurt, especially my back, and I sweat bullets as my body dealt with the contractions and anxiety.

Once home I laid down and the contractions instantly went down in severity to where they were just braxton hicks again.  I laid in bed and chugged water for hours, and though they stayed just braxton hicks, they never stopped and were just a few minutes apart.  Finally, at the kids' bedtime, enough was enough.  Grammy took the kids to her house to go to bed, and off we went to the hospital.  In the car again, the contractions grew and by the time we got to the hospital, they were rolling pretty good again.  I was hooked up to the monitors where it showed I was in fact contracting, and it also showed baby was just happy as a clam in there, which was nice to know.  The nurses assumed a shot of Turbutaline would knock the contractions out.  So I got one.  The contractions slowed a bit, but kept coming.  So, I had another shot of Turbutaline.  The 2nd shot slowed them a bit more, but still didn't kick them completely out.  So then I was given an IV bag of fluids.  Finally the contractions slowed down enough for them to feel comfortable with sending me home.  Also while we were there, they performed a fetal fibronectin test, which shows if your body is releasing the hormone that tells the body to go into labor.  My test came back positive, which was not what we were hoping for.  I think we were there for 6 hours.  I was sent home at 2ish a.m. with the diagnosis of pre term labor, and orders for complete bed rest. 

So here I am, in bed.  :)  Resting?  Ummmmm.......I'm not so sure about that.  I always assumed bed rest meant it WAS restful for the woman.  Isn't that the point?  I feel like I'm laying here fighting my body.  I'm still contracting off and on so every move I make it quite deliberate.  If a position seems to keep them at bay, I lay in that position past the point of feet falling asleep, etc.  If the contractions start up, I get pretty anxious trying to find a position that helps. 

I could write more about how, in only less than a day stuck in bed, I have been so immensely blessed by the care and love of family and friends, but I'll save those wonderful tid bits for another post as I know this is a bit wordy already.  I just wanted to make sure and record this today, as it is a part of this Sweet Babe's journey to us.......one we've never experienced before, one that's not as "comfortable" as we'd had planned, but one we're quite willing to walk until this little one is in our arms safely.

And just because picture less posts are so boring, here's what day 1 of bed rest looked like for me.....plus a good helping of FaceBook, Pinterest, and blog reading.  :)

Oh, and if you're the praying type, we'd certainly appreciate your prayers!  Personally, I'm praying that my body behaves so well, that I will be allowed off bed rest.  But most importantly, we're praying for whatever is safest for baby, and for baby to stay put!  :)
Thanks