How I Spent My Saturday Night

Last night I had the dubious pleasure of an overnight stay at Indiana Regional Medical Center.  While the accommodations were sparkling clean and the staff was friendly and helpful...restful it was not.  Be assured, Mommy and babies are both fine but we were there just in case.

I've been having sporadic BH contractions for quite a few weeks but yesterday afternoon while looking at a magazine on the couch with Austin I noticed them consistently over a period of about 40 minutes.  Feeling contractions while completely at rest is unusual for me; I usually feel them when I get up from sitting or lying down, or when I climb a flight of stairs.  So I decided to lay down for awhile and drink some extra water, knowing that's what my OB would tell me to do.  The contractions abated except for when I got up to answer the phone. Then Zach called me downstairs to eat dinner and they started up again. So after dinner I called the doctor, who indeed told me to get off my feet and drink fluid, and that if they continued I would need to go to the hospital for monitoring. After feeling a few contractions while lying on the couch, we decided I should go to the hospital.

That was about 7:00, I think. I headed off to the L&D floor where the friendly nurses (and I mean that; I've never met a staff person at our hospital I didn't like) hooked me and the babies up and watched us for awhile.  No contractions detected. My doctor initially told them to watch me until 11 or so, but a few hours later he called back. He had changed his mind and decided I should be monitored overnight just in case.  So my wonderful friend Liz popped over to my house to get a few necessary items for me and brought them up and I prepared for a long night.

Sometime after midnight, following another session of monitoring the babies' heartbeats (they were on the monitors on and off; I had a uterine monitor on constantly), the nurse finally turned off the light and left me to try to get some sleep.  I was on my right side and felt a few contractions.  The nurse popped back in and adjusted the monitor.  A few more contractions.  She came back in and told me to lay on my back for awhile and see what happened.  Nothing, basically.  So after a bit she turned the light off again and I lay on my left side.  More contractions, maybe 6-8 in 45 minutes.  So lights came back on, doctor was called, an IV started to make sure I was super hydrated, and a drug administered to stop the contractions.  And I didn't have any more for the rest of the night.  And I even got an hour or two of sleep, which is an hour or two more than I was expecting.

My doctor came in to see me this morning and checked my cervix.  The good news is that these contractions are not causing any changes in my cervix; in other words, they don't seem to be signs of preterm labor.  The bad news...there's no way to tell at what point they will start causing cervical changes. So basically I'm just supposed to rest as much as I can, drink a lot of water, and if we have any concerns about the contractions I feel, back to the hospital I go. Not as black and white as I'd like the advice to be but there you go. Zach and I have been discussing how we can even further reduce the amount of activity I do while keeping his extra burdens to a minimum.  (Example: Esther is about to cease being a cloth-diapered baby.)

The last few days have been very hard for me emotionally and physically. Even though I know we're doing what's best for our babies, it is difficult not to feel terribly inadequate as a wife, mother, and homemaker.  It is so easy to worry about the possibility of early labor or having to go on bed rest.  My Bible reading plan brought me to Psalm 33 this morning while I was waiting for the doctor and I was so thankful for these words:


The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.


My hope and strength is not what delivers me, it is the Lord.  And He will lead us through the remaining weeks of this pregnancy, however many they may be.