It's good to be home!

We had our 25w5d appointment last Wednesday and things were looking really good! I seemed to be pretty stable and the bed rest was definitely proving to help the shortening of my cervix, a great appointment all together!

Then came Wednesday afternoon/evening....I started having pretty consistent contractions between 3pm-5pm, so I continued to lay down and drink my water. By 6pm they were coming every 5 minutes so I took a new dose of meds (Procardia) that Dr. L prescribed for me at my appointment to use "as needed" for my contractions. At 7pm they seemed to still be getting closer so I took my 2nd dose. At 8pm I called L&D advice and they suggested I come on in to get checked out. Ben was especially not expecting this after such a good appointment earlier in the day, so I am glad that just a few days earlier I told him to never question me when I wanted to go in (I think I read or watched something that scared me and made me think someday I would wait too long and regret it!) So, we called a friend over (thanks Chapman's!!!) to sit at our house while Brody was sleeping.

I think we were checked into the L&D triage room by about 8:45pm and they hooked me up to monitor the contractions. They were still coming about every 3-7 minutes. The resident I saw first was very nice, but quickly got the attending to assist her, she had never done an US on 3 babies before. Soon we had a room full of observers cooing over how cute the boys were :) They were all looking good and didn't seem to be affected by the contractions. Dr. M left to go and consult the on-call Perinatologist and I started to feel a little sick...and then a lot sick. I filled up an emesis bag to the brim just as the nurse returned to give me 1 shot in my arm and 1 in my tush! I felt better soon and let her go forward with the Terbutaline and Vistaril shots. I only felt well for about 15 minutes when I started filling another a bag. Dr. M came back to tell me that I would be admitted to make sure the contractions get under control and that my cervix didn't continue to make any more changes, and also to get me hydrated and figure out why I was getting so sick now.

Once I got settled in my room it was probably about midnight. They still had me hooked up watching the contractions but Dr. M also asked for a non-stress test (NST). It took the RN some time to find all of the lil buggers heart beats and I was growing much more uncomfortable. After having them all on the monitor for about 5-10 minutes (she needed 20min) I apologized and quickly rolled over to fill another bag :(

I was finally all hooked up again by 2am-ish and told Ben to go ahead and go home so that our friend could go home and Ben could get up with Brody in the morning to bring him to daycare and then Ben would come back to be with me by the time morning rounds would take place.

Things went downhill for me after Ben left, I got delusion-ally ill, as I sometimes do (just ask my family, it's like an out of body experience that no one can control when I am really sick or in a lot of pain!) I think this scared the RN and Dr. M as they just sat with me and comforted me until I finally fell asleep.

I was up a couple of hours later still feeling icky but the Zofran shots were helping now, although I still was only taking fluids through the IV. At 6am we finally got the boys NST done and they performed great, the RN was very impressed!! I was still having contractions, with all the meds every 4 hrs :(

By the time the Perinatologist showed up for morning rounds Ben was back and hoping he could take me home. But, Dr. K decided that I was not stable enough and would stay another day. I agreed, I was still in rough shape!

When I woke up the next morning I was feeling much better and actually had some juice and breakfast- it was good!! When Dr. K came back for morning rounds she was pleased to see "life" back in me. My cervix was stable and we got the contractions down to 5 or less an hour which has been my normal for the past couple of weeks. I was discharged Friday afternoon with instructions to continue the Procardia every 4 hrs until I see Dr. L on Tuesday. (Many labs and tests were run and they all improved by the morning I was discharged so it was just a GI virus that kicked my butt! I am lucky the contractions came on to get me to the hospital, I can't imagine being that ill at home in my condition, the IV hydration saved me!!)

I have had a pretty uneventful weekend, thankfully, and we only hope we can stay this way for the weeks to come!! There was a time at the peak of my sickness (~3am Thursday morning) that it felt like deja-vu when I started labor with Brody and I was so scared that I was going to be having these babies, it was the worst feeling!! I am happy to be home with Ben and Brody for now :)