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Thursday, March 10, 2011

And it begins...

So, the weekend of June 5th my hubby and I packed up and went to a very good friends wedding in Michigan. We were very excited to get away and we just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary two days ago, so it was a great excuse to get out of town! It was so good to be out and about and see people that I haven't seen for a long time. Everyone was touching my belly and asking about how I felt and my "plans". It was a great weekend! Another very good friend was there who is a momma of two and we were discussing many pregnancy topics. I was telling her about the "pressure" I was feeling, and she said "Just wait, it only gets worse!" My thoughts were how much worse, I still have three and half months to go...this baby isn't coming till September 13th!

So we trekked back to Illinois and recovered on Sunday. My back was bothering me all weekend and the previous week, but I figured that I over did it during the weekend and, hey, I'm a teacher, being on my feet all day and a big baby belly will do that to a girl. I was living with the heating pad.

I woke up Monday morning not feeling myself. Man was my back killing me. I went to work...it was the last week of the school year, I just needed to suck it up and get this week over with! I desperately wanted to leave work that day. My back was really killing me and I felt like crap, but I car pooled with another teacher so I would just wait out the day. I even changed my lesson plans from an outside activity to sitting in my classroom and watching a video.

At last, I was home on the couch with the heating pad. Comfort and relief...yeah right...so I went to bed to sleep it off. I woke up at 1:00 am with this horrific back pain and woke up my hubby too...who wakes up at 5:30 am for work...I went to the couch with my heating pad and did not sleep the rest of the night. I remember going to the bathroom and grabbing my "What to Expect" book to read about what could be going on. After all I was only 26 weeks pregnant and still had nerves about what "could" happen. I read the signs of pre-term labor and thought, not me, my back just really, really hurts. My belly was big, people thought I was having twins! But the back pain was now coming in waves and there was some spotting. I couldn't take it anymore, woke up my hubby and called the doctor. Wouldn't you know the doctor said he would meet me at the hospital.

So...our first trip to the ER at 5:00 am on Tuesday June 8th, 2010 at 26 weeks pregnant...eyes filled with tears, frightened and in pain..."I am NOT having this baby yet, it's not time! This is not what I planned! I never took the class and I am not at this part in the book!"

Yes, I was in what they called "pre-term" labor. I was put on awful drugs to stop labor, monitors, many ultrasounds, fluids, and drinking lots and lots of water. I was dilating and thinning. I couldn't stop crying. The doctor was talking about the survival of the baby if it were to come now. What? Survival? Scared to death, but a very calm husband. I just kept repeating to myself "I am not having this baby now."

I spent the next four days at the Ottawa hospital fighting off pre-term labor and fighting to keep my little bun in the oven. I was sent home on bed rest, with a monitor that monitored my contractions, and a pump that continuously gave me drugs to ward off labor. I spent the next two weeks on the couch watching lots of TV and reading trashy magazines...and staring out the window at the sunshine and the glistening blue water of our swimming pool.

What a great way to get to start summer vacation early...er, not really at all! Bed rest was a lot of hard work believe it or not, and makes your body have aches and pains in ways you would never think of.  But this is my job now, to keep this baby inside.

All the while, baby was doing just great, although breech...growing and growing and moving and hic-cuping amid all this chaos!

"Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind" Across the Universe, The Beatles

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