Well, I guess Gabriel really is my baby. He pretty much is thinking he is going to do whatever he wants (in this case, try to come way too early). Starting this weekend, I was pretty uncomfortable, but just dealt with it as being 30 weeks pregnant. I thought I'd be fine until I only slept for a total of 10 mins on Sunday night and hurt until Monday - so I decided a call to the doctor would be in our best interest. They got me in early, told me I was having some contractions but not dilating. I was prescribed a muscle relaxer to try to stop them and sent home instructed to call should I need anything. Monday night was still uncomfortable, but I managed to sleep about 2 and a half hours. I went to my rotation on Tuesday and began to hurt again pretty badly. As soon as I got home, I took some of the medicine my doctor gave me and tried to sleep. After what felt like an eternity, I looked at the clock and realized it wasn't even midnight yet. I woke poor Michael up and said we should probably go to the ER.
They immediately transferred me to labor and delivery (common practice for 30 weeks pregnant) and hooked me up to 24 hour monitoring. That morning, my doctor came back to check me again (this is only a day and a half since I'd last seen her), and I quickly asked if I could be back to my rotation by Friday to finish these last 2 and a half weeks of my second long term. Little did I know, that would be the least of my worries at this point. I had already dilated a cm and they were going to start steriod injections to speed up lung development should Gabe be delievered any time soon. I then had it in my mind I would just be committed to 48 hours then I'd be on my way to finish this dang rotation.
Well, after another very painful night (contractions every 5-7 mins for the 5th day in a row), I was checked again to only be told I was now dilated to 2 cm even after all the drugs I've been given to stop the contractions, and my water had already broken. This news comes with more bad news - I will be in the hospital until we have a baby (anywhere from 1 day to 4 weeks). Here's to hoping for more time! We signed TONS of paperwork, talked to SEVERAL specialists, and have been preparing for what life with a preemie is like (my school knowledge really works against me here, and I have been crying/worrying nonstop).
One major highlight came last night when the NICU doctor came to speak to me (per orders from my clinical instructors over at WK South haha) to ease my mind with great statistics for 30 week babies - especially those with steriod shots given before birth! We are just praying for the best and hoping to be in the hospital (as AWFUL/PAINFUL/BORING/UNCOMFORTABLE as it is for me) for as much more time as we can get for Gabe to grow.
We very much appreciate all possible prayers as I go through these next few weeks (and months in the NICU once Gabe comes). Our friends will still get to meet him once he's out of NI (around the same time he was due to come anyway), but Michael and I are planning on meeting a bouncing baby boy before Christmas...
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