I'll preface this post by noting that all the babies are fine, and so am I!
Last night, conveniently right after Edward left for his weekly pub night, I had the sudden impression that I should call the Labour and Delivery Triage Unit. I'll spare you the details as to how I came to this conclusion. As per usual, they told me to come in. So thanks to a helpful cabbie and a variety of hospital volunteers, I got wheeled up to D4 Triage in no time at all. They put me in a room, found the babies' heartbeats and discussed the reason for my visit. They attempted to do another fetal fibronectin test (it's that precursor-to-labour protein), but because of a variety of factors, they couldn't get a conclusive result.
At 10:00pm, they decided they wanted to admit me for observation. It was actually my OB on duty, and he is notoriously cautious, but I was still surprised by the decision... and totally ill-prepared for my impromptu sleepover! The plan was to get me into Ultrasound in the morning, and administer the dreaded steroid shots to get the babies' lungs ready "just in case". I got a hold of Edward and he came by with a change of clothes, a few toiletries, my enormous stash of vitamins (and antacids!) and a much-needed dose of moral support. I finally settled down for the night at 2:00am, after pressing the call button for an hour and getting no response (the nurses were awesome, just busy). I discovered the light switch but could not for the life of me figure out how to turn off the radio that was being piped into the room. There were several unmarked "off" buttons I did locate, but I wasn't about to mess with those :)
This morning at 7:30am they gave me my first steroid shot. The nurse, Mary, said "I'm not going to lie. This is going to hurt." And lo, it did. I was whisked off to the ultrasound room in my wheelchair, pushed by one of the doctors, at 10:30. I had a wonderful technician who measured all of the babies. They looked fantastic - Baby A and Baby C are both 1lb 15 ounces (convincing me that last week's Baby C measurements were indeed erroneous), and Biiiig Baby B is tipping the scales at 2lb 5 ounces. I was very relieved. Baby A made us both laugh with its interpretive dance routine which included a lot of booty shaking. And Baby B had the hiccups, which means that its trying out the whole breathing thing - developmentally, this is great news! The less welcomed news was that my cervix has shortened by one cm. I'm not on bedrest yet, but they'll be taking a close look at it on Wednesday, which is our next "official" OB and ultrasound appointment.
They took some issue with my blood pressure, but chalked it up to several external factors and discharged me at 1:30pm. They did give me very attractive white stockings to help keep my swelling down. By everyone's admission, it's minor swelling, but again, "just in case".
I was very pleased with the excellent care I received, but despite all of their support and patience, I am very happy to be home! We have to go back tomorrow morning for the second steroid injection. So much for trying to get through the two weeks between appointments without making the trip to L&D!
Hi Sandra! I'm a colleague of Ed's (I met you once very briefly when walking home with Ed). I hope it's okay that I'm reading your blog... it will be a wonderful memory for your babies some day. The built in you had made for the nursery looks awesome and you seem to really have thought out what you want and need. I realize you will be quite busy but, if you don't know many mom and babies, and you get to the point where you're thinking "man I'd love to have an adult conversation while Ed's at work..." - Malia and I would love to stop by and bring you a coffee. I hope you make it to week 34 (without too many hospital visits)! Natalie
ReplyDeleteI got those shots at 33 weeks with Kate (when I was 2cm dilated ahead of schedule and we thought early arrival was possible -- fortunately she hung on until 40 weeks + 1 day), so though I can't relate to a triplet pregnancy, I can relate to those shots being a serious butt kick. They also made me really flushed -- like a bad blush job. Ed pointed me in the direction of your blog -- I hope everything's going well. And if you do end up on bed rest, I've got lots of pointers. :-)
ReplyDeleteMichelle B.
Hello Michelle and Natalie! Thanks very much for visiting our blog. The more the merrier, as far as we're concerned :)
ReplyDeleteNatalie: Yes, a little adult company and conversation would be awesome - and, of course, I'd love to meet Malia. We'll have to pick a day once the weather is cooler and a little more conducive to trucking around with a baby!!
Michelle: It's amazing how babies can hold, despite signs to the contrary. A triplet mom I know on-line was dilated up to 4cm at something like 26 weeks, and made it to 36 weeks. She was at the hospital for the duration, but her babies were born healthy and had minimal NICU time. I really do feel that bedrest is imminent - I'm pretty much on self-imposed bedrest now. I'll definitely take some pointers, particularly if I end up in the hospital with no TV!!