Update

My last post was on Sunday. I ended up back in L&D on Monday, but as soon as I got hooked up to the monitors, the contractions stopped. I felt dumb, but the nurse was extremely nice and told me that I'm always doing the right thing by coming in if I'm afraid that something is wrong.

I went back to my doctor on Thursday and she reran the fetal fibronectin test and it came back negative again, which gets me to 33w3d (32w today). I am not working this week or next week. If my doctor thinks I'm good to go back to normal activity, I will try to go back to work the week after that. It would be the start of my 34th week which is a great milestone for the baby. 37w is considered full term and that is the ultimate goal. March 2 is 37 weeks, so I've told Charlotte that anytime in March is good with me! If I do end up going back to work before she comes, I will start at parttime, probably 4 hours/day, and see how that goes.

This weekend, my family came and the 5 of us cooked a ton on Saturday! I tried to mostly sit down and watch, or cut veggies or whatever, but I know I was up more than I was comfortable with. We cooked full sized meals, then froze them in 2-person portions. We counted about 24 meals for the two of us in our freezer now! Sunday I was exhausted. Scott and I went to church for a whole hour, and that was all I could take. By the time I got back home, I'd had 6 contractions in an hour, so I knew I needed to lie down again after that..

I cannot share more now, but Scott and I are experiencing a personal stress that neither of us need in our lives at this point. (Don't worry, we're good! Still in love, still going strong!) Last week was rough with this new stress and me being on bedrest, so it resulted in us getting snappy with each other. This week is off to a better start! We would ask for prayers for this stress, that we would be at peace with any outcome.

I started an art project last week that will go in Charlotte's room. I'm going to try to finish it up tomorrow or Wednesday then I will post pictures. I'm so proud of how they look right now, I hope they look great once they're done!

For now, the dogs and I hang out on the couch most of the day. Scott comes home for lunch every day and it's a great break for me. I'm afraid of getting depressed while sitting home all day alone, so I really hope that things continue to improve so I can go back to work in a couple of weeks. I don't really have anything else to say, my life is pretty boring right now.

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. As far as what you can do for us, just praying would be great. God has Scott, Charlotte and me in his hands, it's hard to remember that sometimes. Thanks for your friendships!

Bedrest, etc.

11 days ago, my Braxton Hicks contractions went from 1 or 2 per day to about 40 on that day. I got put on bedrest for 3 days and just told to take it easy after that. I went back to work last week, made it 36 hours for the week. I had to leave early one day after having lots of contractions one afternoon and a doctor appointment another day.

Yesterday morning, I had a few (5 in 4 hours) so I decided to go to Albertson's for a while. We were out about an hour, and I had to come home and rest after that. It felt like I'd had one big contraction during that time, so I knew I needed to lie down. I behaved after that and everything was fine.

This morning, I got up and had 5 in an hour, which is when my doc said I need to go to the hospital to be monitored. I layed back down and they went away, so I tried not to work about it. I got up to take a shower so we could go to church. After I got out of my shower, I had 5 in 48 minutes, so instead of church we went to the hospital. I got hooked up to the monitor and answered about 328,384,780 questions. The nurse left for a while and Scott and I just chatted in our triage room for a while. She came back in and said Ok, we're going to put an IV in, pump in a liter of fluid, then give you some sedation. Have you ever had Demerol and phenergen?

It was at this point, I freaked out a little. I had being sedated (just plain scares me!), so I asked what was going on. She said that I was having "timable" contractions. Really having no choice, I said ok. She told Scott to go to Admissions to take care of some paperwork and insurance stuff. When he left, I called my mom. The nurse, Sharon, was really nice. Brought me a wet washcloth because I had cried a little, then she got me hooked up to the IV. After that ran a little while, she came in with the sedatives and put those in the line too. After about half of that, I was feeling a little loopy. Scott came back and I floated while we talked. They slowed down, so we were allowed to go home with intructions of strict bedrest today.

Fortunately, I don't have work tomorrow, so I'll be able to take it easy again. My doc was on call, and I was afraid that she was going to put me on full bedrest, so I was glad she didn't. If I get back up to 5 or more an hour, I'm supposed to go back to get monitored again.

It was pretty scary once she nurse told me that they were timeable. When she was administering the sedatives, I asked how close together they were, and she told me they had been running 5 minutes apart. I couldn't believe it, I must not have been feeling some of them!

That's my update. My hips hurt from lying on my sides for so long, but if it's what's best for baby Charlotte, that's what I'll do.