Monday, January 19, 2009

An (un)Eventful Weekend

Friday night was Aaron and my date night.

We got a babysitter, spent time together laughing and talking and I got breakfast in bed the next morning.

Unfortunately my primping for this outing involved a regularly scheduled ultrasound that showed my cervix had shortened by 30% in 2 weeks. And the location was L&D triage at Brigham and Women's hospital.

After seeing that my cervix had shortened the doctor suggested a cerclage (stitch through the cervix) to prevent any dilation. Aaron came home, we dropped Tessa off at some friends house and off we went. Ultimately the doctors at the hospital decided not to do the cerclage because I was so close to "viability"* and they didn't want to cause any PTL (Pre-Term Labor).

My cervix was measured at 2cm long, which isn't SUPER short, just shorter than it "should" be. I was not contracting. So they finally decided just to admit me for observation - hence the breakfast in bed (you'll notice the bed in the picture above is a twin size...never a good sign.)

Nevertheless, I wasn't kidding about date night. I was actually very surprised at how calm I felt during this whole thing (ie my intuition told me I was not going to have a baby that weekend), and so Aaron and I sat in our little room and joked and laughed and "how was your day?-d" from about 9 until midnight. Around midnight Aaron headed home and I sat waiting for a room.

I ended up staying in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. A test and an ultrasound gave us strong indications that I wasn't about to deliver. The test** they did was negative, and if it is negative gives someone a 95-99% certainty that they aren't going to deliver within 2 weeks. The ultrasound was much better than the one on Friday, whether that had to do with an actually growth in my cervical legnth, or a different person and machine doing the measuring I don't know. I am now home on bedrest and looking toward 26 weeks...and beyond (in Buzz Lightyear voice.)

*Viability is considered 24 weeks (though that is stretching to 23 weeks in some cases). That is when the baby has a fighting chance of surviving outside the womb and most hospitals will consider resessitation, before that some will not. At 23 weeks a baby has a 20% of survival, at 25 weeks it is 65%, and at 26 weeks (when Tessa was born) it is 75%. Though full-term is our ultimate goal, afte 30 weeks babies have a 90-95% survival rate.

**The test is called a Fetal Fibronectin or fFN test. See this link on the March of Dimes website for more info because I can't explain it to you.

Random notes:
I am recovering from a cold (I know you know because I've been complaining about it all week) and so was coughing up a storm the whole time I was in the hospital. A normal person would just suffer through it, but I had nurses checking on me every 4 hours so they listened to my lungs and "prescribed" things like saline spray and cough drops (both over the counter medicines that I'm sure I/my insurance paid an arm for).

Tessa loved her weekend with Daddy. They came to visit me on Saturday, she loved the bed with the moveable head and foot buttons and then when it was time to go she gave me a big hug, a kiss, waved bye-bye and headed down the hall.

I took the chance to visit the NICU. This is a different hospital than the one we delivered Tessa at and I was feeling very sad not to have access to the nurses who I'd consider friends and missing the familiarity of the surroundings. The NICU tour was helpful in at least making me feel comfortable with the level of care a preemie would get (still hoping to avoid it though). However, I haven't been in a NICU since we left with Tessa and it was HARD to go back. The babies are so tiny and the feelings are still very fresh.

I was looking forward to hearing how Aaron was 15 minutes late for church on his first morning ever of being in charge of getting out the door (I even had a spy in place who was going to keep an eye on him). Yes, I know that is a snarky thing to think...but don't worry, he miscalculated and thought he needed to leave by 8:00, when it is really by 8:30...and so he was there 10 minutes early. Darn...seriously.

We had a major snow storm Saturday and Sunday. The roads were so bad Aaron almost left me at the hospital until Monday! I realized that I'm really working this whole "mothering" thing. I haven't had to shovel in three winters. Winter 07 - pregnant, winter 08 - taking care of a baby, winter 09 - pregnant (which leads me to believe that winter 10 I'll be off the hook as well!)

13 comments:

the Petterson Family said...

cute toes!!

Ashley said...

Sorry to hear that. I hope everything goes well for you and I'll cross my fingers that you will be full term. Get well soon!

indeazgirl said...

I'm thinking and praying for you! I'm glad your test came back negative and that everything seems good. Go 30-ish weeks!!

Jamie said...

Yum breakfast! Keep that kiddo in!! I'm glad everything looks good so far. That's kind of a bummer about bedrest but do your best! Keep up the good work!! That's awesome about not shoveling snow! Hee hee!!

Anne Bennion said...

We'll keep praying that your little one stays put until she's full term.

Maria said...

Oh, Em. I'm glad you're back home and resting...I hope you've found some help to watch your little princess Tessa for the next few weeks!!

Mattsmom said...

I am SO glad that you didn't have a baby last weekend.
Hopefully you are fully recovered from this cold VERY soon.

Crystal said...

when you want books and junk food, gimme a call :) Avery and I are always looking for reasons to leave the house.

Lys said...

my heart skipped when i saw that bed, and the coffee (or tea. hot chocolate?) with the plastic lid on it. nothing says 'hospital' like those items. glad to hear everything is relatively ok, good luck with the bed rest.

Susan said...

Emily, this is where I need to look for your updates! Take care and know you and your family are in our prayers.

Susan

MindySue said...

I have to admit the first thing i thought was: "Look at those adorable feeet". You have cute feet. Thoughts following....
-Cerclage: OUCH.OUCH.OUCH
-I hope you are doing okay on bedrest.
-Hospitals charge you for EVERYTHING. I got my doctor to let me bring my own Ibuprofen because I didn't want to pay $70 a pop for theirs.
-I totally understand about you wanting to see how Aaron did getting Tessa ready...its sort of a little..."lets see how he likes it". Not snarky...pretty darn normal. Darn him for actually doing a good job at it ;)

Drewmeister said...

Let me know if you're up for visitors in the evening or on a Sunday.

Melissa said...

WE're *sending* well wishes your way!! here's to praying it all works out!