by 媽咪
We arrived at the hospital at 11am in drizzling but very windy conditions. We waited for daddy in his office for a bit and left the kids with his coworkers for a few minutes while he escorted me up to L/D. The charge nurse checked me in at 11:30am, hooked me up to the monitors and I settled in as comfortably as I could under the circumstances. A phlebotomist came to draw some blood for lab.
I was telling myself to just stay calm and use this rare opportunity to rest and relax without the kids. I had a good 1.5 hour rest before the kids came up. They had already had lunch. Around 2pm, the OB doctor on duty came by to see me and told me she wanted to keep me there till 11pm that night for it is the first 24 hours that is the most critical. (If an abruption were to occur it is most likely going to happen in the first 24 hours.) 24 HRS?! Are you kidding?! The kids won't last another 20 minutes in my opinion. I felt uneasy about the situation; hubby was on duty officially and could be called in any moment. When the boys were in the room they were always up to something and the only thing I could do was helplessly lie in bed and voice-control, which of course had little effect. The next 1.5 hours were tough as we tried to manage them in the small confined space. Wayne had to go do some stuff a couple times too. Didi was curious and looked a little concerned. He came to my bedside and asked what mama was doing a few times. It was so sweet. By about 3pm the labs came back all right the doctor gave me the green light to have some lunch. The kitchen had already closed and the only thing they had were some cold and not so appetizing sandwich. The food took a long time to come and I was totally ready to go home at that point. The boys were probably tired and ready for a nap and they were ALL OVER the place. I was confined to the hospital bed in frustration. The doctor came by again to tell me I needed to rest because my contractions were still frequent. They were about 4.5 minutes apart she informed me. If it keeps up she would have to give me a steroid to stop the contractions. She again 'hinted' that I needed quiet rest, the boys bring there were not ideal. At close to 4pm daddy came back to take them to his call room to nap and I was able to rest peacefully for a while.
The OB doctor ordered a growth ultrasound while I was there; just to see how the baby is doing. The tech came and took lots of pictures and confirmed, again, that we're having a boy. Yes, no surprises there. The baby was doing well, very well in fact. It's actually ahead of its gestational age by about a week. I am worried now that we'll have a big baby. Better be more careful with my diet... *sigh*. After the ultrasound tech left the OB doctor came by and checked the chart. She said she will have to give me the steroid and observe for another 2-3 hours at least. All right, I thought to myself, we'll just have to do whatever it takes to make sure we've done the best we could for the baby. Dinner came shortly after and by now the boys were up. They came back to the room, by the way, the charge nurse was nice enough to put me in a L/D since it is roomier and has a TV to keep the boys entertained. They were only there briefly before being whisked away to get some dinner. The nurse gave me the steroid shot and I had some dinner. The OB doctor came by again before handing over her shift to the next doctor. It was thoughtful of her. She wanted to make sure I was all right. (And that the boys were going home after daddy's shift is up!) The three of them went home at 7pm and it was finally peaceful and quiet. The drug was taking effect nicely, my contractions had gone down to almost nothing. Praise the Lord. The new OB on duty said if I don't have any more contractions he'd send me home at 10pm! I was praying and tried my best to relax. It all went well until about 9:50pm, the nurse came back and said I just had another contraction. Sure, I felt that myself. (I am usually unfazed by these contractions because they occur so frequently). She was shaking her head "You only had 10 minutes to go"! I know! I know! "Don't worry too much, we will see how it goes in the next 20 minutes or so". She quickly added, trying to calm me. The only thing I could do then was to relax and pray to God. I had no intention of staying overnight there! The OB doctor came by at about 10:10pm; checked my chart, examined my belly and thankfully, gave me D/C home order! Yay! Praise God I can finally go home. They did of course go through all the discharge notes before releasing me. I know I need to be more careful. It is not in the best interest of anyone if anything should happen. I am just thankful that nothing serious resulted from this incident. Thank you to all who called or wrote.