The Harrison's Happenings: 9 Days and 5 trips to Labor and Delivery

32 Weeks- Day 44 of Bed Rest

I'm 32 weeks and 1 day today. Today and yesterday were good days but you need to know how the last week has been!!!

Last time I updated I had just had the positive fetal fibronectin and been to Labor and Delivery once.

Last Wednesday, Well I went back the next day to get the 2nd shot to mature Ramey's lungs and when I was there I told them I had been having some cramping, so they wanted to monitor me again. So I did another non-stress test, and I had a few contractions, but nothing big, so I went home.

Last Thursday, Then that night I woke up at 4:00am and had 6 contractions in an hour. That is the magic number when you call the doctor. But since I have had so many they told me to change positions, get up and go to the bathroom, drink a bunch of water, and see what happens the next hour. Well I fell asleep around 6:00 and hadn't had many that second hour so I felt better. I woke up around 8:30 and was okay for a little bit but then started having the contractions again, I had 3 in 30 minutes, so I didn't want to wait for the 12 in 2 hours since I had so many that night, so I went ahead and called and they told me to come in and get monitored again. This time I had a few big ones when I was there, so they decided to up my procardia medicine to from every 8 hours to every 6 hours. And it has really seemed to help.

Friday, Last week was Teacher Appreciation week and my wonderful kindergarten parents spoiled me even though I wasn't at school. My homeroom mom brought me lunch and all kinds of presents from the parents. I got baby clothes, board books, an OU blanket and monogrammed burp cloths from the biggest OSU fans, gift cards, and yummy treats. One of my moms makes amazing cupcakes that she dips the bottom in some kind of amazing chocolate (so it doesn't have a cupcake liner on the bottom) and brought some to me to have too!

Sunday. Mother's Day! It was a great day! Harry made me breakfast in bed (which I get every day since I am in bed all the time, lol) but he made me blueberry pancakes and bacon. It was delicious. Then he gave me a card from him and Ellie and one from Ramey. He scribbled inside because he said that was more realistic than when people write the name and put letters backwards. He is funny. And then he got me beautiful flowers and a gorgeous necklace. What a good hubby and daddy!
Then Mom and Dad came over and they got me flowers too. Luckily my sweet hubby thought ahead and got a card for me to give to my mom too since I couldn't get out to get her one so I still got to give my mom something and Katherine got her a book from both of us.

Typical Day of my parents and sister here

Hanging Out

Monday rolled around and I had a doctors appointment. I went to the doctors appointment and she didn't check my cervix or anything because I was getting an ultrasound on Wednesday and it can tell actual measurements, so she said to just keep doing what I am doing. I told her I was having some cramping but we thought it was just the stupid ibs problems again.
About an hour or so after that appointment my lower right stomach and right side back were KILLING me. I was basically writhing in pain it hurt so bad. I couldn't lay on either side, which is how I am suppose to lay while on bed rest, and couldn't do anything but think about how bad my pain was. I called Labor and Delivery about 7 and they told me to come in. They had me give a urine sample like always and hooked me up to the monitors. It came back that I was pretty dehydrated so they had me drink a ton of water and then decided that they would also give me a bag of iv fluids. Well I know I have tiny veins but apparently they were nearly invisible. Two nurses looked for a good 20 minutes until they found one they thought would work okay. Luckily it worked and they only had to stick me once. Once I got some fluids I felt a little better. They also upped my procardia again from every 6 hours to every 4 hours. Harry got off work at 10:00 so he came up there and Mom still stayed for awhile. Then my pain level was alot lower, I say it was about an 8 or a 9 when I got there and about a 2 after the fluids. My side still hurt but not anything like it was. They basically said I was just dehydrated and that would make my stomach and sides cramp. So we went home.

About an hour or so after we got home it started hurting again. Not as bad, maybe a 5, but not good.
I woke up about 3:00am and was writhing in pain again. I waited an hour to see if it would go away but it didn't, so I called the hospital back and luckily one of the nurses that had helped me when I was there answered. I told her I was still having alot of pain in my side. She told me to drink a ton of water and if it wasn't better in 45 minutes to call back. Well it did get quite a bit better and I fell asleep.

Tuesday, my side was still achy and just didn't feel right but was much better than it had been. Harry went to work and Mom came over. Throughout the day my side would feel like it would catch on something and I would get a stab or pain or it would just hurt and hurt for an hour and then go away. Mom and I were looking online trying to figure out what it could be and I had alot of symptoms of kidney stones. I have had a kidney infection before and more UTIs and bladder infections than I can count, and Mom has had kidney stones, so it wouldn't be an insane idea. It also said it is more common for pregnant ladies to get kidney stones than no pregnant ladies and if you eat alot of berries and nuts you could be more prone. I am eating blueberries, strawberries, soy nuts and peanut butter every day! So we decided if I had another "spell" we would call labor and delivery again.
Of course it happened again around 5:00 and they said it could be that, but they really thought it was back labor and contractions. I kept telling them that my uterus was not contracting and getting hard (I think I would know since I have had contractions since 23 weeks!) but they were just sure that is what it was. So Harry got off at 5:00 so we waited for him to get home and then went up there.
I wasn't dehydrated this time because Mom was making me drink so much water all day I thought I was going to get water poisoning. They hooked me up and saw that I wasn't really having any contractions. So I told them when my back was hurting, the monitor wasn't showing anything, so I think they realized it wasn't contractions, which I had been telling them.
They thought it could possibly be kidney stones so they gave me a shot of demerol to help with the pain. It made me very dizzy, faint and nauseous, but it worked. My pain went from an 8 to a 1. Since I was scheduled for an ultrasound in the morning they added to it and wanted them to check my kidneys. They said I could stay overnight and they could watch me or I could go home with some medicine and to come back if it got worse. So I opted for home because I thought there was no way I could sleep at the hospital. So they gave me some lortab for the pain and Harry asked for a prescription of phenergan gel since I got so nauseous with the demerol. And we came home.
I took the lortab and went to bed and slept great.

Wednesday morning we went to the doctor for the ultrasound. I hadn't had any lortab since 2:30am and my side still felt fine, which was good. They looked at little Ramey and he is measuring 33 weeks and 4.7lbs. Everything about him looks great. They checked my cervix and it has GROWN from a 2.8 to a 3.3. So the progestrone shots are working great. Harry gave me one on Tuesday and did a great job too! They also didn't see any kidney stones but I do have a mild case of hydronephrosis. This is the simplest explanation I found: very common and almost always is on the right side because genetically our uterus's typically tilt towards the left. Over 50% of pregnant women get it and only rarely is any surgical action taken to correct it (ie a stint being placed in the ureter that is being pushed on by the uterus). It like a hose with running water in it being stepped on where it slows the flow of the urine.

I am glad they found something because I was thinking I was crazy because they just didn't know what it was. But the rest of the day Wednesday and all of today, I have felt fine. I also found that it said it comes and goes with pain, but I still have the lortab so I am good to go! I obviously won't take it if I don't need it, but tylenol did nothing for the pain.

Here are some baby Ramey pictures!