Prison Break - thwarted!

True to tradition our little Wilde Baby had quite made up its mind to join the family much earlier than he/she was expected. Luckily we were able to thwart his/her plans - for at least another week or three, we hope! :)

On Wednesday afternoon (33.4 wks according to my OB's calculations, 34 wks. 1 day according to mine) I started noticing some regularity to my otherwise irregular BH contractions. I have been no stranger to these pesky things for quite a while - particularly after my last trip to L&D (two weeks ago) when I was diagnosed with an Irritable Uterus. However, these particular BH's were consistently 2-3 minutes apart and I finally called Justin around 1 PM to put him on standby. By 2:30 PM I told him to come home and work from home because they were still consistent and starting to have some intensity (i.e. pain) to them. About an hour later I made the call to Nellie letting her know that I wanted to go get checked and could she please watch our kiddos for a little while. This whole time I *knew* something wasn't right, but never panicked because I just didn't want to accept what was going on. So I finished packing a few things in our bags (just in case), we dropped off the kids, and then made it to the OB office by 4:30 PM.

The on call OB (Dr. C) could see and feel my contractions and decided to do an exam which included a repeat fFN test (fetal-fibronectin). As a precaution my regular OB had done this test on me last week and it came back negative (meaning I had a less than 1% chance of going into labor in the next two weeks, lol). After checking me Dr. C found that from last week (when I was not dilated and 0% effaced) I had progressed to 1.5 cm and 75% (not a big deal at this point in pregnancy, but I was actively contracting and have a history of early deliveries). This bought me a ticket to L&D for further monitoring and fluids. Once we made it over and I was all 'gowned up' and hooked up to the monitors, Dr. C saw that my contractions were getting closer together, increasing in intensity (I was breathing through them by this point), and quickly got fluids started. Right around this time my 2nd fFN test result came back and this time it was positive.

Almost immediately after getting the fluids started I was given a subcutaneous shot of terbutaline to stall my contractions. This is supposed to be a fast-acting drug so when it hadn't worked within 20 minutes an order was made to start me on a large dose of Magnesium Sulfate and to administer the first of two corticosteroid shots to help mature the baby's lungs. I'm not going to lie - this whole process was terrifying. Another cervical exam showed I had dilated to 2 cm, but was still 75% - so the drug apparently seemed to be working. I eventually sent Justin to go get the kids and take them home to bed because we assumed the scare was over and it would be better for Jack, Eddie, and Norah to be in their own beds.

Unable to sleep from all of the monitoring and the pain of having a catheter (ouch!), I tried to sit up a little around 1 or 2 AM and immediately knew something was wrong. (Thankfully, there was a nurse in my room with me at all times because I already have low blood pressure and the drugs I was on/had been given can all lower blood pressure even more so I was constantly being 'watched'.) I told her something wasn't right and then started to pass out. Dr. C was called in and my blood pressure reading was shouted out as being 50/35. My vision was too blurry to see anything, my reflexes were non-reactive, and all I remember was that I was just fighting the feeling of blacking out completely. More nurses came into my room with syringes of epinephrine (speed) which were then injected into my IV to prevent cardiac arrest and to raise my blood pressure back up. Needless to say the Magnesium was stopped. Baby Wilde didn't bat an eye during this whole experience, thank goodness!

Apparently I'm not a good candidate for Magnesium treatment. My blood pressure did come back up - though it was still very low and I was given Procardia as an alternative to the Mag. to try to keep the contractions from building again. (Procardia is another blood pressure medication commonly used to stall preterm labor that has made my BP lower than normal, but my body seems to be tolerating it much better than the magnesium.) Justin came to stay with me the following day (thank you, Tiffany, for watching the kiddos!) and even though I had effaced to 80% and was still 2cm dilated, my contractions had all but stopped, the catheter was removed (yay!), and my BP seemed to be holding okay on the Procardia. I had my 2nd steroid shot (so baby is now fully covered if he/she does decide to try to make another premature break for it!) and was released the following (Friday) morning.

So here I am - home and on modified bed rest which means I can shower, go to the bathroom, and occasionally go get a drink/snack before I need to return to bed. The boys have been keeping me company (especially since I've been letting them watch netflix movies on the computer next to me while I read :) and Justin has been playing Mr. Mom. (After one day of that, however, we realized we would definitely be needing some help since he can't work from home and watch the kids. We've since hired an amazing young woman from our ward to come help us out next week... So happy she's available!) Our ward friends have been incredible and it's been truly humbling to accept their offers for dinner/childcare.

I'm still on Procardia - which still seems to be doing the trick, but it also comes with some awesome side-effects: nausea, constipation, indigestion, swelling of the hands/feet, etc. I was joking with my sister that it's basically all of the negative pregnancy side-effects in one little pill! I've thought about slipping Justin one or two so he can see what pregnancy is really like, lol.

So the countdown is now on... As much as we can't wait to find out if our kiddos are getting a baby sister or brother, we are hoping for the mystery to remain a little while longer. Thank you for your prayers, texts, phone calls, and emails! They have all been very much appreciated!