A night in L&D

I had my OB appointment Tuesday, everything looked great. The babies were active, I did my glucose tolerance test (GTT), we got some other blood work ran, things looked fine. I was a little nauseous, but I thought it was related to the GTT. It was not.

V had caught the stomach flu from his cousin a few days back, but I thought (once again) that I'd dodged it. Keep in mine we just got over the stomach bug, or a similar one, around two weeks ago. I was wrong, obviously. So I went to bed that night feeling really nauseous, my stomach hurt pretty bad. I woke up Wednesday morning at 2:40ish vomiting. It was a pretty massive fit. I tried to go sit back in bed, propped up, and started noticing belly tightening. My lower back already hurt from shopping earlier, so I kind of wrote that off until it started coming with the tightening, got way more intense, and also spread to my sides. At this point it was coming pretty frequently so I knew something wasn't right, and called the on-call OB.

At their suggestion we just went to our local ER, rather than driving the hour to the hospital with a level III NICU. I didn't think I was having real contractions, I thought they were just braxton hicks still. I got checked in and hooked up, threw up again while they were trying to get the monitors on, and they finally got me an IV started. My cervix was closed, they did a FFN test (which came back negative), and they started me on fluids and Zofran (for nausea). I was having contractions every 3 minutes though, so they gave me a shot of Brethine to try and relax my uterus (as they put it).

After the first bag of fluids they did an ultrasound to check my cervix, it was still over 4cm so that was great. Babies looked fine too, they were kicking and punching, and flipping, all over the place the entire ultrasound. They did not stop moving the entire time we were in the hospital. I was still contracting every 2-3 minutes though so they wanted to give me another dose of Brethine, but my heart rate was too high so they had to wait a few hours for it to go back down. In the meantime I had to start my third bag of fluids. They eventually gave me the second dose of Brethine.

I was there from about 4am until 4pm, the contractions had just started to settle down by 3pm. I was still having some when I was discharged, but they said that's to be expected when you're sick. They were really far between, and the ones that happened between them lasted less than 40 seconds so they weren't really worrisome.

I called my OB while I was there (since they don't have privileges at that hospital) and kept them updated on what was happening. I have a follow-up on Tuesday to recheck my cervix, and a script for Zofran to get through the last of this stomach bug. I'm obviously to drink a lot of fluid, and rest.

I wasn't too worried when we went in, but when they told me the contractions were still happening every 2-3 minutes (even after the first dose of Brethine) I did start to panic a little. I was stuck at an inadequate hospital (level II NICU) without my doctor, and these babies need to stay in as long as they can. If something like this happens again (god forbid) we're going straight to our hospital. That morning I just really didn't feel up to it with the nausea and contractions, and I was worried about delaying treatment. When we got there we were more worried about being stuck there, and it just wasn't worth it.

I'm still having occasional tightening today, but it's nothing like yesterday. My Ob and nurse have been really nice and helpful, our nurse called this morning and we set up our follow up scan. She also gave me the blood results from my tests Tuesday, I did pass my GTT, TSH is fine, but I do have low iron. I already starts taking an iron supplement after the last round of stomach flu so I'm just to continue taking that for now. So, here's to hoping for an uneventful rest of the week. I could use it. 29 weeks today, and really wanting to make it at least another 6, although 9 more weeks would be great!

Late update from MFM-

My appointment with maternal fetal medicine went pretty well. Both babies were facing my back, so they weren't the most cooperative, but they looked good. A flipped head up, and B flipped so it's head it on the right (not left anymore where it's been forever) so they have their little heads together, rather than just their feet. I think the flipping explains the breathing issues I had that day, with the baby lump I saw, and all that flipping, it would have compressed my lungs.

Anyway, at 27 weeks Baby A measured in at 2lbs and 12oz, and Baby B measure in at 2lbs and 10oz. A's abdomen was larger than before, where it had been measuring about a week ahead it's suddenly measuring two weeks ahead, so MFM is a little concerned about gestational diabetes. It could have just been part of a growth spurt, but who knows. They aren't worried enough that they want me to come in sooner, and I have my glucose tolerance test on the 22nd so I suppose we'll just go from there.

Thursday marks 28 weeks. I am absolutely exhausted, but every day we get a little closer.

Entering the third trimester-

Today marks 27 weeks, with 11 weeks to go (at the most)! We are getting there, slowly but surely. I'm feeling a lot better after the stomach flu incident, although I'm still struggling a bit but I think that comes with being this far a long. My breathing is a little better, but I'm also using my inhaler several times a day. I can lay down and breath though, so I think that episode was from a baby to the lungs more than anything else. Which is weird, but what can you do? I did start taking iron supplements after all that, I was feeling very off and I know at this point with V I had low iron and with two babies you need more. My OB will probably test it at the next appointment, but that isn't until the 22nd (almost 29wks), and I didn't want to wait that long. They'll be doing my gestational diabetes test then too, and they should be retesting my thyroid stimulating hormone to make sure that's still good.

I'm consistently measuring about 10 weeks ahead, so while I'm 27 weeks today I'm measuring closer to 37. I did a photo comparison of my bump from last week, so enjoy that. Yes, V was running around me during the photos, ha. He likes to get in on the action.

I have another growth ultrasound with Maternal Fetal Medicine tomorrow. Hopefully the babes are growing on track and all looks well. They've been kicking and wiggling up a storm pretty frequently these days, so that offers me a lot of reassurance. I only got the doppler out once this month, and that was on a low movement day- I didn't even find Baby A but it did kick excessively and move around to avoid/hit the doppler... so I assume all was well.

We're still working on getting the house ready, we've got to finish the room repairs so we can switch rooms around. I got stuff for V's big boy room, but that has to wait until we get into our new room... it's a lot of waiting to get things done. The longer we have to wait to get stuff done, the less I can help with. Which obviously presents an issue since we have barely any help around here. We do want to get V into his big boy room before the babies come though, less transition all at once that way, plus I won't be able to get him in/out of the crib before too long and I definitely won't be able to after my c-section. I really don't want to switch him out of the crib, he still doesn't know how to get out of it so it's nice haha, but I know we need to. It's time.

We really don't need much more for the babies thankfully, I've been buying a little here and there. Actually, I think we have everything for the babies we need, although there are some things I would like... they just aren't necessary. Some things can wait until they're a little older so we're not rushing them either. Most of what's on our to-do list is related to the big room switch up. It's a little overwhelming anyway, to be honest. I'm sure we'll get it done, but I still find myself anxious at times. Maybe it's because I'm so helpless right now, there really isn't anything I can do to expedite the process. I can't really nest, I have to take it easy cleaning, I can't move furniture...

It's hard to believe how close we're getting. If they come early, at say 35 weeks, we might have as little as 8 weeks left. Maximum it's going to be 11 though, which is less than 3 months. Yikes.

Ugh, stomach bug-

Oh, hi Internet. I've been on/off the internet on my phone, but just now am getting back on the computer... this week has been a mess.


V went down with the stomach bug Thursday night and it's just been a cascade effect. I can't even remember what day it is today, it's been that bad. But V got over his (well, the vomiting stage), then A came down with it. Just as A was starting to feel a little better, I finally caught it. It seems to be 24 hours of stomach cramps and vomiting, followed by 24-48 of nausea and extreme fatigue.

I had awful stomach cramps all night (I want to say Monday), within 24 hours I had only eaten a piece of toast (that didn't stay down) and I think two crackers. All the water I had drank came up. Just as I was starting to become less nauseous, I started showing signs of dehydration. I called the on call OB and she said that since it was just the beginning signs of dehydration and I was starting to feel a little better that as long as I could drink a 6-8oz cup in the next hour, then I could skip the ER. Thankfully it stayed down. I've been pushing water with electrolytes, Gatorade, Popsicles, applesauce trying to replenish my stores. I managed to eat some breakfast today, and a bit of lunch, but it's slow going. The first drink/bite this morning was awful, I had to take it really slow then lay down and hope I didn't lose it. The nausea is a lot better since then! Lunch didn't make me nauseous, but I am starving. I'm taking it really slow though so I don't make myself sick from overdoing it. I'm really weak still and going from one room to the next requires a lot of effort, it leaves my heart palpitating. Heck, just typing this out is wearing my arms out.

I just got V down for his nap a bit ago, so I'm going to try and nap some more. Hopefully I'll be back to normal by this weekend.