Three days ago I started cramping constantly and contracting regularly. My lower back hurt too and I began to bleed so I called my midwife. She told me not to risk driving to the hospital that they partner with (it's a hour away) and to get to my nearest ER. That's what I did. Little did I know that I was dilating and softening. After 2 days in the hospital, a ton of bags of fluid, antibiotics, pills every 4 hours to try to slow the contractions down, steroid shots for the baby, another Rhogam shot, magnesium sulfate, an ultrasound to check on baby's size, make sure there's no uterine blood clots or placenta ruptures, and to check cervical length I am stable. We were able to go home on bed rest and medicine to minimize contractions. I'm still cramping and having constant uterine irritability but the contractions are much farther apart and I haven't dilated any farther (I am 2 cm) so that's great news. Baby stayed extremely active through the entire hospital stay and the heart rate stayed perfect. The ultrasound went amazing as well. According to it we have a 3 lbs 7 oz baby in there that loves to lay sideways. That would explain the sharp jabs directly to the hip bones that keeps waking me up ha.
On another note I just have to send a shout out to Grove's labor and deliver staff and Dr. Thomas. When preterm labor started I was terrified to go to a small town hospital but also even more terrified to have a 30 weeker on the side of the road. Plus I honestly thought I was crazy and that they'd send me right home. My labors are weird. Contractions didn't hurt me until an hour before I delivered. My back constantly killed me with my son the whole labor but I didn't have pain from the actual contractions until the end. I contracted regularly for weeks with all 3 babies before they actually came. I have notorious prolonged labor that I never really considered labor because the contractions didn't hurt until it was it was close to push time. I just don't take myself seriously and I never had those cool, "Omg my water broke, let's have a baby!" moments. I had sketchy, "Is this really it?" moments. Anyways this time was no different. I under estimated what I was feeling and blew it off for a day before I went in which was stupid of me. I showed up to the hospital with every intention of it being normal pregnancy symptoms and being sent right home. Little did I know that I was actually dilating and softening or that I'd end up loving every single nurse that I met and the doctor. From one nurse sitting on my bed with me to feel/time my contractions with her hands because the monitor wasn't picking them up consistently and she trusted me when I told her what I was feeling to another nurse giving mom and I the 411 on what's NOT hospital policy and all of my options for birthing there if that happened. Literally everything that I wanted out of my birth can be done there aside from a water birth. If I can carry to a safer point in my pregnancy, I can do delayed cord clamping. I can be unhooked from the monitor after 40 mins of being monitored. My husband can deliver the baby. I can shower while in labor. I'm allowed to eat if I want to. They fully support natural births with no pain management despite what gestational age the baby is. The OB confirmed all of this. He even offers/performs vaginal births after a cesarean which isn't as common as you'd think. Because of this scare I'm no longer a candidate to be a patient at the birth center but I'm thankful that God laid the best back up plan possible into my lap. I will be using Dr. Thomas from this point on and depending on how things happen I'll either transfer to Tulsa to deliver if it happens in the next few weeks and I'm not bleeding like I was or I will deliver in Grove if I can make it to 34-35 weeks. No matter what I truly feel like the baby and I will have the best of care after everything I just witnessed from this staff. I have total faith that baby can stay put to term but even if he or she doesn't I know that God will take care of our sweet little Rainbow and I know that this all happened for a reason 🌈
As for my thoughts/feelings on losing my water birth experience, I am doing surprisingly well. After hearing the risks to my baby if he or she was born now and signing wavers saying that I understood these risks it puts things into perspective. From the baby having an increased risk of brain bleeds and cerebral palsy to the baby having to stay in the NICU for a long time and my family spending time apart because of it. My kids not getting to meet their siblings or hold them soon. My teeny tiny baby being hooked up to machines and struggling or in pain. Not being able to spend every moment in the same building or even town with all my kids. It all was just a huge blow of emotions and my selfish desire to birth in water instantly disappeared. If I get any my birth desires, cool. If I don't and every single thing goes completely against my 'plans' but baby is here safely, I couldn't be happier.
Thank you to all of my personal friends and family for your prayers and well wishes. From bringing us dinner to offering to keep the kids, y'all are dolls. To my readers, please keep us in your thoughts. We hope that it's months before we meet this precious miracle and we can use all of the prayers and good vibes that we can get.
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