First trip to the hospital

Yep, I just spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital. Not. fun.

On Tuesday, I had a regular appt with the perinatalogist. Dh took the afternoon off to go with me (he hasn't been to an appt since the very first) so we scheduled a tour of the NICU the same day. We did that, met the neonatalogist and other staff members, got an idea of what to expect, etc. When we were speaking with them, we were very positive opposite their "you WILL deliver early and the babies WILL be in the NICU for a while" etc.

After that we headed over to the perinatalogist. He did a quick ultrasound (it's usually 20-30 minutes long) and said I had "funnelling" of my cervix; basically, the top part of my cervix had started to open. He told us to go to the hospital, to labor and delivery, where they would monitor me to see if I was contracting and contact my OB about doing a cerclage (at stitch in my cervix to hold it closed). He was so calm and nonchalant about it, that I wasn't sure if he was saying that we MIGHT have to do that, so I finally said, "what....now?!?" So much for the uneventful pregnancy we were hoping for.

We headed over there where they put me on a hugely uncomfortable stretcher and cinched the monitor so tight around my middle that I was sure it would cut me in two. One thing I know about my own body is that I usually contract when I am very tired, or uncomfortable. So, though I had not contracted at all for the first 2 hours I was there, I told them I could feel a few in the last half hour because of my discomfort and they decided to keep me overnight "just to be safe". Bleh. A partner of my OB finally came in and talked to us for a while, but they still had not scheduled a time for the cerclage, so the thought was that I would go home after 24 hr observation then come back for a scheduled procedure. (While we were in the observation area, the nurse from the NICU stopped by and said we were supposed to go home and stay for a couple of months, not decide to hang around, LOL)

I wasn't too worried about one night in the hospital. As soon as they put me in a regular bed and adjusted the monitor, I was fine, and never contracted again. Figures. The next morning, I hadn't heard anything about the cerclage until the anesthesiologist showed up to introduce himself and said it was scheduled for that afternoon. At this point, I still have not seen my own doctor. Noone seemed to really know what to expect after the procdedure (i.e. how it would feel, etc) so I wasn 't too worried about it. I was going to have spinal anesthesia, which I'd had with my twins' c-sec, so I knew what to expect from that (so I thought).

The procedure time kept getting pushed back which just made me more nervous as the minutes passed. I finally went into to the OR. The spinal hurts like a bitch! I swear he must have stuck me 8 times and it hurt! Once I was finally lying down, he asked if I wanted something to help me relax. Uh, YEAH! LOL The procedure was fine; I think I dozed off a few times and it didn't last but maybe half an hour or so. I went into the recovery room where dh was able to join me. All was well; we were even talking, laughing and joking with the nurses. My OB came in and talked with us for awhile. She said I shouldn't have any pain afterwards, maybe some discomfort. Dh asked his usual 100 questions since he hadn't been able to talk with her since my first visit.

Once I got back to the room, things started going down hill. I had a catheter which was clamped in the this strange way and was taped to my leg so I could move my legs without it pulling and hurting, and I couldn't put a pillow between my legs, which is the only way I can get comfortable. My back was KILLING ME where the spinal had been. I could not get comfortable. You know what they offered me for the pain? Tylenol. Gee, thanks. I was supposed to get the catheter out as soon as I was able to stand, but the nurses decided I should keep it overnight so I wouldn't have to get up to go to the bathroom (which turned out to be ok, since I'd had about 8 bags of fluid in 24 hours and they could barely keep the catheter bag emptied I was going so much- sheesh). I finally took a sleeping pill at midnight (I had had one the night before, but it only lasted a couple of hours) and thankfully I slept about 6 hours then dozed after that.

She finally took the catheter out and I went to the bathroom without any problems, but by then, I was so uncomfortable in my nether regions (ha ha) that I felt like I was being turned inside out. Plus, my back still hurts so bad that I can barely get up or move in the bed. They checked me and I had a little fluid so they started doing swabs to test for an amniotic fluid leak. Everything was negative. They scheduled another ultrasound with the perinatalogist before I could go home. That turned out fine, though he said it was too early to tell if there was a slow leak.

Anyway, despite my misery, I finally got released. I am glad to be home, in my own bed, but it is still hard to get around. I am on pretty strict bedrest until next week when I have follow up appts. After that, if all is well, I may be able to be on just moderate bedrest, which would be nice.

Last night, I was very tearful. I just didn't think I could go through all of that pain and discomfort again, and knowing I will have to when it's time to deliver. I told dh I want a general anesthesia with my c-sec; that spinal was for the birds! It was different when it had been 6 years and I didn't remember all of that; this time, it will only have been a couple of months, and I WILL remember, so I will be that much more anxious and nervous.

I was so determined to have an uneventful, fairly easy (as easy as it can be with triplets!) pregnancy. Now I'm scared because you never know when something can happen, or even start to go very wrong without knowing that it is happening.

Keep praying for us