district12ravenclaw | The only prescription is more cowbell (Reply)

Saturday morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a headache. I guess that post I made on Saturday about feeling like crap was a warning of what was about to come. Steve's parents came over in the afternoon, and wanted to celebrate his dad retiring by having a fancy dinner at Chick-Fil-A. Yeah, I don't get it either. His dad just loves the place. After Chick-Fil-A, we headed over to BRU and Target, where I got the homecoming outfit, and we got our mattress for our crib. I popped a Tylenol before we left to do everything, and figured that would hold me.

In the evening, I started feeling pretty crappy, and had a feeling I was getting a fever. I took my temperature, and it was 100.1, which I thought wasn't too bad. Over the next couple of hours, I watched it climb, so I got into my books and websites to see what I should do. One of my books said to contact the doctor if it was over 101, and BabyCenter said to contact if it was over 100.

When my temp hit 101, I told Steve that we should probably go to the emergency room, just in case. We got in the car, and I brought the thermometer with me. Before we got out of our neighborhood, it was saying my temp was 98.7, stupid thing. So we went back home and I grabbed my basal thermometer, which gave me a reading of 102.23! We hopped back in the car and continued on our way to the hospital. Steve was a little freaked out, as was evidenced by his lovely driving, and his reassuring hand on my leg the whole way over.

We made it to the hospital in one piece and went over to the BirthCare Center. It was after hours (they make you go through the ER after a certain time), so we walked over to the ER entrance. Luckily, the waiting room was practically deserted, so I knew we wouldn't have to wait long. I got into the triage section right away, and they started their usual battery of tests and questions. My temp read 100.6 when I got there, my heart rate was 104, and my blood pressure was 168/86, yikes! They sent me back to a bed, where my looooooooooooong night was about to begin.

Our nurse came in and started yet another battery of questions. When I explained what was going on with the fever, she asked if I had taken any more Tylenol after my dose at 6:30. I told her no, and she looked at me like I was crazy, then asked why. She looked at me crazy again when I told her that my books and websites suggested that I come in since my fever was so high. Steve chimed in with "since she's been pregnant, she hasn't wanted to take a lot of medication," and then we saw the light bulb go on. Apparently, the triage nurse had not written down that I was pregnant! Yeah, that kind of makes a difference :).

While waiting for the doctor, they had me pee in a cup. Apparently, I had white blood cells in my urine, so they diagnosed me with a UTI and wrote me a prescription for Keflex. I got some Tylenol from the nurse to help bring my fever down, and then I was hooked up to an IV for fluids and something called Rocephine, an antibiotic.

While I was hooked up to the IV, I started noticing a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. However, I also noticed that I was having some mild cramping and some back pain with them, so then I got worried that these were the real thing. In a span of about 20 minutes, I had probably 6 or 7 of these contractions, so I told the nurse, who talked to the doctor and said that they were going to discharge me from the ER and send me upstairs to labor and deliver to be monitored. At this point, it was about 4am.

I was wheeled upstairs to labor and delivery, and put into a room in the high risk ward. I'm hoping that was only due to space issues, but I digress. I got hooked up to a fetal monitor, so we got to listen to Owen's heartbeat all night, very cool. It averaged in the 150-170 range, nice and strong! It also made all these strange noises whenever he'd move around, so it was fun to hear that too. He moved around a ton during that time; I don't think he liked the monitors on him, because they strapped them on pretty tightly.

I guess I was having some real contractions, which would explain all the fun stuff I went through next. I got a shot of terbutaline, and that shit hurts! It also gives you the shakes. At that point, I was also given my first dose of the Keflex. A little while later, they told me that they were going to test for the presence of fetal fibronectin, a protein that will tell you if you're at risk for going into labor within the next two weeks.

Now, you would think that being the highly regarded hospital that they are, they would have a better system of testing for this substance. Rather than break the bed, attach stirrups, and use a real exam light, they (the nurses, because apparently, the doctor on call couldn't be bothered to come down) put my ass up on this block (so uncomfortable, and it was hitting a nerve which was making me shake!) and looked in there with a flashlight! Hello, ghetto! And the speculum (inserted without lube!) hurt like hell going in too, which makes me look that much more forward to the internal exams I'll be receiving soon, yay.

After the torture squad left, Steve and I just hung out in the room, waiting for the results of the fetal fibronectin test, and to find out when we could go home. At this point, it was about 5:30 or 6am, so we had been up all night, and we were tired. I had to lie on my left side while they were monitoring the contractions, and the beds were not exactly comfortable, so my hip and thigh was in some serious pain. I couldn't lie on my back, and I couldn't lie on my right side because that's where the monitors were sitting, so I just had to suffer with it for a while.

At around 6:30, the nurse wanted to give me another shot of terbutaline, but because my heart rate was so high (it was 112, which was because of the first shot of terbutaline), they had to wait for it to come down. They gave me a cup of ice water and came in every few minutes to check my blood pressure and heart rate. When it got down to 107, they said it was fine, and then gave me another shot, fun. It was then that they told me that the fetal fibronectin test came back negative, which was a good thing. Now I know that he'll stay put for at least 2 weeks.

At 7am, there was a shift change, so we got to deal with someone new. She was really nice, but because she just came on, she wanted to monitor me for an hour after the second terbutaline shot. Plus, the doctor on call that night was taking her sweet time returning calls, so we had to wait for all that garbage too. At this point, Steve was ready to kill somebody. Poor guy had been sitting in a chair all night, and he was just exhausted, as was I. We kept telling the nurse that we really wanted to go home, but we still had to wait.

Since I couldn't feel my hip anymore from lying on my side all night, I decided to just sit up. Bad idea. Apparently, Owen's heartrate decelerated into the 130s, and the nurse didn't like that, so I had to stay even longer to wait and see if it was because of artifact or if he was really having a problem. In the meantime, I was given another cup of ice water. I asked for a cup for Steve, but he didn't want any.

At 8am, Steve was completely worn out, so he called his mom to see if she would come sit with me and then take me home, so that he could go home and sleep. Of course, as soon as she said she would come over, the nurse came in and told us that we could finally go home, yay! Steve called his mom back and told her nevermind, and I got dressed and ready to leave. I guess I was really excited about finally getting to go home, because I had hit a second wind at that point and was wide awake.

We left the hospital at about 8:30 and headed home. When we got home, I had a granola bar, then we both hit the sack. I got up at around 2:30, and Steve slept for probably another half hour after me. I called my parents and told them what happened, and my mom threatened to kick my butt for not calling her from the hospital :p. Steve and my brother had a hockey game, so I stayed home and asked my mom to come up and keep me company while they were gone, which was Steve's idea, because he didn't want me to be home alone.

I called the doctor this morning to check in with her, and she told me to just take it easy this week and not do anything that I don't have to do. No bedrest or anything, just light duty I guess. But if I have more than 5 or 6 contractions in an hour, they're going to put me on an oral dose of terbutaline. I have an appointment to see her on Thursday, so I'm sure she'll be checking me out then. I just hope that I'm okay to go to the Ducks game on Thursday night! Priorities, you know ;).

So that was my fun and exciting weekend, woot!