Day 2...I was not sure that I would make it this far!
I thought about what I wanted to write and decided I am going to write about what happened on November 11, 2010 that changed my life drastically and the events and days that followed. So here it goes. This will take a few days of my 31 I'm sure!
I have to back up a little before November 11th to explain how that day even happened. I was sitting in my office weekly staff meeting on Monday morning and my boss reminded us that we had November 11th off. I had already scheduled my 24 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment for that next Tuesday. These two appointments together would mean I would be off half a day. So after the meeting I called Matt to see if I could change the appointments to Thursday would he be available. He was. That meant I would not have to take off more sick time that I might need closer to the end of my pregnancy. I called the ultrasound place first and they had just had a cancellation and would be able to set up an appointment for me on Thursday. Perfect. I was excited to have the day off but knew I would use that time to polish my hardwood floors, clean the house, shop for costumes for a murder mystery dinner and cook dinner, all in addition to the now scheduled ultrasound.
I woke up that morning as Matt was leaving for work and kissed him goodbye and told him I would see him at 10. I got up ate some breakfast, put clothes in to laundry piles, got ready for the day and snuggled with my puppies and watched a little of the Today Show. Little did I know that walking out my door a little before 10 would be the last time I would see my house for six weeks.
We arrived at the ultrasound and it felt a little different than usual. We had a student doing it and she was very quiet. She had the regular tech come in at the end and use the trans-vaginal ultrasound device to look at my cervix. She said that was normal with twins at this stage. She told me to get dressed but to wait there for her to come back.
She brought back a doctor with her that said my cervix was shortening and that I needed to go over to my doctor's office now and get a shot that would help the babies with their lung development and that I would probably be on bed rest for two weeks. I lost it. I asked questions and I remember that the doctor would not answer them. He said I would need to talk to my doctor. I think Matt was just in shock because we really didn't know what this all meant.
We walked down the hall to my doctor's office, still in tears, and told them why we were there. They had us wait and after what seemed like hours, only a few minutes, they told us they could not administer the shot there because there was not a doctor there to sign off on it. We would have to go over to the hospital across the road and get it there. So still in tears we make our way over to the hospital. We did have to wait a while there. Finally they came and got us and took us to a room. A nurse came in and gave me a shot. She said my doctor was just getting out of surgery and would be in to see us in a few minutes. She came in and explained to us that what was happening was part of the labor process and that if I did go into labor and deliver the shot would help the babies' lungs develop since it was so early. Since I was at the hospital, and there was a contraction monitor in the room, she decided she wanted to put me on and just see if I was contracting. Ten minutes later she came back in and I was having contractions. Of course I was still upset and this made me start crying again. She was admitting me to the hospital for 48 hours and would give me magnesium to stop my contractions.
At this point, Matt and I had no idea how serious this was nor what was about to happen next. Matt called our parents and let them know what was going on and we both made arrangements with our work. Even in that situation, I was still scheming how I could be on "bed rest" at home and still work. I fully thought I would only be in the hospital for 48 hours and then be allowed to go home and just rest for the of my pregnancy. My doctor even told me that if she was really worried then she would send me to Baptist Hospital since Lakeside did not have a NICU.
She checked me and I was dilated to a one. They started the magnesium drip. What a sensation that was! I felt like I was on fire and everything touching me made it worse. I just tried to lay as still as I could. I just wanted it to stop. And then 3 hours later, they gave me another round. Again with the fire and the burning...not a fun experience at all.
We knew we would be there for at least a day or so, so Matt had our friend Ed meet him at our house so we would just have one vehicle at the hospital. While he was gone, my doctor came in to check me again. I was dilated to a three. She looked at the nurse and told her to call the ambulance because I was going to Baptist.
I called Matt and let him know and he rushed back to the hospital just in time to see them taking me out of the room. I tried to joke with the ambulance people, for my sake, but they were all business. I wanted more than anything to have Matt there with me, but he was following behind in our car. I remember looking out the window of the ambulance and seeing Lake Hefner and thinking how nice it would be to take a drive around it.
