The E.R.

Ever since my anatomy scan I'd been told to be extra vigilant about signs of preterm labor. I didn't really have any of the traditional symptoms so I wasn't too worried but I had been having an odd soreness, like I had ridden 100 miles on a bicycle, and I'd never had that before. So when it didn't go away I called the doctor on Friday (exactly one week since my anatomy scan) on my way to work. The doctor was with a patient so she'd call me back. I also called in and left a message trying to get the results from all my swabs the week before. And then I got the text that I was running out of minutes on my phone. Nice timing.

I got about a half hour of work done when the phone rang. It was the nurse from my doctor's office. She told me to go to the E.R. immediately. I was shocked and devastated. Luckily D had decided to work from home that day (he thought he had pinkeye...fun!) So I met up with him and he took me to the E.R. Which was a shockingly calm place. They immediately sent us up to Labor and Delivery Triage. They seemed a little confused as to why I was there, since sore hoo-ha  wasn't an emergent condition. But I tried to explain about my short cervix (they couldn't find my paperwork of course) so they decided to hook me up to the monitor.

The monitor showed contractions. Not super strong, but a lot of them and they seemed to be regular. So they gave me Indocin which I would stay on for 48 hours and sent me down for another cervical length. (I should mention that hours are passing at this point, I'm on the monitor with a poor nurse trying to keep both babies on monitors too...they like to move around!) Oh and the doctor told them I couldn't have anything to eat or drink. That was not reassuring because the only reason I could think of for that is if they were concerned that I would need anesthesia...because I was delivering. At 23 wks 2days I was not ready for that!

When we finally did our cervical length we could tell the numbers weren't adding up the way we wanted. The tech informed us we were officially down to 1.6cm. That's not good, and pretty much insured I wouldn't be going home. Of course it took a few more hours to realize that because they couldn't find the official report...gotta love the bureaucracy! The doctor first said they would keep me overnight (which was scary because I still thought I'd just get checked out and then go home. So they moved me to a room in the special care unit where they informed me they would keep me at least 48 hours to finish the Indocin. They also started me on Procardia. This meant I was taking a dose of medicine every 3 hours. It was an excellent way to bring back all those memories of the newborn days! Thus ended day one.