-----Original Message-----
From: Maida Carpio Scott
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 1:01 PM
Subject: Maida's Update: My trip to L&D (LONG STORY, I'm OK)
So I was having a lot of BH (Braxton-Hicks) contractions and pressure/pain behind my pubic bone for a few days. Then the backache came. I spent two nights looking at information about preterm labor, wondering if that could be me. I felt a little like a hypchondriac, and wasn't sure if I was being paranoid.
Doug (DH) had sinus surgery on Wednesday at the same hospital I am going to deliver in. I was going to stop by L&D then and get checked, but changed my mind. On Thursday, the BH contractions were much stronger and pretty much constant. My belly would be hard for 15-20 minutes. I was very uncomfortable. I tried sleeping it off, but that didn't work. I put it off all day, and then decided to go after dinner. We left for the hospital about 8:30 PM. I figured that they would check me, tell me I wasn't in labor and send me home.
I went to Birth Center Triage and checked in. They had no empty beds, so we had to wait about 20-30 minutes until one came available. At that time, they asked me to provide a urine sample and then hooked me up to a fetal and contraction monitor. It was actually nice to just sit and listen to the baby's heartbeat for so long. He moved around a lot. And I had a lot of very strong contractions. They checked my cervix, which was a VERY uncomfortable exam. It was closed, but soft.
Turns out that I have a UTI (urinary tract infection) which can cause uterine contractions. This made sense to me. It seemed to me that I had needed to urinate more frequently than usual, and whenever I did go, it was like I didn't go as much as I wanted to. Which only made me want to go again sooner. But I thought that was just a normal pregnancy symptom. Everyone has to go more when they're pregnant, right?
They called my OB's office for treatment. They gave me a shot of a smooth muscle relaxant (ouch! that stings!) for the contractions, and then put me on an IV with antibiotics. The shot made me feel very shaky and weird, plus a little bit nauseated.
They moved me to a bed in another room and hooked me up to the fetal and contraction monitor, plus added a pulse/oxygen monitor to my wires. Doug slept in a bed next to me (poor guy...he was still recovering from his sinus surgery). After a long while, they checked me. I was still having contractions, although much milder. So, I got another shot of the muscle relaxant. :( Lucky me. And another IV bag for hydration. More waiting. I think I ate about a dozen little packs of saltine crackers.
Around 1:45 AM, the nurse came in and said she was going to go ahead and get my discharge papers ready. Finally! She gave me instructions on what to watch for and sent us home. We left the hospital at 2:00 AM.
So today I'm still having constant contractions. So I called my OB and they called in a prescription for antibiotics and the same muscle relaxant (in pill form). I already had an appt scheduled for Sept 12, for an u/s and check up. I'll see him then for follow-up.
Whew! Sorry this took so long. Bottom line: if you feel like something could be wrong, go get checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry. As the OB nurse, Carol, told me, "We'd much rather see you come in and then go home, than have to watch your baby through a NICU incubator."
So that was my adventure in L&D. I hope I am not there again until at least 36 weeks!
Maida
31w6d (edd 11/2/02)
2 angels (edd 11/9/01, 2/20/02)
http://www.the-scott-family.com/zander/pregnancy/
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