In case you missed the update about this pregnancy being considered high risk, you can read it here – What I haven’t said about my pregnancy. I’m going back to where I left off and doing bump progress shots, with more information about what we’ve learned along the way about our baby girl and her medical issue. All of these updates are written in the past tense because I ended up not catching up in time for our baby’s arrival! I want a record for myself, for my little girl and to help anyone else who may find themselves in a similar situation.
March 20th – March 26th
How big is baby?
Baby is as big as a squash, but all the measurements this week are the same range as last week – 15.2-16.7″ long and 2.5-3.8 pounds.
How I’m feeling?
My mom and aunt decided to throw the baby a little mini shower, and I was so happy about it since Ezra is (obviously) a boy so that meant everything I had stored away for a baby was all boy themed. I wanted the baby to have some stuff all her own, and that is exactly what happened. It was a small, fun shower and I can’t say how nice it was to celebrate the baby without any kind of medical talk. It was a real blessing to just focus on her as a baby and not as a baby with an abnormality.
My contractions were still pretty consistent and had been happening for a week by this point. My shower was the 22nd, and the 23rd (Monday) I had my third NST (non-stress test) and a fluid measurement. No surprise, but my fluid had increased since the previous week. I was surprised to learn that my contractions were now 1-2 minutes apart, because they didn’t feel like they had increased in any intensity and by that point I was mostly ignoring them. However, because they had increased, I was once again sent down to labor and delivery. My OB was fairly certain that the reason they were happening was because of the excessive amniotic fluid – that can irritate the uterus, and cause preterm labor.
Long story short, I was admitted for preterm labor.
And that began two days of a terrible hospital stay where I almost found myself in a coma.
I wish I was exaggerating but, sadly, I am not. I took this picture of myself in labor and delivery, when I had no idea I was about to admitted and then have a horrible experience.
To stop the preterm labor, my OB decided to give me a bolus of magnesium sulfate, and then keep me on a steady drip of it until my contractions either drastically slowed or disappeared altogether. Magnesium sulfate is another muscle relaxant and it can have all kinds of side effects.
As it turns out, I apparently have an extreme sensitivity to magnesium sulfate but the nurses were not consistently checking my vitals and reflexes while I was on the drip – nor was I receiving a blood draw consistently to monitor the level of magnesium in my body. These two things put together was a recipe for disaster that reached its peak some time in the middle of the night/early Tuesday morning when I woke up to go to the bathroom but was physically unable to open my eyes, let alone move my body. Alex was spending the night with me – thank God – and I tried to communicate with him what was happening. Luckily, he woke up and I told him I had to go to the bathroom but I couldn’t move. I had no control over any of my muscles, and I realized I couldn’t feel the baby move (which was extremely strange for her, since she was constantly moving due to all the fluid. The girl had a built in swimming pool!).
It was the most terrifying experience of my life, and I honestly felt like I was dying.
A nurse came in because Alex unplugged my monitors, and he told her what was happening. I was surrounded pretty quickly by several nurses and they began checking my reflexes (I had none) and trying to get me to communicate with them, but I just couldn’t. Alex had carried me to the bathroom and he and another nurse had to carry me back to the bed.
They turned off the magnesium and began blood draws. It wouldn’t be until the next morning when I overheard my nurse speaking with my OB (a different OB in the practice than who had ordered the magnesium) that my blood level of magnesium had reached critical levels and I had been in danger of going into a coma.
I was released from the hospital on the 25th. I was so happy to be going home, and to see Ezra and to just sleep in my own bed. And to not have any IVs on me, no monitors strapped to me 24/7 and absolutely no magnesium anywhere near my body. My OB increased my procardia dosage in the hopes that we could manage my preterm labor and contractions with that.
Needless to say, this entire experience traumatized me moving forward and with each non-stress test, I was incredibly worried about being admitted again. Each Monday and Thursday, before I went to the hospital for the NSTs, I had to psych myself up and tell myself I could refuse admittance if I wanted to. And after all of that it seems silly to fill out the rest of the questions for my bump update, but I did actually start to have cravings again!
Any cravings or weird dreams?
Burgers. OMG I could not get enough of burgers at this time. No clue why – apparently I needed red meat for some reason. No weird dreams.
Any other details?
No, and I think everything that happened was plenty!
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