At about 7PM last night, I started having regular contractions (the non-painful kind). I was having some earlier in the afternoon but they were pretty irregular. These contractions don't hurt but everything just gets very tight. So, at 7 I called the on-call number and fortunately my doctor was the one on-call.
He told me to drink two big glasses of water, empty my bladder and rest. I followed his instructions but had a consistent 6 contractions every hour. They continued every 10 minutes until about 9. We decided I should call him back and at that point, he decided to have us go to Community North Labor and Delivery to get checked out.
They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and tracked the baby's heart rate and the contractions. After watching this for a while, my doctor ordered a shot of tributelene (not sure if I spelled that right). The nurse told me it would make me feel hot, jittery and cause my heart to race. It did just that and worse.
I was talking to my mom on the phone giving her an update and I started feeling terrible. I got off the phone and Dan got the nurse. By that point, I had no color in my face, felt terribly nauseous and was having trouble breathing. They lowered my bed so my head was below my feet, brought in a pulse-ox monitor and just kept checking my blood pressure. The lowest it reached was 80/30.
It took a while but I started feeling better, and even better news... the baby was a champ through it all! Even when my bp dropped the baby's heart rate held strong. We have one tough baby in there!
Around 11:45, my doctor sprung us and we headed home. The contractions have stopped and I am free to resume activity.... at least until Monday when I have an already scheduled ultrasound and see my doctor. He might put me on modified bed rest, but we'll see. I'm supposed to drink lots of water (about 2 liters a day) and not over do it. This is not an easy task for me normally. But I think after last night I will make it a point to rest.
4 comments:
Keeping hydrated is critical when you are pregnant. People don't realize that dehydration can cause contractions. The drug they gave you is called Terbutaline or Brethine. Did they send you home on this?
It is scary, but you did the right thing!! :o)
Hopefully this will be the last time this happens!!!
Leslie
hey heidi--so sorry that you had a scare last evening. we can completely relate--when i was pregnant with henry i was given the same drug to stop contractions...and actually was on it for a couple of months to keep them at bay. i pray that you are feeling better today and that your body will stay far far away from labor until you're due!
love and prayers, tam
Love you. You are doing such a great job as a mom already.
Your blog looks cute, too!
Praying for you, Heidi! Also, I saw your pictures on Leslie's blog - beautiful!
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