What is pregnancy without a scare or two and a trip to the hospital right! NOT!!
For the last several days, I have been experiencing cramping coupled with back pain.
It started in the middle of my 24th week. I had noticed during Wednesday's outreach that I was getting some strong cramping on and off.
Now cramping is very normal in pregnancy; in most cases it's a woman's uterus expanding to make space for the baby.
As blogged in earlier posts, I have felt cramping on and off throughout this pregnancy, so I wasn't too concerned. I just took it as a sign of uterine stretching and the need to slow it down a bit on outreach.
Needless to say, moving into the following week, I was still experiencing cramping and found that they were getting slightly stronger and more frequent. I wasn't overly concerned because again, I've experienced cramping on and off throughout my pregnancy.
Come the Monday, I called Dennard at work to tell him how I was feeling as I was starting to become a little concerned. I had plans that night to take a few new convert girls out to dinner, so Dennard advised me to cancel and just stay home. Not wanting to cancel our plans and let them down, I told Dennard I would be fine and that I would just monitor it and take it easy. Id be either sitting at home or sitting in a restaurant, so I decided to stick to the original plan.
Tuesday I took it easy, Wednesday I stayed back from outreach, but come Thursday, I wasn't having it any longer. The cramping was still there and it wasn't getting any better. I found that it got worse the more I was up and about on my feet. Not wanting to take any chances, after dinner I suggested we call my dad to put Nya to bed for us and head over to Credit Valley to get checked out.
Because the cramping wasn't unbearable or frequent enough to be something to be worried about, we both weren't overly concerned at this point. We were just being cautious and getting it checked out.
We parked the car and headed to the labour and delivery unit. Dennard and I were literally laughing the whole way there. He thought that they wouldn't take me there since I wasn't in labour and that we should really head to the ER. But, I was adamant we would be seen. I was not going to sit in an ER waiting room with 100 sick people or be put on a waiting list for hours to be seen.
I wanted only the best care for me and our baby.
Dennard kept saying 'Sweets, we cant just expect to walk in there and be seen!!! You aren't in labour!! They're going to send us to ER'.
Dennard was laughing so hard when I approached the labour and delivery desk that he couldn't even stand with me. lol He stood and waited for me a few feet back. He even had me chuckling when I approached the desk which made me think 'great, these ladies are not going to take me serious!!'. lol
I told them my symptoms and immediately they said 'ok, no problem. Head into room 2 and put a gown on. A nurse will be in to check on you shortly'.
I looked back at Dennard with a laugh and smile and said 'lets go! they have a room for me :)'. lol
We got settled into our room, I got my glamorous hospital smock on (lol) and Dennard began to unload is whole laptop bag and set up a mini office in our room. Yes, when your husband is a pastor, he never goes far without his cell phone, cell phone charger, laptop and laptop charger. loool
He's always in 'sermon mode'. lol
We were roaring with laughter. Now they were going to think we were crazy!!!
Long story short, we had a fantastic nurse with a wonderful sense of humor who we were able to joke around and laugh with (the same nurse who in fact checked me out when my water had broken with Nya). She hooked me up to a monitor to listen to the baby's heart beat and placed pads on my tummy to monitor any type of contractions I may or may not be having.
After about 15 minutes, she came back in to check on me. Recording on the monitor were contractions. Contractions?!!!!! What!!! Now you can imagine the panic that struck me when I heard that word. At 25 weeks, the word contractions is not a welcome one.
When she said this, the humor in the room was cut like a knife. There was nothing funny now.
She said it could either be a bladder infection, a contracting uterus or early signs of labour. She informed us that the OB Dr on staff that night was in the middle of a C-Section and that we would have to hang tight until he could check me out.
This is when our prayers reached a new level. I just laid there praying for Sweet Pea and praying that it was NOT early labour.
After several minutes had passed, Dennard left the room to make a phone call. The nurse at this point came back in and check the monitor again. She informed me that my urine test came back negative to a bladder infection and that the monitor was readying contractions every 2mins.
This is when the tears began to fill. Contractions every 2mins!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't feel them every 2 mins, but the monitor was indicating that I was.
I fought back tears as she told me that they would need to have the OB check to see if I was dilating. If I was indeed dilating, they would need to send me to a high risk hospital in TO and keep me there as long as it was necessary to ensure the baby and I were being looked after. She began to tell me about the drugs they would give me to speed up the development of Sweet Peas lungs so that if I went into labour, they baby would be able to breathe on her own. All things you DO NOT want to hear at 25 weeks of pregnancy!!!!
She left the room and I began to rebuke everything she had just said. I refused to accept that I was in labor and I refused to accept that Sweet Pea would come early.
I was able to hold it all together until Dennard walked into the room. As soon as I saw his face come around the curtain, tears began to stream down my face. I shared the news with him of what the nurse had told me. A look of shock and panic came across his face.
At this point, I felt a sense of peace come over me. I was confident that God would come through for us and that I wasn't in early labour.
The nurse returned again to inform us that the Dr has just been called in to a labour and that he was going to be delayed a little longer. Again, not the news you want to hear when you could possibly be in early labour!!!
After about a half hour, Dr Gurland walked in. He was the one who delivered our precious Nya 2.5 years ago.
He greeted me with a smile and said 'Oh wow!! I love your earrings!!!'. My earrings??!! lol He said 'Those are great earrings!' and began to tell me what he was going to do and the steps to follow.
I mentioned to him that he had delivered Nya a few years back and he said 'Yes I remember you!'. Now I don't know if he said this to make me laugh or not, but I began to laugh. It was a laugh I needed right about then.
Like come on, with 500+ births every year in that hospital, there is no way he'd remember me!
As the nurses began to prep everything for him, he started talking about my earrings AGAIN. At this point I was like 'Ok, are you serious?!!'. lol
Earring talk aside, the words that I had been praying and longing to hear from his mouth left his lips after he had checked me. 'Well Devin, you're definitely not dilating! You are not in early labour; however, we are going to swab and test you to see if there is a chance you could dilate between now and the next 3 weeks.'
WOO HOO!!!! But we weren't in the clear until my swab test results came back.
After about 20mins of waiting, we heard an uproar of cheers and claps fill the hallway outside our room. Just then, the nurse walked in and said with a big smile ' Devin!!! The tests came back negative; you are showing no signs of early labour!!!'.
A huge wave of relief came over me as I too began to clap and cheer. lol Even Dennard let out a cheer and a sigh of relief.
One nurse after another came in to congratulate us on the news. It was so sweet. With the short period of time we were in there, we had made friendships with the nurses on staff. They were genuinally happy for us and we were over the moon that Sweet Pea was still comfortably nesting inside.
Even through the stress of this whole ordeal, Sweet Pea showed no signs of feeling me stress on the monitor with her heart beat. Her rate beat at a steady pace the whole time. A sign of a true warrior :)
Dr Gurland returned and informed me that the contractions I have been feeling are the result of a sensitive uterus. Something that happens sometimes after having a baby. He instructed me to take it easy, stay off my feet as much as possible and avoid all lifting.
Life since has changed greatly for me. I am not taking any chances with having this baby early.
My 'crack addict' role in our church drama skit that weekend was pulled and a good friend of ours stepped in for me. I now cook sitting on a stool, do activities in my daycare that allow me to be seated, avoid all lifting, I avoid a lot of work and activities that require me to be on my feet, etc.
It's definitely hard for me to slow life down as I am very much a 'do it yourself' 'hands on' busy person.
However, maybe this is God's way of saying 'Devin, take it easy!! You need to slow it down now'. lol
I hear you God and I'm listening and obeying! ha ha
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