When It Rains

I’m not sure what kind of weird cloud that Jeff and I are living under right now, but we are sure ready for it to float away from us.

I’ve told you about the flooded basement.  We’re at the same point with that as we were last week, although we have returned the dehumidifiers and had a carpet guy out to give us an installation estimate.  We’re also still waiting to hear back from the insurance adjuster.

Our latest adventure is that I spent six hours in the hospital last night, due to contractions that wouldn’t quit.

My mom came for a surprise visit last Friday, and she, the kids, and I were shopping at Wal-Mart.  As I walked around the store, I started getting contractions.  As I have been having contractions off and on for about four weeks, I wasn’t overly concerned at first.  Usually, all I had to do was get off my feet, and they would quit.

Well, as I was hurrying to get my shopping done so I could sit down, the contractions started getting closer together.  But I finished up anyway, drove home, and put my groceries away before finally lying down.  I guess I’d been contracting for about two hours at that point.

After lying down for an hour, the contractions were still coming, so I called my doctor’s office around 4:15.  As it was late in the day, the nurse told me to go straight to Labor and Delivery at the hospital so I could be monitored for a few hours.

This is not unprecedented.  I had this same issue with Elijah when I was 28 or so weeks pregnant with him.  That time, they hooked me up to an IV, got me hydrated, and told me to take it easy.

Nevertheless, I called Jeff, left Charlotte and Elijah with my mom, and drove myself to the hospital.  By 5:15, a triage nurse had checked me in, put me in the triage room with three other beds (I was the first to arrive, although the other three beds were occupied before the night was done), and hooked me up to a fetal and contraction monitor.

Then, a midwife examined me and took a sample for a test to determine if I was at risk for going into labor in the next 14 days.  Fun, fun.

After Jeff had gotten lost and taken a foot tour of many other sections of the hospital, he arrived around 6:00.  (OSF St. Francis is a huge, sprawling place, with much of it still under construction.  And the best parking is a 10-minute hike and and elevator ride away from Labor and Delivery.)  Shortly thereafter, the nurse confirmed that I was, indeed, having contractions every couple of minutes, hooked me up to an IV to get me hydrated (after telling me than my veins were terrible!), and gave me a shot of some sort of steroid to help stop the contractions.  (Evidently, it’s very effective on asthma, too.)

This shot was awful.  It made my heart race and my hands shake, and I swear I could hear the blood  pumping in my body!  It must be sort of like what speed is like.  Why on earth would anyone want to feel like that on purpose?!?!

And then, it was hours of lying there on my side, waiting for the contractions to stop to my doctor’s satisfaction.  I finished my current book (Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the sequel to The Hunger Games; I highly recommend both!)  I played Free Cell and Solitaire on my iPod.  I asked for a snack around 7:00.  At 9:00, the nurse ordered me a food tray, on my doctor’s orders.  At 9:30, because the meal and the lying there and the fluids and the first shot had not stopped the contractions, I got…oh joy…a second shot!  Sometime in there, the resident on call told me that my test for going into labor in the next two weeks was negative, which was excellent.

Finally, by 10:45, my doctor was satisfied that my contractions were, if not stopped, at least way slowed down, and I was cut loose.  Jeff wheeled me out to the parking lot, and we drove home, arriving about 11:15.

Whew.  That certainly wasn’t much fun.  But I was very grateful not to have to spend the night.

When we got home, we discovered that our oven was broken.  This would be the brand-new gas oven that we bought upon our return from France.  My mom had been baking supper, when POOF!  It just quit.

Fabulous.

The soonest a repairman can come is Saturday afternoon, between noon and 4:00.

Fabulous.

I guess I’ll see what meals I can make in the crock pot and microwave.

As for today, I have been trying to take it easy and drink lots of fluids.  I’m fine if I’m sitting down, but I do start contracting again if I spend any time on my feet.  Luckily for me, I can conduct school and talk on the phone entirely on my rear end, so that’s what I’ve tried to do.  I can’t say I like it much, but, as the alternative of a ten-weeks-premature baby is truly horrifying, I’m not going to complain!  Much.

Anyway…I’m not going to ask what will happen next.  Or if things can get worse.  I’m going to hang on, keep praying, and trust that God does have a plan in all this!  It, too, beats the alternative!

Maybe next time, I will actually tell you about one of the coolest museums in Washington DC.  I can hope!