Bed Rest

A week ago today my OB took my off work and was told to “take it easy”. I had been having contractions off and on starting at about 19 weeks and I was told to take it easy and call my doctor is I have 6 or more in an hour. Last weekend (22 weeks) I started having more regular contractions and by Wednesday I was having 6-8 an hour so I called her and she said to come in. She checked my cervix and it still looked long and closed so she was happy with that. She put me on the monitor to check my contractions and one of the babies heart rates (she doesn’t have a double monitor, that’s why we only checked one baby). I was having contractions every 5 minutes or so and Baby A was moving so much that we could hardly get a heartbeat. He moved the entire time I was on the monitor, which is pretty normal for him, he moves regularly throughout the day. My doctor made the comment of how active he was and one of the MA’s that was in there looked at me and asked, “does he move like that all day?” My asnwer, “yep, but luckily I don’t feel all of those movements…and that’s just one of them. The other one likes to move at night when this one is calm.”

After she monitored me and saw the contractions, she told me to go home, take it easy and I’m off work. She did a urine culture to see if I had a bladder infection because sometimes that can cause contractions. So I went home and layed on the couch. She never told me I was on bed rest at that time, she did mention that she may put me on bed rest, but not at that point. All weekend I was having contractions and Monday I called to get the results of the urine culture, which did show a mild bladder infection so she started me on an antibiotic to take and when I talked to her I mentioned that I was still having the contractions just as frequently and even throughout the night while sleeping. She told me to come in that day so she could check my cervix again and do a test to see if the contractions are doing anything, like pre-term labor. My cervix was still long and closed and she did the test, a fetal fibronectin test. Fetal fibronectin is a protein that acts as a “glue” during pregnancy, attaching the amniotic sac — the fluid-filled membrane that cushions your baby in the uterus — to the lining of the uterus. It is often present in cervical secretions during early pregnancy, but also shows up later in pregnancy, about one to three weeks before labor begins. A positive fetal fibronectin test is a clue that the “glue” has been disturbed and you’re at increased risk of preterm labor. I will go back to see her on Friday for my monthly OB visit and will get the results of the test at that time. I did find out, however, that Baby B (Ian) is no longer breech so they are both head down now. But that could change next week too, he could flip back.

I will be 24 weeks tomorrow and that is a milestone in pregnancy because that is the point of viability for a fetus. At 24 weeks a fetus has a 50/50 chance of survival if they are born now. We went on a tour of the NICU at Baylor last weekend and they told us in their NICU babies born at 24 weeks have a 75% chance of survival. Even though that is a good percentage, I still don’t want them here yet, they aren’t done cookin yet!

My doctor did mention starting me on some medications to stop the contractions, but with my history of cardiac issues, she doesn’t really want to unless its a MUST. And, since my cervix isn’t shortening yet, it’s not a must. Tocolytics, or drugs that stop contractions, are known to have cardiovascular side effects and in someone that already has those issues, it’s not a good combination. But again, if I needed them, I would take them. She called and talked to my perinatologist, high risk doctor, and they both agreed at this point the best thing to do is for me to be on bed rest…so here I am, on bed rest. She hasn’t told me exactly what my restrictions are for bed rest, but I’ll find out Friday. I think it’s more of a modified bed rest, where I’m supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible, no working, cleaning, shopping, etc but I can still get up to shower, take a ride in the car, walk around the house some, etc. My dreams of that may be shattered on Friday, but we’ll see. I’m hoping she says I can still go and relax in our pool, that’s taking it easy!

We are also meeting with a pediatrician on Friday before my appointment with the OB. I worked with this doctor some when I was at Children’s and liked her. She was good with the kids, parents and knows her stuff. I really don’t want a pediatrician that doesn’t have any hospital experience, other than residency and being in the medical field, I am going to be REALLY picky when it comes to picking a pediatrician for our babies. She has years of hospital experience and since I worked with her some I know she knows how to handle serious medical issues that may come up….you always want to be prepared and you don’t want to pick a pediatrician for your child and then when they get really sick, you find out they don’t know how to handle it. This doctor is in a practice with two other ladies and one of the other doctors was a doctor at children’s as well, while I didn’t work with her as much, I did some and liked her too. So we will meet with her and get to see the office/staff, ask some questions and Jonathan an meet her. I have pretty much made up my mind that she’ll be the boy’s doctor but I still want to meet with her because working with her as a resiratory therapist on a professional level and having her as MY children’s doctor are two very different perspectives.

Ok, I think this long enough of a post but I’ll leave you with a picture of my resting buddy…