Sunday, June 27, 2010

Preterm Labor... mag and terb pump

When I went to my weekly OB appointment on Thursday to have the fFN test done I knew I would be going o the hospital to get steroid shots to help develop the baby's lungs just in case of preterm delivery. I was supposed to get the shot and then come back the next day for the 2nd shot.
Once they put me on the monitors at the hospital I had a feeling I wouldn't be leaving since I had been having more contracting on my at home monitorings in the past few days. I was contracting and having a lot of uterine ability so they gave me terb to stop it. After the 2nd round of terb that didn't work, they decided I was staying and hooked me up to an IV for fluids, antibiotics and magnesium to stop the contractions. I got a pretty high dose and at points that night I was having 10 ctx an hour even on the drugs. I also found out that evening that the fFN test came back positive and that although that doesn't mean I will deliver soon, my current condition of preterm labor didn't help out with the indications of the test. But fortunately by the morning my contractions had calmed down. I got the 2nd steroid shot Friday morning and spent most of the day completely wasted by the magnesuim (that drug is awful). But I had to remain on it until 24 hours after the 2nd steroid shot to make sure the baby got the medicine up before the risked my contractions starting up again. On Saturday I was taken off the mag and set up with a terbudaline pump that will give small doses of the medicine every hour and then a larger dose ever 4 hours to keep me from contracting. I handled the transition well enough and after being observed overnight on the terb pump I am home on bedrest again (as much as I can be with 2 kids).
The last few days have seemed like a really long time. I am hoping this pump will help me avoid the hospital for the next 12 weeks. Hoping.

Good things... I had great nurses, many of which had been through similar situations and were very helpful and understanding. I love my hospital and I guess that is good since I have been a frequent visitor with all my pregnancy issues.

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