Uggghhh!

Warning: This is a very long post, and I'm mostly writing it to vent and document what has happened the past few days!

This has been a LONG week! Starting early Tuesday afternoon, I started having contractions. I had been having some nausea and back pain as well, but since I've had contractions most days for a month I didn't get too excited. Cooper had piano lessons after school, and by the time we finished with that and returned home the contractions were becoming fairly regular (about 10 minutes apart). I made dinner and made sure that the laundry was caught up, just in case. By 9:00 the contractions were only 6-8 minutes apart and starting to get a bit stronger. The kids were in bed and Randall and I started thinking about whether this was the real thing and if we needed to call someone to come over and stay with the kids. By 9:30 the contractions were 4-6 minutes apart, so we called our neighbor to stay with the kids and headed in to the hospital. After what happened with Lainee we didn't dare wait any longer for fear we'd have a baby born in the car.

We arrived at the hospital a little before 11:00 pm. I was still having contractions, some of them very intense, some not. So I was surprised when the nurse checked me and told me I was only dilated to a 3. I've been dilated to a 3 for weeks! She told me to either go sit in the jacuzzi tub or walk around. Randall opted for the tub, mostly because we were both tired. So Randall napped while I tried to relax in the tub. Shortly afterward, the contractions started to slow down and weeken. Not good! I wasn't progressing so they released me from the hospital. By this time it was 1:30 in the morning and I was still having contractions, so we didn't dare go home. So, we opted to stay in a hotel and follow up at my Dr. appt. the next day if nothing happened. Well, I continued to have contractions through the night, but again, no progress. I was getting incredibly frustrated!

My Dr. examined me at my appt. and said I had definitely made some progress from the last week, but not enough to warrant staying and delivering. I was so tired and discouraged and frustrated that I just started to cry. She said because of new hosital policies and regulations, they are not allowed to induce anyone under 39 weeks without some sort of medical reason. Living an hour away from the hosptital with a history of fast deliveries doesn't qualify. She gave us the option of doing an amniocentesis to do a fetqal lung maturity (FLM) test, and if that came back positive (that the lungs were developed and mature) than she could schedule an induction for the next day. We decided since I was still having contractions, that was the best option.

They did the amnio under untrasound guidance, and it really wasn't that painful or scary. There were relatively no risks to the baby since with the ultrasound you could see the baby and the needle going into my amniotic sac. While doing the ultrasound they discovered my amniotic fluid was on the very lowest range of normal, so that was a concern. Had there been 2 cm less of fluid they would have sent me to the hospital right then and there and delivered a baby. After the amnio they sent me over to the hospital to monitor the baby while we waited for test results--- just to make sure that the baby was ok. Unfortunately, after waiting for 2 hours, we received undesirable news. The FLM test came back negative--- as in, baby's lungs weren't developed enough to proceed with an induction. Uggggh. So, we headed home. The test results aren't necessarily accurate, nor did they indicate that our baby girl would have breathing problems if she were to be born tomorrow, but they did prohibit the induction. I guess if our baby girl truly isn't ready, I'm glad that she wasn't born yet. I'm glad she has a few more days to develop and get stronger. It's just torture to continue having contractions and worry that she'll come too fast.

Thursday afternoon I had to go back for another ultrasound to check baby. They wanted to see if my amniotic fluid level was still low and make sure baby was doing well. They thoroughly checked baby---heart, lungs, etc. Everything looked good, and my amniotic fluid level had gone up a few cm. So, back home to continue waiting. Oh, the other tidbit of discouraging news--- because the FLM test came back poorly, they had to push my "official" due date back 6 days to February 15 to match my ultrasound. Talk about major backfire! Everything they tried to do to keep me had the opposite result. Now I'm dilated to a 4, 80% effaced, and waiting it out at home. February 15th sure seems like a long ways away!!!