Worst Christmas Ever

This is what I was thinking Christmas Eve night. As I type this, I do realize that even though this was my worst Christmas, I'm very lucky compared to other people. Christmas day, I read a headline entitled "Islamists Kill Dozens in Nigerian Christmas Bombs". My worst Christmas doesn't even hold a candle to what others must be going through.

Let me back up a little and explain. Saturday afternoon, I started to have some cramping. Nothing too serious. I relaxed and waited for it to pass. About 45 minutes later, I call my nurse in to explain. She gives me some Tylenol and monitors me for contractions. No contractions, but I start to have some heavy bleeding. They continue to monitor for contractions and begin monitoring baby's heart rate. Things look stable and Tylenol helps cramping, but bleeding continues. They take some blood samples to check my blood cell count and look for infection: everything comes back okay. The on-call Doc comes in to check on me. Within 5 minutes, contractions start. I notice them on the monitor first, then begin feeling them. Doc comes back in asking if I am feeling those contractions. Yes, I do.

So, what does this mean? Am I going into labor? It was exactly 4 weeks since my water broke. I was still only 26 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Still way too early to have a baby. On-call Doc orders me to start on IV Magnesium. Why? Well, one of the risks to preemie babies is bleeding on the brain. They've discovered that magnesium helps prevent that. They also said that it can stop contractions and labor. Since I am ruptured, they won't stop my body when I go into labor. They were giving me this to give my baby the best possible chances if she decided to come now.

So, around 6:00 on Christmas Eve night, Morgan takes Little Miss home to eat dinner, leave cookies out for Santa and go to bed. And the nurses begin me on IV Magnesium. Let me tell you, magnesium is one of the yuckiest things I have ever had in my body. It has awful side effects. I felt so crummy. I had no energy. My face was all red and flushed, like I was having hot flashes. I also felt nauseated. On top of all this, my bleeding was getting so worrisome, that they didn't even want me getting up to go to the bathroom, so they put in a catheter. I lay in bed, Christmas Eve night, with an IV, continuous monitoring for contractions and baby's heart rate, and a catheter and crying my eyes out. Why does this have to happen on Christmas Eve of all nights? What would we do if I did go into labor? Who would stay with Little Miss? If it was nighttime, that's one thing, but Christmas Eve is a completely other thing. We decided to hope and pray nothing happens, but if it did, we would just call family to come (who lived about an hour away).

So, aside from the above listed side effects of Magnesium, there are some serious side effects if the wrong dose is taken. So, every hour, the nurses needed to check my blood pressure, my temperature, my reflexes and listen to my lungs. Every hour, all night long. It was at 1:30 in the morning, in the midst of all this, that I began thinking this was by far my worst Christmas ever. I wasn't getting any sleep. I finally took the nurse up on the offer to take a sleeping pill, and I slept really well from 2-7. I forced myself to wake up and skype with Morgan and Little Miss. She showed me the fish that Santa left for her. She was so excited. They loaded up some presents and came over to the hospital. I still felt like garbage. Aside from all the magnesium, I was way groggy from the sleeping pill, and I had a massive head ache. I lay in bed, looking and feeling like death while Little Miss opens all her presents.

Mid-morning, on-call Doc comes to check on me and review the monitoring. The magnesium seemed to have stopped the contractions. They could stop the magnesium. Hallelujah! It was a Christmas miracle. They kept a catheter in and were still monitoring my bleeding. I took some Tylenol for my headache, and eventually my sleeping pill wore off. I actually began to feel somewhat normal. And I was still pregnant. Baby Girl decided to stay put a little while longer. Morgan, Little Miss and I spent the day watching Christmas movies and playing with our new toys. It turned out to be a rather nice day.

There is an 18 year old girl who works in house keeping here that is very friendly to talk to. She asked me today if I got everything that I wanted for Christmas. Yes, I did. I am still pregnant. Through this whole ordeal, baby's heart rate always looked fantastic. She still looks great. Even though, this was a rough Christmas, it could have been much, much worse. I've made it to 27 weeks. I have no idea what triggered this episode, or how long it will be before it happens again. I have to just take it one day at a time. And for everyday Baby Girl stays put, it saves her several days in the NICU. So, thank heavens for answered prayers. Christmas ended a million times better than it started.