What a week!

What a week. Apparently Evie has a different motive then Addie did in the womb. Addie's tactic was "stay in as long as possible, it's warm in here" and Evie's is "I'm ready world, let me out!" My view on it is that Evie hears all the fun that Addie and I have together and wants to join in not knowing yet that fun for her is still (hopefully) 6 weeks away!

It all started last Friday, July 2. Billy took a week off and we were all ready to head to the cabin about 45 minutes north of Duluth, MN. I woke up Friday morning with some contractions so we waited around the house for an extra hour or so waiting for them to go away, which they did. We rounded up the dogs and Addie and were on our way. We stopped for lunch and all of a sudden I started having these contractions I couldn't breath through. Weird, but okay. This went on for about 40 minutes before I confessed to Billy that I was having contractions EIGHT minutes apart. We called my doctor and the nurse advised us to get to the closest hospital.

Well, luckily for me, St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth has one of the best NICU's around. We pulled in around 12:30PM and they started monitoring me. Sure enough, I was dilated to 1/2 25% effaced and soft. They gave me a shot of turbutaline to stop my contractions and watched. Little Evie was persistent and was still trying for her great escape. They decided that I needed to get a series of Betamethasone shots so that if Evie won and came to visit us her lungs would have a better chance at being developed enough for her to breath on her own. I spent the night in the hospital a little peeved that my vacation was being spent in the Birthing Center, since I was only 32 weeks 4 days along. URG.

We are so blessed that we have such amazing friends (or as I call them all FAMILY) in Duluth. It was over 90 degrees on Friday and we had our 4 dogs and a cooler full of cabin yummys in our truck. Not to mention that in the first 5 minutes we were in our room Addison managed to find the 3 nurse call buttons and press them all. I called the Palmstien's and luckily Diane was home. We asked if we could drop the 4 dogs off until mom and dad made it up a few hours later to get them out of the heat. She agreed and was kind enough to offer to take Addison as well. What a relief, I wasn't sure how she was going to survive in my room until 8:30PM when my parents would finally make it to Duluth.

So, back to delivery. I had a bunch of tests done in the first couple hours I was there. One is called a FERN test. They swab you to see if you are leaking amniotic fluid. They put it on a slide and if you are it actually crystallizes to look like a fern. FERN test, negative. Good sign. Next test I had was to see if there was any infections. Infections, negative. Good sign. The last test they did is called a fetal fibronecton next. This tests to see if your chances to deliver in the next two weeks is positive or negative. Fetal Fibronecton, positive. Damn, I was on a roll. Okay, well this is one of those "stupid" pregnancy tests they do where even when positive it doesn't mean you WILL go into labor in the next two weeks, it just means you MIGHT. What the...

So I was admitted. Fed. And told to "get some rest". Have you ever slept in a labor and delivery bed? If not, let me explain how uncomfortable they are. More so then any other hospital bed because there is there crease, right at your butt, that drops out or down for when you do go into labor. There is little to no padding and I'm pretty sure sleeping on the floor would have been more comfortable. Billy lucked out and they rolled him in this nice soft mattress to sleep on. Beats sleeping on the "lazy boy" made of plastic. He laid down to sleep Friday night and snored while I tossed and turned.

My dad was our entertainment for the weekend. He had these "projects" he wanted Billy's help with at the cabin. One was to build a rock wall break and then spread sand on the beach. (Gee, it only took 2.75 grand kids for him to finally give in, I get it) He also LOVES my dogs. Actually, he does really love Toby. Toby is grandpa's favorite. Well, anyway, each time we would call he would ask one of two things: how are you going to get these dogs? OR is Billy going to come to the cabin today? First off, the dogs were the least of our concerns at this point. They were at the lake doing dog things. Chill out. Secondly, my husband isn't leaving the hospital where I am having pre-term labor to hang out with you at the cabin. This literally went on every time we called. Oh dad.

So now it is Saturday and I am feeling great. Expecting that at 5pm I'll get the second of the Betamethasone shots and be on my merry way. I had a wedding to attend after all. My very good friend since I was two, Kurt Johnson, was getting married at his family's cabin and I was not happy that they were going to make me miss it. Well, about noon I started having this pain in my uterus I couldn't control. It literally hit like a ton of bricks and I went from no pain to sobbing in 30 seconds. They couldn't get it under control and ended up giving me another shot of turbutaline and some pain medication. Whew, after an hour I was feeling super drugged but much better. Okay, that was weird. About two hours later I had the same pain. My entire abdomen because hard and I was sobbing. This time I got through it on my own and fell asleep. Five o'clock came and I got my second shot and grim news. I wasn't going home. I continued to contract but nothing was really happening. They withheld food from me on Saturday because they couldn't explain why I was having these horrible pains. The words, "exploratory surgery" came up a couple times and it made me a little nervous. Well, all in all they decided I needed to fart. Seriously. Stop laughing. They thought that all the medications had caused a build up of gas and I needed to get it out. They gave me this horrible cocktail to drink and told me to see what happened.

I'll tell you what happened. I burped and farted for about 15 minutes and had some sweet relief. Beats surgery.

Sunday morning came and I had decided I didn't care what they said two things were happening: one, I was being discharged two, I was going to the cabin. The doctor wanted me to drive ALL the way back to Iowa thinking then I was closer to a hospital. WRONG. I am an hour away from Mercy because of all the road construction. From the cabin to St. Mary's is 45 minutes. I begged, pleaded and explained that I felt I would have my parents around if I went to the cabin which was better for me. They finally agreed. YES! So, Sunday I was discharged and Billy and I were on our way to the cabin.

We enjoyed our time with Addie in the lake. She loves the water. She also loves her daddy. Whew, she didn't care that I wanted to hug her and had missed her more then anything. She put her hands out right to daddy. ALL WEEKEND. It was like I didn't birth her, I didn't feed her, I didn't exist. Oh well, gotta let Billy have his glory when he can. We took a few pontoon rides, Dad did his fourth of July fireworks and we played pfifer. It was so nice to relax in the sun. I followed all the rules and felt pretty good while we were there. Had a few episodes of contractions but I took my pills and they went away.

We got back from the cabin, without Addie, on Tuesday. About 4:30 I started peeing literally every 5 minutes. It would just keep coming and I started to wonder in my water broke. Well, finally about 6:30 I called the nurse line and explained my situation. She wanted me to go in. We drove the hour ride to the hospital both extremely calm. I had this weird feeling this was the day. We got to the Birthing Center and within 15 minutes I was hooked up to an IV, had blood drawn, was checked to find out I was 1/2 to 1 and on the monitors. My contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart. I kept saying, um, I have a lot of pressure like I wanna push which I am pretty sure freaked my nurse out! I was given another shot of turbutaline and we waited. Nothing happened. Well, let me rephrase that, my contractions didn't stop and actually were progressively getting more painful. I was shaking (side effect from the drug) begging for heartburn meds and in labor. Good lord, it wasn't suppose to happen like this. Okay, shot number two. Sweet relief. The doctor came in and told me not to scare him like that again! He was very reassuring that things were under control now and we could go home to get some rest. He had two instructions for me. Stay horizontal and no sex. Trust me buddy, you don't have to worry about the latter.

My appointment on Thursday showed a slight change in my cervix to 1.5cm but nothing they were overly concerned about. Dr. Tan informed me that if I continued to change that I would be put in the hospital on bed rest. As he explained to me, "I can deliver any size or age baby, it's what I have to do with that baby when it comes out that concerns me". In other words, you are not ready to deliver. Thursday night was a good night. We relaxed at home, watched TV and went through a few more boxes. I woke up on Friday feeling great. I cleaned the kitchen, did some stuff in Addison's room, washed some clothes. I even showered, shaved my legs and did my hair. Billy and I went out for a nice dinner and then they hit. I took my pills to stop the contractions but it didn't seem to be helping. We went back to the hospital.

Last night I received another shot of turbutaline and it stopped my contractions all together! I was put on a special monitor that tracks interference and my uterus never stops having really short spasms. It basically means that I will probably still go early but that a lot of the contractions I am having aren't really "doing" a lot to progress labor, which is good, just annoying. I was taken off my restrictions today except no sex, no heavy lifting and no exercising. We decided that we are going to go to Whiz Bang Day parade tomorrow in our old neighborhood to see some friends after we pick Addie up from Grammy Penny. I'm not sure who is going to be more sad, Addie or Grammy.

I'll keep you posted but we're hoping for at least 3 more weeks in the cooker before we meet little Evie. This week has definitely made her a lot more "real" and I am getting so anxious to meet my little devil! Another head strong girl, hmm...paybacks?