False Alarm

I spent a good half day at the hospital yesterday. I went in at 8:00 a.m. for my weekly check up and mentioned I hadn't been feeling the baby as much as I thought I should be. They immediately hooked me up to the monitor. I assume most pregnant women get hooked up to this machine at least once while pregnant. This is my fourth time for this pregnancy so far.

Electronic fetal heart monitoring is done during pregnancy, labor, and delivery to keep track of the heart rate of your baby and the strength and duration of the contractions of your uterus. What the doctor said would be a quick twenty minute hookup turned in to an hour and twenty minutes. It was a very long and uncomfortable eighty minutes.

The baby must have been sound asleep because the heart rate was pretty constant and there was still no movement. The doctor and nurse forced water down me. I am talking about sixty ounces or so in a matter of thirty minute. They also brought me juice, a pack of crackers, and chocolates trying to wake up the baby. This baby did not want to get up. I think my husband and I are going to have our hands full if he is sleeping during the day and up all night!

What the doctor did notice was that I was having contractions pretty regularly, every four or so minutes. I could feel the contractions but there was no pain. I am guessing they were just normal Braxton Hicks.

The regular contractions also happened with my daughter a couple months before delivery, so I was not alarmed at all. My body just has regular contractions. That time, with my daughter, the doctors insisted the contractions had to stop and gave me Terbutaline. After it was too late and I already took the drug, my husband did some research.

Terbutaline should not be used to stop or prevent premature labor in pregnant women, especially in women who are not in a hospital. Terbutaline has caused serious side effects, including death, in pregnant women who took the medication for this purpose. Terbutaline has also caused serious side effects in newborns whose mothers took the medication to stop or prevent labor.

What? And on top of that my heart was pounding. It was one of the scariest feelings I have ever felt in my entire life. Please if your doctors tell you to take this say No. I am still in shock as to what they were thinking.

So, yesterday I was ready to get out of the doctor's office after they assured me the baby was okay. Instead the doctor sent me straight to the birthing center.

I just knew I was going to be stuck there for hours. One of the first things that came out of my mouth was I am not taking that awful terbutaline. Last time it wasn't even a question. It was like here is the drug you need to take, so take it. I of course listened to them. They were my doctor.

I have a total different outlook on just listening to the doctor and trusting what they tell me to do. Denying the Glucola is just one other example. I am pretty sure the doctors get annoyed with me, but I don't care. I want what is best for me and my baby even if that means going against doctors' orders.

Thankfully, this time around I had a different doctor. Different doctor = different outlook. Thank God! Since my cervix was closed and I was not in pain, she let me leave.

I honestly wouldn't have minded getting to meet my baby boy a month early as long as he is healthy. The wait continues. Four more weeks to go.