If it were last year...

April 8th will forever be a date that sticks out in my mind. If it were last year, today would be my last day at work for the rest of the year. I thought I would share what I wrote in my journal on the 19th of last April. (The picture to the left was taken on April 4, 2005.)

"On Friday, April 8th, I had some really bad back pain. I'd had the same pain on Wednesday and Thursday, but by Friday I was getting concerned. I got to work and immediately started calling [my OB/GYN] Dr. Byerly's office. I didn't get through until after 9:00 AM. Of course, I already knew that Friday is his surgery day. I asked to speak to his nurse, Mitzi. She wasn't in yet and had a full day of patients ahead of her. I asked them to please have her call me. About 20-30 minutes went by and I decided I needed to just go in to see her, so I called back. They didn't know when I'd be able to get in and were going to call me back with a time. More time went by and I couldn't think of anything else but the pain. Finally I decided to call [my general practioner] Kim's office and see if they couldn't see me right away. They told me to come down as soon as I could. I called Byerly's office back and told them nevermind, I was going to see Kim. The receptionist told me that she had just talked to Mitzi and she had said to go to L&D and have them put me on the monitors. I asked if I should do that or go see Kim first. They said to go to Kim and see what she said. So, I went.

Of course, now I'm a bit freaked out because of the mention of the fetal monitor. On the way, I started to cry. I got there and as I'm telling the nurse about the pain, the tears start up again. I told them I was scared. They decide to go ahead and send me to L&D to be hooked up to the monitor. I got there, changed into the hospital gown (by now it's around 10:45, maybe 11:00). Kim called Scott for me to tell him what's going on. They hooked me up right away to the fetal monitor and also a pulse/blood oxygenation reader. Now, I'm really starting to panic. They check to see if I am dialated and she says it's about 1 1/2. They want to keep me on the monitor for at least an hour. Scott finally arrives and we sit and wait--me being in excruciating pain. The nurse is thinking that I am having contractions, even though I haven't noticed any. She checks my dialation again at 12:00 and she thinks I am up to a 2. They want to keep me on the monitor for another hour. I haven't eaten anything since 8:00 that morning and all I'd had was a piece of dry wheat toast and a granola bar. Dr. Byerly came in and said I'd probably be going to Odessa or Lubbock because I was having contractions and was dialated. They soon decided that was indeed the plan and began to hook me up to an IV and a catheter. That was quite painful. I was to ride to Odessa in an ambulance and Scott was going to follow. Scott went to get himself something to eat and pack a bag. They also gave me a shot of steriods for the baby's lungs in case he was going to be delivered because his lungs still had some developing to do. The reason they were sending me to Odessa Regional was because they have a neo-natal intensive care unit there and the high risk OB/GYN consults there as well.

Since I was only 33 weeks and 5 days along, it would still be considered a pre-term birth and [Scenic Mountain Med. Center] wouldn't be able to care for the baby as ORH would. When Scott got back, he realized he'd forgotten few things. I knew that the ambulance guys would get there soon after he left and they did. They transferred me to the gurney and down we went to the ambulance. The guys got me in the ambulance and situated and I told them I was concerned because my husband hadn't gotten back yet. One of the guys lent me his cell phone and right after I dialed the number, Scott poked his head around the door. We were off! I actually got sort of "comfortable" in the ambulance and dozed off a bit.

When we arrived at ORH, we went up to the L&D floor. They got me into a room and immediately did an ultrasound to check and see how the baby was doing. He looked just fine. The high-risk OB/GYN came in and said he didn't think I would deliver the baby anytime soon (they had checked my dialation again and said it was a 2 and 80% effaced). He thought I was having a kidney infection. They put me on antibiotics, fluids, and magnesium to slow down labor progression. His prediction was that I'd get out on Monday at the earliest--if everything went well. He also told me that from this moment on it was bedrest until the baby was born. He wanted me to stay pretty much horizontal 24/7. On Saturday night, Scott planned to go back to Big Spring so he could teach class on Sunday morning and pick Mom up at the airport in Midland on his way back (she was coming for my shower that was supposed to take place on April 10th). Harmony volunteered to stay Sat. night at the hospital with me. Kara and Carrie (who had also come down for my shower) visited me on Sat. night.

Based on the urine analysis they did on Saturday, they decided to do a renal (kidney) ultrasound on Sunday to see if kidney stones were visible; the UA had come back high in RBC's and WBC's. They also wanted to do another UA on Sun. morning. Around 2 pm, Mom and Scott arrived. Very soon after, the ultrasound tech came to look at my kidneys. He didn't see any visible stones. He also looked at the baby again and said he looked okay. When the doctor came in later, he said that even though the ultrasound didn't show any stones, he still thought that's what it had to be. He also began to wean me off of the magnesium and started me on an oral-based anti-labor drug (terbutaline). They upped my fluids to try and flush the stone out. He also said that I could be detatched from the catheter (yea--that thing was awful!!) and take a shower. He said that I would probably change rooms the next day, but for sure wouldn't go home until Tuesday.

On Monday, the doctor came back to do a bio-physical profile of the baby. While they still had the ultrasound machine on, he looked at my kidneys again to see if any stones were visible. Still, no stones could be seen and I hadn't passed any. He decided that I could go off all the IV medication and be transferred to a post-partum room [I had been in an L&D room this whole time]. I moved rooms pretty quickly. He wanted to keep me on terbutaline, but he did take me off of the antibiotics too. He wanted to do another glucose test to see about gestational diabetes because the level of my amniotic fluid was higher than normal.

Tuesday morning came early, they woke me up at 7:00 to draw blood and give me the nasty orange drink. The doctor came in around lunchtime and said I was free to go home but had to stay on the terbutaline. He also said that my glucose test came back 161 (normal is between 80 and 120) so I had to get the 3 hour test done the next day at Byerly's office. We got all packed up and got home around 3:00. I went to the doctor's office at 7:45 on Wednesday morning to begin the 3 hour glucose test. They drew my blood a total of 4 times--at 8, 9, 10 and 11:00. The waiting in between was the bad part. My results didn't come back until Thursday--hallelujah--we found out that I wasn't diabetic.

It was quite a long ordeal, and I'm just glad it's over and my little one is still safe and snug inside momma's belly for now."

I know this post was long; but it has been something that has been heavy on my mind lately. It doesn't seem that one year could have already passed since this ordeal took place. And yet, so much has happened. Will was born safely and without any complications. We have experienced so many blessings being his parents. He has grown into a very curious little boy! It has been a great year.