Our Tour of Labor and Delivery

Yesterday afternoon, Kyle and I met at my doctor's office for our weekly ultrasound and doctor visit. It was the day that my bedrest would be mostly lifted, I'd be taken off of medication, and even allowed back to work for a few hours per week. Oh, the irony of it all...

While Pyle looked nice and healthy, he was being a little uncooperative and wouldn't show us his skills at practice breathing (his diaphragm flexing). Just like last week, he was snoozing away! His weight was estimated at around 6 lbs. Because the little booger wouldn't "breathe" for us, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor. His heartbeat was normal, but didn't fluctuate up and down like they like to see (again, because he was sleeping!). We did get to see that I was contracting every 2-3 minutes, though. I could feel them----not painful, but a little uncomfortable. I had been more uncomfy lately at home, but I just chalked it up to both me and Pyle getting larger!

The doctor checked me and found that I was 3 cm dilated. Surprise, surprise! She decided to admit me to Labor and Delivery for monitoring and so I got a wheelchair ride over to L&D. Of course, as soon as they hooked me up to the monitors over there, Pyle began behaving himself, moving and kicking and having nice accelerations and decelerations of his heartrate. We think that he must've gotten really excited by the wheelchair ride! So, since he looked great, they just needed to slow my contractions. None of us wanted Pyle to make his way into the world yesterday. I was poked and prodded from all directions (IV, terbutaline shots, etc.) but the contractions kept coming. That is, until they gave me a dose of demerol to try to slow things down. Boy, that stuff is STRONG!!! (I apologize to anyone I talked to on the phone while I was a bit out of it.) The doctor figured that if the demerol slowed the contractions, then I wasn't in true labor and vice versa. Well, it worked and since I didn't dilate any further, I was sent home! I am back on strict bedrest and will see my regular doc on Monday for follow-up. The longer I keep Pyle baking, the less likely he is to need extra help breathing or extra time in the hospital. Please cross your fingers once again that he stays put for a while!