Hospital Stay- Day 17

Well as you can see, the blog got a little bit of a face lift! If any of you know me, you know I love color (especially turquoise), so I decided to change the layout up a bit. When I changed the blog up, some of my boxes were deleted, so I re-posted some of the poll questions in the column on the right, as well as some new ones for anyone who wants to take a guess.

Yesterday evening I started having contractions. Dr. BK (the high risk doctor) came to see me and said that my body might be becoming tolerant of the pump, as it did the Procardia. He said if I continue to have contractions, he will either switch me back to the Procardia to see if that makes a difference, or he will put me on a Magnesium drip (IV). From what I understand, this basically relaxes all my muscles in my body, to keep my uterus from contracting. It also is used to push all the other medications out my system. There are some nagging side effects to it, so they don't like to use it unless they absolutely have to. It is very important for me to stay hydrated, otherwise, it can cause me to contract. Yesterday I was feeling nauseous, more than normal, and without realizing it, got dehydrated. So they gave me an IV early this morning, and that calmed everything down.

For more information on it, you can click on this link:
Click here for more about Magnesium in pregnancy

Yesterday, I received a Betamethasone shot and will receive another one today. I have only had 2 in the past and they were at 24 weeks. This is a steroid that targets the lung development of Hudson. I wasn't really sure why they gave it to me because I was under the impression that he was on target developmentally, however the doctor told me that it was pretty standard for someone in my situation to receive 2 more shots after 30 weeks.

My doctor also told me today that they will no longer be measuring my cervix weekly. She said at this point it poses more of a risk that anything. They don't want to do any unnecessary exams because that can trigger contractions and she said even if it did measure shorted, their treatment for me wouldn't change. I'm okay with that; it makes sense. It will just be hard not knowing anymore. She said the next time they will measure my cervix will probably be at about 34 weeks (in 1 month).

I wanted to clarify something that may be a little confusing. The Fetal Fibronectin test that they run to test labor contractions in the next 2 weeks, does not test my cervix. So that test tells us that the contractions I'm having now, are just "pesky" contractions (as my doctor calls them, not to be confused with Braxton Hicks contractions) and I don't think they really know why they are happening. So even though I'm not experiencing labor contractions (which is good!), the contractions that I am having can still cause my cervix to thin, which is still a concern. Does that make sense? The test is supposedly a pretty good indicator and leaves like a 2% chance of the contractions I'm having sending me into labor in the next 2 weeks. That just leaves the scenario of these pesky contractions causing me to go into labor only because they are thinning my cervix. Another thing my doctor told me is that potentially, I could go into labor without having any contractions. The good thing is that the last 2 weeks, my cervix hasn't changed; so bed rest is helping and as long as I continue to do what I'm doing, we're hoping the outcome will stay the same.

Here are some differences between Braxton Hicks contractions and true Labor Contractions (from About.com):

I don't know if I posted before but another thing they want to look out for is blood clots in my legs (which is common for anyone on bed rest). I'm seeing a physical therapist periodically and she gave me some exercises to do along with some lovely stockings I wear!

To wrap up, here is a little about what is going on with Hudson at 30 weeks:

A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in my tummy. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light, but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

That's all for now!