> Katie's Story (Due Date: February 2008)

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My pregnancy was like any other with no problems at all up until 25 weeks. One night just a few days after Thanksgiving I began to feel very uncomfortable.  This continued for a few hours until I got a gut feeling which told me it was time to call the doctor.  I took the first of many trips to the hospital; visiting Labor and Delivery became nearly a weekly event!  I was having contractions.  The first time I went to the hospital, I was diagnosed with a bladder infection, given antibiotics and terbutaline to stop the contractions.  At this point it was thought that when the bladder infection cleared up the contractions would stop.  Two full sets of antibiotics later my bladder infection was gone but the contractions were here to stay and I was diagnosed with IU.  At this point I began bed rest.  Things started off slowly with only modified bed rest and terbutaline as needed.  The terbutaline had awful side effects including headache, shaking, and a pounding heart.  With every passing week the bed rest got stricter and the dosage of terbutaline was stronger.  By the end I only had bathroom privileges and was taking terbutaline around the clock every four hours and all this only kept the contractions under control; it did not stop them.  On top of the contractions I had strong menstrual cramp-type pain that was horrible.  Every week or two the contractions would increase or things would feel different and we would be off to the hospital for monitoring and terbutaline injections to get things back under control.  The best news I had was that I never dilated, I just had contractions.  We had a few scares when our baby was measuring small but it all turned out alright.  I was given the steroid injections early on in case he was born early his lungs would be better developed.  

At 36 weeks, on Monday February 11^th, I was allowed off of bed rest and the terbutaline.  By that night my contractions were every five minutes but no different than before.  Tuesday morning I found it odd that the contractions had not spread back out to eight minutes or so as they usually did.  But still the contractions felt the same as they had for months.  At around 4:30 pm I began to notice my back hurting more and in a few hours it was clear the contractions were changing.  I had my husband pick up some dinner and tried to get things together to pack in my bag for the hospital.  Then I took a nice warm bath since it always helped with the IU contractions.  By 9pm I knew it was time to go to the hospital because the contractions had gotten worse and were four minutes apart.  When we got there I was not dilated at all!  So we walked the halls for an hour, stopping frequently for the contractions.  Then they checked me again - still nothing.  We were sent home and my worst fear was coming true – I predicted the contractions would be horrible and I was going to be miserable until 38 weeks when they would induce me.  They told me to take an Ambien in hopes that it would relax my body and I would progress overnight.  So at midnight we were discharged and home we went, feeling very defeated.  I ate a snack, took the Ambien and went to bed. 

But at 2 am I felt a gush - my water had broken!  We were off to the hospital again but I was in a daze from the medication.  The nurse determined that I still had not dilated but my water was definitely broken (she told me to cough and apparently she needed no other test to be sure!).  I could have told her that since I sat on a towel the whole way there and I looked like I had peed myself.  I was staying at the hospital, I was having a baby, but I was told it was going to take a long time.  So, since I was drugged up on Ambien, I slept.  I had an IV and was given Nubain to take the edge off the contractions.  When I began to get more uncomfortable I had an epidural.  I continued to sleep and the nurses told my husband and parents I would not deliver until 8 or 9 pm.  At 10:30 am I was only 3cm.  My husband decided to go home to let our dog out and take care of a few things to prepare for the baby, since we had thought we had another couple of weeks before he was to be born.  Little did we know this was a very bad idea. 

I began to feel a lot of pressure around 11:30am and so I mentioned it to the nurse, and she checked me.  I thought maybe I would be 5cm or so, but I was wrong - I was fully dilated and ready to push, but my husband was not there!  My mom made a panicked call to him and he rushed back to the hospital.  The doctor told me I could wait to push since I was not really uncomfortable.  And so I waited with my legs in stirrups, myself completely exposed to the doctor, the nurses, the NICU pediatricians and nurses and my parents, for my husband to arrive.  The doctor had me push to see if I would be a good pusher I guess, but after just one push she told me to stop if I wanted my husband to be there.  He got to the hospital and, being in a hurry, took the stairs instead of the elevator.  Too bad they were fire stairs and now he was stuck in them.  A quick call to my Dad and setting off the fire alarm and my husband made it just in time to see our first child born.  I pushed just a few times and our son was born on February 13^th, 2008.  I did not tear or have to be cut; his birth was very simple.  He was 5 lbs., 14.9 oz., and 19 inches long.  The cord was wrapped around his neck twice but he was fine.  He had no trouble breathing but did have trouble with his temperature and blood sugar both being low.  So he was taken to the NICU where he spent the first 36 hours of his life, breaking my heart.  But I went down every three hours to breastfeed him.  I found breastfeeding very frustrating but wanted to stick with it and, with the help of the lactation consultant we finally got the hang of it.  He was a bit tongue-tied so that made it even harder. He went home with me two days later and is no worse for wear from being a preemie or from me having IU.  My recovery was pretty easy and I am so thankful to have had an easy birth after such a hard pregnancy.