Lets start with my family history. You may wonder what my point is in starting with this subject but we believe that this info is what helped us be more aware of what to watch out for in this pregnancy. For long time family friends (of the Kahlstorf family) who knew my parents when they were Michael and I's current age, you may be experiencing some deja vu. You may remember our current situation being very similar to my mom and dad's as they were having Tyler, Sheila and I (these are my siblings for those of you who do not know my family as well). Yes, my mom dealt with preterm labor issues with all 3 of us and spent months on bed rest during her pregnancies. Now, lets back up one more generation. My grandma TeSlaa, my mom's mother, also dealt with preterm labor issues in many of her pregnancies and had a lot of issues staying pregnant. She unfortunately lost 4 children as a result of these issues but has 6 very healthy children as well. I am so thankful to be pregnant in this generation where medical advances have come SOOOO far but I'm sad to think of everything my grandma had to go through when she was having her family.
For those of you who have had a baby, you will remember that the first trimester appointments come with many family medical history questions that you go through with your doctor. One question that does not come up is the issue of preterm labor in your family history. Although this is not our first pregnancy (we had a miscarriage in the 10th week of our first pregnancy) we never made it to the point where we talked about medical issues with doctors that time around. In this second pregnancy, Michael and I decided it was worth it to atleast let the doctors know about this family history. I'm the first blood grandchild from this side of the family to have a baby so I couldn't look at any of my female cousins on that side to see if they too would struggle with this issues of preterm labor so I wanted to be as transparent as possible with my doctors about the patterns we noticed in that blood line. The doctors told me that there is no scientific link they can pin point that says because your mother and grandmother dealt with preterm labor issues that I would too. That really made me feel better. However, they did decide that they would start checking my cervix at each appointment starting at my 20th week appointment/ultrasound.
I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our OB group's willingness to take this concern of ours seriously and simply just 'keep an eye on me'. During the ultrasound we had for our baby at 20 weeks they also did a trans vaginal ultrasound and took the measurements of my cervix to get a baseline reading of where I was at. At that time, everything was looking great. We were so grateful. From that point on, they examined my cervix at each appointment and were continually happy finding no dialation.
Then came December 6th, 2011. A quick funny fact about me is that I have what nurses and doctors call 'white coat syndrome' when I get my blood pressure checked. This means that inevitably the first time they take my blood pressure in the clinic I am always reading WAY to high. They typically have to take my blood pressure 3X's and then they get my nice normal blood pressure reading. I always get a little nervous before my appointments for some reason (I think this stems back from losing our first baby but I'm not for sure)....it's so annoying but it's just me and I cannot help it. :)
Anyways, I had an appointment December 6th for a routine baby check up and low and behold I had a great blood pressure reading on their very first try. The nurses were saying a little cheer for me and we were laughing about how great it was to get this reading right away since it never happens. Needless to say, we were having a good time bantering about not expecting to get the news were were about to get. The doctor came in minutes later and checked me over and was surprised to find out that I was 1 cm dilated. She was just about as surprised as Michael and I were because I had been feeling really good (besides a sore back which I had been experiencing for awhile). Michael and I were really shocked to hear this news. Because I was only 29 weeks along at that time and because of my family history I was immediately admitted into the hospital for monitoring. Whew, talk about a surprise! Within 15 minutes I was admitted into the triage side of the labor and delivery wing of Mercy. I remember standing there in a panic looking at Michael and I said, 'I'm not ready for this' and 'we don't even have a crib yet'. As you can see, my mind was going 100 miles per hour and I all of sudden felt completely unprepared for what God may have had in store for me that day. I remember repeating Proverbs 3: 5-6 in my mind over and over again that day-5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. These words gave me peace.
After getting me settled into my room, they put a heart monitor around me to watch the baby and a contraction monitor to see if any activity was happening. First off, baby was sounding great playing and kicking the monitors on my belly. The nurses even laughed a little at this. Amazingly, I was having contractions every 1.5-2 minutes and really wasn't feeling them.....this too freaked me out. When I was having a contraction on the monitor they felt like period cramps and other times I didn't seem to notice them too much. I honestly think if I was at home or work I would have written them off as 'pregnancy pains'. To get these contractions under control I started recieving shots every 5 hours. These worked really well for me. The only part that was not as fun was the racing heart side effect and shaky hands. To be honest, these were annoying side effects but were also the least of my concern at that time. Anything to keep this baby in the womb longer I was willing to try. We were also able to get two shots of steriods for the baby's lungs during my overnight hospital stay. This shot helps the lung development move much more rapidly to give the baby a better chance at having stronger lungs if born preterm. This shot has to be given in 2 parts 24 hours apart and we were so thankful to have been given this little boost for the babe and not delivering before the steriods could take effect. A doctor from the NICU also came to visit us during that time to answer our questions and let us know what we could expect should I deliver in the near future. This was a little overwelming but also very nice because it helped us realize what we were potentially facing. I like info given to me black and white so this actully helped ease some of my fears talking with her.
Over the next 24 hours they were able to keep my contractions away with the meds besides what they called a little uterine irritability. I was sent home the afternoon of the 7th and put on restrictive bed rest and was only allowed bathroom privalages and 1 shower per day. This may sound awesome to some of you, but for anyone who has been on bed rest, you can vouch that it is not all its cracked up to be. I am a natural busy body so I was really worried that my spirits would get very low spending that much time alone during the day and that much time inactive. Michael and I prayed and prayed for both the baby, my body and my emotional well being and boy did God answer those prayers. Immediately we had friends and family stepping up to support us by bringing a meal, stopping for an hour during they day just to say 'hi' or even bringing dessert to us after supper in the evening. We were overwelmed and incredibly thankful.
Michael was and continues to be my rock through all of this. He comes home faithfully each and everyday to make me lunch and sit with me. He has had to take care of all cooking, cleaning and laundry and does is without ever once complaining and is always supportive. I tear up just thinking about it. So grateful, I can't imagine life without him. I'm thankful that he took our wedding vows seriously when we said we would be there for each other in sickness or in health. :)
After 3 weeks of restrictive bedrest I was put on one week of modified bedrest which allowed me to get up and do some very light house work and take little outings like a movie, quick grocery store run, church service or a resturant. No standing or walking for long periods was allowed to keep the baby off my cervix. Also, no lifting over 10 lbs. This little bit of freedom was a taste of heaven for me. During that week I was able to go out to dinner once with Michael and some friends, a church service and a movie. This was all so much fun but wheeeewwww. After not doing anything for almost a month I had NO stamina. I had to go right to bed after almost all these outings as I was so physically exhausted from them.
I was checked again after the full week of modified bed rest to find that I had not had any progression at all nor had I had any during my month of bed rest and they were very happy with me. They said because I was doing so well, they were going to allow me to go back to work 2 weeks earlier than originally expected. This appointment was Friday, December 30th so I would be going back to work on Tuesday, January 3rd after the holiday. I was so excited to get back to my routine and a sense of normalcy.
I did go back to work this past Tuesday and part of Wednesday. They wanted to check me mid week of my first week back to work to see how my body was handling things. Here was our 2nd big surprise.....in just 5 days I had went from 1cm of dialation to 2.5cm of dialation and was 75% effaced. Big changes. The doctor immediately put me on the monitors checking the baby (who continues to do great) and a monitor for contractions. I again was having regular contractions but as soon as they put my feet up they started to get less and less. I was immediately put back on modified bed rest.
That is where I am right now....on the couch :). I was really disappointed that my body did not handle being up and around very well but the baby is all that matters. I will do this as long as possible to get that best chance of bringing our little one home asap after delivery. Today is January 6th, my sisters birthday and I have already discussed with the baby that it is not allowed to come today because it's auntie She's big day :). LOL. Tomorrow I will be 34 weeks which is great. We are really crossing our fingers that we can get one more week out of this pregnancy. That time would be great for baby developmentally. If I should deliver in the next few days we are probably facing some time in the NICU and possibly some minor issues due to the baby coming early but there should not be any major issues. This is encouraging for us to remember. They think the baby is atleast 4.5 lbs right now and is consistantly measuring right on or a little above schedule which is great.
We would really love to be able to take this little one home with us after giving birth but we also rest in the fact that God has already given us almost FIVE additional weeks since I originally started going into preterm labor and that is such a blessing. God is in control and he knows best. Even though this has been difficult to understand at times we can see his glory through this. Things could be SO much worse. We are learning so much, especially the importance of rolling with life when things don't always go they way we would have planned. It's in these times God grows and stretches us. We hope to be better people and parents after experiencng this. It is so worth it.
We want to leave with the sincerest 'Thank You' to all who have faithfully prayed for us. Your prayers are working. It has been such a blessing to see the body of Christ working from our friends and family both near and far. Our specific prayer request now is that we could make it to 35 weeks, that my body would slow down (I'm much more sore now than I was before, this is because the baby is so low, they could literally feel it's head in my appointment. That was weird to think about but is also the reason I'm more sore), and that I can remain as rested and as stress free as possible.
We will continue to keep you updated! For anyone who has been through this, if you have any tips for us please send them our way. We love to hear from others who have experienced what we are going through and learn from your unique situations. :)
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