I'm actually writing this post in retrospect on November 22 as I've finally had the time to come back to this point to finally tell the story of the final leg in our journey.
This post is meant to reiterate the day that was November 5th but in hindsight, its best to go back to the evening of November 4th.
Sunday evening (at 23w4d and the night before the NICU tour) I wasn't feeling all that hot. I had a light back ache (not uncommon due to the stress of sitting in the same position all day) but I was also feeling lightly crampy in the bottom of my belly...almost achy.
I went to bed early as often over night any aches and pains usually sorted themselves out. That night I continued to wake throughout the night still feeling achy and so in the morning, when I still had the light back ache and light tummy pain I packed an overnight bag knowing that what I was feeling wasn't normal and I stupidly thought that the hospital would be just as concerned as I was.
Dwayne, my mother and myself went into the city early as we had scheduled a 3D ultrasound that morning (for keepsake purposes in light of this being such a high risk pregnancy) and on the way into town I could feel I was having very light contractions. As they were very mild (felt slightly painful but I thought maybe because I was already so achey they were noticable) I attributed them to braxton hicks.
We spent 1/2 an hour downtown in the car while Dwayne ran some errands. I sat in the car trying to time the contractions (~8 mins) using the car clock and debated whether I should skip the 3D ultrasound and go right to the hospital. A part of me knew if we were indeed in labour that I would forever regret not having the 3D ultrasound and a part of me worried that by not going to the hospital, they may not catch it soon enough.
We went to the ultrasound and it was absoultely beautiful. Though I leaked heavily in the elevator upto the ultrasound room there was plenty of fluid for us to see baby b in 3D. For the first time since the rupture I felt that everything was going to be perfect! Our high risk baby had plenty of fluid despite me constantly leaking!!
As far as the genders were concerned? Baby B was a BOY! I cried tears of joy at the news. I can't begin to explain how amazed and in love we were. Baby A proved much more elusive. We couldn't get a clear shot in 3D of his/her face and he/she was very modest as we had a hard time with the gender. Best guess...Girl.
In hindsight I'm so very glad that we did the 3D ultrasound. Ultimately going to the hospital would have resulted in absolutely nothing and today we wouldn't have that beautiful memory.
Once at the hospital we met with the first Perinatologist where I explained my concern with my contractions (which were much closer...less than 4 minutes at this point). The Peri did all the basic measurements and said he'd report to the head doc and she'd be in to see us shortly.
The main Peri came into the office and her first words were "well, the good news is there's absolutely NO indication that your in early labour". We then listened to the rest of her speal and finally I questioned her about what I should look for in terms of early labour if this wasnt' it. She said, "regular contractions that are at least 5 minutes apart". I told her mine were between 3-4 minutes. She then said, "well, the have to be very regular and longer than 30 seconds". As I hadn't really timed the duration and was using a clock without a second hand to time I had no response.
She then said, "well, i can check your cervix but with your rupture and us wanting to avoid infection its not recommended". Based on her comments I chose to avoid further risk of infection.
We left her office and went to get our flu shots, the contractions continued.
By the time Dwayne went to get the car, I went to the bathroom and noticed that I had started bleeding. Back to the peri again where I requested a cervix check.
The first peri we saw then admitted us to a room for monitoring and they decided to keep me overnight. By then the pain of the contractions were very uncomfortable and they adminstered morphine in the hopes that by minimizing the pain, my body would relax enough and the contractions would stop.
That evening the contractions did slow for an hour or so but by 3 am they were back in full force, the morphine had worn off and I was in even worse pain.
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