Oh How the Tables Turn!

Greetings from my hospital bed at Memorial.  I'm tellin' ya, Dallin and I need to be put on the VIP list around here. 

So here is where things are at.  On Tuesday morning, around 10 I thought that my water had broke.  I talked with my midwife and laid down for a few hours but the leaking continued.  At 230, we drove into Savannah for the doctor to check.  He said I was leaking amniotic fluid and was to go straight to the hospital for bedrest until the babies were born.  I'll save you a long and frustrating story but we walked out of the office never to deal with that doctor again.  I pow wowed with my midwives on the phone and decided to go to a different hospital and get admitted under the care of a different doctor that both ladies highly recommended- Dr. Royek.  He's also head of the dept which is a nice bonus. 

So we went to Memorial, they retested me and everything came back negative.  Ultrasound showed that fluid was good around both babies and we were released. 

Over the next couple days the leak continued a little bit but it didn't concern me until Friday afternoon when it started getting heavier.  After a long night of it waking me up and me worrying about it, we thought it best to go get retested, just to make sure.

We went to our local hospital just in case it still was nothing to worry about and we could just go home.  One test came back neutral and the ultrasound again proved both sacs had plenty of fluid.  We were just about to get up and be released when I had another leak and the nursed tested it- it was undeniably amniotic fluid.  That changed everything.

We went home to get my stuff, I received a wonderful blessing from Greg and Dallin then we headed into Savannah.  We got checked in and another exam to confirm- yes, amniotic fluid.  And apparently a fairly substantial leak.  So I was admitted with this being the game plan- me on bedrest here at the hospital and being induced at 34 weeks.  If I continued to leak, the risks of keeping the babies in at that point outweighed getting them out due to threat of infection etc.   The babies are currently laying transverse-transverse (both straight across my tummy) and if they stayed in that position, I would have to be sectioned.  But there is still plenty of time for them to turn so we won't have a final plan for about 3 weeks. 

This was a really hard reality for me to accept. After two beautiful flawless waterbirths, this situation is the complete opposite of everything I have experienced and everything I believe about childbirth.  But I also know that everything will be fine and everything happens for a reason.  We know that these babies are already bigger than normal.  Tomorrow we are doing a measurement ultrasound and know where they are currently sitting for size.  Dallin mentioned that perhaps it needed to happen this way because if they went full term they might have been too big and more complications then than this situation may be. 

For now, I am not worrying about it. There is no point.  I am focusing on staying relaxed and healing my body. 

Already overnight we have had a lot of improvement.  After being on baby monitors for over 12 hours, I requested at 3am to have them taken off so I could sleep.  I wasn't contracting and they were fine so I felt fine with refusing the constant monitoring even though they wanted to keep me on.  I felt that it was more important to actually get comfortable and get some sleep.  They too are comfortable with the babies situations so I have been switched to a 30 minute monitoring twice a day.  I was on fluids but they have also discontinued that (yay!  It was just going right through me anyway) and I have been taken off my iv for antibiotics.  I have one more dose then will be on an oral dose for another 6 days.  This is a new method that they find has worked in warding off preterm labor with leaks.  The leak has substantially slowed overnight and I am more than confident that I will be healed in a couple days and the docs (who were very doubtful that it would heal)  will be having to reevaluate their game plan.  They might, just might be willing to send me home if I heal and stay dry for a few days.  We will wait and see. 

I am feeling really good and really optimistic about the situation.  I know that this leak will heal.  Whether they will be comfortable in sending me home is another story and one that I might not have any control over.  But I know that the babies will be fine, their birth will be fine and that this too shall pass.  They will be born perfectly healthy and normal in all ways and we will soon be home in our own bed with our little family of four and lots of grammas and grampas to visit and play with. 

Dallin brought the boys up and Farr (my sister who has been visiting and heads home tomorrow) for a visit this afternoon.  It was great to see all of them.  Dace played shy at first but with a few chips and some cartoons he warmed up and was ready to sit with me and give me hugs and kisses.  He even brought me the sweetest little picture he had made with dad.  Of course that made me cry.  Zade did pretty good for the first few minutes then just wanted to rip the place apart so the visit was relatively short but that's what I expected. 

At this point, we welcome all prayers, calls and emails from friends and family.  If you're local, Dallin needs all the help he can get with the boys so that he can get back to work this week.  So please contact him if you are able and willing to help out in any way.  I will keep you posted with any major changes.