Today I am fairly awake and had better chronicle the past few days before they completely blur in my memory. Monday evening i began contracting again, like I'd been when I was admitted to the hospital. When she arrived for rounds Tuesday morning. Dr. Straughn checked my cervix and I was 75% effaced and dilated to 3 cm. That was not what I wanted to hear! I was again connected to an IV, this time to receive an infusion of magnesium sulfate (or mag as the nurses call it). Mag used to be used to stop preterm labor. More recent research has shown that while it can slow labor it has the added benefit of protecting the neurological development of the babies in utero.
I'd been warned about magnesium sulfate. Many moms-to-be on my Success with IUI support group on Facebook have bemoaned the side effects of the treatment, so I thought I was prepared....HA HA! As Vanessa, my nurse, connected the first mag bag she cautioned that the bolus during the first 30 minutes was the worst. She would stay with me for that bolus. That should have set off alarm bells. As the mag began working its way through my veins, I started to feel it, the heat. It began in my chest, building and spreading outward. Soon I began to feel that if I took a deep breathe and blew I could blow fire like a dragon. The heat continued to creep outward, saturating my torso, engulfing my arms, and rising up my neck to my face.
At that point it was all I could do to just lay there and breathe. Mom sat at my feet rubbing my legs. "You may just need to close your eyes and ride it out," Vanessa suggested, so I did. I though the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth. A fan was clipped to the bed rail blowing on my face, but I barely noticed. You know on sci-fy movies how a character is hit by a heat weapon and begins to glow? Then you can see is intensify from the core, glowing white, their skin splits open, spontaneous combustion consumes them and all that's left is a little ash pile. I felt like I was heading the way of that poor soul.
Then it came, the straw that broke the camel's back. Another nurse arrive announcing, "I have your steroid shot. Did they tell you we were going to do anther round of steroids?" Now, up to this point I had not cried. At all. no tears in front of the nurses the past two weeks. Wellllll, that announcement did it. I didn't go completely to pieces, but tears did fall. I've gotten better about shots, but between the new IV port that morning, burning up from mag, anxiety, and now the prospect of another uncomfortable shot while still under the mag I cracked. also, Mom was there. You know that feeling. You've choked back your tears and then you see her, Mom, and the dam breaks.
When the bolus bag drained a second on was hung on a much slower drip. the heat began to subside - all but that heat in my chest that made me feel like Smaug the dragon. I stayed on the mag drip, blood pressure monitor, oxygen monitor, and contraction monitor until late that night. The mag made me groggy the whole time, not able to sleep, but not really there. The steriod shot kept me awake all night and my contractions became more intense and distinct. I prayed through the night and was blessed with a feeling of peace. God had this planned None of it was a surprise and he could handle it.
Dr. Straughn checked me again Wednesday morning and I was still holding at 3 cm dilated. She told Donny he would be safe to go to work that day (he'd stayed with me all day Tuesday) and I promised to update him continually. I continued to contract until I got my shower. NEVER take a shower for granted. My every-other-day shower makes me feel human again. it also makes me take a long nap afterward! The contractions pretty much stopped. How nice to have a break! I still was not sure we were out of danger yet, but I felt better. The second steriod shot was administered that afternoon and that one was BAD! There were teeth to that medicine. It burned for several minutes after the nurse left. The rest of the day was uneventful. I was tired, but not contracting.
Early this morning (yep we are caught up now) I asked the nurse to reattach the contraction monitor because I was contracting and cramping, but when she went over the data at 6 there was nothing too cause alarm. I think I'm just going to be jumpy from here on out. Dr. Straughn was pleased with how things are going and even said that when she ran into Dr. Gonzales he told her that he was confident I could carry these babies to 28 weeks. So now I continue to take things a day at a time. The babies are super stars. Every ultrasound shows them growing, active, and with fantastic heart rates. Please pray that my body can hold out for these four precious babies to grow and develop!
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