My nurse for the night, K (who would also be my nurse the following night), came into my room around 11pm to see if I was feeling any of the contractions that were appearing on the monitor. I was feeling the contractions but they were not extremely painful. My nurse indicated that maybe some ambien would help me to sleep and also cause me to relax enough to get some of the contractions to stop. I agreed. I kind of regret that decision now because unbeknownst to me I would be getting zero sleep that night. I took the ambien and did my best to relax. About an hour later K came back in my room to let me know that the contraction monitor was showing contractions every one to three minutes. These were contractions that I was starting to feel. She indicated that she had put a call into the OB on call and they were going to try to pump me full of fluids to get the contractions to stop. So up went another bag of fluids and K left the room to let me relax for a bit. I was only on the contraction monitor at this time so I decided to lay on my side to see if the contractions would stop. Plus the ambien was making me a bit sleepy. I was not sleeping all that long (maybe ten minutes) when the OB came into my room. He introduced himself and immediately indicated that I was in labor. Huh? He said that he wanted to start me on magnesium sulfate to see if we could get the contractions to stop. Things start to move fast at this point. I immediately had both my nurse, K, and another nurse in the room. I was told that I would be on a clear liquid diet and I would be unable to get out of bed while on the magnesium sulfate. Both of the babies would have to continuously be on the monitor. At this point I was told I would be given the magnesium sulfate for up to 24 hours. The additional nurse did some blood work that needed to be done before administering the magnesium sulfate (this meant another poke) and K started hooking me up to every monitor known in the world. I was put on a blood pressure cuff that took my blood pressure every five minutes (try sleeping with that). I had the contraction monitor on my belly. And I also had two other monitors on my belly for the boys. I was still attached to my IV (for fluids and eventually the magnesium sulfate) and then I was put on a pulse oximeter. So needless to say I was not going anywhere fast. K did her best to once again explain the side effects of the magnesium sulfate. The OB had explained them briefly but K went into more details. I was told I would feel hot and restless. That I would be extremely groggy and would probably have issues with my muscle control. Great! About twenty minutes after all this chaos started K came in with the bag of magnesium sulfate. Up it went. I immediately got uncomfortable from the cold fluid going into my arm. I think my muscles were just reacting to the temperature change. And then about five minutes later the heat started to overtake me. Off came the sheets on my bed and K immediately turned down the thermostat in my room as low as it would go! The remainder of the night became a blur of activity. Both of the babies are extremely active and as a result K had to spend a lot of time in my room moving the monitors around on my belly to capture their heart rates. This became an impossible task if I laid on my side. Therefore, I spent the night sitting up trying my best to shut my eyes for five minutes stretches. I was not successful. The sleep never came. It was also about this time I remembered that I was no longer able to get out of bed to pee. Great! This should be fun. It is one thing to have to use a bedpan if I was not completely out of it! But let's try it seven months pregnant with twins and on magnesium sulfate that causes me to have zero muscle control. No matter how hard I tried I could not pee! My bladder was in shock. I'm thinking it was a result of the magnesium sulfate. K tried every trick in the book. She even stood over at the sink and ran water for five minutes. I could not pee. It wasn't until I was threatened with a catheter that I suddenly had a massive contraction and my bladder went crazy. I remember saying out loud, "I'm peeing!!" ... oh it is the little things in life that make you excited. The problem ... I hadn't peed for several hours and I had received a ton of fluids. Needless to say I made a major mess. I could only laugh! I did feel a ton better once I was done peeing and I got all cleaned up. I always thought I had a small bladder. I guess I proved that theory wrong! The rest of the night was much of the same. The good news was that my contractions seemed to slow down a bit.
I met with the MFM resident and my OB the following morning. The MFM resident told me at the time that I would remain on the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours. I was able to remain optimistic because I had been given a deadline. This day was fairly uneventful. I was really out of it. Kara had to work in the morning so my mom came to keep me company. I was on a clear liquid diet so I did my best to shove as many Popsicles in my mouth as possible. Of course this skewed all my blood sugar readings for the day but the nurse did not seem concerned. They were just happy I was eating the Popsicles. I don't remember a lot from this day.
Here is a picture of me in all my glory on that second day ... Can you tell I am out of it??
I did receive the second set of steroids around 1pm. I also know that it was difficult for me to follow conversations. I was so tired. I remember getting frustrated because I had to stay sitting up in order for the boys to remain on the monitors. I remember getting super tired of using the bedpan. All I wanted to do was get up and go to the bathroom. I had some visitors in the evening. This was nice. However, I remember about 8pm I wanted nothing more than for everyone to go home. I was exhausted. But I knew I only had to make it until midnight and I would be able to sleep and pee. I had my mom help me get ready for bed (brush my teeth and wash my face) and then I let her go home for the evening. I had K again that night as my nurse. The boys were still on the monitors continually so I was still sitting up for the most part. It was about 9pm when K came into the room and gave me the worst news of the day. This is what I remember, "I debated coming into the room to tell you this. But you need to know. And it's like ripping off a band-aid. You just have to do it. You have to remain on the magnesium sulfate until tomorrow afternoon." I remember looking at her. I didn't say anything for a second and then I managed to squeak out, "I've reached my breaking point. I think I am going to lose it." And immediately K became my favorite person in the entire world. I have several friends who are nurses and I understand how much time they spend going above and beyond for their patients but I had never been on the receiving end of that generosity until these two nights in the hospital. This nurse was simply amazing. She immediately went into overdrive to make certain I was comfortable. All I wanted to do was lay on my side and try to get some sleep. This was no problem for my nurse. She got me all situated and then proceeded to spend the next three hours in my room on her knees beside my bed constantly chasing Baby B around on the monitor. Amazing. I managed to get about three hours of sleep off and on because of the extra effort put into the situation by my nurse. I did eventually offer to sit up for a bit so K could get some relief. I think she was only out of my room for 30 minutes when she came busting back in to let me know that she had called the OB on call and pleaded my case. She told the OB that I needed to sleep. That I had only had about two hours of sleep in 48 hours and that they need to at least let the babies be off the monitors for a couple of hours so I could sleep. Well ... it worked because K announced that I was coming off the magnesium sulfate at 1am! Yippee!! I could make it until 1am. We only had about 60 minutes. But wouldn't you know it ... my contractions started to come back as soon as this conversation ended. I knew I hadn't peed for a long time and I thought the contractions could be tied to a full bladder but I just wanted to make it until 1am to use the restroom. At 1am exactly K busted into my room and announced, "You are having contractions. I called the OB but he has not returned my call. Your chart clearly says that you get to come off the magnesium sulfate at 1am. So that is what we are going to do. I know you are only having contractions because you need to pee." So within minutes I was unhooked from everything and I was up out of bed headed towards the bathroom. I'm not sure why I thought going to the bathroom would be a simple task. My body immediately began to revolt. I managed to get to the bathroom ... only because K literally dragged me there. As soon as I sat down my entire body began to shake uncontrollably. It was crazy! I was able to pee and then get back into bed. Again ... only because of help from K. I got all situated and then I slept and slept and slept. I woke-up about 4am and immediately K was in the room. I thought it was crazy that she would bust into the room anytime I would wake-up but she said she was sitting out watching the monitors and knew I was awake because of the activity from the contraction monitor. K announced that I had zero contractions on the monitors the entire time I had been sleeping. Success!! The labor had officially been stopped by the magnesium sulfate!
The next morning I was able to get up and take a shower with help from Kara. I was still extremely weak but with Kara by my side in case I fell down I was able to take the best shower ever. It felt great. I was also able to get into my own clothes! Nice. I spent the morning on the contraction monitor but it was recording very few contractions. Sweet. Around 10am the MFM resident came into my room and let me know that we were going home! I also met with the nutritionist to learn about the diet changes for gestational diabetes and to learn how to monitor my blood sugar at home. I was finally released around 3:30pm and I was told to not come back for another 10 weeks! We are now home on bedrest. I am confined to the third floor. Kara has done an amazing job changing the house around to make me as comfortable as possible. I am sure I will have more blog entries over the next several days to document my bed rest journey. But for now these boys remain in my belly and I could not be more grateful.
Please keep growing little ones and stay in my belly!
Mary
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