An interesting weekend

Well, we've had a very interesting weekend in our household. On Thursday and Friday, I had started feeling pain in my lower left hip/groin area under my belly. Friday night, it got pretty bad and I started having regular contractions that were very painful. I was up almost all night on Friday and decided in the morning that I couldn't take the pain anymore and decided to head to the hospital.

I arrived around 7:15am and was in triage in L&D by 7:45. The fetal monitoring starting, which showed a very active and healthy baby. In addition, the nurse started monitoring the contractions, which were pretty regular, about every 8 minutes lasting about 30-40 secs. I wasn't too terribly concerned because they didn't feel like the "real" labor contractions, so I was frustrated more than scared. The DR came in and started to probe my belly and found a hard spot on my left side, one that I had felt the day before. He took and ultrasound and found that I had a 2-inch (golf-ball sized) fibroid within my uterine wall (intramural). The fibroid looked like it was starting to degenerate (die), which was irritating my uterus, causing it to contract. The contractions were very painful and I was having pretty consistent pain no matter what I did, including lying down, standing up, walking, resting, sitting, etc. I wasn't able to find any relief!

So, the doctor recommended I stay for the afternoon so I could rest and also try to stop the contractions. By 3pm, I had rested, but my contractions were still there and consistent. My OB visited me in the hospital and recommended I stay overnight so they can get the contractions to stop and so I can rest. By 9pm, my contractions finally abated after trying 2 different meds and I was able to get rest with the help of some IV narcotics.

I got home yesterday about 9am and then slept from 11:30 until 3pm. I'm on some meds until tomorrow that give me headaches and are causing some nausea and dizziness, which stinks. BUT, my sister is here this week to help me out with the kids! I'm so thankful for her help, especially now that due to lack of rest on Patrick's part, a small cold he started on Fri has developed into a full-blown sickness. He sounds pretty lousy and has an appt with a DR tomorrow. Amanda's trip has been VERY timely.

SO, as for what the next several weeks hold for my pregnancy, it's going to be a wait-and-see game. The fibroid could die or remain, causing me pain throughout my pregnancy or no more pain at all. The main thing is to avoid pre-term labor! So, rest, rest, rest and not overdoing it are key!

Gram's funeral was today and I was very sad that all the shinanigans this weekend caused Patrick to miss it. I've been very thankful for his support over these last few days, as well as all the phone calls and help from our friends and church family. I will keep you all posted on what's going on...