So turns out that eight weeks became one. Sunday morning, Angie woke up for what has recently been an hourly bathroom visit. Unlike most times, I actually woke up too, but didn’t think much about it until she called my name. She noticed some blood in the toilet so we began double checking our books to confirm what we already knew… call the doctor. A few minutes later she went back to the bathroom and some more fluid (with less blood) came out. It was about that time that we got in touch with the on call doctor who said “head to the hospital.”
I’m not embarassed to say that 7 weeks out, we hadn’t finished all of our prep. We hadn’t packed a bag or chosen a pediatrician. We hadn’t mapped out a course to the hospital either though this proved not be an issue at 4AM. So we quickly threw together a bag and drove on in. We also didn’t think far enough ahead to grab something to eat before we left or on the way in.
We got to the hospital a little before 5:00AM and they took no time at all checking us in. I think I filled out all of 4 lines on the form before Angie was in a wheelchair and heading down the hall. We were assigned to room 323 initially. I have to say I was surprised by the size of the rooms… Don’t get me wrong… this isn’t the Ritz, but the rooms are nice and big. After some initial tests, it was confirmed that Angie had ruptured, and would not be going home without having a baby first.
The next couple days has kind of been a blur. Angie hasn’t been able to get out of bed and for the first 24 hours or so, she didn’t get anything to eat or drink. She was on an IV though, so she wasn’t dehydrating or anything. They attached her to monitors (one for her contractions, one for the baby’s heartbeat, and one for her heartbeat.) and started giving her antibiotics to fend off any infections. They took some blood too to check for infection (and I imagine everything else too).
Our doctor was out of town for the weekend, so the on call Doctor came in and she was great. Our doctor (Dr. Perales) actually delivered her baby, and they have a lot of the same views and approaches to birth. She started Angie on some medicine to stop the contractions. I originally thought that if your water broke you were going to give birth within 24 hours, but it seems that’s not always the case. We were told that technically, she could go for weeks with her water ruptured, as long as she doesn’t get an infection or lose too much fluid. The medicine didn’t stop them completely though and Angie wasn’t getting any sleep, so they decided to move to the “big guns” which is magnesium. I can’t tell you how many people made a point to tell Angie that magnesium was going to make her feel like crap. But she was already feeling like crap with the contraction and no sleep. So we did it.
The first couple hours on the magnesium weren’t bad. Angie was wondering what everyone was talking about. Bedtime came and we turned out the lights and tried to get some rest. I have to admit that I didn’t have any trouble sleeping. Even on the hard pull out chair that they give me, I was out. Angie on the other hand never got any deep sleep. The magnesium made her feel so bad that she could only close her eyes and rest. Add to that, someone coming in every hour to check on her, and she was even more tired in the morning. Don’t get me wrong, the nurses have all been absolutely fantastic. We have felt comfortable with every single one of them. But a hospital is just not the place to get rest.
So here we are. Monday morning…early and waiting on our doctor to come in and see us.