This has been without a doubt the biggest and most stressful week of the pregnancy so far. On Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn (6.15am) I arrived at RPA to be admitted. I was in a foul mood because I didn't sleep well the night before, and annoyed that my hospital arrival was basically being tacked onto the start of LH's trip to the airport to fly to Adelaide. Thus I arrived 45 mins too early and the person I was to report to wasn't even on shift yet.
But all the annoyance evaporated quickly once I got onto the antenatal ward. Everyone was just really lovely and kind and I just felt really safe and well looked after.
I was put in a room with another girl while I waited for my single room to become available about 11 am. I didn't ask but gathered from the talk she was having with the nurse that her waters had broken some time in the last few days and she was on antibiotics ahead of a caesarian the next day. The nurse said she was desperate to induce her labour so she wouldn't have to have a caesarian, so she was going for walks around the block with her husband.
Its so weird that the waters can break and then things just stop - bub stays put, so does the rest of the amniotic fluid and labour refuses to start.
Anyway, I got my first dose of the steroids while I was in the temporary bed. It was a pretty big needle and a lot of fluid to inject into the butt but it actually didn't hurt all that much.
I measured my blood sugar, the first of loads of measures during the hospital stay. Then I got into the swing of life in hospital.
Its so incredibly regimented but you just get used to it very quickly and its kind of comforting in a way. Breakfast at 7am, morning tea at 10.15am, lunch at 12pm, afternoon tea at 3.30pm, dinner at 5pm and supper at 7pm. The food wasn't as bad as I expected. I didn't gag on it, it was just plain and ultimately, there's really nothing wrong with plain food.
I had to take a blood glucose measure before every meal, and then the nurses would put in a call to the endocrinologist, who would tell them if any, and how much insulin I needed to inject. The first day, I didn't need any insulin until dinner, but then the blood sugars started to climb.
The nurses injected the first few shots and then gave me my own insulin pen and showed me how to do it. It was almost identical to doing the FSH shots for the IVF cycle - the pen is the same, so it wasn't a drama for me.
Then it was another blood sugar measure 2 hours after every meal. The endocrinologist was very happy with my progress, indicated by the fact that they didn't need to resort to IV insulin to control the sugar levels, just injectable insulin.
After the second dose of steroids yesterday, the blood sugars were higher than the first day and I needed insulin before every meal to cope. I also needed a shot of intermediate acting insulin before bed to get me through the night and that also entailed a 2am wake-up call to measure blood glucose to make sure I hadn't passed out from a hypoglycaemic attack.
At that point, I really understood why this absolutely needed to be done in hospital under really strict supervision.
Being in hospital also meant I got the benefit of a daily obstetrics check - listen to E3 on the doppler, blood pressure, pulse and temperature (actually I think the last 3 apply to any patient!).
They also did a test, which I think is called a stress test, on E3. It basically entailed attaching a band around the top of my bump to measure contractions and another one around the middle to measure E3's heartbeat. They also gave me a cord with a button on the end to push every time E3 moved.
Once they hook it up, you can hear the baby's hearbeat and also any contractions. It's very cool!! Of course, E3, the little rascal, decided it was time for a sleep so didn't do any moving for ages. The nurse said we needed to keep going for a bit longer to get some good responses so I gave him a poke and he obliged with a few kicks.
Every time he kicked, his heartbeat went up, which was what is meant to happen. There were really no contractions to speak of, which was good news as well. The nurse said what they are basically looking for is variation in heartbeat. Healthy babies have heartbeats that go up and down constantly, so E3 was doing just fine.
I thought I would need another night in the hospital tonight but the endocrinologist was happy with my sugar levels, so let me go home after I had lunch.
LH came and collected me and we then went to the ultrasound appointment this afternoon. The news there was reasonable. E3 is still doing well in the growth stakes - 67th percentile, same as last week. But he has moved into the head down position. I thought he may have moved some time this week, and turns out I was right. I can't feel any pressure on my cervix though, so he mustn't be too low.
The vasa previa vein was again located and tracked and it is still nicely well out of the way of the cervix. The obstetrician rates the chances of it rupturing if the membranes break as low but of course I still need to get to the hospital pronto if the membranes do break.
The cervix has shortened by about 1.5mm, so I am down from 15.6mm last week to just over 14mm this week but the cervix is still closed. In the words of the obstetrician - 'I don't care if its 2 mm long, as long as it says closed.' He said my bed rest strategy was a good one and it would help to slow down the gradual shortening of the cervix.
It would be nice to think that if the cervix is shortening by about 1.5mm to 2mm a week, we have another 7 weeks to go before it opens, but in reality it can actually just open any time so that's not a good way to look at it.
So, here I am, resting and waiting and hoping. I am much more accepting of my lot now and not so devastated that all of these complications have befallen me. My boss called this evening and her advice was to stay positive. I think its the right thing for me to focus on. I need to make sure I am calm and happy so that E3 isn't affected by stress hormones being transmitted from me to him.
I feel more accepting of the fact that I've got gestational diabetes and my focus this week is to really work very hard to control it with a regimented diet. I may not have long until E3 comes out, so I need to get the blood sugar under control so he has a good start and doesn't go hypoglycemic as soon as he's born.
LH reckons E3 will be pretty annoyed that the lovely over-supply of sugar into the umbilical cord has dried up :-)
Last but not least, we finally got some 3D photos of E3 today as he obliged by not having feet, or chords and stuff blocking the photograph. He (or she!) just looks so adorable and cute. My immediate thought was that he has a little nose just like my brother, but he's definitely got LH's lips. I'm probably being completely mad in trying to look for likeness in foetal facial features, but its nice to do and it has really helped us connect even more with our little one.
It won't be long now until E3 is in our arms, and I can't wait!!
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