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His plans, not ours

First and foremost, this will not be the post I had drafted in my head at the start of the week. But I think everyone can understand why! Beware, this will be long!

As most of you know, I was at school yesterday, teaching when I felt a gush of fluid. I had nearly an hour left of class before I could race to the restroom, so I spent that time reviewing in my head what our Childbirth class instructor had told us about water breaking, and using the internet to research pre-term labor, while my students were busy at work. The second class let out, I dashed to the bathroom to discover that it was not my water, but a significant amount of blood. The next ten minutes were a whirlwind: I stopped by a neighbor classroom to ask a teacher on prep to hang out in my room while I dashed to the office to find the administrators. Within minutes, the school nurse was by my side and they were calling for an ambulance. I had forgotten my cell phone at home this morning, so I left a message on Jeff's cell and then asked the Associate Principal to try him again. Ten minutes after dismissing my morning class, I was in an ambulance on my way to Legacy Emanuel. Needless to say, I was a bit of a wreck!

The EMT's were friendly and reassuring. They didn't use any lights, which I think helped me put the situation into perspective; it was certainly worth an immediate trip to the doctor, but not desperate. We even had to wait for the Interstate bridge lift that was in progress! After arriving at the hospital, they wheeled me through the ER, straight up to Labor & Delivery. The nurses changed my clothes and started fetal monitoring and said they had paged my doctor. Fortunately, Jeff arrived shortly after and I think he was nearly as panicked as I had been when the ambulance came. It certainly was a comfort to have him by my side.

Fetal monitoring was continued for a few hours, and all the nurses commented that Baby Davolt continued to show strong signs. I also learned through monitoring that I am having contractions, although I cannot feel them. Evidently, sometimes the contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and sometimes further, but all short thus far.

I had a previously scheduled appointment with my doctor for a check up so it was decided that I would stay in L&D, have some lunch, rest and then go across the building for my appointment. Fortunately, about four hours had passed without any bleeding. I was feeling like it could have been a single incident. At 2pm, we were excused from L&D and waited for my doctor appointment, while Jeff had some lunch. Soon after, my doctor examined me and discovered her first hunch as to the source of the bleeding was not the case; My cervix is closed, as it should be. Feeling puzzled, she decided to send us across the building again for an ultrasound.

We had just stepped onto the elevator, heading down four floors, when I felt another gush. As the doors opened, I told Jeff what I suspected and dashed into the nearest restroom. Sure enough, it had happened again. All we could do, though is go to the Diagnostic center and wait for my ultrasound. By 4pm, we were sitting quietly in a dark ultrasound room, watching our little boy on the screen. It was encouraging to see him moving and beating heart, etc. The tech took several pictures, stepped out to follow up with her boss, then excused us. As we wandered down the hall, wondering what to do next, my doctor called and asked us to go back to the ultrasound. Her second hunch had proven wrong and we were not dealing with a Placenta Previa, which happens when the placenta is near the cervix. Evidently, she and the radiologist agreed that they needed more pictures of my placenta to solve this mystery. We turned around and spent another ten minutes or so in ultrasound.

My doctor decided that until this bleeding mystery could be resolved, I would spend the night in L&D. Back we wandered, completing our triangle of the hospital. Sitting back in the same room as we were earlier was a bit surreal. We appreciate the decision to err on the side of caution, but we still needed time to adjust to what was happening. Again, I was dressed and hooked up to monitoring. Since my car was still sitting in the school parking lot, Jeff decided to go pick it up (with Jennifer's help), pick up some things from home for both of us and (shockingly) pick up a pizza. While he was gone, I had company from Mike and Vicki, who were kind enough to stop by. I also had a visit from a nurse who needed to insert an IV block, just in case. That was one of the most painful experiences! She tried my left wrist, unsuccessfully and decided to relent and try my right wrist. It really was good that Jeff was not there, because if he is nervous about seeing me in pain, it wasn't my shining-hold-it-together moment. I tried some of the breathing techniques from our childbirth class and distracting conversation, but I still found it hard not to pull my arm away!

Soon enough, Jeff returned, shared his pizza with me and we prepared for bed. Sleeping was not easy in a bed designed for labor and birth and with monitors on my belly which prevented me from finding a comfortable position. I've spent the last seven months training myself to sleep on my side, and last night, the monitors wouldn't register properly when I did that! So, between that and the nurse stopping by every four hours for vitals, sleep was not my friend. As I lay awake, I couldn't help but reflect on the kind couple at church we met who were expecting a baby a month before us and yet gave birth at 27 weeks. They have shown amazing faith and patience as their little girl has spent 60+ days growing in the NICU. I also reviewed the past few days and wondered at God's plans:
  • Over the weekend, I made a comment about packing hospital bags, to which Jeff thought was too soon,
  • On Monday, I finally sat down with our chosen pediatrician. I previously thought that would the primary topic of today's blog, but I'll have time for that later, I guess,
  • On Tuesday, Jeff went to Vancouver Public Schools to become an official substitute in my district.
  • Then Wednesday, I'm in the hospital...
This morning, we had an early (7am) visit from my doctor. Having spoken with a High Risk Specialist, she said they are suspicious the bleeding could be caused by some degree of Placental Abruption, which means the placenta could possibly be tearing from the uterine wall. The ultrasound didn't show it conclusively, but it seems the most likely cause of bleeding. Naturally, this could have serious consequences for baby, which is why she assigned me hospital bed rest until next Tuesday, followed by bed rest at home for the remainder of this pregnancy. She explained that in my situation, some patients will end up with early babies and some will go to term. Basically, there's is a big gray area and she doesn't want to risk the health of the baby. She did sound confident, that at nearly 32 weeks, Baby Davolt would be okay outside the womb, but the longer he cooks the better. As a precaution, I was given a steroid shot that will help develop his lungs and I'll have another one tomorrow. Then, they wheeled me out of L&D to my new room in the Family Birth Center.

After about a week here in the hospital, I'll go home for medical bed rest until Baby D's debut! It's a little crazy to wrap our heads around the next few weeks, let alone the next few days. Jeff will be taking over my classes on Monday, as a long term sub, which is a stress reliever for me and a great opportunity for him. In the meantime, I'm working on writing to-do lists for him and myself as we begin this transition.

We both appreciate all the encouraging texts and calls and apologize for not answering all of them in the most timely manner (especially me, Jeff's been answering most calls). As we know more, we will certainly pass it along. We also appreciate all the offers of help. At the moment, I'm pretty well taken care of here in the hospital.

Coming Up (and things to pray about):
  • Daily fetal monitoring between now and my discharge. Pray that Baby D stays active and healthy, the contractions are minimal or, what, ineffective? Pray that there are no further bleeding episodes.
  • Tonight, Jeff has permission to wheel me down to our childbirth class which we've been attending on Thursday evenings.
  • Monday, Jeff starts teaching at my school. Pray for confidence in his talent (because he truly will make a great teacher and I wouldn't want to leave my room to anyone else) and a smooth transition.
Anyway, hope that provides updates some of you might be looking for. I will have Jeff take a picture of me either today or tomorrow so we can stay up to date. Love you all, Erin

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