A fall, a shower, and a hospital stay

Most of you have probably heard about my weekend fiasco.  I thought maybe you would like to hear about it.  It was all just so strange!  (This is really long, so sorry about my rambling.)

My Saturday morning began with me excitedly getting ready for my first baby shower that Heather P. was going to be hosting for me.  I had gotten my outfit ready and straightened my hair the night before so that I could easily get ready and hopefully be on time for once.  I had to finish up my 24 hour urine sample and get it turned it as well as get labs drawn before 10:00, so I wanted to have all my ducks in a row.  Things started to go down hill when in my excitement, I forgot to collect my urine sample, which, being a nurse and knowing how important it is to have all 24 hours worth, caused me great distress!  After stewing about it and thinking it through, I decided to be a bad, non-compliant patient and simply turn it in anyway.  It was only about 2 hours worth and I just had so much going on during the weekend, I wouldn't have been able to collect another 24 hours worth until Monday.  I am starting to strongly dislike doing these tests because you have to plan your life around them!

After I was finally ready, I was starting to get nervous about being late, so I was hurrying to get things out to the car.  I had just gotten in the car when I realized that I forgot my cell phone inside (something that I can't live without...), and made one last trip inside to get it.  On the way out, I tripped on a sidewalk crack, took a few leaping steps to try to correct myself, but ended up falling flat on my belly on the strip of grass right in front of the street.  Needless to say, it happened so fast and was so shocking, I didn't quite know what to do with myself.  It hurt really bad and I had some severe cramps, but all I could think about was getting my sample turned in and getting to the shower on time, so I got up, looked around to make sure no one saw my ridiculous clumsiness, and drove off to the outpatient lab.  I had to wait a while before they could get me back to draw my labs, so of course, I sat and tried to feel the baby move and did a Google search on "falling when pregnant," just to see if I was crazy for worrying or not.  Of course, what I found were mixed reviews of "definitely get checked out!," or "as long as the baby is moving, you're probably fine.  The baby is cushioned really well anyway."  So, what did I do?  I went to my baby shower, of course.  Goodness!  I didn't want to be some worrysome, first time mother!

When I arrived at the shower, I first had to get some reassurance from my sister.  She's had two babies after all.  She asked me if I had called the doctor, and of course, I hadn't.  I started balling.  (Just what every pregnant, glowing mother wants to do at her baby shower with everyone standing around wondering what's up!)  Then Heather asked if everything was okay and I told her the problem, and we both decided I was probably going to be okay, since the baby was still moving pretty normally.  I dried my tears and got on with the shower, trying to have fun, despite a nagging feeling that I was a bad mom and wondering if I had made the right decision.  

Heather P. and me.  She was the gracious hostess!

The wonderful food table, with a fancy diaper bouquet!  

Quite the pile of gifts!

Melissa and Mandy made these adorable hats and booties!  Leah will look so cute!

Natalie brought Adela, who did a great job, even though she really wanted to open some of the gifts!

Everyone brought a book to get my collection started.  I loved that!  It was so fun to see what everyone's favorite was!

Cookie favors in cute baby shapes.

The shower was really wonderful!  I was humbled by how many people showed up and so thankful for all of the wonderful gifts!  The food was yummy and the games were fun, although I failed miserably at all of them. :)  

When I got home from the shower, I left everything in the car so Justin could help me bring stuff in when he was ready.  I called the doctor's office even though it was closed and it said I could stay on the line to talk to the doctor on call, but if it wasn't an emergency, I would have to pay a $25 fee.  So, I hung up.  I couldn't decide if this was an emergency really.  I went out to talk to Justin.  I told him about my little incident and, of course, he didn't know what to make of it.  He said I could make the call if I wanted to, but he couldn't give me any advice. :)  So, I just went inside to have a little snack and lay down.  Thankfully, my mom happened to stop by just then to see what I got at the shower.  She came in and sat down and asked how the shower had gone, and all I could do was say it was fine and then start crying.  (Got to love the hormones!)  After discussing with her, I decided to call the doctor, even if I did have to pay a $25 fee.  (How silly!  Who really cares about $25 when your baby's life is at stake????)  One of the midwives answered the call and told me to go straight to the hospital to be put on the monitor for at least 4 hours.  That's when it hit me that this could really be a problem.  Mom said she would take me, since Justin was in the middle of rebuilding some walls in the garage.  

When we got to the emergency room, they took me right up to the triage area in Labor and Delivery.  I was put on the monitor right away and waited.  The nurse came in to get a bit of a history and when I said that I had fallen that morning around 9:40, she was a little bit stunned (since it was now about 1:45).  She asked what I had been doing and I told her that I had a baby shower.  She didn't really say much about it, but when the doctor came in to get a history and heard the same thing, she also was a bit taken back.  The midwife that I had talked to on the phone said, "Now, you know that your baby's life is more important than a baby shower!"  Wow, did I feel really stupid!!  For the rest of my time in the hospital, I became known as the one who fell and then went to her baby shower anyway.  Each new nurse or doctor that I saw asked if I got some good stuff.  (That made me feel really great...)  

I was told that since it had been a while since I had fallen, I hadn't had any sort of bleeding, and the baby was still moving okay, I would probably not actually have to be on the monitor for the full 4 hours.  I was expecting to be out of there pretty quickly.  I've been having non-stress tests every week for a while now, so I am somewhat familiar with what the baby's heart rate should be doing and what a contraction looks like, so after about a half hour or so, I had Mom pull out the strip so I could look at it.  Of course, just then, my nurse came in and said "Oh no.  I guess you already know what I'm about to say..."  Mom and I just stared blankly, and the nurse informed me that I was having a lot of contractions, so they were going to get an IV started and pump me full of fluids.  (It probably sounds silly that I didn't know I was having contractions, but I didn't really know what a contraction felt like.  I had been having cramping ever since the fall, but it just felt like period cramps and I've been having some of that for a few weeks now.  The doctor has always said that unless they were accompanied by back pain or bleeding, they weren't an issue.)  I got a full liter of fluid pretty fast and then just a maintenance infusion, and I got to stay on the monitor to see if the contractions would stop.  

It was pretty clear after a while that the contractions weren't going away very quickly.  I was having them about every 2-4 minutes, which is when they informed me that I was going to have the privilege of spending the night.  I was checked and hadn't dilated or effaced, but I was still transferred to the antepartum unit, just in case. The best part was that I got to be put on a bed alarm since I was a fall risk...  The night was very uneventful really.  I was put on the monitor every four hours, and each time, I had less and less contractions.  Justin came to visit me for the evening, while Mom went home to shower and do a few things, but Mom stayed the night with me, since Justin had to open up church in the morning.  Besides getting woken up a lot, being uncomfortable, and having to call each time I had to get up, it wasn't a bad hospital stay.  In the morning, I even got a cute little basket full of goodies since it was my birthday.  

What was really strange after all of that was that the contractions didn't end up being the major issue for sending me home.  I guess they had been most worried about the placenta getting disrupted, since that can happen within 24 hours of a trauma like that.  Leah looked fine the whole time, so they let me go home.  What an ordeal!  I went home, took a bath, and slept most of my birthday away.  But at least baby Leah and I are doing fine!  Moral of the story... Go to the hospital if you are pregnant and fall on your belly.  Your shower guests can have a shower without you. ;)