Life with the Morgans: 30 Weeks and Bed Rest

Baby Update: 30 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights from this week:

How far along? 30 weeks (and 2 days!)

Size of the baby? As big as a head of lettuce, 18 inches, 3.2 pounds

Maternity Clothes? Yes! And they are so comfy!

Gender? Sweet baby GIRL!!!!!!!

Movement? Oh yes. Lots of movement! She is very active and I love it!

Sleep? This week has been pretty good. I wake up a couple of times every night but can't complain.

Cravings? Still not able to eat very much at each meal so been eating lots of smaller things. Lots of cereal, PB&J sandwiches and bagels with cream cheese. Definitely getting my carbs in!

Symptoms? Out of breath! She is getting bigger and pushing up on everything so breathing is not quite as easy as it once was.

What I miss? Being able to leave the house! Bed Rest is no fun :-(

Milestones? Making it to 30 weeks!

What I am nervous about? This week we had a big scare. On Wednesday night we went over to a friends house and I noticed that I could not get comfortable while sitting down. I also noticed that my stomach kept getting really hard and then relax. This happened several times but I just assumed that this was Braxton Hicks contractions. I didn't really think much about it. The next day at work this continued. They were happening more frequently and kept happening for several hours. I called my doctor and she told me to pay attention and if they didn't stop to call back. They didn't stop so I called back and she said she wanted me to come in to be checked just in case. I assumed that I would go in, be checked and be on my way. When the NP checked me, she said that my cervix was opened a little bit (sorry it that's TMI but I want to document all of this so I don't forget!). She then said she wanted me to go over to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. I don't think I have ever felt more scared than I did in that moment. They did a quick ultrasound to check the baby to make sure she was ok and she was, thank the Lord. I called Grant and he met me at the hospital and before we knew it, we were checked in, I was putting on a hospital gown and nurses were coming in putting IV's in my arm and explaining what was going on. They told us that we would be staying overnight because I would be given two medications. One was a steroid to help develop her lungs by 2 weeks in case she was born early. The other was magnesium to help her brain because babies born before 32 weeks can sometimes have bleeding in the brain. It all happened so fast and we were very scared. The doctor came in and talked to us and we felt much better. It was a long night in the hospital and neither of us got much sleep. The next morning our doctor came to see us and told us that I was on complete bed rest. I could go to the bathroom, take a shower and fix myself something to eat but other than that, I had to sit or lay down. We were discharged about 4:00 and headed back over to our doctor's office where I had to get another shot of the steroid and a progesterone shot. Once we did that, we headed home. We were exhausted and tried to get some sleep. The next day, I noticed that I started having contractions again. The doctor told us if I had 6 in an hour or if they were 10 minutes apart to call. Well, this happened. I called the nurse on call and she told us to go back to L&D. We were so tired and scared. We got back to the hospital and they got us right in and hooked me up to the monitors. We were there for about 3 hours but got to come home. They told us that what I thought was contractions was actually spasms of my uterus. Who knew. . . Baby girl checked out perfectly so that was the best thing that we could have heard. We came home and rested the rest of the day. Needless to say, it has been a long 3 days. Being on bed rest is definitely not easy. I am so thankful for Grant. He has been absolutely wonderful and is taking good care of us. It's definitely hard being in Texas and not having family or many friends around to help but we are hanging in there! Please pray for us, especially that she will stay put for at least 4-6 more weeks.