I had a crazy day yesterday.
It started when I called the home health company nurse. J had me freaked out. I just had the lower abdominal and lower back crampiness, which he said is a sign of preterm labor. That is when they had me put myself on the monitor, and I posted the results of that yesterday. They had me bolus myself with brethine, then I got a normal scheduled bolus an hour later. Then it was back on the monitor for another hour.
Instead of the nurse calling me to say she got the strip, she called to say that they were experiencing heavy storms in Georgia, where she is located, and that she didn't get it. So she made me call my doctor, and it just happened to be the only doctor in the practice I have not met yet. I was sure he was going to tell me to go straight to OB Mecca, but he didn't. I told him I would rather have an aneurysm than go back to the hospital...any hospital. So he allowed me to stay home with the agreement that if anything changed or just felt different, I would go or at least call him back.
I settled in for the night, but somewhere along the way, I noticed that Zachary hadn't moved in quite some time. My very active baby was very still. So I got worried, and I called my friends at L&D, who told me to drink something sugary and/or caffeinated. I sent J up the road to get me 2 bottles of frappucino, since everything I had in the house was sugar-free. And I chugged them, laid down, and tried to count kicks. The home health nurse finally called back to tell me they were up and running, and that my last strip had 17 contractions on it...better, but still too much activity. I told her what was going on with the baby, and she gave me some more pointers, and said she would call back to check.
By the time she did, I had felt him move. Twice. In 3 hours. So she tells me I need to go on in to have it checked out, and she calls my doctor and L&D for me. Off I went.
I get there, and they have me pee in the cup an gown up, like always, and put him on the monitor. There it was...the little heartbeat that can make everything better. And then he started moving. Then and there. Thanks, Zachary! I mean, I was so relieved he was okay. I had been so scared that I had even called my RT colleagues to tell them that if they got a call for a 26 weeker, it was my baby. That is how scared I was. But why couldn't he do that at home? Little stinker!
So they watch me and the baby both for a while. And,well, it's me. I was having contractions every 3 minutes. Some resident buddies of mine were down there, and came into my room to chit-chat and keep me company. They stared at the strip of contractions like I was some sort of medical puzzle to solve, even though they weren't my doctors. Not that I don't think very highly of them, but I have a tough time working with anyone who has seen all of my business. That, and I am high risk and need very qualified OB's and not family practice residents. Everyone laughs at my issues with them seeing me naked, but have you ever worked a code at 3 AM with someone who has had their hand in your hoo-ha???
So I laid there. For 2 hours. Amusing myself by listening to the sounds from the next bed over in triage. The OB nurses had told me there are women out there who fake labor/ contractions. The idea was so bizarre to me. Who would do that, and how??? My friend C said they bare down like having a bowel movement, and it makes the toco jump, but you can tell between it and a real contraction, that real contractions are like rounded waves (she showed me mine on my strip as evidence) and that the fake kind were spiky and went straight up and down. As someone who has contracted uncontrollably through 2 pregnancies, this seems so bizarre to me, but apparently women get sick of being preggers and do this to try to get admitted. After hours, the doctor declares failure to progress, and they either get pitocin or a c-section. Well...The woman in the next bed over was a faker. 37 weeks pregnant and wanting to have her baby. She was asleep, and I could hear her snoring the entire time, until her nurse went behind the curtain to tell her that she was not in true labor and would be going home. Then the tears started, and the fake grunting and heavy breathing. I saw her husband leave the room, and when she was in there by herself, the noises stopped and I heard snoring again. As soon as the husband was back, she started up the act again. Unreal!
So my nurse comes in after she has talked to my doctor, and since it is me, they gave me the choice: stay and have them try to stop the contractions or, so long as I hadn't dilated, go home and call/ come back if anything changed. I knew if I stayed and the contractions stopped, they would just start up again sooner or later. Only a handful of them actually hurt, so I said I wanted to go home. The faker heard. And wanted to know why she didn't have the same choice, because she wanted to stay.
And that is how I was able to sleep in my own bed last night. But I left the hospital stumped. The faker was taken to her room while I was signing my discharge papers, after having thrown a tantrum. And it drove me crazy. She'll probably have her baby this weekend, and I hope it's okay. People just don't realize...
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