Stilllllll Pregnant

So when I had my cerclage removed and we discovered that I was 50% effaced and dilated to a 3+, the OB said that if I should start having contractions 5 minutes apart or less, then I needed to be prepared to go to the hospital. First, though, she said to make sure to lay down, sip some ice water and see if the contractions went away. Then if they didn't go away, she said that I should take a warm shower and see if that did anything. Then, if the contractions had been coming consistently 5 minutes or less apart and I had done everything I could to get them to go away without any success for 2 hours, I needed to head to the hospital immediately. Well, Friday evening that happened. I was contracting every 2 to 3 minutes and I just could not get the contractions to go away or even slow down at all. In fact, they continued to come and they were getting more painful. So, we quickly threw our bags together (we had not packed yet, oops), and called some family members to arrange for some of my siblings to take shifts sitting at our house to watch over Kyrsta while we were at the hospital. Before we knew it, we were out the door and on our way. We quickly got admitted and settled in to be checked by the nurse. After all the paperwork was completed the nurse checked my cervix. I was 60% effaced and dilated to a 5. But, the baby's head was still very high. So, the nurse couldn't determine anything and we had to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And... well, you get the picture. I did a lot of walking of the halls. I was checked several times. I had been on the monitor for hours contracting every 2 to 3 minutes without any variation. But, to make a long story short, even having contracted every 2-3 minutes for 7 hours, my cervix had made almost no progress. The only difference was that I went from being 60% effaced to being 70% effaced. Essentially, from what we can tell, my cervix is stuck at the scar tissue that was left behind by the cerclage. Because the baby's head was still so high up, the doctor didn't want to come in and break my water. The fear is that if the baby's head is so high and the water is broken, it's possible that the umbilical cord could come floating out with the amniotic fluid. I'm not sure what that would mean other than it might make a c-section necessary. And I don't think that risk is worth taking. Not when I could just make myself be patient and hopefully not have added complications. So, in spite of being in the early stages of labor, I got sent home. Since my contractions cannot really get any more regular, we were essentially told to wait until either the contractions are so painful I can't cope with the pain any more or until my water breaks. Ugh. That was not pleasant news. After my water broke with baby K, I still didn't dilate. They had to hook me up to high levels of pitocin for a little longer than 20 hours before my body finally pushed past the scar tissue and got from a 6 to a 7. After that, however, I was pushing and Kyrsta was born within 30 minutes. I am a little bit nervous as to what that previous experience will mean for this labor and delivery. I have continued to contract regularly (I am so miserably uncomfortable) ever since being released from the hospital. I really think my body is doing what it can to try to get past the scar tissue and it will continue to contract and contract and contract until it finally succeeds. But, if I have to wait to go into the hospital until my cervix is that far dilated, I could be ready to push very very quickly after that. I am a bit worried if that happens that I won't even make it to hospital in time to get the epidural. Orrrr... I could just contract and contract and contract for another 2 weeks until it's time to be induced. Orrrr.... (and wouldn't this be nice?) my water could break on its own. Who knows? Anyway, I guess to sum it all up, we have no idea what's going to happen. My regular appointment with my OB is on Tuesday. Hopefully we will have a little more information after that. Until then, I am enduring. My contractions are continuing, although they have slowed down just a little bit. I think my uterus is tired. If that's possible. But to put a happy spin on things, my Dad said to me earlier today, "Brittany, just think of how many calories you're burning with all of these contractions!" Heck, maybe I'll be sporting a six pack after this baby girl is born! :)

Stitches are Out! Let the Waiting Game Begin!

Friday I got the cerclage out. I was very nervous. This cerclage was much more difficult for my doctor to put in than the one that she put in with my last pregnancy. She said because of that, she expected it to be much more difficult to get this one out and that it might be a whole lot more painful. So, I went in to the appointment with some nasty butterflies in my stomach. Then when the nurse led me back to a different room than I normally go to, the nasty little butterflies suddenly became some ferocious pterodactyls. Instead of being the plain old room with the regular table like the last time I had my cerclage out, I had to be in a room with a specialized table, specialized lights, and extra equipment. I nearly turned around and walked back out. I managed to compose myself, however, by reminding myself that I'm a big girl and promising myself a cookie if I behaved. :) Anyway, I was really feeling so blessed when my doctor was able to take a look and see that things were actually looking really good and that it wasn't going to be nearly as complicated a procedure as she had anticipated. Thank goodness the skin had not grown up over the stitches quite as badly as last time. She took a bit to find the area where it needed to be clipped, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. The other good news is that I seem to have a little bit less scar tissue than last time. Having leftover scar tissue can cause something called "cervical dystocia" which means that the cervix has a hard time functioning normally and opening far enough to give birth. In essence, the scar tissue kind of forms a secondary cerclage. If it's really bad and your body can't push past it, it will prevent you from being able to deliver vaginally and you will have to have a c-section. I really really hope that doesn't ever happen to me. After the cerclage was removed, my OB checked the status of my cervix. After the stitches were taken out with Baby K, I was only dilated 1 cm and was 80% effaced. So, we were expecting maybe a 1+ or maybe a 2. Well, I guess we were in for a surprise because our doctor said that I was actually about 50% effaced and dilated to about a 3+ and that she could actually stretch the cervix to a 4 with little trouble. Her guess is that I won't make it to May 1st without having this baby. That is totally earlier than we expected considering we went an additional 2 & 1/2 weeks with my last pregnancy. Sooo... I guess the long and short of it is that we really need to get serious about getting ready for this baby. With all the craziness of my school schedule, work schedule, and involvement at church I have just been too busy to do as much as I should have to get prepared. BUT, the baby isn't here yet, so our goal is to get it mostly done tonight. On our list to do before we go to bed: wash all her clothes, pack our hospital bags, and install the car seat. NOW time for the fun part! Lets hear some guesses! When do you think this baby will come? Take a guess at the baby's birth date, time, and the baby's length and weight.

Maybe Sooner. Maybe.

Well, today I had my 34 week appointment with my Ob/Gyn. The baby is doing great and everything is progressing right on track. The doctor did decide, however, that we should take out the cerclage a little bit earlier than we had originally planned. Initially the plan was to take the stitches out on April 24th, but now we will get them out on the 20th instead. It needs to be moved up for a few reasons:

First, I have been having some painful contractions and some pinching in the cervical area. This could be indicating that my body is trying to start dilating. If I went into labor and started dilating before the stitches came out, the cervix could tear and we could have some real complications from that. (I cringe just typing that statement.)

Second, taking it out Friday is only one day BEFORE the 36 week mark while waiting until the following Tuesday is 4 days AFTER the 36 week mark. It's best to get as close to exactly 36 weeks as possible.

Third, and this is slightly less of a concern, my doctor is also pregnant and due in May. Since she is the one who put in the cerclage, it really would be best if she is the one who takes it out. Since she remembers the difficulty in putting it in, she will know where to look to take it out. So, taking it out a bit earlier should (hopefully) help avoid her going into labor before she gets a chance to take the stitches out.

Although it's possible, I really don't think I'll go into labor right away. After the cerclage came out with Baby K I still went an additional 2 and 1/2 weeks before my water broke. Of course, the amount of scar tissue left from the cerclage will play a huge part in how quickly I go into labor and how quickly my labor progresses. With Baby K, my cervix dilated to a 6 and got stuck. Essentially, the scar tissue from the cerclage formed a sort of "secondary cerclage". This means that my body had to literally force the cervix to open past the scar tissue. With Baby K, it took me 21 hours from the time my water broke until I was finally ready to push. The majority of that time was just trying to get from a 6 to a 7.

Anyway, I guess we'll just have to see how it goes. I think we will have a better feel for the direction things will go once the cerclage comes out. My Doctor has warned me that because the stitches for this cerclage were a lot more difficult to get in, they will probably also be a lot more difficult to get out. Thus, I am bracing myself for an experience that could potentially be extremely painful.

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to getting this doctor's appointment over with. Of course, the excitement of knowing we are getting so close to meeting our second baby girl helps with that.

At this point, reality is finally starting to set in. After our doctor's appointment today, the thought occurred to me, "Holy crap! That's only a week and a half away! Our baby could come as soon as next weekend!!!" Wow. We are so not ready. So, over the next 10 days we will be busy setting up the bassinet, washing clothes, getting the car seat cleaned and installed, packing hospital bags etc... This will be in addition to Malone preparing for a very important meeting with his doctoral committee and my finishing up as much schoolwork as possible for the semester.

I know it's unlikely that she will come right away, but we do have to be prepared for the possibility just in case. I guess to sum it all up, we can just say this:

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!