30 Weeks/Contractions

I am now over 30 weeks and can hardly believe it! I also can't believe we are only 4 weeks away from where we were last time when my water broke with Grant. We are hoping and praying that this little guy stays in there longer this time, but with the way things are going now, we aren't sure what's going to happen!

I have been having the Braxton Hicks contractions more strongly now like I did with Grant. The doctor told me that if I have more than 6 an hour, I need to lie down, drink lots of water, and see if they slow down. If they don't, then I need to call. I have had many days where I will have 4-5 an hour, but never over 6. I drink as much water as I can all day. But the contractions are there on and off most of the days.

Yesterday, I started having them and they seemed pretty frequent, so I started noting the time of each one. I ended up having 7 in an hour. I drank lots of water, and they slowed down, but came back a few hours later. I then had 5 in just a half hour, so we decided it was time to call the doctor. He told us to make our way to Good Samaritan Hospital and check in at triage to see if we could slow them down. This scared us so much. We just figured we would go in the doctor's office to get checked, but when he said to go to the hospital, it became much more serious to us. We quickly got a babysitter for Grant (It was hard to get a hold of anyone at first, so thanks, Uncle Matt!) and made our way up there around 6pm last night. They immediately hooked me up to the heartbeat and contraction monitors and started me on an IV to keep me hydrated. The first bag of fluids went in very quickly and it seemed to work pretty well--I only had a few contractions that first hour. They also checked to see if I was dilated, and luckily I was not, so that was great news. Then they slowed down the drip, and the contractions picked back up pretty heavily. I had about 8 in the next hour ranging from 3-9 minutes apart. So the doctor decided we needed to do something more than just the IV. They gave me a shot of brethine--which is one of the same shots I received multiple times in the hospital after my water broke with Grant to slow down the labor. It's not a pleasant shot (although I guess no shot really is)--it really burns going in and makes your heart race and you feel shaky. But it works wonders as a uterine relaxer. The contractions stopped pretty much immediately. They monitored me for another couple hours, and I only had a few, so they said we could finally go home.

The doctor said we will see what happens after this. If they continue to become this frequent again, we may try this approach again, but there are other options and medicines that we may have to try if it continues. Bedrest is also a strong possibility. I have to go for my appointments weekly now. Hopefully, now that we are more aware and cautious of what's going on, we can keep the little guy in there until he is full term. We will do anything we need to do. It may be hard--especially with having Grant, but we are so lucky to have so many close family members who can help at any time. My sister Susanne has suggested that we name this little guy Braxton--since we are having trouble deciding on a name, and it seems to suit him. Not sure that will happen, but we can call him that for now until we pick one! Any prayers would be appreciated!