28 Weeks and a little too exciting for us ;)

The vast majority of our weekend has been and will be spent like this ^. But all is well, and we will be home soon! 

On Thursday morning I woke up with with what I assumed were UTI symptoms. This being my 5th UTI this pregnancy, I am not naive to its symptoms! I started getting the symptoms on Tuesday night, but I assume it was just our precious girl making room in there. When the symptoms increasingly got worse each day I knew I had to call my OB. So I called Thursday afternoon and they told me to get to the office or to my PCP to be evaluated as UTIs are not something to mess with in pregnancy. They can cause preterm labor quickly. I knew this, but as late in the afternoon as it was I really didn't want to drive to Fayetteville. So we went to the Promed walk-in clinic in VB. The usual doctor we see there wasn't there and we had to see an older doctor. He was very nice and very quick, but clearly didn't cross all his bridges. He took a urine sample and informed me that my urine was very clear and my test was negative for UTI. He said it was probably baby pressing on my bladder. So we went on our merry way. 

On Friday morning I woke up in excruciating pain. My entire pelvis and bladder area were throbbing, burning, and intense pressure felt in the whole area. I called my OB office and they wanted to me to come up to Fayetteville to see them immediately. I informed them I was in extreme pain, couldn't sit without being in intense discomfort, and couldn't void. They told me to be there as soon as I could, as this wasn't worth messing around with. When I got to my doctor's office I gave them a urine sample and waited. The doctor came in and measured by belly and listened to Kendall. My belly is only measuring 29cm now (which is only 2 weeks ahead) and Kendall's heart rate was a healthy 149bpm :) However, my urine was NOT clear and before even having it cultured she could tell I had a nasty UTI. She immediately prescribed me an antibiotic and pyridium for the pain. She told me to go get it filled now, take it, drink a bottle of water, wait an hour and if I haven't been able to void and the pain has not improved any to call her back and she was sending me to L&D to be monitored. After an hour of waiting I was in even more pain, my back was throbbing, my legs were aching and throbbing, and my entire stomach, pelvis, and bladder area were aching and throbbing. I was still unable to void after chugging 23oz of water. So I called her office, my nurse asked how much I had to drink, what time I drank it, had I voided yet, and how was the pain? After answering all her questions she immediately said go to L&D, we can't mess around with the not being able to void and the pain. 

I went on up to L&D where they got me situated on the fetal monitor and blood pressure monitor. At this point they had to use a catheter to obtain a urine sample as I was still unable to void. I was in extreme pain and the nurses were fantastic about getting everything they needed to get done quickly so they could get me comfortable. Once the urine sample was taken I was able to have some pain medicine. They told me I'd probably be knocked out in 15 minutes. They ultrasound tech came and got me to scan my kidneys and bladder. After scanning my both they sent me back to L&D where Josh was finally there waiting for me :) The pain med never knocked me out. It never even touched the pains.
After about 20 minutes of sitting around and waiting the nurse came in and informed me I was having contractions! Which was news to me! haha!! I just knew I was in a lot of pain and couldn't feel the contractions over the other pains. She said we needed to get them stopped before they became full blown. She also said I was pretty dehydrated so they started fluids through IV and gave me a cocktail of pain meds to relax me and my irratible uterus. They also wanted to perform a Fetal Fibronectin test. This test indicates whether or not you are at risk for delivering (preterm) within the next 2 weeks. Then they checked my cervix. After the test and cervix check my contractions finally seemed to slow. My cervix was still long and closed (praise the Lord!) so we assume the fFN test would come back negative. While we were waiting they told Josh to go ahead and get me something to eat, since I hadn't eaten anything all day at this point. 

Around 6:30pm the nurse came in and said, "Well your fFN was positive so you're not going anywhere." She also explained that this test is great when you test negative, but it gives quite a few false positives. Meaning I *could* deliver within 2 weeks, but I also *could* go full term. Unfortunately there's no way to tell 100% so they have to keep me for observation and to give Celestone, steroid shot to help mature K's lungs. The steroid must be given immediately and 24 hours later. 

So they moved us to a room and got us comfortable for the night. At this point my pains were beginning to get better and were more uncomfortable than anything. I was given the steroid shot and one last dose of pain meds before bed. 

When I woke up this morning I could immediately tell I was feeling much better. The pains were no longer there and mostly just dull aches, I was finally able to pee and feel relieved after almost 3 days! 

My contractions started back up this morning, but still not progressing the cervix or anything and they stayed very small, so no real worries there! Kendall is nice and active, happy and healthy and being quite obnoxious on the monitor ;) 

Doctor Smith came in this morning and asked how I was feeling. I told her much better! She said she could tell :) She said K and I were looking great today and as long as we stayed this same way all day we could go home after my last steroid shot tonight. She offered to keep me another night since the shot won't be until around 8pm, but we are so ready to get back to VB and in our own bed tonight! I was taken off continuous fetal monitoring and only monitoring every 4 hours now :) 

I will be on modified bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy, but at least our girl is healthy!! 

Now, I'm starving! Time for lunch :)