6 in an Hour

If you've been pregnant before you may have heard the rule of thumb:  If you have 6 contractions in an hour, call the doctor or head to the hospital.

Well, Tuesday afternoon at about 4:00 I started having contractions 4 to 10 minutes apart.  When Devin got home at 6:00, they hadn't stopped.  I didn't want to find someone to watch the kids are drive all the way to the hospital because I figured they would just stop.  But, by 8:00 they were still coming.  So, Devin and I got ready and headed to the hospital.  

We got there about 9:00 pm and they admitted me because I had a fever, aches and chills like the flu, my heart was racing, and of course, the contractions.  They hooked me up to the following:  fetal monitor, blood pressure, finger oxygen, and IV.  So many cords!  I could barely move and could not get comfortable.  Plus, it was a total pain when I had to pee.  I didn't have a single attachment when I was delivering Henry and it was so much better!  It was a reminder to me that I want to have a natural birth again.

The nurses said the flu can cause contractions and that I was really dehydrated and that can cause them too.  They did an ultrasound to see if the contractions were thinning out my cervix.  It looked like my cervix was still "nice and thick" but I was dilated to a 1.  They weren't worried about that though.

They wanted to keep me for a while so they could rehydrate me, monitor my heart rate, fever, the contractions, and the baby's heart rate.  The contractions and fever caused his little heart to race too.  It was almost 170 instead of 130 where it should have been.

Devin and I eventually fell asleep and around 1:00 am, the nurse came in and said my contractions slowed down to about 1 every 10 minutes, my fever was down, and my heart and the baby's heart were slowed to a normal rate so I could go home.

Devin pretty much despised having to sit there.  He kept saying, "You can just drink some water or Gatorade at home.  You don't need an IV.  If we could get you home where you could rest and get hydrated, you would be fine."  I don't consider myself much of a worrier when it comes to health and injuries for myself and even my kids, but I guess I've always been generally healthy and not really had anything to worry about.  But, I was worried about my little baby and I was glad we were able to make sure he was fine.  Even if it did mean spending half the night at the hospital.

Lesson learned:  Drink plenty of water, especially when you are pregnant!
And, don't get the flu!

So, that was Tuesday night.  I slept most of Wednesday and I was so glad Devin stayed home to take care of the boys.  He dealt with their every need, plus mine too so I could rest.  He made me yummy chicken noodle soup for dinner!

Thursday morning I had to be at the lab at 7:30 to do my 3 hour glucose tolerance test.  I took my 1 hour test about 2 weeks ago and my blood sugar was at 168 and the "healthy cutoff" is 130.  So, the doc ordered the 3 hour.  So, there I was, listing to conference on my iPod a few minutes after drinking the nasty ultra sugar concoction when I started to get light headed.  I went up to tell the nurse at the counter and I must not have looked good because she let me come right back and tried to find a place for me to lie down.  She said, "Try to keep it down or you'll have to do it again."  I wanted to say curse words, but held them in.  I just couldn't bear the thought of doing this again.  Other than that comment, she was really nice.

Well, I wasn't able to "keep it down" so they let me lie down while they called my doctor.  The doc wanted me to come in to "discuss options."  I already had an appointment to follow up for my time in triage so back to the doc I went.  I was still having flu symptoms, but no contractions, so I wasn't worried, I just felt terrible.

At the doctor, she said my options were to try and retake the test or just treat me like I have gestational diabetes.  I told her I wanted to do that.  Then she told me I would have to test my blood sugar 4 times a day.  Then I wanted to change my mind.  But, she said if my numbers were good for about a week, we wouldn't worry about it.  She said the glucose test at the lab could have just been a bad test.

She advised me to eat lean proteins like chicken, turkey, and some pork.  To eat lots of veggies, but she mentioned that carrots and corn have lots of sugar--not like candy, but for veggies they were some of the highest.  And, for everything made with white flour, eat the wheat flour version of it.  I typically eat like that, so this shouldn't be too hard.  The only thing is I eat a lot of fruit too, which has more sugar than veggies.  Oh, and my occasional ice cream dessert.  I googled "gestational diabetes" and I don't fall under any of the risk factors, nor do I have any of the symptoms...

Causes

Risk factors for gestational diabetes include:

• African or Hispanic ancestry
• Being older than 25 when pregnant
• Family history of diabetes
• Giving birth to a previous baby that weighed more than 9 pounds
• Obesity
• Recurrent infections
• Unexplained miscarriage or death of a newborn

Symptoms

Usually there are no symptoms, or the symptoms are mild and not life threatening to the pregnant woman. Often, the blood sugar (glucose) level returns to normal after delivery.

Symptoms may include:

• Blurred vision
• Fatigue
• Frequent infections, including those of the bladder, vagina, and skin
• Increased thirst
• Increased urination
• Nausea and vomiting
• Weight loss in spite of increased appetite

So, now it's Friday and I feel much better.  No more fever or chills and only a few contractions, like before I was sick.  I'm supposed to test before breakfast, which is considered my fasting test and that should be 95 or lower.  Then, 2 hours after every meal I have to test again and those should be 120 or lower.  My blood sugar last night was 124 (hopefully still coming down from the glucose lab test) and this morning my fasting was 74 and after breakfast it was 91.  Yes, that's only three tests, but so far, so good!

I want to do everything I can to stay healthy for my whole life.  I don't like the thought of depending on medications to live or the thought of having a chronic illness, like diabetes.  (If I do have gestational diabetes, at least it goes away after pregnancy.) Devin said he doesn't want diabetes just because he doesn't want to have to test his blood sugar all the time.