Sunday 1st August: The good, the bad and the ugly

I’ll start with the ‘Good’.

Sunday was the day for my pre-baby party which my friends Jen and Heather very very kindly organized.  I was reluctant at first – being British baby showers don’t really fall within my radar too much, particularly for a second baby.  But I thought hey, I’m never going to get this opportunity again and if nothing else its a darn fine reason to spend some quality time with my girlfriends. So I agreed, under the following conditions:

1) It is not to be called a baby shower – we settled on Fashionista pre-baby party

2) Sparkly shoes required

3) Absolutely no games

4) No gifts

Jen negotiated a hard bargain and agreed to give me 3 out of 4 of the above. I lost out on no gifts, but she did agree to my condition that gifts if brought to the party would not be opened until after Noddy is born. I’m afraid I’m just too superstitious.

We had a lovely afternoon which consisted of Champagne and nibbles at Jen’s house before we headed out to lunch at Bin on the Lake – a beautiful lakeside restaurant in Kirkland.  The weather cooperated nicely so we had a great table overlooking the marina and the food, the service and the generosity of the staff was amazing – including a complimentary bottle of Prosecco and a mocktail for me. Naturally I also enjoyed some the Prosecco – I mean I’m pregnant not a glutton for punishment!  And we all looked so gorgeous in our fabulous dresses and beautiful shoes. Of course, I took this an opportunity to give my wedding shoes a much needed outing – and it felt so good.

A huge thank you to Jen and Heather for organizing – all the little touches such as the table decorations and pre-addressed thank you cards are so appreciated. And thank you to everyone else for coming and for giving up precious weekend family time (although one reason whey I love you all is because I know you’re all only too willing to give the Dads some quality time with the kids!). And of course, thanks in advance for the gifts – official thank yous will come once Noddy has arrived safely. 

So moving on to the ‘Bad’.

Whether it was the champagne, the excitement or just pure coincidence by 10pm on Sunday night Ben and I were making our way to Labor and Delivery – complete with my pre-packed hospital bag.

I started contracting about 7pm but they weren’t too frequent so I put it down to dehydration. Hence I  downed a few glasses of water, lay on my side and rested. By 8:30 they were coming approx. every 5 minutes lasting approximately 30 seconds.  Ben and I agreed to give it another hour before calling the doctor which would inevitably lead to a subsequent call to Allison asking her to come and stay with Jemima.  By 9:30 there was no improvement and they were getting longer, lasting approx. 45 secs.  So we made the call – and thankfully it was my OB who was on call. Knowing my history she immediately wanted me to come in – she didn’t want to run the risk of me contracting against the cerclage without being closely monitored.

By the time we got to hospital I was contracting every 3 mins, and they were increasing in intensity, if not length. We were all beginning to think this was the real thing . And had we not acted when we did, I believe that I probably would have ended up going into labor properly.

But thanks to the joys of modern medicine contractions were stopped after a number of heavy doses of Terbutaline. For those of you that have every had this drug  it’s not pleasant causing hot flashes, racing heart and the shakes. However, it is a far better alternative to Magnesium Sulphate, the side effects of which are even worse. So having been poked in the arm numerous times, poked and examined in places you don’t really want to be poked and given a shot in the bum (steroids to speed up the development of Noddy’s lungs – now that’s a shot that hurts!) and put on an IV I was finally admitted and Ben released to come home just before 3am, safe in the knowledge that labor, although not off the table, was not immediately imminent.

By yesterday afternoon, following 2 further doses of Terbutaline contractions had almost stopped and a check up from the specialist showed there had been some change in the my cervix and while she believes labor is brewing, it’s not imminent and we’re better off leaving the cerclage in for as long as we possibly can.  I was finally discharged at 5pm, just in time for us all to go and pick up Jemima.

So there are the facts. My thoughts on the above, and what I think we’ll happen. I predict we have two more trips to hospital still to do. The first will be at the early signs of labor which they’ll stop as they did above and then remove the cerclage. The second trip will not be far behind when I go into labor proper and we actually have a baby.  When all this will happen is anyone’s guess but I highly doubt I’ll last until my due date of 10 September, in fact most of the time I doubt I’ll last until 24th August which is when the cerclage is scheduled to be removed.

But in the meantime, at least I’m home, back on modified bed rest.  Yes I’m still contracting regularly, particularly in the evening but they’ve increased the dose of the drugs I’m on and unless the contractions become significantly painful (i.e I need to stop what I’m doing kind of pain) and last more than 60 secs they are not concerned. Instead I’m to look out for any cramping (the true sign of early labor which was news to me) and of course bleeding, the bloody show and my waters breaking.   I’m sincerely hoping that these when they happen will conveniently take place between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday when Jemima is at day care and we can avoid dragging anyone away from their beds in the middle of night, or interrupting their weekends.  Thank you again to everyone who’s offered to be on call day or night, and apologies in advance for the hassle I’m sure we’re likely to cause.