Magnesium Sulfate, You are Not a Friend of Mine.

After a scary 3-night hospital stay, I am home and on strict bed rest. Today I am 31 weeks pregnant, and I seriously thought we would be delivering this little boy a couple of days ago. Here is a rundown of our experience:

Wednesday afternoon- Went to my routine high-risk doctor appt. I had been feeling pretty tired all day but nothing major. Everything took a turn for the worse when I was told at the appt that I was 90% effaced and 2 cm dilated. I was told to check into the hospital and await results of my fetal fibronectin enzyme test. I had taken 3 fetal fibronectin tests in the last 6 weeks, and all had come back negative...indicating no sign of impending labor/delivery. While I was hooked up to a contraction/fetal heartbeat monitor, I was informed that this test came back positive.

Wednesday evening- I was given the choice whether or not to get a magnesium sulfate treatment (via iv infusion). My doctor that was on-call informed me that there wasn't a lot of research indicating that this treatment stopped labor contractions, but there was a chance that it could protect preemies against cerebral palsy. He explained that it makes you feel like you have the flu and that the choice was ultimately up to me---but that my high-risk doctor preferred for me to take it. We discussed how if I could at least get an extra 48 hours out of this pregnancy, then I would be able to get the 2 steroid shots to boost the baby's lungs before delivery. On a final note, my doctor disclosed that magnesium sulfate can be dangerous (for the mother) if not monitored during administration. Things like cardiac arrest were one of the "rare" things that could happen. Due to the fact that it could possibly protect this little guy's brain I opted to take it.

Wednesday night - I was given my first steroid shot for baby's lungs. An IV was started, and the magnesium bag was in place. From then on, everything went downhill. For some reason, I had a severe reaction to the treatment. At first I noticed hot flashes and thought..."Well, this is crummy, but I can deal with this." About 20 minutes into it, something felt terribly wrong. I started feeling pressure in my chest and could hardly breathe. Machines started beeping, and I heard my nurse on the phone with my doctor saying that my blood pressure had plummeted to 50 over 20. An oxygen mask was placed over my face as two more nurses ran in. Before I knew it, I was being given an EKG test which measures for problems with electrical activity of the heart. The electrodes had trouble sticking to my skin because I had broken out in a sweat. The magnesium sulfate treatment was stopped and an extra IV line was set up to flush fluids into my system. It may have been one of the scariest moments of my life. They called it magnesium intolerance.

For the rest of the night, my blood pressure never rose above 69 over 40. Contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart for hours on end. They were painful. I was given morphine to dull the pain and potentially slow down the contractions. I got about an hour of sleep that night and just knew this baby was coming.

Thursday morning - Contractions had slowed to about 7 minutes apart. Hallelujah. Both my high-risk doctor and OB were confused. The high-risk doctor ordered an amniocentesis to see if perhaps there was an amniotic fluid infection that was maybe causing the contractions. He told me before the amnio that if an infection was found they would have to induce labor that same day to get the baby out. And because nothing seemed to be routine with this pregnancy, the amnio was very difficult too. Thankfully, the results showed no infection.

Thursday evening - I got my final dose of steroids to boost the baby's lungs. Contractions had become irregular and spaced out.

Friday - By Friday evening, I had reached the 48-hour mark after initial dose of steroids. We were now at a point where the steroids had time to work if the baby were to be delivered. Of course a baby born this early still had months ahead in NICU.

Saturday - Saturday showed no sign of regular contractions. I had not dilated any further. I was released to go home. As much as I wanted to sleep in my own bed, I was nervous about being away from the hospital staff who could intervene if something changed.

Our next milestone is the 32-week mark. Of course this pregnancy could still go full-term, but the chances of that happening are not great. Thankfully, my parents are here and able to help with Ella or take me to the hospital if John is at work.

*We are so thankful for all the prayers lifted up for this child and all the people that reached out to us when we were most vulnerable. In my heart, I just know it is only an act of God that miraculously changed the course of this weekend.