Monday, December 18, 2006

Date Night

Saturday night was supposed to be our date night (at home). Notice I said ‘supposed to be’, unless you count an evening in the hospital, it was definitely not what we had in mind. Since Mike’s been working so hard all week and all weekend, we were looking forward to a night of take out and watching X Men 3. Well we got our Thai take out, but then headed over to Labor & Delivery.

I've had a 'tummy ache' for the past week, just a dull ache across my lower belly. After researching online on what could be causing it, I came across several mentions of menstrual-like cramping which is an indication of preterm labor. That made me rethink my tummy ache might be dull cramping. Plus, my need to pee has increased as well (I also feel the babies roll directly on my bladder which really makes me want to go!). That could be an indication of a urinary tract infection (UTI). However when I go, it's barely a trickle. Anyway, I read several women post that something didn't feel right before they gave birth. They strongly suggested to readers not to wait and get it checked out.

So to be safe than sorry, we went in. I didn't care for the resident on duty. It didn't seem like she was comprehending what I was saying. She kept insisting the ache was my uterus tightening (contractions), but I kept telling her that my stomach wasn't tightening. She did a speculum exam for Fetal fibronectin (fFN)* which was very very painful.

She was also trying to visually see my cerclage, to which Mike and I both shouted at her that it was too far up for her to see (I was in a lot of pain at this time, so was Mike since I was clenching his hand). She then wanted to manually check my cervix which we shot down. They ended up doing a vaginal ultrasound to get the length and it hadn't changed since my last checkup which was good.

Anyway, waiting for the fFN results took forever. Instead of waiting any longer (it was already past midnight), we decided to call in the morning. I got a shot of terbutaline again which didn't help the aching and the contractions I was having were pretty mild to begin with. The great news is the fFN is negative, so I've got a 2 week pass (hopefully). My last 2 peris won't do the fFN unless my cervix shows signs of changing, but I'm glad they did it anyway. So that was our romantic date!

Earlier that day, Mike and I exchanged our Christmas gift (sort of). We hired a cleaning service to clean the house. It was my gift because they got into all the nooks and cranny and it was Mike’s gift because he didn’t have to do it himself! All in all, I think both of us really liked our present.

Btw, Mike totally came through on Friday night. Remember how bummed I was at missing the dessert bar at his company’s Christmas party? Well, here’s a photo of what he brought home (minus what I had already eaten). There was tiramisu, berry pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, gingerbread cookie, some kind of nutty/chocolate/caramel/toffee concoction (my favorite) and a bunch of others. Apparently, he was helped by a couple of co-workers and a really nice employee from the hotel. Me and kids were very happy that night!



*Fetal fibronectin (fFN) is a protein produced during pregnancy and functions as a biological glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. During the first trimester and for about half of the second trimester, fFN is normally present in the cervico-vaginal secretions. In most pregnancies, after 22 weeks, this protein is no longer detected until the end of the last trimester (one to three weeks before labor).

The presence of fFN in the cervico-vaginal secretions of pregnant women during weeks 24 - 34 indicates an increased risk of preterm delivery. However, if the fFN is negative then it’s a much more reliable predictor, indicating that the pregnancy is likely to continue for at least another two weeks.

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