Anyone who reads our blog probably knows that we had a close call last week with the baby. last Wednesday I was planning on playing my last softball game. I typically play outfield but was getting too out of breath to run that much so I moved to 2nd base. At the beginning of the second inning a grounder was hit to me. I was down and ready to pick it up when it bounced up right into my stomach. It hurt soooo bad but at least I thought quick enough throw the girl out at 1st. I then cluched my stomach and tried hard (with no success) not to cry. I was freaked out! My stomach hurt so bad and I had just seen a pregnant woman in the ICU with a placental hematoma. Luckily Doctor Tom was there and reasured me that it would take a lot more than that to hurt the baby, I would just have a bruise for a while. Below is a picture of my belly about 2 hours after the accident. I should have taken it sooner when it looked worse. You can't really see it but there is a deeper bruise around the red spot.
You know when people poke at a bruise and it hurts, well it hurts worse when someone is poking at it from the inside. I know it's weird.
I called the OB the next day just to see if I should come in and get checked out and I was secretely wishing they would do another ultrasound so I could see my cute little baby one more time and ensure we are in fact having a girl. The doc told me to go to Timp hosp to have a 20 min. non-stress test done. That sounded fine to me, I would go there before my residency class and everything would work out fine. Boy was I wrong! They hooked me up to the monitors and recognized that I was having contractions 1 min. apart! At first I didn't feel it but then they got stronger and stronger; that is when the nurse gave me Tributiline shots to stop the contractions. They think I was dehydrated and the hit got things working. Regardless of the cause I have learned an important lesson: drink more water and don't be dumb. The nursing staff at Timp were great. they fed and watered me and Chris. A cute old volunteer came in the room and said "I heard there was a dad that would love a diet coke". How cute is that!
We are now registered at the hospital, know where to go and what to do. So this was actually a good experience besides missing work and almost bringing home a baby.
Now for updates...I am still having cramps here and there especially when I work on my feet for 12.5 hours. The hospital staff has been very good about absolutely not letting me lift even when I try and I have been able to frequently sit down and rest. Because of the excellent crushed ice at the hospital I am also drinking a lot of water. My manager said that if at any time I start to feel contractions or just don't feel good to just go home.
I am taking my nursing boards next week (wish me luck) and I finish my residency training this week, then I will start training for my real RN job. I will work in the ICU cluster unless by some miracle they will hire me PART-TIME in the ER. My ICU manager says that I can train until I am ready to go on maternity leave then I can come back whenever I am ready and get started working. He is letting me work part-time and I get to choose the days I work. If I need a day off I just tell him, no more trying to get someone to trade shifts and I wont have to work holidays either. Draw back is that I will have to start working nights until one of the three ICU nurses leaves and I can take her spot, which sounds like could be very soon. Nights aren't that bad though because I will just need my dad to baby sit for 4 hours instead of 12.
Thank you everyone for your concerns. Let's hope this kid keeps cookin' in the "black pot" for at least another month. NO MORE JUNE BABIES!!! between the Carn family and my family there are 13 birthdays. I'll post the cute ultra sound at a later time.
