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My daughter Bailey Elizabeth was born November 27, 1994, two weeks
early, after spending 9 1/2 weeks on bedrest. I "went to bed" at 28
1/2 weeks and took the drug brethine, or terbuteline, orally for a
week. This slowed the progression of labor although it did not stop
it completely so my OB put me on a subcutaneous infusion pump which
delivered a steady stream of an injectable form of the drug through an
i.v.-like catheter in my thigh. Twice a day, for an hour each time, I
had to monitor my contractions with a device I stapped onto my belly.
Then, I plugged the device into a receiving unit attached to our
telephone and downloaded the information to a nurse at the Tokos'
company offices in Dallas, Texas, who would then read my contraction
strip and call me back. If my contractions were under my "baseline"
allowable contractions of 6 per hour, then everything was fine. If,
however, my contractions were above six per hour then I had to drink a
glass of water, lie on my left side, and give myself a "bolus" or
booster shot of medication, after which I had to monitor again.
I was in the hospital three times prior to Bailey arriving, once
riding by ambulance to a hospital with a level III NICU a half an hour
from my home at 1:00 a.m. in the morning because my home-town hospital
was not equipped to handle a preemie.
After my ankles had swollen to elephentine proportions, my blood
pressure had skyrocketed, and I had started to spot, my OB decided to
induce labor two weeks early by breaking my waters and then
administering Pitocin. After those Pitocin induced contractions hit
me like a tone of bricks, I begged for an epidural. I was not strong,
however, because of the bedrest and five hours later, when I began to
push, I passed out because I held my breath for too long.
After three and half hours of pushing, my lovely Bailey Elizabeth
arrived.
Twenty-seven months later, Bailey's sister, Madison Paige, decided to
make her entrance into the world three weeks early. I had no problems
of any sort during this second pregnancy and had only gained 30
pounds, compared to 60 with the first. As I got ready for work that
morning, I felt some "gassy" feeling cramps but they did not seem
regular and so I ignored them. I took Bailey to daycare and went to
work.
About 9:00 a.m., with the mild cramps not having dissapated, I called
my doctor's office and spoke with the nurse. I described my symptoms
to her and she said it "sounded like nothing" but had me come in to be
checked "just to be safe." I cleaned up a few last minute things at
work, told two people where I was going, and drove myself to the
office. About 10:15 a.m., I was examined by the Nurse Midwife, whose
first words were "OH MY!!!" She said I was dialated to 6cm and to
head to the hospital. I drove myself the three blocks to the hospital
and was quickly admitted.
The nurse checked me again at 10:40 - I was at 8cm. At 11:00 a.m., I
was at 9+cm, with my waters still intact. My husband (we live in
another town from where I work and decided to have the second baby)
picked up Bailey from daycare and finally arrived at my hospital room
at 12:40 p.m. The doctor broke my waters at 12:45, the hard
contractions started a few minutes later, and Madison Paige was born
at 1:08 p.m.!!! And, at no time did I have any pain medication,
except that when the hard contractions started, I did ask for some
(the contractions had not hurt at all until then). But by then, it
was WAY too late!
As you can see, the births of my two daughters could not be more
opposite. For those with preterm labor - you can go on to have a
normal birth the second time.
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