Hospital Stay

I think I'll write a quick post, as Nate and I are leaving for the weekend, to describe our hospital stay. For those who already know about it, thanks for your prayers and support. We will reply to your emails, calls, etc. as soon as we get back from our 'baby-moon'!

Last night Nate and I went to my midwife for a normal, biweekly appointment. I told her that the baby hadn't been moving very much over the past few days. So, she did what the Germans call a 'CTG'. I have no idea what it is in English, but it involved two paddles on my stomach and a print-out that was supposed to have high mountains and low valleys, but in my case just had some nearly flat lines. I think this was supposed to mean that the baby wasn't moving much, or something to do with the heart. At any rate, the midwife asked me how much water I was drinking each day. I said "about a liter" and she choked and told me to head to a hospital for an ultrasound. I guess a liter isn't enough (yes, I have now learned that 2 to 3 liters is more appropriate for a pregnant woman).

We borrowed a car from a friend and took off for our chosen hospital. After check-in, we had another CTG done, and then an ultrasound. By this point the baby had started moving again (perhaps the sugary crackers I was eating, or the supper that I finally got to eat around 8pm, or maybe the 3/4 of a liter of water they forced me to chug helped with that) so the CTG was fine. But, when the doctor did the ultrasound, she said that my amniotic fluid was low. Measuring at 6cm. I guess that 8cm is normal, 4 to 8 is marginal, and below 4 is terrible.

I was instructed to stay the night at the hospital, as the head doctor would be in in the morning to take a look at me. This is when they told us that they would possibly be inducing me on Friday if the amniotic fluid was indeed too low. Panic!

Nate went home for the night and spent a majority of the evening packing bags just in case we had to stay at the hospital for the birth. I tried, quite fitfully, to sleep, as I was instructed to drink another full liter of water before bed. I was heading to the toilet nearly every 15 minutes.

Nate came back around 8:30 in the morning and we waited until 11:30 for a call from the doctor. He took us in for another ultrasound, but this time the results were quite different. He measured 10cm of amniotic fluid, and said that everything looked fine with the placenta. WHEW!!!!! He did, however, say that we should come back in a week for another ultrasound... just to be safe.

We asked him if it was okay for us to travel (as we are planning to stay in a castle for our last romantic trip with just the two of us!) and he cleared it. Just reminded me to drink, drink, drink and rest. So, we are frantically packing, getting ready to leave soon for our trip.

That is the down and dirty of what was one of the longer days/night in my life. For all of those times I have complained about pregnancy 'issues' I should have been swallowing another jug of water. I now know better.

Note: I have since learned that a CTG is just a fetal heart monitor. Measuring the baby's stress.