The Day Butterbean Scared Me
On March 8, 2002 I took my 4-year-old daughter, Crystina, to the pediatrician because she had been complaining of her ear hurting. Everything was fine at the peds office. Crystina was diagnosed with an ear infection and given an antibiotic. We sat in the waiting room to wait for my mother to pick us up. I began to cramp severely. I thought that maybe it was because I had been sitting to long so I decided to get up and walk around. While walking I felt something "wet" in the crotch of my pants. I checked and it was a little spotting of blood. I walked to my OB's office (which is almost next to the peds office) and told the receptionist I was a 3 month OB patient, I was cramping and spotting. She told me to sign in and have a seat that it would be about 30-mins because the OB doing emergencies was doing a C-Section. I sat down for a few minutes, then decided to call my husband, Chris, and let him know what was going on. I told him that I would call him if things got severe. I sat down for a few more minutes, then remembered that my mom was coming back to get me. So, I told the receptionist that I was walking back to the peds office to check for my mother and would be right back. Crystina and I began walking outside and I saw my mom. I yelled to her, but she couldn't hear me. That was when I felt a liquid rush down my legs. I looked down and saw that it was blood. I yelled to my mother and this time she heard me. I yelled, in tears, that I was bleeding. Then I yelled at Crystina to go to my mother. I was in tears, Crystina was in tears, and my mother was running across the parking lot to get to Crystina. I turned to go back to the OB office and a pharmaceutical representative grabbed me and carried me to the office. When the receptionist saw me again, she told them to carry me straight back. They took me into one room, got my clothes off, and started getting me ready for an exam. The doctor came in and told them to move me to an ultrasound room. He did an exam on me and said that my cervix was closed, long and thick and my uterus was measuring at 12 weeks. He did an ultrasound and the baby was healthy and moving and had a strong heartbeat. But, because I was cramping and bleeding they wanted to observe me. So, I was admitted to the Women’s Suite in the hospital. (Chris had gotten there by then. His boss and a co-worker made him come. I never had the chance to call him after my first call to him).
I went into the hospital and they started my IV (after 5 tries, I’m a very hard stick). I had been lying there for a while when I felt a gush between my legs. The nurse came in and ran a test on it. She said it was some of my amniotic fluid. She walked out, and we sat in my room for like 15 minutes before my husband went out and found the nurse. She hadn’t even called the doctor yet. I was totally upset. I felt like it was all over. I had even called my priest to be there for when I completely lost the baby. The doctor finally came to my room. He verified that I had lost some of my amniotic fluid. He then did another ultrasound. The baby was fine! It was doing somersaults and jumping. Its heartbeat was normal, and it had plenty of fluid surrounding it. I couldn’t believe it! My baby was healthy! At 4:00 pm, they began drawing blood every 12 hours for a blood count. At 8:00 pm the fetal heartbeat was in the 140’s. At midnight, the heartbeat was in the 120’s. I began getting scared because the heartbeat was dropping. But at 4:00 am, the heartbeat was back up in the 150’s. The rest of my hospital stay was uneventful. The baby’s heartbeat stayed normal. My blood pressure stayed normal (100 or below / 70 or below; that’s normal for me). My temp was normal. My blood work was normal (they were checking for an infection because of the leaking fluid). The doctor did another ultrasound before I left the hospital. The baby was healthy and bouncing around.
I have succeeded in baffling my entire OB office. None of them have a clue of what is going on. I am on 100% bed rest (no lifting, no driving, no sex, no standing for long periods of time, and can only be at the computer for an hour at a time). My next appointment is March 12th (2002) @ 10:40 am. |
