Bed Rest

3am, Tuesday morning. I awake with an aching back. I've been having hip pain mostly, when I sleep. It's a lot of pressure on my hip, sleeping on the same side hour after hour. But this was my lower back, from below my waist to the crack of my ass, from side to side. It came with a slightly painful tension across my abdomen just below my belly button. The pain subsided and I tried to settle back down. But no sooner had I gotten comfortable, than the pain returned; exactly the same as what woke me.

Thinking it was just stiff muscles, I pushed myself up, went to the bathroom, and paced a bit. The walking helped ease the pain, but I didn't want to lay back down. So, I sat in the recliner Josh pulled out into the bedroom for me, put the floor fan on me cause I was so hot, and tried to get comfortable. Again, the pain returned, but now it was worse. I was half sitting up, my legs elevated. It just wasn't really comfortable.

About an hour later, 4am, when it hadn't subsided, and not understanding what I was feeling, I woke Josh to ask what I should do. I wasn't sure I could get back to sleep in time to get to woke in 4 hours. He told me to call a nurse and see what it might be. I had just remembered getting my employee benefits package yesterday, and reading its reminder note about the 24 hour Nurse Wellness Hotline. They call me every 3 months to get how I'm doing.

After speaking with the staff nurse and answering all her questions, she recommended I go to the emergency room within the next two hours, as it sounds like the start of early labor. My question? If it is, can they stop it. Her answer, Yes.

I wake Josh, tell him what the staff nurse said and he replied to have the oncall doctor paged to confirm. We'll do whatever he says to do.

The doctor calls back about 15mins later, and I describe my condition and my symptoms. His concern is pallible: Go to the ER; Now.

Again , Josh is woken and told what the doctor advised. He pushes himself and we get dressed and calmly and quickly as we can. We're out the door 20 mintues later, and as we get on the roadways, his hand inches toward the hazard switch, and his knucles are white on the steering wheel.

"Are you planning to psycho-speed there," I ask him?
"I'm thinking about it, yeah," he replies.
"I don't think I could handle that right now. I'm doing good so far being calm and controlled, if you go too fast, I might get scared. I don't think being scared is going to help right now. I know you want to get there fast, but there are no other cars on the road right now, so You can get to the speed limit fast and not have to worry about gramma drivers. Besides, the hospital's only 20 minutes from here. I think I'll be okay for 20 more minutes."

He nods, takes his hand away from the hazard blinker, and begins to make a hurried but stately drive to the hosiptal. We're worried only once, when Josh gets to a yellow light moving too fast to stop in time for the red, so he taps on my hazards, runs the redlight and keeps going. It's halfway through the intersection that we spot a police car in a parking lot facing the intersection. Thankfully, the blinkers and direction we are heading either must have told the cop this was a medical emergency or he simply wasn't paying attention, but he didn't come after us.

"If the cop came, what would you do," I ask?
"Keep going to the hospital," is the reply.
"Wouldn't that me evading arrest or something, and ticketable?"
"Running a red light is ticketable," he retorts, "And it'd be worth it. I don't care."

It makes me relax, and we get to the hospital without any other worries.

He drops me off at the ER while he goes to park. The EMT stationed outside asks if I need a wheelchair. "No, thanks," I tell him. "The walking eases the pain." He nods and shows me to the door. I get inside and start checking myself in. This whole time, I'm calm, composed, and only once in a while to I have to pause in my speaking to stretch my back when another pain comes. Josh joins me, and the nurse asks if he can fill out the paperwork for me so they could get me into triage.

Triage is a scary word, but simply meant an ER Waiting Room. When did that happen, or have I watched too much M*A*S*H?

Off I go, into triage. I have to pee in a cup, take off everything, get into a backless robe, wear little sockies, and an ace bandage girdle. I'm shown to my triage room, and they hook me up to a heart monitor, then microphone my belly. There's Lori's heartbeat, so fast, so strong. Another sensor is placed a bit higher up.

Then I wait. Long enough to find an original Star Trek episode on TV Land called "Operation - Annihilation". They have me sign something, release forms about delivering and needing a car seat... I hope I didn't sign my organs away. In retrospect, I should have declined until Josh was present, as I wasn't exactly thinking right. I was worried, but trying desperately to stay calm. I forced myself not to think about an hour from now, and just to rest in the moment.

Josh finally gets lead in, and we begin waiting. He's watching the montior and after about 30 mintues asks, "Are you hurting right now?"
"Yes," I replied, a bit startled. "How'd you know?"
"The monitor," he says, nodding toward it. "The line goes up. I've been assuming from the tension in your muscles, and I wanted to know for sure."
"Oh."

The nurse returns an hour later and states, "The urine analysis has come back. You're a bit dehydrated and you have a urinary tract infection. How much water do you drink?"
"Normally, a lot, nearly a full gallon, everyday, but yesterday was a bit hectic at work and I didn't grab my cup in the morning to keep full and drink from all day."
"It showed, and that's what's caused these contractions."
"So, I'm having contractions cause I'm dehydrated," I repeat, waiting to make sure I understood completely.
"Yes, ma'am. We're going to put you on an IV and try to rehydrate you as fast as we can as well as give you a doze of antibiotics for the infection. We'll keep you under observation for a few more hours to see how you're responding to the fluids."
Again, I repeat back what I was told, making sure I understood, before letting the nurse leave me.

Begin the calls. Dad, I'm sorry you weren't on the first round of calls. I think Josh and I both assumed the rest of the family would get told by the Mom's. Telephone, telegraph, Tell-a-Carranza. It's now 7am, and I get a hold of the boss and tell him where I'm at and what we know. He tells me not to think about the office and to focus on staying calm, doing what the doctor says, and to rest. He wants to know how I'm doing when I get the chance to call again.

7:45am and the contractions haven't subsided. The nurse contacted my doctor, who's on her way in to see me after a birth she's attending, and was instructed to try stage 2 of contraction stoppage, a pain medication called Demerol. I'm injected, and told that they'll need to wait an hour or two to see how I'm reacting. If things don't improve, I'll be admitting fully and given the next, more powerful set, of anti-labor drugs, and will definitely be put on bed rest.

Kathy, Josh's mom shows up, to pray over Lori and I, and to give Josh an angel pendant to help safe guard us and give Josh the strength to see us through this. I think she gave us a bible too, but by then the meds are kicking in, and I don't remember much of the rest of it. I vaguely remember Josh's voice, constantly, talking to people not me, but I can't make out the rest of them. Josh later told me that one of the Pastors that work with Kathy's home health care office came by to pray over me too, but that I was asleep. He said that the doctor asked some questions about my medical history that he tried to answer as best he could.

By 9am, the nurse has a good report, and the doctor with her. The contractions stopped and have stayed stopped for a full hour. The doctor checks my cervix, and it's still closed up tight as a whistle. But, seeing how groggy I still am, they want to give me another hour to rest and sleep it off before letting me go. They are worried that I'll faint on my way out if released right now, and the fall could aggravate things. I sleep some more, and awake feeling better. A bit medicine-head but better. I'm released and Josh takes me to get my prescription for the UTI filled, then for breakfast. Oh, and the doctor's ordered me to bed rest for the remainder of the week. Yes, I'm sure Melinda's all pissed. She was heading out of town today. But I can't worry about that. She'll understand when she's blessed with her first. Until then, I must just endure her ignorance with a knowing smile.

Josh gets me home, I take my antibiotic, drink some water, then collapse on the sofa. Mom stops by, but I think I fell asleep on her, cause when I woke up sweating-hot, she was gone. Josh got home about 2 hours ago, and laid down for a nap. I'm going to wake him up and see about dinner. If he wants a fresh meal, I'll cook. If not, I've got plenty of leftovers still.

The bright side: I know what mild contractions feel like now.

And that was the end of Birthing Rehearsal, scene one.