No More IV's Please!

One thing I have decided is that I absolutely hate IV's. We had a little pregnancy scare this weekend and I have to say one of the worst parts of being in the hospital was having an IV.

Friday I was at work and doing great when all of a sudden I had really sharp pains down the right side of my stomach and into my back. It was so bad that I knew it wasn't something I could ignore. After the pain went away I decided to get my boss and tell her I needed to go to the doctor. She started panicking and running all over the place trying to find Andrew. In the mean time, I started walking up and down the sidewalk outside while I called the doctor. They told me to come in to the office. So, what would any normal husband do? Would they just place you in the car and drive the speed limit all the way to the hospital, stopping at every single red light? NO! Andrew plopped me in the car and drove 90-100mph to the hospital, running every red light he could! On the way there I had more really sharp pains and it just made Andrew drive faster and faster.

Once we got to the clinic and checked in the pains stopped and I felt fine. They did a urine sample thinking that I might have a kidney stone but it came back normal. The midwife finally decided to send me to the hospital to get hooked on a monitor and checked to see if I was in labor. Sure enough...I was! I was having really strong contractions (and sharp pains whenever they would peak) and was already 1 1/2cm dilated, 90% effaced with the baby at stage 0. Since I was only 34 weeks they decided to try and stop my labor and keep me overnight to monitor my contractions.

Then came the IV...boy do I hate IV's!! I have such tiny veins that they really had a hard time, and it didn't help that I was freaking out since I was in early labor (Andrew had run to the vet at that time to pick up our dog from her grooming appointment so I was all alone) and I was shivering horribly because I was so cold. They started piling warm blankets all over me and then kept trying to stick me. Finally a different nurse came in and got the IV going. But for some reason it still really hurt! I asked her to check it several times and she just chuckled at me and said it was fine, but later my mom pointed out to her that the hub (I think that's what it's called) was actually turned sideways when it should be straight. So then she started tugging and re-taping everything which hurt even worse! Even after she fixed it the IV was still really painful, so in the middle of the night when a new nurse came in I had her redo the IV in my other hand. That felt so much better, but then the new nurse decided to leave the other IV in my hand in case they needed it later. So there I was with an IV stuck in each hand, and the one that wasn't even being used was the most painful!

Throughout the night they gave me shots (not sure what the drug was called) to stop my contractions. At first the shot didn't do anything. The second time the contractions stopped for a few hours and then came back. At about 2 a.m. they had to give me another shot and that seemed to do the trick. All the while I was confined to my bed, very nauseous, having to get up every hour to go to the bathroom since they were giving me fluids, getting antibiotics since I hadn't done a Strep test yet, getting antihistamine pills to help me sleep, and dealing with the freaking IV's! It was a long and very uncomfortable night.

I was finally fell asleep from about 2:30 a.m.-6 a.m., but those beds are so uncomfortable! My back was killing me and with all of the monitors strapped to me and IV's in the way I just couldn't get comfortable. AND I was really hungry so my tummy was grumbling all night long. In the morning they gave me some toast and orange juice which helped a little. Since I hadn't had anymore contractions they told me I was free to go home. So, I am home and SO happy to have those IV's out of me and to be able to go the bathroom without the nurse having to help me in and out of bed every time. I've got bruises all over from the shots and my back still aches. The doctor said I just have to take it easy and listen to my body. If I don't feel like working then I don't have to and I should drink lots of fluids. We will just pray that Baby stays in there a little bit longer and that when I go into labor that the pain isn't nearly as bad as it was. AND that I won't have to have those stupid IV's in my hands!