Saturday, July 12, 2008

The first one to tell me I am nesting gets it

I am off restricted movement and off the sauce terbutaline.

BPP yesterday went well. Cervix is still looking to be about 4 centimeters long and posterior. Dr. Best also expressed his deep and abiding dislike of terbutaline, for all the reasons I already saw last weekend while PubMeding the thing from my couch. There are no studies to show that it prolongs pregnancy, while there are plenty of studies that show it causing hyperglycemic reactions and raising heart rate in the mother (check and check), and, more disturbingly, some reports of impact on fetal hearts with prolonged use, as well as some small studies of neural impact in rodents. The last, luckily for us, preferentially impacting females, and at what I think is a much higher dose than what I was taking. Of course I wasn't taking it for pre-term labor (since I am not, at least for now, in PTL), but rather for symptomatic relief, and I think I had taken a total of three pills since Tuesday afternoon. But I am not to use it anymore. I can use Tylenol, Benadryl, or Tylenol PM (which is just Tylenol with Benadryl). Lovely and appetizing choices all.

After Dr. Best mentioned that while it is pretty clear now that terbutaline is not doing "what we thought it was doing," it is still a standard of care in many places, and that in most community hospitals if you come in with contractions, you are likely to get about three shots of it before you ever see a doctor, JD spent the evening pondering how come doctors do not have professional responsibility standards that would require them to keep up with research and changing knowledge.

I spent my evening contemplating the other thing Dr. Best said-- that after tomorrow, which would mark 32 weeks, were I to go into actual labor, he would only attempt to slow it down (with magnesium, yum!) enough to get steroids into me. After tomorrow, people. Nevertheless, I am surprisingly calm about that, likely, I think, due to the fact that the baby is supposedly pushing 4 lbs by now. Probably also a little because, as scary as that would be, it would mark the end of my exhaustingly solitary shift as the Protector. I am still trying to formulate my thoughts on that. Hopefully in a few days.

We also finally have guidelines for when to go in that I feel are concrete enough to be useful. Any time we want to check on the baby (said for the upteenth time, but finally seemed to have registered with JD who has felt a little guilty for going in so many times with what has so far always, thankfully, turned out to be false alarms. I have never felt guilty about it, though I have, on occasion, felt a little silly after an innocuous explanation for my scare of the day had been revealed), and if contractions feel qualitatively different. This last bit is good because the four or five an hour guideline is utterly useless to me, seeing as if I get going, I contract every three to four minutes. I do that when I am in labor for real too, so it's not that surprising, but it does make decision making much more difficult than it is meant to be in these cases. I am also not officially under house arrest anymore, but rest and hydration are my main weapons for when contractions do show, so it is all relative.


I was all happy last night when 11pm rolled around and there had been no contractions. I was getting cocky thinking they have left me alone. But they eventually showed up, and, annoying fuckers that they are, stayed the night. I didn't take anything overnight because I had to get up early and help get JD and Monkey out of the house for the two hour car trip to an all-day Bar Mitzva festivity in a neighboring state. They were gone by 7:30am, and nearly two liters of soda water and an hour and a half later, so were the contractions. Finally.

Since then I ate, read some blogs, finished loading the dishwasher that was almost ready to go, ran that, did two loads of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded what dirty dishes remained, washed the few wash-by-hand items, you know, by hand, wiped down my counter, ate again, and am now planning to head upstairs to take a shower and bring down the two semi-scary piles of laundry that have accumulated there since my dances with contractions began. I think this is all due to finally being officially allowed to do stuff. And I would caution those of you who are tempted to offer a different explanation to first review the title of this post.

23 comments:

Lollipop Goldstein said...

I do not want to "get it" (unless I receive something good?) so I'm not going to say anything. Except I understand that desire to have the baby outside of you even if you also want to keep the baby baking longer. It's both a scary place and a place of peace to be at 32 weeks.

Tash said...

Wait, what do I get? A knuckle-sandwich or a bedroom set? Cuz dude, I could use a nice set in the guest quarters.

Does sound like all is as well as can be expected, given the early show of contractions and whatnot, but that Dr. Reads-new-stuff is on top of things. And seriously, shouldn't that be part of the oath? Keeping up on new trends? You know, the ones in your field? That could, oh, I dunno, SAVE LIVES? Yeesh.

Put that laundry basket down, girlfriend, and go pour yourself a lemonade.

Mrs. Spit said...

I have to say, (and this all but gets me shot on the pre-e forums) the Mag, it wasn't so bad. I didn't have any of the awful reactions. I got a bit of a hot flash. It lasted for 20 minutes, and given that I had been shivering uncontrollably (fear), it was a welcome relief to feel warm.

I spent 5 days on it, and it just wasn't that bad, at least for me.

Umm, if my lovely parting gift is housekeeping services, or self washing dishes, I'll tell you that you might be doing that N thing.

If it gets me pain, nope, no nesting to see here, move along folks.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're off of that stuff. Too bad you didn't get rid of those annoying fuckers tho!!

nesting? what the hell is that? we're women if we're mobile we do that stuff anyway. a man probably invented the "word" cause they never pay attention. idiots.

big smiles and thinking of you...(apparently so if "FB" started kicking as I typed on here)

Anonymous said...

It doesn't sound like nesting at all, it sounds like you just need to make sure you have clean underwear.

Magpie said...

Wait, what's the prize? You forgot to describe the prize!

Hey - good luck.

Aurelia said...

So yeah, make sure you give me a prize!

As for the terb, I agree, but my OB and I agreed that he would give me another drug, nifepidine, if I needed it. Apparently it does have some good evidence for it, although I can't find any links at this moment, commenting one handed as I am.

And mag can be okay for some people...I know most hate it, but not everyone gets all the side effects, so if you need it , you need it, and I'll cross my fingers you don't.

Wabi said...

I'm so relieved to hear you are off the battery acid/terb.

You've got Monkey, which means that you've also got laundry with a capital L. So I'm not gonna say the "n" word for now ... though if you start wielding a paint brush or reorganizing closets, I may change my tune!

ZM said...

Um. No.

Not nesting. Nope. Just - cleaning?

Glad to hear that you are off that nasty stuff (an ob/gyn friend heard that I knew someone taking it and shuddered), and that the laundry pile is getting the ass-kicking it deserves.

And yes, it's nice to share the Protector job. Very, very nice.

Say hi to Monkey for us - I think the Toddles is in love!

Rosepetal said...

Haha - there was zero nesting for me with Beanie. In fact his room still has a computer on a desk in the corner as I couldn't get anything ready in advance of his birth. And do you know what? He didn't care when he was born and he still doesn't give a shit! So nesting schmesting.

I am glad you are off that drug - keep taking it easy!

Bon said...

well, if you're giving away a bedroom set...! but seriously, i totally get it. i suspect if i get carte blanche to get up and do what i need/want to i'll be bustling around until i drop, just from the sheer (bizarre) joy of not having to ask someone else.

and i get you on the Protector stuff, too. when my doc said Friday that she's thinking of keeping the stitch in until 38 weeks, my jaw dropped. i've been on high alert, ready to deal, for so long that i'm more emotionally prepared for early (safe early being my goal, not now early) than i am for stringing it out for an additional two weeks of oh-god-is-my-stitch-going-to-tear-through?

Amelie said...

Dr. Best sounds great. It's a shame so many docs are not up to current results. At least the hospitals could have some people that read such articles and communicate it to the rest, no?
Glad you're in good care and doing ok.

Anonymous said...

Houses require cleaning, do they not? Daily, weekly, no?

Cleaning the house is a good thing: you don't want ants, do you?

Thinking of you ...

S said...

hey! this all sounds good. all of it!

four pounds is nice and solid.

Lori said...

32 weeks is a good place to be. However, 34 weeks will be better, and then 36... So I will keep hoping those contractions hush up for awhile.

I know this will be a long stretch for you... It's hard, the waiting. The wondering. The worrying. It stinks. I can't wait until the day I hear that he is here, safe and sound.

luna said...

congratulations on not bearing the burden of sole protector anymore -- though I know you'd like to keep it that way a while longer, it's good to know you and your boy are in great hands.

now I agree with tash, step away from the laundry...

CLC said...

I don't even know what nesting is, being that I never experienced it myself. Sounds like you are just catching up on some chores!

Hope you relaxed some while they were gone. And hope that baby keeps baking!

c. said...

The husband would keep me pregnant all the time if I nested like you. (Of course, we all know he couldn't keep me that way. Ha!)

Those contractions are persistent little buggers aren't they? Still keeping my fingers crossed that little bean stays put for a little while longer.

niobe said...

Glad to hear things are going reasonably well.

I loved the mag. It made me feel incredibly calm and, well, at peace. Though the peaceful thing might have gone a bit too far when I began to wonder if it was really worth the enormous effort it took to breathe.

christina(apronstrings) said...

it is funny-they are safer in there than anywhere else, but i can't wait to get my little one out, too. i want to be able to see her breathe.
i am glad that you are off the couch.

thrice said...

Yeah, terb and all tocolytics are also a risk factor for PPCM.

Seems like you are progressing nicely, but I'm not aloud to think/mention that. Right? xxx

kate said...

that's interesting about the terb. I am glad you are off it.

Hey, it's not nesting unless you are rearranging the spice cabinet. So it is in alphabetical order.

Jody said...

Ask your doc about procardia. It is used now to halt PTL in its track and it works.