Contractions at 26 weeks

We had quite a scare this week. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling "not right". I went in to work and continued to have abdominal pain so I called my doctor who asked me to come in immediately. She hooked me up to a monitor which confirmed I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. They immediately ran tests to determine whether or not I was going in to labor. Thankfully, everything came back negative but the contractions weren't easing up so they sent me to labor and delivery for additional monitoring. While in the hospital, the nurses gave me a shot of a muscle relaxer to help ease the contractions, it seemed to work so they gave me strict orders to stay off my feet, drink a lot of fluid and relax.

I woke up again Wednesday morning with the same cramping and we headed back to the hospital. The contractions were back so my doctor did an ultrasound to make sure that Baby Avery hadn't dropped and that nothing had changed since yesterday. Again, everything looked good, her heart is strong and she's just over 2 pounds now!! They were still concerned about the contractions though so I headed back to labor and delivery. I received another injection of the muscle relaxer which I respond well to and they gave me a steriod shot to help develop the baby's lungs (just in case).

I am now back at home on bed rest. Because I responded so well to the muscle relaxer, I am on a continuous flow that is administered through a cathader in my leg. Most likely, I will stay on it until 34 weeks which is the safe point for preemies when health risks from pre-term labor drop dramatically. At that time, they will take me off and hope that I can keep her in until 40 weeks.

Please keep our little girl in your prayers.

Matt and Lindsey