We're Thankful she didn't want to meet us before we were ready!

On Tuesday, I was experiencing some pains, but I just thought they were ligament pains. I figured since I was on my feet all day that my body was just telling me that it was tired and I needed to go to bed. The pains continued severely throughout the night and about 2am, I got up and got on the Internet to make sure what I was feeling was normal. I didn't want to go to the ER because I didn't want them to tell me they were braxton hicks contractions or ligament pains and think I was crazy. After about an hour of research I came to the conclusion that I probably should head to the ER, but I wanted to wait 'til the morning when my dad was up. I went in to sleep with my mom, but my body had other things in mind. I was at a constant level of pain with a much higher level of severity every 5 minutes...needless to say I was not sleeping at all and kept waking up my mom with my wincing and moaning. She finally had enough of me and at 4am we headed off to St. Jude's Hospital. They brought me straight up to Labor and Delivery, put monitors on the baby, and started running tests on me. They concluded that I had a bladder infection, which was causing me to have contractions. They gave me medication (Terbutaline) to stop the contractions, an antibiotic to clear up my bladder infection, and sent me home after a few hours. I got home and slept for about 2 hrs. When I woke up I still wasn't feeling any better. I now was starting to vomit, which was not the best when trying to stay hydrated and keep antibiotics down. At about 9pm Bill and I decided that I needed to go back to the hospital. Nothing like going to the ER twice in one day and having the ER nurses recognize you. This time they gave me an IV of an anti-nausea medication to stop my vomiting, an antibiotic, and fluids to rehydrate me. They then took me to get a detailed ultrasound. They were worried about my appendix and kidneys, as well as the baby. I'm happy and thankful to report that the baby was just fine, but since I was still having contractions they were going to admit me back to L&D. They continued to give me Terbutaline throughout the night and an IV. By the morning I was feeling much better, but then took a turn for the worse when they changed my medication to another one that would stop my contractions. I got so sick and even the anti-nausea medication wasn't working. Once that wore off, I was back to my normal self and they put be back on the Terbutaline. I was feeling much better! They said I could go home around 8pm, but they thought that it might be better to stay one more night to be monitored and to make sure I'd keep dinner and breakfast down. So another night in the comfortable hospital beds being hooked up to 3 different monitors!!

I am home now and feeling much better. I was discharged on my antibiotics and Terbutaline. I am so thankful that everything turned out just fine and our little peanut was not ready to come into this world. I have never had a bladder infection and let me tell you it is not fun. I just hope these antibiotics clear it up fast because then I can get off the Terbutaline too. They say that the bladder infection is causing irritation which is causing the contractions.

On a sadder note, I was not able to go to Black Friday. I was so looking forward to it and hope that all those who I convinced to go had a good time and got lots of good things! I am happy to report that I convinced my nurse to leave work to go to Kohl's on my behalf:) She had never been shopping on Black Friday and after looking at all the ads Bill brought in for me she was ready to try it. She came back to report her experience and said she had a great time, but couldn't believe how many people were there.

So on this Thanksgiving, aside of the obvious which we are thankful for, we are especially thankful for our health and the health of our unborn baby girl.