Baby Emma: An Update

I had an appointment with my OB yesterday, to check my cervical length and do another fetal fibronection (fFN). She did the swab and asked about my contractions, all the while wearing the same worried look she had had ever since all this started almost 3 weeks ago. My contractions come and go, but for the past 2 days or so they have been increasingly painful, and I feel like I'm having a small panic attack during them (even the ones that don't hurt). I just can't breathe. With some of the smaller ones this is what alerts me to the fact I'm having one. Not long after the contraction is over the feeling goes away and I can breathe again. Still, its not a pleasant feeling. I mentioned this to her, and she said it was not unheard of and not something I should worry about. Whew, one less thing to worry about!

After I had my lovely shot, we proceeded to the ultrasound room. A cervical length measurement is taken best by vaginal ultrasound. Thankfully, this doesn't take long. While she was taking my cervical length she mentioned "oh, her head is right there." I immediately perked up and said "huh?? her head?? Are you sure?!" She said yes she thought was her head. Then we switched to the regular ultrasound to take quick a look at baby. Sure enough, Emma had finally gotten her head down where its supposed to be! She's not breech anymore!! I would have done a happy dance if I knew it would cause more contractions! After fighting with a very wiggly baby to get what she needed to see, the ultrasound was over and we went to my doctors office to wait to talk about the findings with her.

She came into the room reading my chart. I saw the worried look melt off her face when she read the ultrasound results. My cervix was 3.9 cm!! That is awesome! She even gave me a high five. She said she was "very reassured" and I could tell she was. Pending my fFN results which should be in sometime today, everything is stable right now. She also stated she was really doubtful that the fFN would be positive with my cervix looking this good.

Before I started taking the progesterone shots my contractions were shortening my cervix. Since I've been on the shot, yes I am still having contractions, but they don't seem to be affecting my cervix! I think that a positive result! So now I just keep taking the shots, and we monitor my cervical length and fFN. Its a waiting game, but atleast its looking a lot more positive now!

My Daughter is Making Me a Liar

In case you haven't noticed, I kind of suck at updating the blog in a timely manner. So again, if you want more timely updates, you can check my Twitter. A link is over there >>

Moving on, I went to the doctor last Monday, and she did a repeat cervical length by ultrasound. It was 4.6 and the funneling (where it was trying to open) was gone. This is a good thing!! However, I kept having the contractions off and on. Since I was still having contractions and my cervix is changing so much, my doctor and I decided it would be best if I start taking progesterone shots once a week. This is to help prevent preterm labor. I recieved the first one in the office on Tuesday and I go back this Tuesday for the second. I am going to try to give them to myself at home so I don't have to drive the hour to my doctor's office every week, but we will see how that goes. I'm not a fan of self-inflicted pain.

Wednesday night the contractions got a little to close for comfort so I decided to go to the hospital, just to make sure. And of course they stopped right after we got there. Emma looked good on the monitor, despite hating them and trying to kick them off the entire time. My cervix was closed, so they sent me home.

Last night (Saturday night) the contractions got very close, and very painful. They were 3-5 minutes apart and I was terrified. After attempting to make them go away by hydrating, I called the nurse on call and was told to go to the hospital right then. So we left. It takes an hour to get there. About half way there I noticed the contractions had slowed down significantly and they weren't near as painful. I called the nurse back and she said to still go. So we did. Once we got there we had to wait for them to get a room ready. While we were waiting, they stopped completely. So once again, after making sure Emma was looking ok, I was sent home.

This is a very frustrating waiting game. The contractions come and go, mostly coming at night. Most of the time they don't really hurt and stay atleast 10 minutes apart. I am hoping for no more trips to the hospital. We will see if she cooperates. The good news is the contractions are stopping on their own with no drugs. This is a good sign. I'm still a little annoyed that they only stop after we go to the hospital. That is going to get very expensive very fast. But I'd rather go and they go away than not go and it be real preterm labor. So, the short story is, now we wait. But, for now, things are pretty stable.

Emma is Being Difficult

This pregnancy is proving to be all around more difficult that Cooper's. Not only does she not cooperate during ultrasounds, now she's trying to scare Mommy to death too.

Thursday night I started having contractions. This went on for about 2 hours when I finally decided it was time to go to the hospital. (I talked to the nurse on call after it had been going on for an hour and she told me a few more things to try and stop them before I went.) About halfway to the hospital, they stopped. So I came home. So sense paying an ER visit for no reason. But I did call my doctor the next day to see if she wanted to see me, and she did.

Friday afternoon I went to the OB's office. She said asked about the frequency of the contractions and movement of the baby (No problems with movement. She's a wiggle worm like her brother, although not quite as much). Then she said that there were 2 tests she'd like to do that would give us a better idea of what's happening, measure my cervical length on ultrasound and do a fetal fibronectin test (from here on out referred to as fFN). My cervical length ended up being shorter than they'd like. It was 2.8 cm when they'd like it to be over 3 cm. Because of this she put me on modified bedrest over the weekend. The fFN test took a little while to get the results. But I was having contractions Friday night and had to call the nurse on call. She had the report and told me it had been negative (a good sign). We also saw during the ultrasound that Emma is still breech. That means if I do have to deliver, it will be a c-section unless she decides to flip.

So for now I am still on bedrest. I've been having contractions off and on all weekend, but nothing bad. They've stayed pretty far apart and are very mild. I go back to the doctor next week to check my cervical length again and that will probably decide what comes next. If you want more frequent updates (or want to hear how bored I am) you can follow me on Twitter. I'll try not to whine too much ;)

Yo' Drops and Ecomom Review & Giveaway!!

A couple weeks ago I was sent Yo'Drops by Revolution Foods to review from Ecomom. Mommy and Cooper both love them! Cooper loves them because they taste so good! (Yep, I tried them, too!) They are tangy like yogurt but crunchy like crackers! Sounds weird but it really is a great combo. I love them because they are relatively mess-free and super convenient. Also? They are made with REAL ingredients! I can pronounce everything on the ingredient list! If you've looked at the ingredients in any of your child's snacks recently you know how rare that is.

At night, Cooper gets to watch cartoons before bed, and Mommy gets some computer time. He usually asks for a snack around this time. Most of the time he eats his snack before we head to the bed but the other night he asked while we were already in bed.

The Yo'Drops had just come that day so I thought why not try them. He can't make a terrible mess with these, right? Wrong. Within 5 minutes they were poured out on my bed. Really it wasn't heard to clean up though, and he loved them. I'm sold :)

Want to try some yourself? They retail at Ecomom for $3.99 or...

You could win a $15 gift certificate to ecomom.com right here!!

Mandatory Entry

*Follow Cooper's Mommy on GFC and then go visit ecomom.com and let me know what you'd like to try!

Extra Entries

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I was not compensated to do this review. I received product to form my opinion and only product. These opinions are my own and honest.