But Let's Be Honest

Even though we pretend to have lives outside of this pregnancy, it's pretty much taken over.

THE BACK STORY:
Monday I went in for a 17H Progesterone shot. Doctors aren't sure why, but progesterone has shown in studies to help prevent miscarriages in early pregnancy as well as premature labor in later pregnancy. In my case, the plan was to have a shot weekly until 34 weeks gestation. After the shot on Monday, I was pretty sick and devastatingly tired. But by Tuesday, I felt great. Better than I had since about week 5 of pregnancy.

Wednesday Caleb and I got up and made a cake for Peter's birthday/return. (It was WAY better than his 25 year birthday cake). I was feeling a little under the weather, but all in all, it was OK. Peter surprised us and came home several hours earlier than we expected, YAY! Peter's parents graciously watched Caleb for us so we could run out and have a dinner to celebrate him coming home and his birthday. Of course, being the good parents we are, we ate cake before we left for dinner (all the while telling Caleb he had to finish his dinner before he could have cake. Score one for us).

When we arrived at the restaurant, I went to get out of the car and felt a gush of fluid. I had had fluid leakage previously in this pregnancy, so I wasn't too concerned, but I put a call into my OB's office just to keep them up to date. I already had an appointment scheduled for Thursday, so I figured waiting a 15 hours to go into the office wouldn't be terrible. The on-call doctor agreed, as long as the fluid stopped and I didn't have any other significant gushes.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner (which we were too full to eat due to the massive amounts of cake we ate before dinner-- Fabulous if you ask me). When we left the restaurant, I continued to have some fluid leaking, but figured I could at least take Peter home so he could have some sleep and then go into the hospital if it continued, by myself. Poor Peter had been up since 4:00 AM and then he had driven 6 hours to get home that day-- needless to say, he was shot.

However, before we could even leave the parking lot, the situation elevated enough to the point where even I was certain we needed to go right into Labor and Delivery.

PHEW... ON TO THE MAIN POINT....
Upon arriving at L&D I was diagnosed with PPROM (Preterm Premature Rupture Of Membranes-- my water broke) and admitted to the L&D floor. I had a ultrasound to check the fluid levels, which looked good last night. I've been placed on IV fluids (which will hopefully replenish some of the lost amniotic fluid) and antibiotics (to prevent infection and/or sepsis), and I have received 2 steroid shots (to help with the development of the baby's lungs).

Tomorrow I reach the magical 24 week viability point-- which is in reality only a 50% chance of viability. Nonetheless, we're thrilled we're going to make it there and we'll take all the milestones we can reach at this point. We'll meet with the NICU here at Chester County Hospital (which is run through CHOP) and we'll go for another ultrasound to check the baby's fluid levels again.

We're really not sure what the future brings at this point, so we're taking it one day at a time-- well, at least Peter is. I'm trying to plan for every possible outcome of which I can think. (Opposites attract? Sure thing).

I could deliver tomorrow, I could deliver next week, I could deliver in four weeks, I could go to term (unlikely, but possible). Until then, I will most likely remain here in this comfy cozy L&D room. For the baby's sake, we hope that means another 4 or 6 or 10 weeks. For my sake, I hope my sanity can last as long as the baby :)

So that's the update. I've opened up the blog, so it's not private anymore, because it's just a lot easier to reach everyone this way. Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone who would be interested.