Monkeying around

Monday, February 21, 2011

The calm before the storm

I don't know how I remained calm with the news I had just received.  I read the books, it was too early.  The twins' lungs were not developed enough to be born now.  We were sent straight to the Brownwood hospital (sorry, Larry, the birthday dinner at Red Lobster would have to wait), where I was hooked up to the fetal monitor and started on steroids to mature the twins' lungs, and magnesium sulfate to slow the labor down.  Let me tell you a little about magnesium sulfate.....it relaxes the muscles to decrease contractions, but it is not smart enough to just relax the muscle contractions.  I felt like a limp, weak, heavy sand bag sinking into the mattress of the hospital bed.  Along with the hot flushed feeling, this relaxed feeling is not one that I ever want to experience again.  I was virtually helpless.  I needed help rolling, eating, everything!  And this went on for 5 days. 

On the night of Aug 30, 2006 I was care flighted to Harris Methodist Ft. Worth.  Those arrangements took some work on the doctor's part because the flight crew did not want to touch me as soon as they heard "preterm active labor".  Finally, the flight team from Harris Methodist came to Brownwood and picked me up. The next 4 days were a blur of fetal monitors, bloodwork, and feeling like a helpless sand bag. 

No comments:

Post a Comment