Not again...

So today was a surprisingly eventful day in babyhill land! The original plan was to have my regular 15 minute OB check-up, followed by a 30 minute NST (non-stress test) which would show that the baby's heart is great and my uterus is nice and relaxed. I suspected things would be a bit off when I woke up feeling like I had just swigged a bottle of wine and was trying desperately to keep my balance in a wildly spinning room (note: I felt like that while I was still lying down in bed). I ate some food, drank a ton of water, and checked my blood sugar. My blood sugar was normal, and nothing stopped the room from spinning. I was glad that I already had a doctor appointment scheduled.

My appointment was uneventful (blood pressure and pulse were normal, even though I still felt dizzy) and Dr. H said she thought my dizziness might be from my chronic anemia getting worse as the pregnancy continues. Even though I'm already taking double the regular dosage of iron supplements every day, I might have reached a new threshold and have started feeling symptomatic anyway.

So off I went to the NST room to be monitored. There was another woman in there who is 41 weeks pregnant and doing everything she can to get labor started naturally. The way the room was set up, we could see each other's charts but not our own, so we kept each other up-to-date. Turns out we both developed chart envy. Hers was nice and stable with a couple light contractions that built to their peaks slowly and evenly (showing no sign of impending labor). Mine was full of huge spiky contractions. We asked the nurse if we could trade charts, but no go.

I ended up getting a shot of terbutaline, a beta-adrenergic agonist bronchodilator. Basically, it relaxes smooth muscles (such as the uterus) and is used to stop preterm contractions. After the shot, they monitored me for another 30 minutes and the contractions had stopped. So far, so good! But Dr. H wanted me to have a quick ultrasound to check the baby's position, blood flow, and now my cervical length (because of the contractions). I had a bit of time before the ultrasound, so I went to the front desk to schedule my next few appointments.

As I was standing at the front desk, I suddenly felt super dizzy and nauseous and broke out into a sweat. I interrupted the receptionist and said, "I'm sorry, I need to sit down" and as I backed toward a bench, apparently I turned a lovely shade of gray. A nurse happened to be passing behind me and the receptionist yelled for her as I fell. The nurse guided me down on the bench and called for help, and soon I was being wheeled back to Dr. H's office. I rested there for awhile as they monitored my heart rate and blood pressure and gave me some crackers and juice. Eventually I felt a bit better and they wheeled me to the lab for my ultrasound.

The ultrasound was fine. The baby looks great (and is very busy), my cervix is still over 3cm, and everything looks just as it should. Even better, the baby has turned to be head down! No more breech!

I headed back to Dr. H's office for a last check-in, and she verified that things look great on the ultrasound. The dizziness and fainting are concerning, but don't seem to affect the baby at all. Now my job is to "take it easy", eat well, stay hydrated, and call Dr. H with any signs of dizziness, fainting, or contractions.

So after a relatively uneventful pregnancy, looks like we're back in preterm labor land. I'm hoping this was an isolated event and the terb will do its magic to stop things until I'm full-term (5 more weeks). However, I'm a bit worried about the instruction to "take it easy". Hilltot is not a "take it easy" kind of guy, and the last thing I want or need is to end up on bed rest.

Oh, another lesson learned: take Chris' car to the rest of my appointments. Thinking I'd only be gone for 45 minutes, I took my car -- the one with the car seat, the stroller, AND the Ergo carrier. 4 hours later, Chris was trying to figure out how to get to the hospital with hilltot. He ended up putting him in the BOB stroller and started walking. Luckily I didn't get admitted to the hospital, so I was able to leave and pick up my boys as they trekked across the city.

The silver lining of this entire day? I got a surprise ultrasound! Here's babyhill at 32 weeks! This is the best profile shot we were able to get -- babyhill was quite annoyed with being bothered all day and kept turning or placing a hand in the way of the image. To be honest baby, I don't blame you.