Once at UW on Monday, January 24th, I was put in an antepartum room and began to meet doctors almost immediately. The first thing the doctors wanted to do was get an ultrasound. To do this, I needed to move to an exam room, but when the nurses got me into the wheelchair I passed out. They think that passing out was the result of the Magnesium, which opens all the blood vessels, and because I had been flat on my back for almost three days. Because I passed out the nurses wouldn’t let me go to the restroom by myself for the next 24 hours.
The doctors told me that there was no reason to keep me on complete bed rest because no studies showed that bed rest actually improves the chances of a preterm delivery. In fact, getting out of bed to go to the bathroom was helpful in reducing blood clots in my legs. So they removed the catheter.
Once I was feeling better after passing out, I was taken to get the ultrasound. During the ultrasound the doctor discovered that I was at least 1cm dilated and that part of the bag of water had slipped down, creating an hourglass effect. The doctor seemed a bit worried, but also said that this did not mean I was going to deliver soon. The doctors really tried to reassure me, but I knew they were concerned because I was moved to an L&D (Labor & Delivery) room and placed back in Trendelenburg as soon as the exam was done.
Ron finally made it to UW around 5pm. By then I had met with just about every doctor that would be treating me for the next several days. Over the next day Ron also met all those doctors.
Tuesday, January 25th was a good day. No contractions and very little bleeding. We were very encouraged and began to think maybe this pregnancy would last for several more weeks. Around noon Ron sent a text to our family saying, “Update… Today has been a good news day. Baby is no longer Breech. Rachel’s bleeding has slowed down and she has not had any contractions for over 13 hours! Thank you for all your comments and prayers!”
In the evening I was transferred from L&D to an antepartum room. I joked when they were wheeling me into the room that I wondered where I would be tomorrow since I had been in a different room each day since I had been hospitalized.
Our wonderful friends, John and Jaime, spent the evening with me while Ron left to take care of some business.
When Ron got back I told him that we needed to pick out names before he left for the night. So we talked about names for the next two hours. We already had several names we liked but as we were talking he suggested Emily. We looked it up and found out that Emily means “to strive or excel.” We both thought that was the perfect name, but we kept several other options, just in case. I truly believe the Lord gave us this name for our daughter. It was so perfect, Emily Faith.
Reflection: Ron told me later that it was like I subconsciously knew that our daughter was going to be born the next day. The nurse told me later that she had a feeling, based on what was happening with me, that I would deliver within the next 24 hours.
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