There's Nothing Like Spending The Day At The Hospital

I woke up this morning at 2am because I had to pee - only to discover that I had SOAKED the boxer shorts I was wearing. My first thoughts: Did I pee myself? Is this sweat?? WTF??? I changed out of the wet shorts and into fresh dry ones and went back to bed. When I woke up again at 7am I discovered that I had also drenched the new shorts. Sudden panic. Was this (gasp!) amniotic fluid?

I called my doctor's office when they opened at 9am. I told them what had happened. They advised me to immediately go to the hospital. The possibility of what could be happening was becoming all too real and terrifying. When I arrived at the hospital, I was met by a lady with a wheelchair. The wheelchair was my ride. They also had me don one of those plastic hospital bracelets. At that point, I just started balling. When you're sitting in a wheelchair wearing a plastic hospital bracelet, it's hard not to let the "what ifs" take over your brain.

I was told to change into a hospital gown and was promptly hooked up to all kinds of monitors and fetal stress testing stuff whilst they readied my paperwork and prepared the exam room. Baby girl seemed to be doing just fine - she had a normal heart rate and I could feel her kicking and moving all around. Then they took some measurements - all normal.

From there, I was the sent into the exam room where a doctor basically gave me a pap to see if she could find any traces of amniotic fluid. While they processed the swab results, I went back to the first room and was told to lie down. It didn't take long - only about 5 minutes - until the doctor came in. She said that everything looked great, and there was absolutely no trace of amniotic fluid to be found. In other words, she had no idea why I soaked my shorts last night.

Just to be extra sure, I was also sent for a detailed ultrasound to check amniotic fluid levels. I had to wait for nearly two hours for this ultrasound, and while I was sitting in the hospital room waiting, I realized that I hadn't eaten since the night before. In all the excitement, I forgot to eat breakfast and it was now past 2pm. I suddenly felt sick and faint, like I was going to pass out. I stumbled out into the hallway and found a nurse and begged her for something...a cracker, a cookie, anything. I offered to pay. She was grumpy, but did say, "I'll see what I can do". About 20 minutes later, I was presented with a tray of hospital food which consisted of a cold hamburger, a cold cup of soup, two room temperature containers of milk and a package of saltines. I couldn't bring myself to touch the nasty hamburger, but I scarfed up the rest of the food in about 10 seconds flat. Thank you, grumpy nurse, from the bottom of my heart.

About 30 minutes after that, I was finally brought in (again, by wheelchair) for the ultrasound. Baby girl looked great. HOORAY!! Amniotic fluid levels totally normal and at the 75th percentile. HOORAY!! Baby girl measured right on target at 22w3d (which is exactly what I am today). HOORAY!! Maya was even showing off, doing some serious gymnastics with feet above her head and all that. The sonographer said that everything looked "awesome". HOORAY!! And THANK G-D.

And guess what else? My cervix is still holding strong at 3.2cm - the same length it was at 14 weeks. This tells me that this cervical length, while on the short end of acceptable, is just normal for me. I have short fingers too. The fact that it hasn't gotten any shorter is freakin' fantastic news as far as I'm concerned. The doctor told me today that based on this information, she thinks I am in no way at risk for PTL. No more than the average Jane, at least. HOORAY!!

After the ultrasound, I got wheelchaired back into my hospital room. I was told to change into my clothes and the doctor would come and talk to me about the results. This took another 45 minutes, and when the doctor finally came in, she basically said everything was totally fine, no need to worry, and that I could be discharged and go home. Sweet, sweet relief.

So what caused my nocturnal pajama soaking? Cause undetermined. Could be a by-product of this nasty head cold I've been fighting, or perhaps a big ol' sweatfest that my body produced to try to stave off a possible fever. Whatever it is, it's NOT amniotic fluid and I am so grateful for that.

It's about 7pm and I just got home about an hour ago. And that, my dear friends, is how I spent MY day.