Too Much Drama!

Before starting my story, I just wanted to send lots of love to Bree as she is in the hospital with her sweet Nora.

Today was way more dramatic than it needed to be.  The morning started off fairly slowly - I had noticed earlier this week that my license had expired (oops - I blame it on the cerclage being on Jan. 18, and my birthday on Jan. 24, as I haven't been out of the house much since then).  My dad cheerfully took me over to the DMV, and we got all finished in record time (which was shocking).  It was, however, a lot more standing than I was used to, and Baby Jota has been kicking my cervix a TON the past several days.  I was having some slight pressure, but just came back into the house and tried to lie down for a while.  I kept having some pressure, as well as some abdominal cramping, however, so I started to get worried. 

My husband actually works at the hospital in the bigger nearby town (which we'll henceforth call "BNT," a town of about 50,000), and was at work this morning until 2 p.m.  This is the hospital where we delivered Maddie, and where most treatment nearby goes through - but after talking to my husband, we decided I'd try out the hospital here in the town where we live (I'll just call it "HERE" for simplicity's sake).  We didn't want me driving the 12 miles to BNT, and my OB's group doesn't really do on-call unless the hospital calls them.  The town where I live only has about 6500 people, and we both had some concerns that they'd have capable facilities or knowledge to deal with my issues.  Hence, I called the hospital HERE and explained the short version of my situation and my symptoms, asking if I should be seen, and if they could handle a case like me.  They resolutely said yes and yes, so I went the three blocks to the hospital.

It turns out that they were NOT prepared for my case.  They did a Doppler to listen for heartbeat (153), but the doctor came in and explained that they didn't really have any other resources there - they had no contraction monitors, no TV ultrasounds, and he was afraid of hurting something if he did a manual exam.  (I was more than a bit frustrated at this point that they had wasted my time having me come there first.)  He first wanted to transfer me by ambulance for overnight observation to their affiliate hospital, a big hospital about an hour away - this is where my peri is, and where I had my cerclage.  I explained that my OB was in BNT, though, and that I'd been released by my peri entirely to the OB's care since 16 weeks (and I'm 22 weeks today), so it didn't make sense to me to go down there.  I also didn't even know that my symptoms were really that serious, as I wasn't bleeding or contracting - just having pain and pressure.  He begrudgingly said I could go to BNT, but still wanted to transfer me by ambulance.  Since my husband was getting off of work at that time, I said I'd just have him take me in.  They called ahead, got me some transfer papers, and sent me to the L&D at BNT.

We got there and they got me into a room.  Contraction monitor went on - no contractions, which was very good.  They monitored me for a while, then sent me down for a cervical length ultrasound.  Fortunately, it was 3.20cm - which was a relief, since it was 3.16 at 20w3d.  No funneling, baby looked good (well, her head did, anyway, since that's all we could see).  All was good - they're pretty sure that I've just had too much going on.  They released me entirely with a hug and a wave.  I've never been so happy to be overreacting in all of my life, but I'm so glad I stood firm on not being transferred down to the bigger city.