One birthday celebrated, another delayed

Aaron's birthday came on February 5th, and we celebrated it with some decorations, little gifts and yummy food. Here is the 25-year-old himself, with dog.

Here is the cake!Another pregnancy photo, at about 28 weeks:

On February 16, during the night I woke up feeling like I had cramps, a constant tight feeling. The feeling matched with contractions but contractions are supposed to last only about a minute, come and go, and at 31 weeks pregnant only come once in a while if at all. Aaron gave me a blessing, we waited a while for it to stop, but after I threw up we called the doctor, who said to go in to Labor and Delivery, so off we went!

Once we found the labor and delivery area, they hooked me up to monitors and started taking tests. It was fun to hear and see the baby's heartbeat and the ups and downs of my contractions. Less fun was getting some urine to check for infection, finding out how dilated and effaced I was, and something called a fetal fibronectin test that checks for a protein that shows up 1-3 weeks before going into labor. Results of those tests: baby heartbeat good, contractions every 2 1/2 minutes (in real labor they are usually 3-5 minutes apart), no infection, 1 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, and the fetal fibronectin test had a problem and couldn't be read. They put an IV in to give me fluids because throwing up had dehydrated me, gave 3 shots of Brethine (weird stuff that made me shake all over, but stopped the contractions) and a shot of Betamethasone (helps the baby's lungs in case he is born early).

The doctor and nurse told me to stay in bed on Thursday and come in on Friday morning for another Betamethasone shot and fetal fibronectin test. The fetal fibronectin test came back positive, which means I was at risk for having water break and going into labor within the next few weeks. Possible causes: dehydration, working too much and putting too much pressure on the cervix. My guess is that it was (at least partly) those two long school meetings I had on Wednesday sitting on hard chairs. Anyway, I don't have to sit in any more meetings because I am now permanently a stay at home mom! Yay! I am not supposed to sit upright or stand at all except to go to the bathroom or eat. Bedrest gets boring occasionally but if it keeps little boy in there until he is more developed, it will be good. The nurse said if the baby is born after 34 weeks he will probably be ok to take home from the hospital. We are almost there! Of course, full term would be ideal and that is still 6 weeks away.

Aside from the risk of premature birth, it was kind of fun to get a taste of the labor and delivery rooms, equipment and procedures, and even the feeling of starting to go into labor. We feel more prepared. I am very thankful for priesthood blessings, medical care and good family and friends. Aaron is very sweetly taking care of me. We are sure that whatever happens it will be ok.

Notice our cute bassinet and my new ukulele on the side table! I have had plenty of time to play it.