The doctors at University Hospital do weekly rotations.  Sunday was the end of one doctor’s rotation (Milton and I really liked him).  Milton and I talked with him in depth about what his plan for the next two weeks would be if he were here.  It was a great conversation and I understood his course of action. Today started a different doctor.  I hadn’t met him yet because he had been off work with a broken arm.  He came in with the cast still on but I liked him based off our first conversation.

His plan was similar to the previous doctor but a little in reverse.  Previous doctor wanted to do the betamethasone shot earlier in the week and the fetal fibronectin test later.  This doctor wanted to do the opposite.  Short education level:

Betamethasone – this is a shot given in your booty, once or two over a 24 hour period.  It’s purpose is to help with lung development in case the baby is delivered early. However, it only stays in your body for up to two weeks.

Fetal Fibronectin – this is a test that can be done on women who are 24-34 weeks pregnant.  They pretty much scrape inside of your va-jay-jay.  It shows if a certain fluid is present (which shouldn’t be present toward the end of your pregnantcy) exists. If the results are negative, then there is a 99% chance that you will NOT deliver in the next two weeks.  However, if the results are positive, there is a 33% chance that you might deliver in the next several weeks.

Current doctor wanted to do the fetal fibronectin test first because if the results were negative then there’s no reason to give me the beta shot.  I was excited at the possibilities because if my results came up negative, they were considering letting me go home early since the probability of me delivery before 32 weeks was 1% likely.

I said my prayer “Come on 99%!” This was not the time to be a part of the unique group.  One of the residents that I see daily came in around 11:00am to do the test. I thought positive thoughts.  It took very little time and the results would have one taken 1-2 hours.  I ate lunch (my left over Cracker Barrel Milton bought us the night before) and was watching tv. The resident came back in and said the results were positive.  THAT SUCKS!!!  No early hospital dismissal for me.  Baby Turner may still come out sooner than later.

I was very disappointed.  More disappointed from this than anything I’ve experienced since I was first told I’d be entering the hospital. I was sad.  My normal smile was non-existent.  While sitting there sulking, and after calling and telling Milton the unpleasant news, a nurse came in an worsened my mood even more. Labor and delivery was filling up so they needed to move me AGAIN back over to Post Partum (their over flow).  I was NOT a happy.  This move would have been my 5th room in less than three weeks.  Milton was not there to help me so I’d have to pack/move everything solo.  I instantly shut down and didn’t want to be bothered by really anyone. I had flashbacks of the closet they call a room in room 321. I started packing my things and then just laid there. I turned off the lights and tried to devise a plan where I could maybe go back to Baptist East for these last two weeks if it meant I would be in ONE decent room.

An assistant nurse of some sort brought in a cart and was going to walk away before asking if I needed any help putting my thing on it. Umm yeah… I have a month’s worth of both my and my husbands items, I’m on bed rest, can only walk 20 minutes a day, can not to do exercise or activities that involved using ab muscles – and you ask if I need help?

Almost an hour passes before the nurse comes back, and I wasn’t about to look for me.  She, Charley, was actually very helpful.  She could tell that I was bothered by this move and the constant transitions and wanted to see if there was something they could do.  Luckily someone gave birth which freed up another room.  By the end of the night, six women gave birth which freed up several rooms. If she hadn’t have been my cheerleader, I would have been stuck in the crammed up room while many free rooms were still available here.

I stayed in a funk the rest of the day and laid low as much as possible.  I thought about whether I would ever be able to put on my  maternity clothes again before giving birth. Milton brought some great dessert from the Homemade Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen and Baby Turner kept moving around to remind me that it’s all about him. I love him already and just want him to be okay and healthy.”