For All Those Concerned...

Thanks to all of you who have been concerned for me, thinking of me & praying for me. I thought I'd give a quick update. I did end up spending most of this day at the hospital being monitored. I went to church this morning as usual, but was feeling pretty uncomfortable. At 10:45 a.m. I noticed that I'd had a couple contractions pretty close together so I started keeping track and ended up having 5 in a 30 minute period and then 10 in a 70 minute timeframe. My doctor had said at my last appointment that if I experienced more than 6 contractions in an hour to call. So, after church I called and talked to the answering service and the doctor on call called me back about 12:30 p.m. and said he'd like me to go to Labor & Delivery at the hospital to be monitored...so on I went. I dropped the girls off at home and Emily met us there. She ended up keeping them all afternoon. Thank you Em! I went on to the hospital and sure enough I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced (sorry if that's too much information). They kept me monitored and started an IV of fluids because I was dehydrated. They were hoping that getting me rehydrated would stop the contractions, but it didn't, at least not as quick as they had hoped. They kept me on the fluids and then betwen 4:30-5:00 p.m. the contractions finally started fading and not coming as often. Since I wasn't dilating anymore they decided to send me home around 7 p.m., but not before telling me that I needed to stay off my feet as much as I possibly can and make sure I'm eating and drinking regularly. I have to be careful for 2 more weeks & once I reach 36 weeks, as of right now, I can resume regular activity pretty much & if I go in to labor, they will let me go ahead and deliver. So, now I am on to all the books I can read to the girls & games we can play. I will definitely have to constantly be reminding myself to take it easy as that does not come naturally to me.

I do have to say that the highlight of my day was spending some extra time just David & I. He's been extremely busy lately and was able to spend about an hour and a half with me at the hospital before needing to leave to go to a Pastor's Enrichment Retreat with Pastor John. I think he was kind of hesitant to leave me, but I assured him I would be fine & that there was nothing to worry about. He so deserves this time to relax, unwind & be refreshed. It was, of course, hard to see him leave (as it always is) but I know he will only come back a better husband & father for taking the time to regroup and be refreshed in his relationship with Christ.