Hospital Food

I think I'm realizing that my body just doesn't like pregnancy. Last week I was admitted to the hospital because of the frequency of contractions I was having. The medication they had put me on previously wasn't working, so while in the hospital they put me on a different medication called Nifedipine. It's actually a medication used to lower blood pressure, but also helps to relax the blood vessels surrounding the uterus, hence slowing contractions. That medication worked much better for me and gave me fewer side effecs, so they sent me home after a couple nights in the hospital. I'm back at home on bedrest for the remainder of the time, now getting only about 2-5 contractions per hour. Being confined to my bed doesn't seem so bad now after being in the hospital for a few days.

While we were there, they did an ultrasound to check on the baby and found that his stomach is about 3-4 weeks behind in growth. The rest of his body and his brain are all right on schedule, but for some reason his little tummy area is quite small. They were concerned that this might indicate a blood flow problem to the baby, so he has to get two biophysicals per week. For these, they look at the baby via ultrasound and he is tested on five different things (muscle tone, breathing, fluid, movement and heart rate). If he passes all the "tests," then most likely blood flow is not an issue. So far he has aced all of his tests, so there's no reason to think he's not getting enough blood. We will just keep an eye on things and hope that his tummy is just a slow grower.

I'm at 31 weeks now, so we are praying for at least 6 more weeks of pregnancy. These past two weeks have actually gone by surprisingly fast. I can't believe it's the middle of January already. Here's hoping the rest of the pregnancy is smooth and quick and that I won't need to post here again until the baby is born!