Maternity Triage - 30 weeks

So, we made our first and hopefully last visit to the maternity triage center. I was having my weekly NST and they said I was having contractions. I didn't feel anything at all, but they called to check with the doc anyway. She sent me over to triage to get checked out. Of course it was the first week that I went to the appt by myself! Since I wasn't in any pain I drove myself (it's only 2 seconds away) But, I had to call Tim and tell him to come to the hospital in the calmest possible way. I checked myself in and sat and waited. It only took Tim 15 minutes to get there and when he did I was hooked up to the fetal heart monitors and the contraction monitor. He looked frazzled and I was totally freaked out. Neither one of us has been through this before and had no idea what was going to happen. She explained the tests they were going to do. The fetal fibronectin, check my cervix and monitor me for a while.

Fetal fibronectin - they take a swab to check for the absense of this protein which indicates with a 99% accuracy that you're not in preterm labor. They use a giant cotton swab to swab the inside of your business. Kicker is, they have to leave it in there for one minute. OY! Before she did the test she asked if we'd had sex in the last 24 hours (apparently, that can cause a false positive) I answered "Um, no. Not in the last 4 weeks" and of course, Tim had a comment from behind the curtain.

Cervix check - ok, this one I know but since I was all hooked up to monitors and laying on my left side on a horrible bed with no stirrups I wasn't sure how the exam was going to happen. Let me tell you, this was very, very painful! She laid the bed back and I had to hold my leg up while she attempted to reach my cervix. In that position the cervix is far away and in a weird ass angle. Needless to say was she could not reach it and had to call another nurse in to try. So, I had to endure this fun twice! The second nurse tried harder and that hurt worse. She could barely find it which turned into a good thing since it obviously wasn't dilated at all.

Tim stayed behind the curtain for all this fun. I could just see his shoes and he could hear me in pain. Definitely not something I'm looking forward to repeating.

While we waited for the results of the test we just sat there and looked at each other. Every few minutes the alarm would sound that one baby moved and was no longer on the heart monitor. They'd come in and find him and leave. After about an hour of that, the first nurse came back in with a small needle. Terbutaline. She said "it's a small needle, but I hear it has a big sting." It's used to stop contractions altogether and if it works quickly it means no preterm labor and I get to go home. Well, mother effer! She wasn't kidding about the sting. I couldn't tell which was worse the cervix check or the shot. Ugh! Within 5 minutes I was jumpy and shaking. Fun side effects of the shot.

15 minutes later she came back with the results. Contractions stopped, fetal fibronectin negative. Woo hoo! She was sending us home! She said that she thought the doc was being overly cautious since I wasn't in any pain, wasn't bleeding or leaking fluid, but the doc said to do the tests so they have to do them. She said "we'd like to keep you pregnant for another 5 weeks." Exactly what we were thinking!

So, after 2 hours I was totally fine. Wasn't in labor and the babies weren't in any danger. Thank God!