being sick sucks

Getting sick when you're 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant is no joke.  In fact, it lands you in Labor and Delivery getting IV rehydration while watching cable television.

I'll spare you all the gory details but let me just say that I started feeling sick early yesterday morning and it quickly progressed into a full blown stomach bug by mid-morning.  By mid-afternoon I was on the phone with my OB and she was telling me to go to the hospital for fluids, since I was completely unable to even keep water down, and for monitoring since I hadn't felt the baby moving quite as much as normal.  By the time I got to the hospital it had only been twelve hours since I started feeling sick but because I was so dehydrated already they had an incredibly difficult time finding a usable vein to start the IV.  First the nurse gave it a try, then the nurse anesthetist tried, and finally they had to call in the anesthesiologist to get it going.

Of course, we ended up being placed in a room two doors down from the room where we held George after he died.  The rooms all look identical and before we were even inside I was crying, remembering that short amount of time we had with him.  I don't mean to sound dramatic but it was pretty horrible.  Possibly if I was there under different circumstances it would have been less traumatizing but as it was, being there sick and somewhat concerned about this baby, I had a difficult time for the first hour or so. It was impossible not to allow myself to go back to the afternoon of March 31st, 2010 and visualize everything that happened.

We did not have to stay long, only about five hours or so.  At first the baby's heart rate was on the higher end of normal but as soon as they got the fluids flowing her rate fell back to her normal and stayed that way. At one point I was having pretty consistent mild contractions three minutes apart but, again, as I started getting rehydrated they tapered off.  In some ways it would have been nice to just be admitted and get this party started but really I am glad to have the time to come home and recoup my energy.

At my appointment with my OB this morning she said that because I had an elevated white blood count she thinks that I most likely picked up a virus, either through food or someone else, although no one else I've been around has been sick.  I'm just that lucky, I guess.  At this point I am feeling better but I still have some of the same, albeit milder, symptoms I was having yesterday.  Mostly I've been sleeping and trying to drink as much water as possible.  Oh, and eating dry Cheerios, that seems to be working fairly well for me.

Also, in other unfortunate news, my cervix is still closed.  I was really bummed about that because I had hoped that the contractions last night had at least caused some movement in the right direction towards getting labor underway.  Not so much.  Sometime this week my OB will be calling us to schedule our appointment for the c-section for next week.  I had my heart set on trying for a VBAC but Leif and I are terrified of waiting until after her due date for too long and if my cervix remains closed they cannot induce me because of my previous c-section scar.  As each day crawls by my anxiety about a cord accident and/or a failing placenta climbs.  We could continue to wait, getting NSTs and ultrasounds twice a week after 40 weeks but I'm not sure that my (or Leif's) anxiety can handle that.

As for now we wait and hope that my body starts to make a move on its own sometime this week.

Please body, get a move on, please, please, please.