{yay...twice in one day!}

(Please note that was sarcasm above.)

Just after we finished our cupcakes yesterday morning I received a call from my OB's office telling me to go to labor & delivery as soon as possible over at the hospital. The call wasn't out of nowhere, mind you, it was because I have been having consistent contractions since last Saturday and finally called to find out what I should do. They were not very happy that I waited - oops - but I have to admit, I hate staying at the hospital so I just kept clinging to hope that they would subside, which they didn't. I finally decided that since I am high-risk for preterm labor I should just give them a heads up and find out how many are too many for me. They said I surpasses my "too many" on Saturday when I told them they were maybe 1-3 every hour since then (that doesn't seem like many to me, although I have NEVER had Braxton Hicks. Mine have always just been labor since I go early.)

The getting there "as soon as possible" was initially going to be a challenge with two kids to find babysitters for and not being allowed to drive. Fortunately, I called Devin just at the right time for him to let his boss know what was going on and she gave him the go-ahead to come get me. Also fortunately, our sweet friend Bonnie let us drop our boys off at her house on our way (thanks SO much Bonnie!).

When we arrived to the hospital the first time, they initiated the standard monitoring and ruled out dehydration. My contractions were more frequent than I thought, clocking in at 8-12 minutes apart! Luckily, my dilation had not increased much/any since my last cervix check. They monitored us for a while longer and, although nothing was getting better in regard to the contractions, they sent us home with the chance that we would have to come back once they heard from a doctor. Truth be told, we were frustrated because we didn't have ANY answers and there's NO WAY I would believe my Doc would want me to cope with contractions like this for the next several weeks. But, off we went to get our boys.

When the on-call Doctor finally called us, she had NO idea what was going on and after looking at my charts of earlier in the day combined with how I went into labor with Eli at that hospital, she told us to come back immediately and that we shouldn't have been sent home. (Duh?) So we waited just a couple minutes for our friends Megan and Patrick to come over to our house and stay with our boys (both of whom we had already smuggled into their beds due to such a busy day) and headed out...again. (Thanks Meg and Patrick, you're super!)

At the hospital they monitored us a bit more and the contractions were still strong - strong enough that the Doc concluded they are probably preliminary labor symptoms and although they hadn't dilated me more quite yet, she thinks they would because of their frequency. I was given a steroid shot - OUCH - to help Ava's lungs grow quicker just in case she comes anytime soon and they gave me another shot (tributylene) - WAY bigger ouch - to stop the contractions and keep labor from progressing. That shot made my heart palpitate to the point that I thought it would explode from my chest and the best part is, they sent me home with a prescription (pill-version) of these to take every 6 hours until it is safe to have the baby - which for me they consider 34 weeks. SO, another 3 weeks. The heart issue is not considered a "side-effect" for this drug, it's a guarantee as it happens to EVERYONE. Considering my fainting issues and the fact that these make the paroxysmal tachycardia about five hundred times worse, I may have to discuss with my regular OB what I should do.

Needless to say, (I'm sure you could have gathered by reading), I am on OFFICIAL - no ifs, ands, or buts about it - BEDREST! I hate it and these pills are working to stop the contractions but I may spend more time passed out than conscious from this point on which, honestly, makes me want to cry. The fainting has been hard enough, emotionally, as it is since the boys are the ones with me most often and I can only hope/assume that I am unconscious for a short minute or two. I have to keep the house EXTRA childproofed at all times just in case I hit the floor - I don't want to wake up to some sort of disaster. Which brings me to another point but this is a bit lengthy (sorry, lots on my mind) so the basic updates are done if you don't care to read farther.

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I have absolutely NO idea how to accomplish bedrest - thus the reason I wasn't very good at it the first time. Devin is gone everyday at work and most nights during the week for MBA school so he just isn't capable of helping as often as he normally would. This means I don't have much time to just lay down because I have to dress the boys, feed the boys, change Eli's diaper, help the boys, clean up the messes after the boys, bathe the boys, change Eli's diaper, lay the boys down for nap during which there are always some dishes to be done and some laundry to be folded and put away (which is upstairs and I was told no stair climbing - haha) and then start all over again when the boys wake up. Did I mention change Eli's diaper?

I have had a LOT of sweet friends (thanks to all of you) who have offered to take the boys off my hands and I have turned most of them down. I'm not trying to be stubborn, I promise, and I really do appreciate the offers. Here is the issue: Eli has SUCH terrible separation anxiety right now and just cries relentlessly in other's care. I just can't do that to him or whoever is caring for him so I always just say, "I think we're okay today. Thanks anyway." I have considered just accepting the help for Dean but if he leaves, my helper is gone. He's actually the easy one these days and helps me out ALOT. Without him it would actually be even more difficult for me to just have Eli at home.

Those are the issues I have to figure out so PLEASE know I appreciate all the offers that I receive and love you all for them. I'm just too fond of you to hand over my guaranteed-to-cry-relentlessly baby boy. :o)

Well, I'd better take my dizzy pill now - I was avoiding it long enough to type. Sorry if this sounds so negative. For the record, of course we adore that we are so close to meeting a precious new member of our family someday soon (but hopefully not too soon). It's just getting there that's been difficult this time around. I just needed to vent a little today. Okay, a lot. Thanks for reading.