Day -1: The Beginning

"I swear I'm not peeing on the floor," Shelly said. I was standing in the doorway to our bedroom watching her changing out of her pajamas. She had just pulled me into the back room to tell me, in private, that she thought her water broke. As she pulled off her pajama bottoms to put on her pants, she released more water. I stood there overwhelmed by uncertainty and concern, it was very clear there was something unusual going on. At 28 weeks 6 days, this was way too soon for her to be going into labor, and was I supposed to get her a bucket so she wouldn't get amniotic fluid all over the floor? Instead I just stood there not knowing what to do.

My friend Tessa was in town and she was kind enough to jump in the car with us and rush to the hospital. We tried to keep a light mood in the car but we were all worried for Milo's safety and were very grateful that the nearest hospital has a wonderful Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). As we arrived and got checked in, our concern rose. The nurses had to confirm it was amniotic fluid but they were fairly sure her water had broke and they told us if that was the case, we could plan on being in the hospital until Milo arrived (best case scenario, 5 weeks later once we was closer to full term), and have Shelly be on strict bed rest until then.

The doctors confirmed her water had broke and hooked her belly up to a monitor both to see his heart rate and to monitor contractions. We could hear his heart beating and it was very reassuring though we were still really scared. As Shelly began having regular contractions, the doctors gave her a pill to help stop them in the hopes Milo would stay put for a good long while.

We were really lucky to have Tessa with us because once we knew we would be in the hospital for an extended time period, she headed home and worked with Megan to pack us a travel bag. Megan, my roommate and sister-in-law, had just been through the NICU here at the very same hospital when her son was delivered 5 weeks early, just three and a half months ago so she knew exactly what we would need while we were here.

One of the games we played to pass the evening while in the hospital that first night.

The first night was scary and full of uncertainties. We had no idea why the water had broken (most likely reason is infections so they immediately started dosing Shelly with antibiotics that would help her and the baby should that be the case) and we knew the baby would likely have to come early but had no idea when. His lungs were not nearly developed enough so they gave Shelly steroids to help them develop faster and improve his chances should he need to come soon. Shelly slept fitfully because she needed to stay laying on her side to make sure Milo stayed off his umbilical cord and kept his heart rate up. Because there was no longer any fluid for him to float in, he was at a much greater risk of rolling over and pinching off the supply of necessary inputs from the umbilical cord, so the nurses would come in periodically when his heart rate dropped to have her shift positions to see if that would help. I stayed up late researching what it would mean to be born at 29 weeks. As scary as it was, our chances of having a perfectly normal baby were good. At 29 weeks, a large majority of babies can survive outside the womb and most will have minor to no lasting health issues because of it. We listened to Milo's heart beating all night and wondered how long he could stay in there and continue to develop, knowing that every day would help.

Feelings:
Anxiety over Shelly and Milo's health
Excitement over knowing the baby could come at any time
Guilt and mixed feelings about all the drugs/medicines Shelly needs to take for his health
Relief - I sent out a lot of e-mails to my work and volunteer activities telling them to count me out until this resolves, leaving me totally open to be here 100%.