My Preterm Labor Experience

In a previous pregnancy, I started having contractions at 24 weeks after I slipped on ice. After consulting my obstetrician I headed to the hospital for monitoring. It was concluded that I was indeed having contractions and that I was already starting to dilate. Little did I know then that a long road was ahead of me to make it to 37 weeks when my baby would be considered full term.

At the hospital, I was hooked up to a fetal monitor to check on the baby's heartbeat and a pressure monitor to see if I was having contractions. I was contracting at around 5 minutes apart. The doctors had me lay on my left side and gave me oxygen in an attempt to determine if my contractions were productive. They were productive and I was dilated to 2 cm.

The decision was then made to give me magnesium sulfate through my IV. Little did I know at the time that I would spend the next 3 days absolutely miserable. I wasn't allowed to get out of bed except to use the bathroom; and even then, I had to get out of bed, sit in a wheelchair, roll to the bathroom with IVs attached, transfer to the toilet and then get back in the wheelchair to go back to bed. While I was in bed, the nurses told me how I had to position myself so I wasn't comfortable very often.

While getting the magnesium sulfate, I had to have blood work done every four hours, which meant a new stick with a needle. By the end of the three days, my arm was black and blue. They could only draw blood from one arm because the IV with the magnesium sulfate solution was going into the other arm.

Another downside to the magnesium sulfate therapy was that I wasn't allowed to eat. This made me extremely sick. I was vomiting several times per hour. I was getting nutrition through my IV but since I was pregnant and wasn't allowed to eat real foods, I was sick.

Luckily after three days, I was able to be weaned off of the magnesium sulfate solution. I was kept in observation for another day and then sent home with pills to take if/when I felt any contractions, and I started having weekly doctor appointments. The pills worked and I delivered my healthy baby at 39 weeks.