Hospital Update

Here's what went down the last week for the Sloan's. I'll try to keep details to a minimum, but please remember sister and stranger alike check this blog. It's hard to find the balance...

So as many of you know, I went to the hospital Saturday, January 12th, with a really bad headache. No matter what I did I couldn't find any relief and I just seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute. When we got to the hospital, the first thing the doc did was hook me up to the b/p monitor. To our surprise my b/p came back 170/100. The doctor was EXTREMLY concerned at this point because with a blood pressure this high there is concern of stroke/seizures/and organ failure. They are also concerned because with all the vessels in the body constricted so much the babies weren't getting adequate oxygen, blood and food. They decided at this point to put me on the baby monitors and contraction monitor to make sure everything was okay with the babies. Well the babies were great! Heartbeats great, lots of movement too. In fact, they were moving so much I attributed the tightening in my stomach to them just moving so much. Boy was I wrong. Once the monitors were hooked up, they found that I was having contractions every two minutes~not good. From there it was a ton of shots, IV's, med's; anything the doctors could do to try and stop the labor and get my b/p down. Nothing was working and it was at this point that the doctor told us the scary news, they were going to have to deliver the babies if my blood pressure didn't drop and the headache didn't go away. So they hooked me up to the magnesium sulfate and turned the drip on full blast.

Now, I've heard a lot of bad things about this magnesium sulfate; however, I was pleased to find out that the only reaction I had was it made me feel like my whole body, inside and out, was on FIRE! I mean this was not like being hot because you're outside on an August afternoon in Albuquerque. This was an unreal hot that actually added some comedy to the week. Every nurse, doctor, or visitor that came in asked if I wanted the room warmed up. Apparently, the 60 degree room didn't agree with them. I, however, had bags of ice all over my body. Poor Jeremy froze too. IT WAS GREAT!~For the first time in our whole marriage, he got to be the cold one. Thankfully, within an hour of starting the drip, my b/p dropped and my headache went away. The contractions didn't stop until Monday afternoon and managed to dialate me to 2 cm however. At this point, the doctors felt I was stable enough to transfer to a long term care room in the Labor and Delivery unit and I was able to come off the magnesium and start oral medication. The oral medication seemed to work okay and eventually they discharged me on Wednesday. Well, we made it home for 10 short hours before the home monitoring company called to tell me I was back to having 14 contractions an hour~so back to the hospital we went! They kept me at the hospital until Sunday just trying to get the contractions to stop again. Finally, between a mix of two different drugs every two hours things were stable enough for us to come home once again. So, for today we're home. For today I am still pregnant. We are just hoping and praying that the babies can make it four more weeks (to 32 weeks) without the preterm labor acting up again or the preeclampsia causing me to deliver.

We are just so grateful to God that he allowed the doctors to be able to stop the contractions and that I was able to keep the babies in for another week. It's amazing how much of a difference one week can make for the babies. Even though technology has the ability to deliver and keep alive babies as young as 22 weeks, it's a long and hard road for them and usually doesn't have a great outcome. God is so good and is so faithful to us. It was such a blessing to be able to rest in the fact that He has a sovereign and perfect plan for us and our family even though things seemed so unsure. He knows and has predetermined the exact day and time that our little ones will come into the world and while we hope and pray that it's later rather than sooner, at least we can rest in the fact that it is out of our control and yet completely for our good.

Even with everything that has gone on though, I am still not ready for them to be born. I am still loving having them in my belly, feeling them move and kick, and really just having them all to myself. We waited so long to get pregnant and now that the time is finally here I feel like it's just going too fast. Maybe that's why the Lord has me on bedrest, I don't know...Maybe he just wants me to use this time to focus on him, rest, and just enjoy my babies during this final and short lap in the pregnancy. Bedrest doesn't sound so bad when I put it that way! Time to just enjoy the Lord and my babies.

We are also thankful to each of you for your love, prayers, meals, cards, words of encouragement, visits, whatever!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and we are grateful to God for each one of you. Everyone has contributed in such different ways and we have been blessed in abundance! Thank you so much. I hope I can express to you in the coming weeks how much your love has ministered to us. We do ask though that you please continuing praying for us, as we are still not out of the woods. Specifically that we would...

• Seek the Lord and His will for us.
• That I could remain healthy and pregnant for at least another four weeks.
• That the babies would continue to grow, grow, grow!
• That the doctors would have wisdom in treating me and the babies.