Since I am past 30 weeks, the OB has required that I do bi-weekly non-stress tests. I guess this is a common thing for any risky pregnancy. For me that would be the "twins."
Basically, I have to go to the hospital and they hook Baby A and Baby B up to a heart monitor. They record the heart beats for 20 minutes and in that time, the babies heart rates need to jump a little at least 10 times or something like that. While the nurses monitor heart rates, they ask me to hit a little button each time the babies move. I guess those movements may coordinate with the heart rate movements. Also my uterus is connected to a contraction monitor. The whole process takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
My first time at the non-stress test, of course ended up taking three hours! The babies passed their test with flying colors (which is so relieving!). But I didn't! I had about 5-6 contractions while I was sitting there. This was news to me! I had never felt them before and even when the nurse asked me "The monitor is showing you're have a contraction. Do you feel that?" I was just as shocked as they were. "No," I replied. The nurse seemed worried enough about it that she had to call the doctor on call and check with him. He decided to run me through the gammot to make sure all was okay:
1) Do a urine test to ensure there is no bladder infection - 1 hour later from lab - ALL CLEAR!
2) Check my cervix to make sure it is not dialated - high, closed, and 3 cm - ALL GOOD!
3) Give me an injection of smooth muscle relaxers to stop any contractions - WORKED! (although I hated it because it gave me the jitters and I had to stay there an extra hour until I was clear)
There goes another nice dinner I was going to make myself. Getting out of the hospital at 8:00 pm, tired, and hungry, I made myself some Cream of Wheat and fell asleep.
2 comments:
Amy, Hang in there. NSTs can be annoying, but tell how well oxygenated the babies are. The nurses are looking for increases in the heart rates of 10 beats above the baseline for at least 10 seconds. As you get closer to delivery, they'll look for 15 beats above baseline for 15 seconds. The medication that they gave you is called terbutaline- it works wonders at knocking out contractions! So excited for you. Praying for you and love you! Charity
Thanks Charity for the clarification. I was kind of confused what they were looking for. I had my third test today and it was finished in record time (25 min!). Less contractions this time and as always my blood pressure looks good (120/73) and the babies are looking great too! Lots of love....
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