Trip to the ER

I was doing so well. Everything about my pregnancy was going great, I was feeling good and there were no complications. That was until Sunday when I ended up in the emergency room.

After church on Sunday, Craig and I stopped by the pet store to get some more dog food for Sadie. We were walking out of the store, across the parking lot back to my car, when I suddenly felt my right ankle twist. I wasn’t able to regain my balance and fell face forward straight onto my belly. I didn’t hit my knees or any other part of my body first–just smack dab onto my belly. I immediately started crying because I had just landed on my baby!

The bone I was carrying, which Sadie absolutely loves.

Craig came running to my side and said we need to get to the hospital immediately. The midwife told me that I must come in right away if I ever fall, stop feeling the baby move, have heavy spotting, or have regular contractions. We drove to the emergency room and checked in with labor and delivery.

As soon as they put the heart rate monitor on my belly, and we heard the baby’s heart beat, I breathed a little sigh of relief. But I still wasn’t sure that everything was okay because I hadn’t felt the baby move. Plus I didn’t know what else could have gone wrong.

They wanted to monitor me for 6 hours, so Craig and I hung out in the room waiting, listening to the heart rate, and monitoring my contractions. (I was having them but couldn’t feel them.) They hooked me up to an IV, drew my blood, and took my blood pressure periodically. The doctor came in a couple hours later and said so far everything was looking good. Phew! She wanted me to stay until 10 p.m. that night to make sure everything remained okay.

By 9 p.m. I was starving since I hadn’t eaten in 7 hours. The nurse offered to bring me a sandwich and some other food. I inhaled that sandwich, chips, applesauce, and two cookies like no one’s business. It was the best hospital food I had ever had! So good that I had to recreate it for lunch today. Ha!

The doctor came back around 10 p.m. and said that my contractions were a little too strong and too frequent, so she would feel better if I spent the night and they monitored everything throughout the night. I was looking forward to going home and sleeping in my own bed, but I also knew that it would be best for them to continue to monitor me for the sake of the baby.

The doctor came back the next morning at 6:30 a.m. and said everything was looking good, so she said I was cleared to go back home. I was starting to feel a little sore from the fall–my right arm, shoulder, and inner thigh were sore from catching myself, but other than that I was fine. When I got home, I had breakfast and then went back to bed since I hadn’t slept that well at the hospital.

My cankles that may have caused me to twist my ankle and fall.

So that was our first parent freak-out. As we were driving to the ER, I was convinced they were going to have to do an emergency C-section. Thankfully they did not. I just felt absolutely terrible for doing something so stupid even though it was an accident. I have worn those boots before but never felt unsteady in them. I don’t remember stepping on a rock or hitting a crack in the pavement. I am guessing it was the combination of my center of gravity being off, my swollen ankles, and the fact my joints are becoming more loosey-goosey in anticipation of delivery. I told Craig I am just going to hold his arm like an elderly woman from now on everywhere I go.