Father and Sons

When I started this ‘All About Fathers‘ blog, I know I will be blogging about not just my moments with my son, but also with my wife’s pregnancy. But I never thought that I would be blogging about preterm labor.

My wife had to be admitted to the hospital after her scheduled checkup with her OB/GYNE last Tuesday, Feb. 12. She was advised by her doctor to stay at the hospital for observation. This was after my wife complained that her tummy (the one with the baby) often times becomes tight and hard to the touch.

This was a contraction, according to the OB/GYN.

She was then IE’d (IE? not sure what the term was but the doctor did not use any cervimeter instrument) and found out that the cervix is already 2 to 3cm!. So, it was confirmed that the tightness my wife felt was indeed contractions.

Feuterine contractions cause the cervix to open earlier than normal. This can result in the birth of a premature baby.

I found these signs of premature labor:Premature Labor Signs and Symptoms

• A contraction every 10 minutes, or more often within one hour (five or more uterine contractions in an hour).
• Watery fluid leaking from vagina (could indicate that your water bag is broken).
• Menstrual-like cramps.
• Low, dull backache.
• Pelvic pressure that feels like the baby is pushing down.
• Abdominal cramps that may occur with or without diarrhea.
• Unusual or sudden increase of vaginal discharge.
• Blood from your vagina.

With those handful of signs, my wife only had tightness feeling or pelvic pressure that feels like the baby is pushing down as well abdominal cramps.

So, we stayed at the hospital for 3 days. Total bed rest and under observation. Her conditioned improved. She was given medicines that apparently helped in stopping the preterm labor symptoms. The one that stuck to mind was Bricanyl 2.5 milligrams.

Here’s a list of what to do (or in our case, what have done) in case a pregnant wife encounters those signs and symptoms of premature labor:

• Hydration (Oral or IV)
• Bed rest (Home or Hospital), usually left side lying
• Medications to stop labor (Magnesium sulfate, brethine, terbutaline, Bricanyl etc.)
• Medication to help prevent infection (antibiotics)
• Evaluation of your baby (Biophysical profile, non-stress or stress tests, amniotic fluid volume index (AFI), ultrasound, etc.)
• Medications to help your baby’s lung develop more quickly (Usually if preterm birth in inevitable) – Good thing this didn’t happened.

Hydration – My wife did took 3 dextrose with Bricanyl.
Bed Rest – She’s in bed for 3 days. Now that she’s home, she’s still in bed.
Medication – Antibiotics and Bricanyl

We’re off to see her doctor again this Tuesday, February 19, 2008. We hope that every thing will be fine then.

Her due date by the way is first week of March 2008. So, that’s a couple of weeks more!

Until then, we have to be very careful and always take good care of the wife… and the baby inside.