Since we’re not on Facebook, we wanted to share an update with everyone about our pregnancy. We had some complications last week and wanted to let everyone know that everyone (including our baby) is fine, but Joy is going to be waiting out the rest of her pregnancy from Huntsville Hospital.
We’ve known for a few weeks that has a fibroid in her uterus that’s been causing some pain. What is a fibroid you may ask? It’s basically a non-cancerous growth of the uterus that often appears during childbearing years. As many as 3 out of 4 women have uterine fibroids sometime during their lives, but most are unaware of them because they often cause no symptoms. It’s not dangerous but it does cause Joy some discomfort. At her last check-up on March 11th, Joy was told that she also had a UTI (urinary tract infection). Joy was given something to clear up the UTI and was told to drink plenty of water.
On the morning of Friday March 20, around 2 a.m., Joy noticed some blood in her urine and we decided to head to the emergency room to have it checked out. Our OB was called and he said it’s possible for that to happen with a UTI. The doctor on staff checked her cervix and it was tight and closed. So our OB called in a prescription for an antibiotic and we were about to be discharged. The next time she went to the bathroom Joy noticed it was vaginal bleeding and when she mentioned that to the nurse, the nurse called our OB back and he suggested we stay until he could check her out in the morning.
When the OB arrived later that day, Joy told him that she had to pee a lot on Thursday afternoon. Like a LOT. Almost a gush. Upon hearing that, our OB did a thorough ultrasound and we discovered that Joy’s water had broke at some point on Thursday. He admitted us to the antepartum section and put Joy on bed rest.
What does all this mean? When we were admitted, Joy was at 21 weeks. A normal pregnancy is 40 weeks, so the ruptured membrane and loss of amniotic fluid was too early. The baby is still healthy and growing, but there’s a slightly higher chance of infection without the fluid and if the baby decided it was now time to deliver, he/she would not have the best chances.
Now what? Our OB said we just need to rest and wait it out and hope we can get to 24 weeks so they could administer steroids to aid in the babies growth so that should Joy spontaneously deliver, the baby would have a stronger chance of surviving. Joy and I are very optimistic about the whole situation. We’ve prayed and waited a long time for this baby and we’ve been praying extra hard over that last week. We’ve have a peace about whatever happens and know that it’s in God’s hands.
Joy’s mom came down as soon as she heard the news and she’s been a Godsend. She’s helped me spend time between being with Joy, getting to work, and taking care of the house and pups. Either she or I are with Joy 24/7. We’ve also had tremendous support from our friends, family, church, and employers. It’s been very touching to receive all the well wishes, prayers, visitors, and offers of assistance. You guys mean the world to us!
Since we’re going to be in the hospital for a while longer, visitors are welcome to stop by and check in on us. We’ll keep posting news and daily updates here on our website. You can subscribe or follow @gumbymac on Twitter to receive notices about new posts. Most importantly, keep us in your prayers!