The Last 24 Hours

Well - lots of you already know some or most of this, but for those who don't here is the rundown of the last 24 hours in the Elliott house. Really, the whole ordeal started before then, on Friday morning. Around 5:30am, I woke up with some light spotting. I called into work, and called the hospital and spoke with a nurse there. She said there was no need to come to ER, and I could wait until my Dr's office opened at 9:30. My Dr just told me to stay off my feet for a couple days and didn't seem overly concerned. It never got worse, and even went away at some points during the weekend. So, I went to work as usual on Monday. All day I had funny feeling of having to use the bathroom. Around 5:30pm or so, I got up after sitting for about an hour and a half taking a test online. I felt like I peed my pants. Immediately I called my mom and we headed to the ER. The ER sent me up to Labor and Delivery. After tests, bloodwork, etc. it was determined that my water broke. The dr also said it felt like I was dialated a couple of centimeters. Being only 22 weeks along, this was scary! The good news is I wasn't having contractions, so I hadn't actually started labor yet. After some deliberation, I was sent to a hospital in Lewisville that is better equipped to handle this kind of situation. Most of the prognosis at first was basically lets wait and see - there is a chance that labor will begin soon. I made it through the night with no pain and thankfully no contractions. We saw baby girl on the ultrasound and heard her heartbeat several times. Today (Tuesday) I saw several doctors and baby girl is still hanging in there. The plan right now is to wait and hope that she doesn't try to come on her own before next week. At this point, I will be 23 and a half weeks, and should labor begin, there is a lot better outlook for mom and baby. She is breach, so a C-section would probably be needed, and right now it is just too early for that. I am on antibiotics to help delay infection, and we are both being monitored closely. The biggest issue right now is that there is no fluid around the baby which prevents her lungs from developing as they should. Of course, this is on top of all the other complications that come with premature births. The dr taking care of me said that if everything remains the same they would start me on steroids on Friday. This would help with lung development. We can also hope that baby girl produces more fluid and that it sticks around rather than leaking out. After a couple days of steroids, we would wait and see if she tries to come. If so, a c-section would be performed and we would hope and pray for baby girl's survival and low complications. She could also hang out as long as she wants, only increasing her chances of being ready. There are several specialists already on board to take care of me and baby girl. So - for now, I am just hanging out, praying A LOT, and trying to keep myself entertained. I keep reminding myself that God is in control and he already has this all worked out. We appreciate your prayers - they are being heard! Every hour, day, week, that we make it without labor beginning is that much more hope! I will try to post updates as they come.