Emergency Unexpected Preterm Labor!
Donation protected
Short summary (full story in depth below):
When you think that nothing can happen to you, the pregnancy is flawless and everything is smooth sailing, it can change in a blink of an eye with no explanation. Monday morning June 4th I started showing signs of preterm labor. After initial precautions were taken I was admitted to the local Bozeman hospital on Tuesday. They kept me overnight for observation with the plan to be released on Wednesday. Things took a turn fast and Wednesday morning I was medevaced to the top tier hospital in Montana with the expectation that a very little, very helpless, and very underdeveloped baby was coming into this world. I was completely out of control, my body turned into what seemed to be medical experiments with tubes and wires everywhere. I was terrified. My body was failing at the one thing it was supposed to be made for, keeping my baby safe and growing him until he was ready for the world. All I could think of was he wasn't ready, he needs longer. The next 24 hours we were on the edge of our seats, the nurses and fetal medicine doc doing everything they could to keep baby inside. I was in full surrender. With faith and so much love and prayers coming our way Thursday morning brought good news. For now labor had slowed and I could begin to be weaned off the meds, tubes and 24 hr nurse care. Since I was only 31 weeks and this baby was trying to come 2+ months early we adopted a new motto that 1 more day in my belly was 2 more days out of the NICU. We were thankful to be in outstanding hands in a phenomenal hospital. Friday I was discharged but ordered to stay in the area until baby hit 34 weeks gestation. This was due to the fact that Bozeman hospital is not equipped to take preemies under that age. If this little boy decided he was too excited and wanted to still come early we needed to avoid being flown back.
We are not out of the woods yet but each day is a tremendous victory. The realities of the week are catching up to us though. The overnight hospital stays, the expensive tests, 2 ambulance rides, 1 medevac plane ride, being stuck in another town away from work and incurring hotel/airbnb fees for weeks is adding up quick. If you know Tanner or myself you know we are tenacious people and never ask for help. However, if this week taught us anything it's that we can't do this alone and we know we need to accept the help that is offered.
Thank you for any and all support, even just sharing is a huge help!
Recap of the past week in detail:
On Monday morning June 4th I went in for what seemed to be a normal prenatal appointment. Having had slight spotting the night before they wanted to be cautious that everything was okay. Upon exam it was discovered that I had dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced (thinned out) and the baby was much lower than they would like to see at 31 weeks gestation. An ultrasound was scheduled and it was discovered that my cervix was very thin and baby was breech. I was sent home to rest and report if any additional changes occurred.
Tuesday morning I woke to contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. Back to the doctor I went to discover that I was now dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced. Tuesday mid morning I was admitted to Bozeman Hospital to receive medication to try and stop labor and progression... I was over 2 months early!! At first they thought this would take only a few hours and then they decided they wanted to keep me overnight for observation.
Wednesday morning seemed like everything had slowed down. I no longer felt the contractions and baby seemed to be doing great. The last step was to get another cervical exam and confirm that progression had stopped as well. This was not what they found. I had continued to progress and was now 2cm dilated and 90% effaced. Everything that happened after that is pretty much a blur.
Bozeman Hospital is not equipped to take preemies under 32 weeks and that's pushing it. They are comfortable taking 34 weekers and up. Meaning if I continued to progress they would need to perform a C-Section, cause baby is breech, and then he would need to be transported to a top tier NICU and we would be separated.
A call was made to Billings Clinic and they requested a Medevac (flight) immediately to their facility. I was put on high dose of Magnesium, awful stuff, given a catheter and told to choose someone to fly with me. Oh and the plane would be there in under 40 minutes. I was a whirlwind of emotions. Trying to wrap my mind around delivering a very little baby, being separated from my husband who had to stay with the dogs and then drive to meet me, and all the unknowns. Plus I was super uncomfortable.
30 minutes later I was loaded on an ambulance with a medevac team, a NICU nurse from Billings Clinic and on my way. The plane ride was quick but very uncomfortable. The pressure changes made my contractions more uncomfortable and I was strapped to a very hard bed unable to move and get more comfortable. When I arrived my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and the Billings team went into action to halt them.
The next 24 hours I remained on the Magnesium, making me a fall risk and requiring help to the bathroom, vitals taken every 45 minutes and constant monitoring of the baby. I had a large bore IV in my forearm, air pressure cuffs to stop blood clots on my legs, monitors stuck all over my body and so many machines. I got very little sleep that night as the nurse had to continue my monitoring through the night and in the morning I met the MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist). They were the reason I was in Billings, they specialize in high risk premature babies, which was the category I was now in.
Thursday morning arrived and the doc was happy with my overnight monitoring and allowed me to be taken off of Magnesium, get the catheter removed and use the bathroom myself. I was thrilled. She scheduled a FFN (Fetal fibronectin) test and ultrasound for that afternoon to try and get more definitive answers. The test is odd cause they only use it if it comes back negative, if it's positive they ignore it cause it has a high likelihood of false positives. Mine came back positive so it was negated. The ultrasound went good. We confirmed that baby was Frank Breech and wedged very low in my pelvis. They took measurements and he is weighing in at about 3.6 lbs. His head is in the 95th percentile but his stomach is in the 1 percentile. This could be due to his positioning or how he is taking the nutrients from the placenta. This will require a follow up ultrasound at 35 weeks if we get that far.
I was ordered to stay resting and be monitored for an additional 24 hours and come Friday morning they would do another cervical exam to ensure I hadn't progressed further. For now my contractions had almost entirely stopped.
Friday morning came and they confirmed that I was still 2cm dilated but had thickened a touch and was now 70-80% effaced. This was great news. This meant we could be discharged from the hospital but would need to stay in Billings until I was 34 weeks so I could quickly get to the hospital if anything changed. They had stopped the labor and now we just took it day by day.
Which brings us to present time. Tanner and I (as well as our pups) will be staying in Billings, 2 hours away from our home, for the next 2 weeks (through June 25th). At that point in time I will be cleared to travel back to Bozeman where they will be able to care for a 34 week preemie, if he chooses to come early and we should be able to avoid any emergency medevac flights.
Tanner has had to shut his business down for 2 weeks, I may be able to take minimal clients and we will be incurring the cost of a hotel or air bnb. That on top of the insane amount of medical bills we have obtained in the past 5 days and buying a house just 3 weeks ago have put our finances in a very tight spot. If you know us you know we are resilient, we don't take/ask for help and we always find a way. This is true for our current situation but we know that without the love and support of family/friends over the past week we couldn't have gotten through this time. Same goes for finances. We have had many folks ask if they can help so I thought it would be smart to set up this gofundme and have a place to send everyone.
We are not out of the woods yet but each day is a tremendous victory. Our new saying is 1 more day in the belly is 2 more days out of the NICU. Here's to praying this baby boy stays in a while longer and we can return home soon. Each day is a blessing and we are learning to surrender, trust and not take the simple things in life for granted. How quickly everything can change, the unexpected is truly a thing.
Thank you for all your love and prayers.
When you think that nothing can happen to you, the pregnancy is flawless and everything is smooth sailing, it can change in a blink of an eye with no explanation. Monday morning June 4th I started showing signs of preterm labor. After initial precautions were taken I was admitted to the local Bozeman hospital on Tuesday. They kept me overnight for observation with the plan to be released on Wednesday. Things took a turn fast and Wednesday morning I was medevaced to the top tier hospital in Montana with the expectation that a very little, very helpless, and very underdeveloped baby was coming into this world. I was completely out of control, my body turned into what seemed to be medical experiments with tubes and wires everywhere. I was terrified. My body was failing at the one thing it was supposed to be made for, keeping my baby safe and growing him until he was ready for the world. All I could think of was he wasn't ready, he needs longer. The next 24 hours we were on the edge of our seats, the nurses and fetal medicine doc doing everything they could to keep baby inside. I was in full surrender. With faith and so much love and prayers coming our way Thursday morning brought good news. For now labor had slowed and I could begin to be weaned off the meds, tubes and 24 hr nurse care. Since I was only 31 weeks and this baby was trying to come 2+ months early we adopted a new motto that 1 more day in my belly was 2 more days out of the NICU. We were thankful to be in outstanding hands in a phenomenal hospital. Friday I was discharged but ordered to stay in the area until baby hit 34 weeks gestation. This was due to the fact that Bozeman hospital is not equipped to take preemies under that age. If this little boy decided he was too excited and wanted to still come early we needed to avoid being flown back.
We are not out of the woods yet but each day is a tremendous victory. The realities of the week are catching up to us though. The overnight hospital stays, the expensive tests, 2 ambulance rides, 1 medevac plane ride, being stuck in another town away from work and incurring hotel/airbnb fees for weeks is adding up quick. If you know Tanner or myself you know we are tenacious people and never ask for help. However, if this week taught us anything it's that we can't do this alone and we know we need to accept the help that is offered.
Thank you for any and all support, even just sharing is a huge help!
Recap of the past week in detail:
On Monday morning June 4th I went in for what seemed to be a normal prenatal appointment. Having had slight spotting the night before they wanted to be cautious that everything was okay. Upon exam it was discovered that I had dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced (thinned out) and the baby was much lower than they would like to see at 31 weeks gestation. An ultrasound was scheduled and it was discovered that my cervix was very thin and baby was breech. I was sent home to rest and report if any additional changes occurred.
Tuesday morning I woke to contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. Back to the doctor I went to discover that I was now dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced. Tuesday mid morning I was admitted to Bozeman Hospital to receive medication to try and stop labor and progression... I was over 2 months early!! At first they thought this would take only a few hours and then they decided they wanted to keep me overnight for observation.
Wednesday morning seemed like everything had slowed down. I no longer felt the contractions and baby seemed to be doing great. The last step was to get another cervical exam and confirm that progression had stopped as well. This was not what they found. I had continued to progress and was now 2cm dilated and 90% effaced. Everything that happened after that is pretty much a blur.
Bozeman Hospital is not equipped to take preemies under 32 weeks and that's pushing it. They are comfortable taking 34 weekers and up. Meaning if I continued to progress they would need to perform a C-Section, cause baby is breech, and then he would need to be transported to a top tier NICU and we would be separated.
A call was made to Billings Clinic and they requested a Medevac (flight) immediately to their facility. I was put on high dose of Magnesium, awful stuff, given a catheter and told to choose someone to fly with me. Oh and the plane would be there in under 40 minutes. I was a whirlwind of emotions. Trying to wrap my mind around delivering a very little baby, being separated from my husband who had to stay with the dogs and then drive to meet me, and all the unknowns. Plus I was super uncomfortable.
30 minutes later I was loaded on an ambulance with a medevac team, a NICU nurse from Billings Clinic and on my way. The plane ride was quick but very uncomfortable. The pressure changes made my contractions more uncomfortable and I was strapped to a very hard bed unable to move and get more comfortable. When I arrived my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and the Billings team went into action to halt them.
The next 24 hours I remained on the Magnesium, making me a fall risk and requiring help to the bathroom, vitals taken every 45 minutes and constant monitoring of the baby. I had a large bore IV in my forearm, air pressure cuffs to stop blood clots on my legs, monitors stuck all over my body and so many machines. I got very little sleep that night as the nurse had to continue my monitoring through the night and in the morning I met the MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist). They were the reason I was in Billings, they specialize in high risk premature babies, which was the category I was now in.
Thursday morning arrived and the doc was happy with my overnight monitoring and allowed me to be taken off of Magnesium, get the catheter removed and use the bathroom myself. I was thrilled. She scheduled a FFN (Fetal fibronectin) test and ultrasound for that afternoon to try and get more definitive answers. The test is odd cause they only use it if it comes back negative, if it's positive they ignore it cause it has a high likelihood of false positives. Mine came back positive so it was negated. The ultrasound went good. We confirmed that baby was Frank Breech and wedged very low in my pelvis. They took measurements and he is weighing in at about 3.6 lbs. His head is in the 95th percentile but his stomach is in the 1 percentile. This could be due to his positioning or how he is taking the nutrients from the placenta. This will require a follow up ultrasound at 35 weeks if we get that far.
I was ordered to stay resting and be monitored for an additional 24 hours and come Friday morning they would do another cervical exam to ensure I hadn't progressed further. For now my contractions had almost entirely stopped.
Friday morning came and they confirmed that I was still 2cm dilated but had thickened a touch and was now 70-80% effaced. This was great news. This meant we could be discharged from the hospital but would need to stay in Billings until I was 34 weeks so I could quickly get to the hospital if anything changed. They had stopped the labor and now we just took it day by day.
Which brings us to present time. Tanner and I (as well as our pups) will be staying in Billings, 2 hours away from our home, for the next 2 weeks (through June 25th). At that point in time I will be cleared to travel back to Bozeman where they will be able to care for a 34 week preemie, if he chooses to come early and we should be able to avoid any emergency medevac flights.
Tanner has had to shut his business down for 2 weeks, I may be able to take minimal clients and we will be incurring the cost of a hotel or air bnb. That on top of the insane amount of medical bills we have obtained in the past 5 days and buying a house just 3 weeks ago have put our finances in a very tight spot. If you know us you know we are resilient, we don't take/ask for help and we always find a way. This is true for our current situation but we know that without the love and support of family/friends over the past week we couldn't have gotten through this time. Same goes for finances. We have had many folks ask if they can help so I thought it would be smart to set up this gofundme and have a place to send everyone.
We are not out of the woods yet but each day is a tremendous victory. Our new saying is 1 more day in the belly is 2 more days out of the NICU. Here's to praying this baby boy stays in a while longer and we can return home soon. Each day is a blessing and we are learning to surrender, trust and not take the simple things in life for granted. How quickly everything can change, the unexpected is truly a thing.
Thank you for all your love and prayers.
Organizer
Malena Metz
Organizer
Bozeman, MT
