At 25 weeks, there was a risk of premature birth…
25 weeks and 2 days pregnant
Suddenly, I got severe cramps at the top of my stomach. It felt like my intestines. "Oh, it will pass soon," I thought. The pain was intense, but I thought it would subside on its own. After a night of "sleeping," I still called the maternity ward of the hospital where I was under observation. The cramps had now also moved to the lower part of my stomach and were making me more anxious. At 09:30, I was connected to the CTG. At 12:00, the gynecologist came to tell us that it had nothing to do with our little girl, but we could see that the gynecologist was also not entirely sure. I asked for a surgeon because I had a gastric bypass in 2013. Maybe it was related to that?! The surgeon wanted an ultrasound of my gallbladder, kidneys, and stomach. Nothing came of it, and I was sent back upstairs. After a lot of discussion and a long wait, the door flew open and the midwife shouted: "We're going to administer lung maturation now! You need to go to another hospital." I completely panicked, broke down, and cried intensely. Nothing was explained to me, except that I had to go to Eindhoven in an ambulance. My husband followed in his own car.
At 23:30 we arrived at the Maxima hospital and I was taken to the maternity suites. Here we finally received the explanation we were so eagerly searching for. Our girl was given lung maturation because they thought I had an intestinal hernia (twisted intestine). I might need to undergo surgery. They also told us about the NICU, that our girl was strong and doing incredibly well. I was given an IV. During the night, they asked us if our other son could be brought in and if they could book the Ronald McDonald house for us. The first day in Eindhoven consisted of doctors, nurses, and dietitians. Every time I ate something, I got stomach pains. Because of this, we switched to a liquid diet. Phew, what a nightmare. All this time, our girl was doing incredibly well. The doctors wanted to do an MRI scan. I was not even half an hour back in the room when the door opened: 'We are going to operate on you today.' We were so scared because there was a (small) chance that our girl would be born before 26 weeks.
The surgery went well. I had already been lying on the CTG for over four hours. I had hard bellies, but fortunately no dilation. The next day, the hard bellies became quite regular and painful. Every hour they measured my cervix. Again, no dilation. The following day, the hard bellies became even more painful and I also felt back labor. On the CTG, they were clearly visible. I was puffing like crazy and becoming increasingly scared. The baby's heartbeat fluctuated wildly: it went from very high to low and vice versa. We thought: "This is it! They're going to take her out!" After a few hours, the contractions seemed to subside. The gynecologist told us they were not going to take the baby out, because it still looked good. I was allowed to go home with a lot of rest.
I am currently 27 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and our little girl is still nice and warm inside me. Although the doctors are very positive and do not anticipate a premature birth happening soon, my fear has not completely subsided.
