On Saturday of last week, I asked my Facebook network for prayers regarding this pregnancy. If you ever wondered if your prayers were effective, please continue reading.
On Saturday, I started having regular contractions. They weren't close enough together to cause real concern yet, but I was on red-alert. The baby almost stopped moving. The contractions went away.
On Sunday, I started having regular contractions again. I had maybe 3-4 an hour, and I wasn't supposed to worry until they got to 6 an hour. The baby stopped moving again. The contractions went away.
On Monday, I started having contractions again. This time, I had 7 in one hour and I promptly called my doctor. The doc said to go ahead to the hospital because it sounded like I was going into active labor.
They hooked me up to all the monitors and an IV and started running tests. At one point, my contractions were 3 minutes apart. I was starting to get really scared (who am I kidding... I was already really scared - I just got more scared).
The tests they ran showed that I had an infection that was causing labor symptoms, and if left untreated would have put me into preterm labor. They held me for observation for a few hours and gave me a shot to stop the contractions. I'm currently on antibiotics to kill the infection and my contractions have completely stopped. The baby is back to his usual, wiggly self.
I didn't know anything was wrong yet when I made my request on Saturday morning. I completely believe that God used the prayers of my friends and family to protect me and Baby on Monday.
Monday night reminded me that I still have a long way to go with this pregnancy. I'm 31 weeks today, which is 2 weeks earlier than when I had Elijah (33 weeks). We're really getting down to the wire on the window when I'm at the highest risk. Every day I keep the baby is a gift, and vitally important to his (and my) safety. If you have been praying for me, please don't stop. We need your prayers desperately.
On an aside, the attending physician who took care of me on Monday is the daughter of the surgeon who did all of Elijah's surgeries. So that was cool.
