Baby Charlotte, you can call your mom Grace. Friday I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work to try to stock up on food before the big ice storm expected to come through. On my way into the store, I tripped on the curb – the part where it just begins to stick up from the side of the ramp. I fell forward onto my knees, hands, and belly. It was so scary! It took me a minute to realize what happened. My knees were scraped & burning, and my new jeans were torn. I also landed on my fingers rather than my whole hand, so they were bent way back & hurt a lot. I didn’t feel like I had landed on my belly very hard at all, but it had touched the pavement. I really thought I was ok & thought I had read all about how protected you are in the womb, so I shouldn’t worry. A nice man helped me up, then the grocery store manager came to get my information & ask if I needed an ambulance. I was so embarrassed to be so clumsy & cause such a fuss! I felt fine, so I got a cart & started shopping.
A woman came to me & said she saw me fall while she was parking & that I needed to call my doctor & my husband. She was very worried for me. I called the doctor’s office, but it was after hours, so they had the on-call doctor call me back. Dr. Browne was on-call, and she said I needed to go straight to the hospital to be monitored for 4-6 hours. I was very scared when she said that! She explained that anytime you fall, the placenta could tear away from the uterine wall & cause bleeding and pre-term labor. I called Barry & started crying because I was so shaken up.
I drove to Mercy hospital because it was closest & checked in to labor & delivery. They put monitors on my belly to watch your heartbeat & look for contractions. You were moving around ever since I fell, & your heartbeat was just fine, but I was having pretty regular contractions that were very close together. They were fairly mild & didn’t hurt, though. They checked my blood & urine, and found that I was dehydrated, but everything else was just fine. They had me drink a lot of water & gave me a rhogam shot just in case any of my blood came in contact with yours (because I’m rh-negative). Your daddy came to the hospital to meet me & wait with me while they checked everything. He went down to the cafeteria to get us some light supper.
The nurse came in later & told us that since I was having contractions, I would need to be monitored overnight. An ultrasound technician came in to check you & the placenta. It was really great to get to see you again! You didn’t have as much room as the last time we saw you, and were much bigger. The placenta looked just fine & was attached nicely with no evidence of tearing. This was really good news! Then she checked your gender for us just to be sure, and you are definitely a girl! I’m not worried anymore about being surprised on labor day. J You had the fattest little cheeks & were making fists and putting your fingers in your mouth. Every ultrasound has shown you with your hands up by your face a lot. We also saw a little hair on your head!
Your daddy went home to let Roux out & to get me some things for the stay. I spent the night in the hospital, & the contractions were all but gone throughout the night & the next morning. I was just having a few here & there, which is normal anyway. Dr. Espinoza came in to check on me & discharge me for home around 9:00 a.m. I was so excited to get home before the bad weather & to take a shower.
