2/12/11

 I had been having a completely normal pregnancy, complete with the nausea, headaches, and worries of a new mom to be. I never anticipated being alone while my other half was serving our country. Things had been crazy and definitely stressful. Brian and I married within a week of learning of his deployment, thanks to some quick acting friends. We traveled to Punta Cana for a week-long honeymoon. We moved from Dallas to Iowa so I could be close to my family during his absence. We drove to Massachusetts to get him settled before his training was to begin. There was so much going on, but everything changed at 1 in the morning on Feb 9th. I woke up in a pool of water and knew something was seriously wrong. I rushed in to wake my Mom and asked her to take me to the ER. That night was one of the scariest of my life. I had no idea what was to become of me or our unborn child but I was only 26 weeks and 5 days into this pregnancy. After several early morning calls to the Red Cross, we were able to get Brian to Iowa from his Army base in the Northeast. He arrived at 8 pm the next day and I was relieved to have him by my side. After some tears we tried to make sense of the situation. The condition is called PROM, or premature rupture of membrane. Why did this happen to me? Possibly an infection or the stress? Had I done something wrong to cause this? The worry is overwhelming at times. I was told I would have to remain on bedrest in the hospital until I delivered our baby...which could mean days or weeks. For an active adult, this was awful news, but I accepted the terms in order to keep the baby safe. I would do anything to keep her safe. Her. The concept of bedrest is much worse than it appears. Laying in bed all day and night without the comforts of home...sure there is internet access, phones, food, and tvs, but it's not like I can leave my room, walk outside, run errands, make dinner, walk the dogs or do anything in my usual routine. Today marks the end of day 4 of bedrest and I am going nuts!