This baby better be cute!!

We should have known that a 3 day weekend that starts with a Friday the 13th was a bad omen. Poor Ashley went to work Thursday concerned that she hadn't felt little Jane moving around like normal. When calling the OB GYN she learned this was more serious than we thought so she went to Kaneohe immediately to get examined. Somewhere between Wahiawa and Kaneohe she started having contractions. Her midwife then has her drive to Kapi'olani Medical Center in Honolulu, contractions and all (when she was already at Castle Hosptial) the reason being is Kapi'olani is the only hospital in Hawaii with PICU and this baby was trying to bust out her mother too early. I eventually got down there where Ashley was poked and prodded several times and injected with some pretty nasty medications to stop the pre term labor.

The Magnesium Sulfate was a 48 hr death serum which made my Ashley feel like she had been injected with the flu. The reason for 48 hrs is because that was how much time it would take the hormones they were giving baby Jane for lung development to take effect.

We were supposed to go to Maui with our friends Nick and Alysha, which we had been looking forward to to because we were going to get a nice hook up at a nice hotel and it would have been our first time visiting another island since we've been here. But we can't complain too much we did have a maternity suite with a view.

Ashley was hooked up to all kinds of things she had penicillin, Magnesium Sulfate, and Ringers coursing through her veins along with the baby heart and contraction monitors on her other side which made getting out of bed a 2 person ordeal.
The weirdest part of this whole thing was that had the contractions started Saturday instead of Thursday we would be the Proud parents of Baby Jane because 34 weeks is the magical amount of weeks where the figure the risk of complications of having a baby are actually less then the risk of complications of all the nasty drugs they use to stop pre term labor contractions.
Baby Jane is now ready to come into this world the Neonatologist did a bunch of measurements on her and calculated that she weighs about 5 lbs 9 oz and with the steroid treatment her lungs (the last thing to develop) are strong (and she may or may not be born with an adam's apple and and a full beard).

one of the hardest parts of this experience for me with the obvious exception of watching my poor sweet wife suffering was I was really torn whether I was supposed to be hoping for the baby coming or the contractions to stop.  I was so worried that Friday morning I drove straight home to grab our over night bag amongst other stuff and drive straight back to the hospital. 

Luckily either outcome was a win.  Ashley was drugged up for 48 hrs and then the Meds were taken away and was observed for 24 hrs and for the most part the contractions are gone and we were discharged Sunday night.  

Now we're home and can catch up on sleep and homework.  Ashley has been ordered to bed rest and I have a renewed commitment to getting all the things ready for the baby like buying a car seat, diapers, etc as well as cleaning up the house and making room for the soon to come baby.

This baby better be worth all the trouble she's caused so far.