20 Weeks 1 Day: 17P

or 17-alpha hydroxyprogesterone caproate

 

 

I told you about this in "A Big Decision to Make," and in "It's a Girl!" I told you that, if I was indeed carrying a girl, I would know what I had to do.  

Still, my mommy instincts wouldn't allow me to just take the doctor's word for it. Even though I trust her, I don't really trust anybody anymore. I told her my fears about blood clots. I knew she was going to come back with the argument that I'm already on heparin, which would be the treatment if those blood clots showed up. My thinking was, irrational or not, I would hate for the blood thinner to start saving my life instead of my baby's! She said she didn't think the medication would counteract the heparin's benefits for the baby. However, she has not prescribed 17P for very many patients and admitted that she wasn't sure what the right thing to do really was. So, she agreed to consult my fertility doctor and the maternal fetal medicine specialist that I saw with Gabriel. She planned to call me with her findings so I could make a decision about taking the medication.

Here's the funny and totally something I would do part: I waited an entire week for her phone call, but never received it. I told my husband I was going to call her, but he insisted that I shouldn't, that he knew she would call me when she got the info. I waited over the weekend and decided to leave her a voicemail on Monday. THEN, I check my voicemails. She left me two voicemails that week, and I never returned her calls! She told me she was going out of town so I wouldn't be able to reach her for a few days. So, I called her when she was back in the office, but she was in surgery so I had to speak with the nurse. All I got was a message from the doctor saying I should take the drug. At that point, I was turning 18 weeks and I needed to get the injections started. So, I left her a another voicemail asking her to just go ahead and call in the prescription and to please call me that afternoon to tell me about her conversations with the other doctors. I promised I would answer the phone. I didn't. The phone was in my hand when she called, but it said RESTRICTED so I didn't answer it. Aaaahhhh! I went ahead and took them based solely on her word for it after all. I knew, though. I knew when I found out it was a girl that God had told me to take this medication. I already told you about that dream.

Tonight is actually my third injection of 17P. It's a big needle and it goes in the butt. I totally planned to just give this to myself because I have given myself injections there before and because my husband just can't be serious about pointing a needle at my behind without making jokes. But when I opened the package and saw the needle, I thought I was going to cry! I am a self-injection champion (260 so far during this pregnancy), but this was the point when I'd had enough. I just couldn't do it. I had to let my husband stick a needle in my butt. I was nervous. He was nervous. Mostly, I was afraid he would chicken out at the last minute and end up hurting me. He did a good job, though. Of course, he was begging for praise afterward, never mind that I'm the one who had to endure the pain! That's a man for ya.