If THIS didn't induce labor nothing will

Although I was cranky as all get out on Sunday we actually had a pretty good day...breakfast at Cracker Barrel, a movie, and hanging out at home the rest of the day.  Oh, and the pedicure.  I had read that there are pressure points in your feet and ankle that can induce labor so I headed off to get my toe nails did.  She didn't really give me the massage I was expecting (although I do love my elephantastic pink polish) so when I got home I found a youtube video showing all the pressure points, made Paul watch it, and reclined on the couch while he massaged my feet. 

Fast forward to 8:45pm.  We're sitting in the living room.  Paul's watching tv and I'm reading my book when all of the sudden my heart starts racing.  I don't say anything for a few minutes because I'm sure it's going to pass.  Finally I ask Paul to time me while I take my pulse.  My pulse is beating so fast, but in 10 seconds I count 23 beats so roughly 120bpm.  Paul suggests I call the ob, but I want to wait a few minutes.  I take my heart rate again and same thing.  I call L&D and they suggest calling my ob.  I ask Paul to take my pulse and he says my  heart is beating too fast he can't even count the beats.

I call the on call ob.  She is not a doctor in my practice (I guess my practice shares their weekend on call with another practice), but I saw her the last time I had my NST.  She suggests that I am having bad heartburn and that it will resolve itself, but to be on the safe side I can go to L&D to be checked.  So off we head to the hospital.  At this point its about 9:10pm.  My chest is tight and I can't breathe.

We get to L&D about 9:30pm.  I notice a certain ob's name on the board as being there.  My heart is still racing, but the baby is moving like crazy.  They hook me up to the fetal monitor and also hook my heart up to a monitor.  My heart is beating so fast that the alarm keeps going off.  The nurse, also the nurse we saw last time, says words I never want to hear "I'm going to get Dr. Nagler."  Dr. Nagler was the ob I had at the beginning of my pregnancy who terrified me and who I hated.  I'm sure just hearing her name made my heart race faster.  Paul hears Dr. Nagler say, "Thacker's on call for Burlington.  Send her to the ER."  The relief was palpable. 

I ask nurse Wendy if I can use the restroom before we go down and she says no!  She says we need to get me down to the ER immediately.  At this point it's almost 10pm.  She wheels me downstairs and into triage.  They take my vitals again and it seems like it takes forever for them to sign me in.  My heart rate at this point...over 170bpm and I'm starting to feel light headed. 

The ER nurse comes in to take me for an EKG and I ask if I can use the restroom.  She says AFTER the EKG.  Well the EKG was so bad that she tells me I have to use the bathroom as quickly as possible and makes Paul go in with me.  As soon as I get out and climb back on the gurney she rushes me into a large examining room.  She immediately goes back to the door and calls for help.  All these nurses rush into the room as well as 2 doctors and before I know it they are hooking me up to another EKG, putting an IV in, and giving me oxygen.  The one ER doctor tells me I am in SVT and they need to slow my heart rate immediately.  It has been between 180 and 200bmp for over 2 hours at this point. 

My choices for slowing my heart rate...the use of adenosine (a medication administered through the IV that is class C for pregnancy) or by sedation and the use of electrical current.  I chose the adenosine.  He warns me that it may be uncomfortable as its going to slow my heart almost to stopping so that it can resume a normal rhythm as another nurse is putting defibrillator pads on me and the other doctor is asking a nurse to go get a crash cart just in case. 

So all these doctors and nurses are standing around staring at me as the nurse administers the med and I know they are there in case my heart stops completely.  Feeling your heart almost stop is an awful feeling.  I could literally feel my heart slowing down in my chest and I started to cry because it was scary and uncomfortable.  They had Paul get up and rub my foot and another nurse was rubbing my arm and holding my hand and the doctor kept saying, "It's almost over, it's almost over."  And finally it was.  I could breath again.  My heart rate was normal (and by normal I mean between 100bpm and 112bpm). 

We stayed in the ER another couple hours while my blood work was checked and it all came back normal.  Basically they have no answer as to why this happened or if it could happen again.  The doctor did say some people have just 1 episode and some people have regular occurrences that require ongoing use of medication. 

So, if through all that I didn't go in to labor than I have to believe nothing short of my ob using medication to induce will cause Emma to come out at this point.  After all her excitement last night she has been a quiet girl today and I hope there aren't any lasting effects from that medication.  Thankfully I'm so far along in my pregnancy that there shouldn't be and my ob said I made the right choice (she also couldn't believe that the on call ob told me it was heart burn or that I keep having so much stuff going on in my life). 

I went to see a cardiologist tonight and the tech said everything looked normal, but that the doctor would review the results and call me.   

At this point I'm just praying God keeps Emma and I safe and healthy through the rest of this pregnancy and delivery.  I see the ob on Thursday to schedule my induction.  I'll let y'all know!