Carrie Shares Her Preterm Labor Story

Carrie Shares Her Preterm Labor Story Hello. My name is Carrie Schallock. I am a physician here at Banner Desert Medical Center and I deliver babies here. But not only do I deliver babies here, I have had two of my own children here at Banner Desert. I did choose Banner Desert for two reasons, one was because I personally wanted an epidural, and I am not saying this for everybody but for me I know I wanted it. And second of all, I also want the nursery here in case I needed it for my children. In fact with my first child I did come here and I was 35 weeks pregnant, had no clue I was in labor, and yet I was three centimeters dilated. They did attempt to try to stop my labor but they couldn’t. And I did go on to deliver my first child who weighed five pounds, 12 ounces at 35 weeks. He was here for a week after he was delivered and he did fantastic and I was always very thankful to the staff here at Banner Desert especially to the neonatal ICU for taking such great care of him. My second child, I had preterm labor. I got a little clever the second time I was pregnant, kind of pick up on that, and I was out on pre-term labor starting at 29 weeks. But all of a sudden, when I was 37 weeks I came in here in labor and had a very uneventful, fantastic vaginal delivery. As far as pre-term labor goes, with my first child I was in the office being examined and I was found to be three centimeters dilated. I remember I couldn’t believe I could be three centimeters and not have felt anything so I asked them to re-examine me and indeed I was three centimeters. And I subsequently was sent directly over here to Banner Desert where I came and then I was started on, I was monitored having contractions. I did receive SubQ terbutaline to help stop the contractions but that did not work. And then subsequently I was started on magnesium sulfate and my labor progressed to five centimeters, and so therefore the magnesium sulfate was shut off, and I progressed on my own to 10 centimeters and had a baby. My first labor that, being three centimeters, I always said I really couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t quite tell, but I was working full time. The second pregnancy I was a little bit more clued in what I was supposed to be feeling. And so at 29 weeks is when I started feeling them, and indeed I came over here to the hospital and I was monitored and I was having regular contractions.