A big scare

This past Friday evening, we had friends over for dinner and playing games. I had spent the afternoon making some chili, cornbread, and cupcakes for the evening. I had felt extremely fatigued, tired, and had a very bad cramping sensation in my abdomen and lower back. I chalked it up to some more of those pesky Braxton Hicks contractions I've been getting off and on since about week 20 of pregnancy. But as the evening wore on, the pain was increasing to an occassional sharp pain in my uterine area. Again, I chalked it up to just being tired and Braxton Hicks. I had to excuse myself during the game we were all enjoying together, to go lay down. The pain persisted. So I had to officially call it a night, and went to bed without so much as saying goodbye to our guests. I took some ibuprofen, which is what my OB has always suggested I do whenever I experience cramps. Upon waking in the morning and urinating, I found a good deal of blood on the toilet paper. It jolted me awake straight away. I yelled for my husband that I am bleeding. I checked again, thinking it was a fluke or something (I just couldn't seem to wrap my mind around what was happening). Sure enough, there was blood on the paper. And lots of it. I immediately reached for my phone, and called my OB. Upon her hearing that I was experiencing cramping and had blood, she stated that we need to get to the OB triage at the hospital, and that she would meet us there. Even on the way there, I kept telling myself that it had to be nothing important going on. I thought perhaps the blood was from some old endometrial tissue being flushed out, or an old cyst that had ruptured, or something other than pregnancy related. Upon getting to the triage area, they hooked a fetal monitor up to my belly, and checked for vaginal blood. Yep...lots of blood. Within a few minutes, my OB showed up, and stated that the monitor was showing that I was in fact having contractions. She checked my cervix with her hand, and then stated that it was in a soft condition. Not good. She gave me an injection to stop the contractions, and talked about giving me an additional injection of steroids to help speed up the twins resporitory system (in case I had I had them this early, so they could stand a chance at survival). To say I was worried and freaked out is an understatement. I kept looking over at my husband for solace, but all I could see on him was a face completely drained of color. He looked even more worried than me. So we waited a bit more. Then my OB returned, and stated that our goal right now is to do anything and everything to keep the twins en utero for at least another 4 weeks. She stated that she was admitting me at least overnight to the hospital, so that she could keep close monitoring on me, and to make sure the contractions stop.
Once settled into my room, they performed an ultrasound on the twins, as well as on my cervix. The great news was that the boys looked just fine. Even my cervix appeared fine, as it was closed tight at 4 cm long. At that point, the nurse felt comfortable with me finally being able to eat something. (It was now 12:30pm, and I hadn't been allowed anything, in case of an emergency C-section.) The rest of the story is rather boring....I just laid quietly in my hospital bed, attempting to get some rest in between all of the wakings for contraction-stopping meds. By the following morning, my OB stated that I could either stay another night for observation (as I was still experiencing cramping and light bleeding), or go home and call her if it got worse. I opted to go home. I am now on strict bed rest and pelvic rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. I also must see my OB every week. I have to take 600mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours like clockwork; which means that our alarm wakes us at midnight and at 6 am to take the pills. I am still experiencing some light bleeding even now, along with some mild cramping. But I just do what I am told: drink a ton of water throughout the day, lay quietly all day, only get up to go to the restroom, don't bend down to pet our dog and cat, or to retrive anything off of the floor, and have my poor hubby wait on me hand and foot. He has been amazing during this time. Not a single complaint from him. I feel badly that the entire weight of the household is on his shoulders, along with taking care of me. But we are forced to do whatever it takes to keep these little guys safely inside of me for a while longer. I pray several times a day that they are ok, and will stay put for at least another month. I refuse to believe that God would have us get this far on our journey, only to have our twins taken away.
With each twinge and each cramp, I fear that something is going horribly wrong. But I must keep my faith that in the end, our boys will be ok.