Ok so, this may be TMI but......

I fell down the stairs this past week at 22 weeks pregnant. The medical care where I live is utter crap. I immediately called my Dr office, and they sent me to the ER to be checked. I'm preparing for a direct entry Master's in Nursing, so I know a few things about what needs to be looked for, but I have no real world experience or confidence the clinical setting of an ER.

Anywho, they admit me to L&D; and do a Dopple and take my BP. Then they send me home. I didn't even see a Dr. The nurse did it all, and sent me home with no blood work, urine, u/s or exam. I was non assertive because this is my 5th ER visit (!) since my doc does NOTHING in office.

The morning after I  was discharged I  had some bright red spotting,  and so I called my Aunt (She's a DON at a Children's hospital), just to run my situation by her because I don't really want a 6th ER visit for no reason. She freaked out and told me to go back and told me to get a malpractice lawyer, because legal protocol required then to check the placenta and make sure there was no abruption. She listed off the blood tests to order, told me to get an U/S, a urine culture, and a cervical check. She said that if the baby had died I had a strong malpractice suit on my hands!

So I call the office, and they tell me not to come to the office because they can't have me have a stillbirth in the office. That I'm not viable at 22 weeks, so go straight to the ER. Again. (Visit #7). I'm from a major city, where I have friends whose babies have been born at 21 weeks and we're saved, so I just about lost it!

Off we went to the ER where my Dr apologized for the first visit and offered me all the tests on my list (except the cervical check. She doesn't do them before 37 weeks). Placenta is fine, baby is fine. I'm still crampy and bleeding. They send me home on bed rest and tell me to watch for contractions and bleeding…….

So my husband could only take off 4 days from work and we're alone in rural Iowa so that's it for bed rest. Today, on day 4, my last day, I woke up nauseated and had a contraction that was so strong I dropped to my knees, puked everywhere, and peed all over (told you, tmi). This was followed by three major contractions with bowel movements. I didn't call my Dr. I don't want another ER bill for them to send me home with the problem and act like they did something.

So 1) has anyone ever had preterm contractions like this? It was labor strength. I've been induced both times before and have 0 experience with spontaneous labor, but I did my second labor no anesthesia and didn't throw up, so this was terrifying. And 2) Should I take my insurance company's suggestion and go stay with family in a major metro area until I have the baby? They actually called me to counsel me about the excessive ER usage and told me if my Dr can't handle simple things like UTI’s and preterm contraction checks they shouldn't be in practice.

I'm super stressed in a rural area where I'm new and have no one to talk to, so I really appreciate any responses at all! Thanks for reading my novel!