Baby Update

So, we've had an eventful week.   Monday, around 11am, I was feeling kind of cranky because my stomach kept hurting, I was dehydrated, and I was having (what I thought were) a lot Braxton-Hicks contractions.  Which isn't unusual for me during my last few weeks of pregnancy, I basically walk around contracting all the time.  But, after lunch, and after I had the little guys down for a nap, I felt a lot worse.    Hubby came home just at the right time, and I was able to pass off Xman and his schoolwork to him so that I could go lay down. 

Once I got to the room and tried to lay down for a nap, I felt even worse.  My side was cramping and I felt like I was in a contraction that would NOT END!  Standing didn't help, laying down didn't help, rocking on my hands and knees didn't help.  Nothing was making this cramp go away!  Finally, I called Hubby (on my cell phone, hehe) to come from the living room and help me.  

We called our midwife, and she told us to just go ahead and go to ER, because it sounded pretty bad to her.   She was mainly worried about a placental abruption, I was worried about appendicitis, we were all worried.    I told Hubby that I couldn't possibly sit up in the car and let him drive me to the hospital.   So, we used our handy-dandy insurance and called an ambulance.  Even though that was 8 million times bumpier, I was at least laying down flat and  they were able to bring me straight upstairs to the labor and delivery floor.  I also figured that if we went in on our own, we'd get stuck waiting in the doggone lobby for who knows how long.   

The nurse who checked me into Triage said that what I was describing sounded like a "round ligament pain" and given that I was very dehydrated, it very well could have been the ligament cramping.    After they had ruled out the dangerous things, I was just ready for someone to make the pain stop!   We ended up waiting about 2 hours before the pain subsided, and that's when the contractions started! 

I had steady contractions every 2-4 minutes for hours and hours.  They started giving me a shot to make them stop, and then started an iv of magnesium sulfate to try and relax the contractions.   All of this was based on the fact that I was supposedly 34 weeks, according to my dates, and it was a little bit early for Baby Z to make his entrance.

Of all the funny things, the doctor on-call was the doctor who delivered Baby Girl and the nurse was the same nurse who helped deliver as well!!!   We got a kick out of that, especially since we decided to go with a midwife instead of returning to him this time, ha!   Anyway, he said we would need to stay overnight and keep trying to stop these contractions.    So, I got to stay all night, having people poke and prod and take temperatures and give steroids for the baby's lungs, etc.  It was exhausting just trying to rest! 

The next morning, my contractions had somewhat slowed down and I (might have fibbed a little and said I) wasn't feeling them anymore, so they started talking about letting us go home.   Then I confirmed with the Dr. that my ultrasound had actually placed us 2 weeks ahead of my due date, so he was like, "Oh! Well, that would make you 36 weeks instead.  You're fine to deliver at 36 weeks, so you can go home and if it starts again, just let it go."   He even said that if he'd known that the day before, he wouldn't have given us anything to stop the contracting.     Hmmmm.  So, kind of glad that he didn't know, because now we can still have the homebirth we were planning on.  But, it definitely looks like Baby Z will be coming sooner than we anticipated.

Every time I stand up, I feel tightening and if I walk around the house much, I start contracting again.  So, who knows!  Hopefully, our birth kit will get here in time and the bassinet will get assembled before he actually arrives.  Maybe he'll also be a good little boy and wait until Daddy's days off this weekend or next!   Well, that's our news from the home front!  More later!