So…two days ago, we had a little bit of a pre-labor scare. Monday night, I kept saying to Jesse how it just felt like Anthony was about to fall out. Seriously, that’s what it felt like. All weekend, his head has been positioned halfway on top of my bladder, halfway on top of my inner pelvic bone, and it HURTS. All it takes, however, is a tiny shift of his head (what can happen if I’m walking around for more than 20 minutes), and he’s positioned right above the “exit”. Combine that with a Braxton Hicks contraction? There is about a 5 minute round of, “oh crap, oh crap, he’s coming right now!” going through my head.
But I said to Jesse that it was probably paranoia, that unless something definitive happened, some sort of sign, we were okay. “It’s just very uncomfortable”, I said, “and it will probably just have to be this way for the rest of the month.”
When I woke up the next morning, I was cramping quite a bit. I was already having a few Braxton H.s, which is unusual for just waking up. And there was even some blood (sorry to gross anyone out!).
I figured this out right as everyone was walking out the door for school/work (7:30am -ish). I was pretty scattered and foggy-headed, but I told Jesse that I might be going in to the midwife sometime today to get checked out. He said he’d carpool with my dad and leave me the car.
Alone by myself, however, it started to hit me, and I got very *emotional*. I have a baby shower this weekend. I’m supposed to take my Latin test, the one I’ve been working my butt off for this Saturday in LA. On top of all that, I realized that if I have the baby before 36 weeks, I have to switch hospitals. Having the baby in a hospital vs. at home was already a “compromise” on my part, based on the fact that I wouldn’t have to pay a dime, but having the baby at a “normal” hospital instead of wonderfully natural/hands-off French Hospital? I understand that if the baby comes before 36 weeks, he’ll need the NICU, so it’s an okay/good thing to switch, but it was a little more than I could handle emotionally.
I called the birth center, but they have an emergency on-call service until 9am. Which means they can get me help if I need it, but I can’t just “chat” with someone about my potential symptoms. There is a number to call to talk to the midwives (I found out), but I didn’t know it, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I texted my doula (more about her later, she’s awesome!), and she said to keep her 100% in the loop.
But I was still feeling rotten. I’m not sure if all the stress was causing all of the contractions, or if it was the other way around, but I was not in a good place. There was also the stress of having Gregory there, hyper, eager to play. I wasn’t sure how much to move around, since that was making the contractions happen. And I realized that if I was going to go to the midwives to get checked out, I’d have to bring him with me, which started stressing me out all the more.
So, I did what “helpless me” does best. I called my stronger half, who was in the middle of his first/only prep period of the day, a mere 45 minutes after I’d said goodbye to him.
He said he’d come home as soon as possible. I think he could sense that I was hanging on by a thread (okay, it wouldn’t take a genius. I was bawling my eyes out on the phone). Did I mention that he works only 3 minutes away? Love it.
In less than half an hour, he had secured a substitute and was pulling into the driveway (thanks so much, Mrs. Bartel, for getting him home!). Jesse played with G while I tried to nap on the couch, waiting the 20 minutes for it to finally be 9am. I called at 9am on the dot and talked to the midwife. She asked lots of questions, and finally determined that if staying put was keeping the contractions at bay, things were okay for now, I didn’t even need to come in. None of the “big” signs were there– my water hadn’t broken, no missing mucous plug (again, PLEASE DON’T GOOGLE THAT). She told me to stay put, rest and try a bath or shower.
So, I did. Jesse continued to play with G (who was in 7th Heaven, having Daddy home!), then made the 3 of us oatmeal with raisins. I felt *so* much better after a long hot shower that we determined Jesse would go back to work at 10:30.
The midwives did check in with me twice throughout the day, just to make sure that the B.H. contractions weren’t happening every 10 minutes, but I just took it easy the rest of the day. I did make it to my 2 hours of piano lessons, despite how tired I was, but it all felt normal again.
Long and short…I think this weekend is going to go on as planned, although this Latin thing is seriously kicking my butt. I have 49 pages of translation to stay on top of, not to mention all the vocab that comes with it!! We had our home visit with the doula yesterday, and I just LOVE her, down to her hippie sandals and hair 🙂 I have chiropractor and prenatal massage appointments for tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that.
Here’s to 7 more days until 36 weeks! After that, Anthony can do all the breaking free he wants to.
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nyx says
sorry you had to deal with this. stress DEFINITELY causes such things, but also dehydration. Since I got this a lot, especially during the third trimester my dr had several steps for me to take once I was getting consistent contractions: 1., try to nap. 2., drink lots of water and relax. 3., hot shower or bath (general rule for baths: if your skin turns pink, its too hot, otherwise its fine when your pregnant but no bubble bath cause it causes infections), 4., drink a Guinness, 5., go in and get a shot to stop labor. Hope this helps a bit and that you are able to relax. =( good luck!