Speaking of going into labor, I have had some consistent contractions and ended up in the Labor and Delivery this weekend. Looks like baby is starting to move down, but still we have a long way to go. Anyway the story goes like this:
Friday night I began to track my contractions, because they were fairly obnoxious and consistent. Our nurse from the Birthing Class said that if the contractions began to last longer than 60 seconds to call the hospital--better safe than sorry... Sooo we did, after 24 hours. Saturday rolls around and the contractions are getting slightly stronger, some of which were lasting a minute and a half... my back was starting to ache some, and so we thought, well, "better safe than sorry..." and called the OB office. The nurse asked a few questions, but after hearing that they were lasting over a minute asked us to come in to get checked. At this point I didn't necessarily feel I was going into an intense labor--and figured they were just going to check me real quick and send me home...
We get to the hospital and they have the delivery room all set up--we were a bit surprised. She hooked me up to the monitors (the same ones we use each week for our Non-stress Tests)--one monitors the baby's heart rate and the other my contractions. I was a bit worried that maybe they would hook me up and I would no show contractions--you know how your body does that? You go to the doctor and suddenly your symptoms are gone and you feel like a dummy? Anyway, I just hoped that what I was feeling for the last 24 hours would manifest itself so that they could really take a look at what was going on.
They kept me hooked up for about an hour and a half, and sure enough--every 1.5-3 minutes there was a contraction that lasted 50-80 seconds. The problem was they were inconsistent in intensity... some would be hardly noticed, while others were 80 seconds and HARD. The same pattern that had lasted the last 2 days. I was exhausted, the nurse checked to see if I was dilated--nothing... in fact, I was sealed shut. Great... these contractions weren't doing anything. The nurse was so nice and just said that they would probably continue and offered me some morphine. I refused the morphine--(I didn't want to be intensely drugged--it's hard when you're working full-time to just pop pills and then be able to be alert enough to work)--so instead she gave me some Percocet, which I also have yet to take, because I am working and don't want to get too groggy.
Sunday I thought I could manage a Homecoming talk in Sacrament, but I was sweating and having the worst contractions and back pains... I realized that when I am up and about trying to live life normally, the contractions get worse. Monday and today I have just been working from home, getting up only for the bathroom and meals--which gives enough contractions to deal with.
We went to the doctor's today, I was hoping that maybe I would be a little more effaced or dilated since it has been an on-going thing for a few days now... but no, we are yet to be dilated, although apparently we are a bit "softer." These contractions ARE doing something, but because he is the first child, my body just needs a lot of prep before the real thing. As I have researched online about this sort of pre-labor, some women go through it for about 2-3 weeks before it finally picks up to be the real thing. I am assuming that will be us as well. The Doctor just told us to consider this my "baseline" and once it starts getting worse than this, THEN we will know to go in. Lovely isn't it? My "normal" is consistent cramping. =) it's gotten a little better, and it's making me tougher right?
One term I learned about what this is called is "prodromal labor" if you want more info you should google it! There are some great blogs of people who went through the same thing!
Well, for those of you who have been through this, give me your feedback--how long did you go through this pre-labor before you hit the real thing?
Here are some belly photos:
35.5 weeks:
36.5 weeks
The monitor with the contractions and heart rate:
The Brinley's
My last three pregnancies I started contractions at about 4 or 5 months along. Baby number three I really did not know that I should have been concerned about the contractions, but the baby came at 34 weeks to my surprise. My contractions were not as strong as yours, but ever present when I was up and moving. I was put on bed rest with baby 4 and 5.... and I did anything I could to not contract. My mother had to come stay with me the last three months of baby number 5 to get him here safely. I am so grateful for the promptings I had with each one of my pregnancies. I always knew when what I was starting to feel was not right and I always made it to medical attention in time to deliver a fairly healthy baby. We did land in the NICU three times, but I am grateful for the signals from the Holy Ghost each time. Trust yourself. A mother's intuition is usually right. So many sweet nurses reassured me time and again that they would rather I come in to be checked and be sent home than to wonder and miss something and put the baby's life or mine in jeopardy.
ReplyDeleteMichelle-- Thank you! from a mom from so much experience it's nice to hear. It's definitely true that you just kind of "know." i went in to check just in case but i had a feeling this wasn't going to be it... i'll keep in touch with that intuition... i'm feeling it will be a week or two more. we will see!
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