Oh Baby!

Wow...this baby is really trying to make it's mark in this world before she even enters it. We've had a rough couple of days. Monday night I went to bed around 11, feeling contractions. I was able to sleep in and out of them until about 2:30, then I laid in bed contracting and watching the clock for another hour. At about 3:30, I was convinced I was in labor. The contractions were occurring anywhere from 3-6 minutes apart (mine are never consistent). However, I also know how my body has labored in the past. Nothing too significant happens until my water breaks--and it's always been broken for me. I left the room--grabbing a few items to pack into a hospital bag and trying to not wake up Kevin. Kevin heard me, of course and decided to shower, "just in case". Then he went back to bed, but didn't fall back asleep for another couple of hours. I finished getting a bag ready for the hospital, laid a blanket over our couch (just in case of gushing water!) and read for a while. I finally fell back asleep at about 5 and slept until 6. The contractions continued. I waited for the kids to get up, fed them breakfast, got them ready for the day, made plans with Kevin's dad and sister for help with the kids while we were at the hospital. Then, I hesitantly woke Kevin up so we could head for the hospital. No dramatic exits or anything.

We arrived at the hospital at about 9am. They put us in a triage room in Labor and Delivery, hooked me up to the monitors, and checked my cervix. According to the nurse I was at a 4. An hour later, she checked me and said I was a 4+, not quite a 5. So, I had progressed. She called the doctor to see what should be done, since I was only 36 weeks. They decided to keep me around for a few more hours to see how much progression was made. By this time it was almost 2 in the afternoon. And the verdict? Nothing. Still the same. The worst part? They wouldn't do anything to progress the labor since I was only 36 weeks. They gave me 2 Percosets to help me sleep (very bad idea) and sent us home.

As a side note, the nurse who was checking me must have had really short fingers, and with a very posterior cervix, she had to be quite aggressive in order to find my cervix. This caused a lot of bleeding.

I laid down when we got home, but still was unable to really rest because of the contractions. An hour later, I gave up on the idea. I got up and showered. As we were getting dinner ready, I really started to feel light-headed, over-heated, and nauseous. I'm sure this had to do with the Percocet/lack of sleep/lack of food. I laid back down, and after 2 hours of more restless sleep, I got up again, this time feeling much better. By that point, I had decided I had to either get the baby out of me, or the contractions had to come to an end. I could not endure another night without sleep. I felt miserable.

As the night wore on, my contractions started to taper off (after 20 hours). I also started to have the light-headed, over-heated, and nauseous feelings again. All I wanted to do was go to bed, and all I wanted once I got to bed was to sleep without contractions. Thankfully, my wishes came true. I slept really well last night. When I woke up this morning I felt so refreshed. And, the contractions were completely gone (other than the normal ones I get off and on). However, I was still bleeding from the day before.

I called the doctor's office, and then the hospital to get a 2nd opinion, and both advised me to go back over to Labor and Delivery to get checked out and have the baby monitored. Kevin very firmly told me I had better drop my unimportant daily activities and take care of myself and the baby. I decided I had better listen to everyone. So, once again, I headed back over to the hospital. This time by myself since I wasn't in labor and I didn't want to waste any more of Kevin's time. Everything looked great at the hospital. The baby was doing well. And, the bleeding has stopped. I'm pretty sure the nurse yesterday was so aggressive in checking my cervix that she broke quite a few capillaries up there. The worst news of the day was the nurse taking care of me today thinks I'm only dilated between 3 and 4. Everyone measures differently.

Basically, the conclusion to this is maybe I am dilated at less than a 4. At this point, I may still be pregnant for another week or so. I go to the doctor's on Friday morning. I'm going to have a chat with him about when I should be getting myself to the hospital. I feel like at this point, since I'm not quite full term, contractions won't do anything to get me admitted into the hospital. The only thing that will get me in is if my cervix is dilating more or my water has broken. Let's just cross our fingers that I don't have to go through another night and day like yesterday. I don't think I could take it again.