False vs. Real Labor

The continuation from THIS POST...

Once the doctor asked a few questions about my supposed Braxton Hicks, she seemed worried and said she was going to have me monitored to see what was going on.

To me, I thought, well yeah, they can hook me up for 10 min., but that will not be when I'm having these Braxton Hicks since usually they are off and on throughout the day.

So they found the baby's heartbeat (140 bpm) and tied the contraction monitor around me too.  As soon as they had the monitor going, I thought I had a contraction, then a few minutes later I knew I had another contraction.

After I looked at the paper strip, sure enough - two contractions....

They let me sit for awhile and the nurse came to check on me.

She looked at the paper strip and said "oh no."

She hurried to grab the doctor.  The doctor came in very quickly and said "you just bought yourself a ticket next door" aka "hospital.

Yep, regular contractions

The nurse was in such a rush after that.  Enough to worry both me and Steve.  We weren't real sure what they were looking at/talking about or saw that was causing such alarm.  These contractions, which I thought were Braxton Hicks, weren't anything new to me - something I've been feeling for a few weeks now.

They were in such a hurry they didn't even want to draw my blood for the glucose test, but did since it was only 4 minutes until time.  

The nurse got a wheelchair and wheeled me to the hospital... I couldn't believe what was going on.

I was taken to the Women's Evaluation Unit.  A monitoring area outside of Labor and Delivery.

More peeing in a cup, I got a new wrist tag, and they asked a lot more questions.

After being monitored for awhile longer, I was still having contractions, but to me they didn't seem as frequent.

The doctor came in and did an exam to make sure I wasn't dilating, which I WASN'T.  YAY!  Well, he said the "outside was" but the "inside wasn't" which is "good."  So still, yay, for that.  He took a few swabs for testing.

Then he gave me some meds to help calm down my uterus.  10-15 minutes later, I felt very sick.  Dizziness, my heart was racing, nausea.  I just felt out of control and called the nurse in.  She put on a blood pressure cuff and a finger pulse monitor.  Sure enough my pulse was high and my blood pressure had gone down pretty low.

They let me be for awhile, just keeping watch on everything.  Another doctor came in to do an internal ultrasound to measure my cervix.  Which measured long at 3, apparently anything over 2.5 is good.  So that told them that the contraction weren't causing me to be in a progressive labor.

Finally I asked for some crackers, because I hadn't eaten most of the day at it was noon by this time.  The water and the crackers also made me feel a little better.

After another hour of monitoring and me trying to rest, I noticed I hadn't had any more contractions and was relieved by that.  So although the medicine made me feel sick, it did work.

The doctor eventually came back to check for dilation again before letting us leave.  No dilation still.  Good news.  After he left I had the WORST contraction thus far.  One that seemed extra long and hurt my back so horribly bad.  Enough that I couldn't lay down in the bed and just rocked and rocked in the bed waiting for it to die down.  That, I haven't felt since being in labor with Alyssa.  That, was scary.

The doctor came back to tell me that all the test came back negative/good.  He said he really didn't have a good reason to tell me for what was causing the contractions.  That they were not braxton hicks but real contractions, and when I came in to the WE unit, the papers the nurse showed him looked like I was in labor with regular contractions 3-4 min. apart.

He said I have an irritable uterus, and cervix.  Which is why I had such a bad contraction after he did his last dilation check.

So I was finally released to go home with orders to:

drink lots of water

take it easy
no intercourse for a week

come back if I have 5 painful contractions in an hour

no med, because the ones they gave me made me sick

So I'm finally home.  I had a couple contractions on my way home already.  I have a feeling it will just be something I'll have to be dealing with through the rest of this pregnancy.  Unfortunately I worry I won't take real contractions seriously when the time comes and will wait too long before going to the hospital... 

Icing on the cake:

My glucose test came back elevated, ugh

So I have to go back next week for the 3 hour test.  BLAHHHH

Doctor's Appointment today @ 26 Weeks

Today went from - let's get this over with, to an emotional roller coaster.

I guess I'll just go over my doctor's appointment today and go into the rest in another post...

I did the regular routine when I got there

-Pee in a cup

-Weight (Gained 3 lbs since last visit - now at 127 lbs)

-Blood pressure (112/65, if I remember right)

Then I had my glucose test.

Drank a fruit punch drink... yum, or not

And waited in the room for awhile knowing they'd draw blood in an hour.

A nurse came in to give me my RhoGam shot - which I didn't know would be today.  Glad to have that taken care of though.

The doctor came in do her regular questions.

I brought up the fact that I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for some time now...

and that's where it starts.

See next blog entry for all the crazy details...

More BH Contractions

It seems like they are daily at this point.

For the longest time I felt like they were triggered by over doing it.  Now they happen even when I'm rested and well hydrated.  I have had as many as 4 in a row, back to back, with not a whole lot of break in between too.  It isn't scary and I'm not real worried about it, but it does make me think...

I know they are BH because they aren't real painful, just a lot of tightening. 

I've been having them for 6+ weeks, since right after my last doctor's appointment.  Due to Christmas and New Years falling on my normal Tuesday appointment days, they thought it fine for me to go back after 6 weeks instead of after only 4 - and that was MORE then fine with me.  2nd trimester, I wasn't real worried.  Then of course these BH Contraction started right after that.  So my next appointment is in 2 days, January 8th.  I'll for sure be bringing up this subject then too.

I'm currently 26 weeks 2 days, and at the point where they can do my glucose test.  I do kind of hope they do it at this appointment so I can get it over with. 

I'll hopefully have a good update after Tuesday. 

Nesting, a little more

Sometimes I get bursts of energy or the will to organize.

Today was just that, short burst of "I must do this now..."

So first thing I did was oragnize my coupon area.  It had been neglected for probably a year.  I had just been piling and piling coupon insterts.  Three brown paper bags and one grocery bag of trash later, I have organized coupons!

Next, I had bought things to organize Alyssa's hair bows a couple weeks back but had never gotten around to getting them up and the bows taken care of.  So that was also finally finished tonight!

Being that the kids are sharing rooms, I feel the need to get Alyssa completely taken care of before I get too involved with decorating the room for Carter.  So with this project done, we are getting closer to being done with her!

Still to do for Alyssa:

Plastic drawers for the end of her bed

Smaller under bed boxes for her doll accessories

Decals on her walls (bought, but not installed)

To do for Carter:

Needing bedding set (sheet, skirt, bumper)

Lanterns in the corner of his room

Framed art

Under bed boxes for clothes

Wash and organize clothes

He needs a hamper

Maybe a handmade mobile?

Pack diaper bag

Then a couple of other things I've done in the last week which allowed me to check them off my "to do before the baby arrives" list:
Hung our coat hooks in our bed room (Alyssa's coats/jackets claimed ALL the ones in the entry)
Hung hooks in our bathroom for my scarves (got a few for my b-day and Christmas, so they were piling up)
And last
I cleaned out ONE of the four cabinets in the kitchen that need organizing.  This cabinet needed it sooner rather then later to make room for baby bottles and that type of thing.

I'll have to make another TO-DO list in the side column of things I still need to do before baby arrives.  Just a reminder, I have a lot of actual money making WORK to do in there as well.  I don't know how we will get it all accomplished, but I have HOPE!

Sibling Class

 I thought a sibling class would be a good idea for Alyssa to attend.  Little did I know, I would be attending a sibling class of my own.

Here is Alyssa as we arrived at the hospital for the class...

Waiting for the class to start.  She got a name tag that said BIG SISTER and bubbles to play with as the other children arrived.  We also read a book called "I'm going to be a BIG SISTER!" as we waited. 

While she was in her class the parents went to the next room to have a class of our own.  Bascially - how to transition our kids into the role of being a big sister/brother.  Also they brought up a lot of great things to think about when planning for the baby's arrival.  Ex:

Where will the sibling be during the delivery

Bringing things to the hospital for them such as snack/activities

When is the best time to allow the child into the room after the baby is born

And other issues I hadn't thought about before - so it was actually a great class for me to sit through

After both of our classes were over we all got to meet up again for fruit/scones/juices/coffee, while the children told us about what they had learned.

Alyssa told me she learned how to change a diaper, that she can help out mom and dad by getting burp clothes, wipes etc.  They were given a tour of a hospital room so they know what to expect when they come to the hospital to meet baby brother, as well as the nursery.  They said there was a baby boy in there that was just born that day.

She was excited to receive her BIG SISTER certificate and a I'm a big sister backpack full of goodies for all her hard work.

I am SO GLAD we both did this class.  I wish Steve was there to listen in with me, but they did give me papers with a review of what was covered in the class so we can go through it together.  I think it has made Alyssa very excited about everything and has made me feel a little more prepared on how to handle her on top of a new baby.

With Alyssa, obviously I didn't have all these other worries, she was our first and our one and only to worry about.  Lucky for us she will still be in school for a few weeks after the baby is born so the transition for her won't be so bad.  Her routine will still be in tact and brother will get one on one attention during the morning and afternoon before she gets home from school.  It is nice that she is older and understands, instead of being 2 or 3 like a lot of the other kids that were in her class.  They will have a little more adjusting to do.

Gift Registery

New Years Day was fun and exhausting!!!

With Alyssa on winter break and hubby having the holiday off we thought - it's the perfect time to get our Gift Registery going.

We went to Babies R Us.  We were there, I couldn't tell you how long, it felt like forever.  I realize now why they have those rockers set up in the back of the store... for us overly tired preggo mama's.

Alyssa had fun for the first 30 min scanning everything with the gun, but soon grew tired of that, hit the cart and kept busy on my iPhone.

We thought about going to Target to register as well, but after going through Babies R Us, we knew that was enough for one day.

So we may still go to Target and register in the next few weeks too.  It is true what I thought, there was still plenty we did NOT already have that we still need or would like to have, even after all of our pre-baby stockpiling of stuff. 

Happy New Year!

 It's 2013!!!

We went to Steve's family's for the New Year's Celebration this year

Me before we left

25 Weeks 3 Day

(Hubby's Birthday message on the mirror)

Steve's Aunt Bonnie didn't leave me out of the celebrations, virgin strawberry daiquiri for the preggo lady

 After our 11pm celebration

We were in home and in bed by midnight

Again - just fancy glasses with Sprite for me and Alyssa

We had a great time playing lots of games, socializing with everyone, EATING.  No little kids for Alyssa to play with but her older girl cousins were more fun for her to get all the attention should could ask for from. 

We know 2013 has lots of changes coming our way with Baby Carter on the way.

It was nice to enjoy the holiday's as a family of 3.  We kept quiet busy, but I feel like we were able to spend a lot of quality family time together.

Now 2013

Be good to us :)