Think Incubating Thoughts

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling strange, feeling just a little "off". I also felt like I do when I have a period - lower abdominal cramping, low back pain, the kind that just sits there, it doesn't get any worse or any better as the day progresses. I got online and googled "third trimester menstrual-like cramps" and everything I looked at agreed on one thing - that these could be signs of preterm labor and that I needed to call my practitioner right away. Well, I didn't call right away, I sat for a while and thought to myself "maybe if I ignore it, it will go away". Right.

So I finally caved and called the on-call midwife at the Birth Center. She told me to suck down a quart of water as quickly as I could, then to take a warm bath and call her after 30 minutes. So I did, I did, and I did. The bath didn't help. In fact, it made things worse. So I called her back and she asked me to come by the Birth Center so she could check and make sure I wasn't actually in labor. I called John and the message I left on his machine began something like this "OK, promise not to freak out, but...". He came right home and we left immediately.

We got to the Birth Center and I sat down with the midwife for a bit to talk about what was going on, then she took me up to one of the rooms so she could check my cervix. Waaaay far back behind the babies head (a really good thing at this point), she found it. It was soft, dilated about 1 1/2 cm, and 50% effaced, meaning it is thinning out. At this point in my pregnancy, these are not bad things, but only if present without the physical symptoms I was having. Because cramping means your uterus is "irritated" and can lead to contractions, and we all know contractions are what push the baby out :) I was instructed to take something called "cramp bark" that is formulated to ease menstrual cramps, and to get in bed (or on the couch) and stay there for 10 days, at which point I will be into my 37th week and it would be OK for the baby to go ahead and come if it wanted to.

So we made a quick trip to Whole Foods to pick up the cramp bark and some lunch, and came home. After eating my food I got into bed and attempted to nap with chainsaws ging outside my window as crews cut apart all the trees that got blown down in the storm. When I woke up, my cramps were worse and I had 4 contractions in an hour. We called Betty again and she asked us to come by the Birth Center one more time so she could see if my cervix had changed at all. So we went, she checked, and there was no change. She gave me a shot of Nubain/Phenergen, one to relax my uterus and the other as a prostaglandin inhibitor (prostaglandins are what make your cervix dilate). I was then told to eat something on the way home and get right in bed, as the meds would make me a bit loopy. Boy, did they ever. Before I fell asleep I had 5 or six more contractions.

This morning I woke up, still feeling loopy, but with no cramps and no back pain, and most importantly, no contractions. Bed rest is supremely boring, and my hips hurt from lying on my side so much. But I am thankful to have gotten the contractions to stop, and am willing to do what it takes to keep this little critter where it belongs.

John cancelled his trip to Atlanta, so he will be home to serve my every whim in the evenings. During the day I will arm myself with the Wiggles and Winnie-The-Pooh and hope Libby doesn't get into anything too gross :) So for the next week, think incubating thoughts. After Monday the 21st, start thinking ejecting thoughts!

Lest any of you worry too much - don't. If I suddenly went into full-blown labor and we couldn't get it to stop, the baby would be fine. I would probably be given a steriod shot to boost it's lungs before it's born, but there isn't any real danger posed against the baby or myself. These measures are being taken because 1) the longer the baby stays in, the better, and 2) if I make it past the 37 week mark, then I still get my home birth. If I go sooner than that, I have to go to the hospital with the back-up doctor. So it's more a matter of preference than precaution. I do appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and your phone calls to save my sanity!