Field Trip to Labor and Delivery...

So apparently I don't know what labor is even if it hits me over the head! Let me start first by giving you the blow by blow of the peri appt and then I'll entertain you with tonight's activities...ie preterm labor.

This morning went to see the peri. He's on vacation so his sister, who's also a peri (geez talk about making me and my sister's look like underachiever's) was covering for him. Tech did the u/s and says "Did Dr. say anything to you about the baby being big?" I said "I knew it! He's going to be big isn't he???" she says "well maybe". She finishes her measurements and tells me the baby is 5 lb's and 12 oz right now!!!!! O.M.G. I still have 5 weeks to go here, which means a minimum of a 2 lb growth...ok 7 lb's 12 oz I can handle but he better not try to push it! Oh and get this, I haven't gained a pound in 8 weeks, as a matter of fact I lost a lb this week. So this baby is eating all the food and not sharing with mama. Which in some sense is ok, then I won't be a house but on the other hand, I can always work off the weight, he on the other hand won't be doing any dieting anytime soon which will equate to big baby status!

So the peri comes in, checks things out, says I should be ok in regards to "big baby" and goes on her way. I go for monitoring and while I'm there that tech freaks because the baby's heart rate dropped a few times. So they throw me on my back and do another NST. Now I'm freaking a little. This one is fine and they tell me it was the position I was in. I didn't quite understand that explanation but thankfully I have my board girls to ask. My friend there explained that certain positions can compress the babies' umbilical cord and cause that to happen because you're staying in one position for so long. Now that makes sense to me. So I'm not so freaked anymore.

4 hours later, I leave the dr's office. I had thought I was having contractions while I was there. But since I was being monitored I figured they'd have let me know right??? Wrong.

I get home and I just don't feel right. I started feeling contractions stronger. Like the kind that make you double over and want to punch someone in the face. Ok...so whether I am "fight or flight" has been established. I'm definitely fight. who the hell wants to punch someone in the face every time they get a contraction? That would be me. So stand back. Nathanael decides we need to start timing them. So he does. For the next 3 hours they appear to be every 30 min. We call L and D and they say come on in. We call the dr's office and the exchange says go on in. So denial over here finally agrees to go in. On the way I didn't feel any contractions so I was kinda feeling stupid when I got there. Like I was wasting every one's time. But they weren't busy, I was the only patient actually. The got me hooked up to the monitoring machine again. I only feel 2 contractions in about an hour. Nurse comes in and says, "ummmm I thought you said you were having contractions every 30 min?" I told her "I thought I was", now preparing for her to call me a big fat liar and send me home. Then she says " uh, no you're having contractions ever 3 minutes!" I was like "I am?" She shows me the strip. Sure enough, I was. I kinda laugh. She doesn't see anything funny here. So she says she's calling the dr, that it's Dr. G, not my OB who's on call tonight. Now let me tell you about Dr. G. I fired his ass a long time ago. He was my first OB who told me my m/c's were "just bad luck" patted me on the leg oh his way out the door. But since he and my OB now are in the same office this kind of stuff is bound to happen right? Especially with my luck. Now I should calrify, I don't dislike the guy. He's nice, just not as attentive and proactive as I need in a Dr. So they call him and of course, he orders up my favorite medication...the dreaded trebutaline!!!! Aghhhhhh! At least this shot didn't go in my ass but within minutes, my hands were shaking, heart racing, and I wanted to run around the hospital a couple of hundred times. Then I'm told that Dr. A (my OB) has actually left instructions to call her, even if she's NOT on call, if I am the patient. Can you believe that??? Seriously this woman is a saint. So she's contacted and she orders this test ummm something with an F. It's suppose to tell them if I will go into labor in the next 2 weeks. So they performed that. Oh let me tell you, it was a party in my pants...............NOT! Before conducting it the nurses were like "this is going to be really uncomfortable" I was like "greeeeeeeat". Then they get me all situated to do it and right before the nurse inserts the speculum she says "And I'm sorry but I can't use any lube for this." Awesome. Just perfect. Not sure I have shared this publically but why hold back now so I will tell you. I have been on "pelvic rest" this ENTIRE pg. So since nothing has been up there in 8 1/2 months just imagine how good that speculum felt...w/o lube!!! Ahhh to loose your virginity all over again. Good times I tell ya. Nathanael was very sweet in that he stoked my head as I did deep breaths and repeated the words "relax, relax, relax," over and over to myself as the "test" or shall I say torture ritual was conducted. The other nurse in the room there provided cheerleading on the sidelines "good job, you're doing great". Oh what a sight this must have been!!! It was the longest 5 min of my life. But I lived. Of course with the terb shot, then the pain, when we were all done the nurse was like "you're perspiring" I was like "of course I am, I just went through female torture!" I was totally sweating buckets! Anyway, test results cam back negative so no baby for at least 2 weeks, we know that much. So why my body decided to go into preterm labor, I have no clue. Before I left Dr. A was on the phone again, making sure I was ok and since the terb stopped the contractions nd the test came back negative she let me go home.

Upside of the trip is that I got to watch The Pussycat Dolls show from start to finish, the baby's heart rate was good and stable by the end and they made me drink 64 oz of water. Which was good, it seems like I needed it. Apparently dehydration can make you have contractions. After all was said and done I felt a hundred times better. I didn't realize that I must have been in this constant state of uncomfortableness/pain when the contractions were going on. It was only after that I see the difference. So I'm suppose to keep up with the water intake, pee as frequently as I need to (no holding pee, I guess that can bring on the contractions), and come back if the contractions start up again. Maybe next time I'll be able to recognize this thing called LABOR. Seriously could I be more clueless?

On a side note, baby's room is painted and it looks awesome! The furniture comes today between 9 and 1. But not without a fight. Nothing can ever really go smoothly for us. Long story short Babies R Us are complete idiots and it took N yelling at them for them to finally even "find" our order because they did not schedule delivery today like they were suppose to ( I scheduled this delivery over a week ago mind you). Anyway, it finally worked out, mainly because the delivery company, which is an outside entity of them, were so helpful and accommodating unlike BRU!!! I'll post pictures when it all gets in the room.

Lat thing for this entry. My friend JJ was blessed with a baby boy today. 10lbs 2 ounces, 23 inches long. His name is Fisher. Congrats JJ!!!! (and I'll shut up now about big babies because she carried this guy and lived to tell about it, so it can be done and done BEAUTIFULLY I might add :)