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Ahh, I love getting to the end of pregnancy. The excitement, the anxious waiting, the internal exams done by nurses with way-too-long fingernails. Hm, maybe scratch that last one.
Last night, I had my first ever taste (in 3 pregnancies), of going to L & D to get checked out because of consistent contractions. I was having them 6-8 minutes apart and they were lasting about a minute each. They weren’t painful, so I hesitated to go in, though I did get a bit of a “naughty girl” lecture from the nurse.
Here’s how it all went down:
First, I had to pee in a cup.
Note: When heading into L & D, do not pee before you go. I made this mistake and had to resort to all kinds of tinkle tricks to try and get myself to go. Fortunately, it worked. Unfortunately, I managed to spill some pee on the roll of toilet paper. Gross.
Next, I undressed and took up my spot on the completely uncomfortable triage bed where they strapped 3 monitors on me: one for contractions and one for each baby’s heartbeat. I watched the lines go up and down on the monitor and the printout sheet next to me. I wondered why I was having so many sporadic contractions and why there were two lines for the contractions. It took me at least an hour to realize I had been watching the babies’ heartbeats, not my contractions. Duh.
After it was confirmed that I was, in fact having contractions, my doctor ordered I get checked for dilation and be given a shot of Terbutaline. Neither was a pleasant experience. The Terb burned like a biznatch and the nurse’s friggin’ fingernails felt like they were scraping apart my insides. Ooowwwieee!
My internal exam showed that I was 1 centimeter dilated and soft. She also mentioned that she could feel my water bag, which she was pretty shocked about. She also took my temperature, which came out at 101.5. That earned me an hour-long stay on the monitors.
My. Ass. Hurt. by the time we were done. Imagine sitting in one place for an hour straight. Then imagine sitting in one place for an hour straight with a 30+ pound medicine ball resting on your lap.
Super fun!
Not.
Needless to say, I was more than ready to get my not-in-labor, super sore ass outta there. I was discharged with instructions to come back in if things got worse, and to make sure I made an appointment with my doctor for the next morning. Oh, and this was my favorite discussion with the nurse.
Nurse: You need to monitor your temperature at home.
Me: Okay, can do.
Nurse: Now, take your temp before you go to bed and again if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
Me: If? IF?!
Nurse (laughing): Okay, when you get up to go to the bathroom.
So, fast forward to my appointment today.
My fever
was gone, which was my doctor’s main concern anyway. He said the contractions aren’t that disconcerting since they aren’t really bad ones (though I am still having them occasionally), plus at this point (35 weeks 1 day), he doesn’t intend to do much to stop them, since the babies are pretty safe to come any time.
Throughout the entire appointment, I was getting more and more sweaty and clammy. It was the weirdest thing. I felt like I was in a sauna, despite the fact that I knew it wasn’t that hot in the room. Plus, I was wearing a tank top and shorts… The doctor eventually left the room to grab some paperwork for me to bring to get my blood drawn (he’s having my thyroid checked out), and I jumped down from the exam table. I looked back, and the tissue that I had been sitting on was totally wet.
What would be your first instinct in that case?
Yeah, I thought maybe my water had broken. He came back in, I pointed to my wet spot and said, “Is it possible that I’m really that sweaty, or is that something else?”
He chuckled and said, “Hmm, I don’t know, it’s probably just sweat.”
Awesome. Embarrassing. Ugh.
Sure enough, it was sweat, and it was obvious through the back of my pants. For the first time since I was in middle school and trying to hide a period leak, I tied my sweatshirt around my waist to hide my sweaty butt.
Pregnancy is so sexy.
Alright, so conclusion: Fever is gone, which is great, my contractions aren’t really doing anything, which is fine. He said these might be signs that things will move along before my c-section date, but we’ll just simply have to wait and see.
Sounds good to me!
Either way, I know that we aren’t going past September 4th. That’s 3 weeks, 3 days away! Yippppeeeee!
Photo Credit: Getting Ready by jynmeyer
Source: sxc.hu
