False Alarms

On the way to work yesterday, at about 6:45 am, I started to feel some pretty intense back pain. Once I got to work it started to hurt more and more. I knew this wasn't your regular lower back pain, I was already having plenty of that in recent weeks. As the pain became more intense, I started to do my work as if I was leaving and not coming back. I prepped all of my approved files to be printed, backed up everything for the month, and tried to get everything in order. Around 8:30, I told my boss I was in too much pain and had to go. I brought him up to speed on everything and where I was in my work. I guess he could tell I might not be back for a while. He gave me a big hug and told me it would all be over soon. It was really kinda sweet.

On my drive home, the pain became even more intense. It reminded me of the onset of a kidney stone, but lower and more localized. It was about 8:45, so my doctor's office wasn't answering their phones yet (they open at 9:00). So I called the hospital and they told me to talk to my doctor first. I got home shortly after that and Joe was getting ready for work. I was looking pretty upset at this point, as the back pain was getting pretty intense. I told him I was calling the doctor at 9 just to see what they thought and to still do what he was doing. Finally I got a hold of a nurse at the doctor's office. I told her about the back pain, she asked me if my stomach was hard at all. I told her it was hard as a rock. She thought it sounded like I was having back labor and that I should head straight to the hospital for evaluation, and they would call ahead for me. I knew nothing was going to happen right away anyway, so I decided to take a shower first. The hot water did wonders for my pains and even though they didn't go away, it did make me feel better. We packed all of our bags just incase we were going to be there a few days and headed out.

Once at the hospital, they admitted me, I peed in a cup, stripped off my clothes, and put on the gown and laid down in the bed. We left all of our stuff in the car for now, but I was glad to know I brought my own night gowns to wear because those hospital gowns are awful. They hooked me up to the monitors to check the baby and my contractions. According to the monitor, I was having some contractions, but they were pretty far apart and I wasn't really even feeling them. Then the nurse wanted to check my cervix. She was rough and she had left me feeling a little violated. She pulled the sheets off the bed quickly and lowered the bed to lay me down flat. Her fingers were short and stubby (this was something she was telling me, I couldn't tell from my point of view), so it was hard for her to check and painful as she was working really hard to figure things out. She reported back that my cervix was still at 1cm dialated and about 50% effaced. Boo.

I know it's silly, but during this whole episode I was very aware of Joe sitting on the little couch near the end of my bed. Did I mention I have gained 60 lbs during this pregnancy? Joe has seen me without clothes on plenty, but I was still a little uncomfortable laying there in the bright sunlight from the window and the rough nurse jerking me around with absolutely nothing to cover me at all. I know also that this was nothing compared to what was to come and that Joe loves me and could care less right now, he knows I am pregnant. But there was still that part of me, that wanted to tell that nurse to chill out a minute and let me grab a part of that sheet to cover up that thunder thigh.... couldn't she tell my husband was sitting right there?! I couldn't help it... I'm a silly girl I guess.

I got over it pretty quickly though. Obviously there wasn't much room for modesty in this whole process and having my cervix checked was pretty tame compared to the whole labor thing we were going to go through at some point. Oh and incase you were wondering, Joe has been to the doctor's office with me during a cervix check, but he was always standing up near my torso and I was covered up pretty good for the most part.

They called my doctor to let her know what was going on, after they got a 20 minute reading from my monitors. They determined that I was in pre-labor, but that it could be later that night or the next day or two before anything happened. They wanted me to go home, and wait till the contractions were much stronger and closer together. They did not want me to return to work.

So we went home. After lunch, I took a nap, while Joe went out to work for a while. After he returned, we went to the park and walked around for a while, trying to get things going. Joe tried some maternity accupressure on me. I sat on my giant balance ball to spread my hips apart and relieve some of the pressure. I even walked up the giant hill that is my street. I also walked laps around my house. And although I was still very uncomfortable, nothing seemed to be progressing. We made dinner, we watched a movie. I did start to have more contractions before I went to bed, but nothing severe.

This morning I woke up feeling better. My back pain has subsided and I am not feeling any contractions at all. I am disappointed. I know things can progress and then slow down and stop and start again, and you can't predict the schedule or what's going to happen, but with all the pain I was in yesterday, I thought for sure something was going to happen some time soon.

My sister just got here, and we are headed to the park to do some more walking. I hope that gets things going again! I will keep everyone posted!