So far, we're having a wild ride on this roller coaster of late pregnancy and that doesn't even include the delivery story yet since we haven't had our baby girl yet! Maybe my sister, Teri, nailed it when she said that pregnancy is a crapshoot since you never know what you're gonna get. Here's the roller coaster (aka crapshoot) we've had in the last several weeks.
On July 27, Mike and I went to the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic at Utah Valley Hospital at 8:30 in the morning to have my first non-stress test (NST), where they monitor the baby's heart rate and my contractions for 30 minutes, do a small ultrasound to capture the amount of amniotic fluid I have, and also do a biophysical profile of the baby's movements. Well, baby girl had a couple drops in heart rate that they didn't like so they wanted to monitor her for a couple more hours to see if it was a pattern. While being monitored longer, I started having some painful contractions so they gave me some drugs to settle them down. Eventually, everything looked fine with baby girl's heart rate and the contractions settled down so they let me and Mike head home . . . at 5:00 that evening! Heh. Yeah. We'd been there all day.
The next day, at my regularly scheduled doctor appointment, I learned that if baby girl had a bad low heart rate again that we'd be having a baby that day! So Mike and I scrambled to pack our hospital "go bags" that night because we had another NST scheduled the next day - my doctor wanted me to have an NST every other day for the next week. We were pretty stressed going into that next NST but to our relief, every NST after that was normal and looked good!
I missed quite a bit of work the rest of that week since I felt pretty crummy, and it was killing me to miss all that work since I had some big meetings that ended up being rescheduled.
But the following weeks of August 1-5 and August 8-11, I felt pretty good! I went to work and worked some very full days - often through my lunch hour and then even an hour or two after 5:00 PM a couple times since there has been so much to do in addition to training my replacement.
On August 12, I went to my regularly scheduled doctor appointment and got really light-headed while I was there - they think it was because of my low blood pressure which has been hovering around 92 over 60-something for several weeks now but I haven't always felt crummy because of it. So they gave me some water and a cookie and continued with my normal check up which was all fine and normal. I mentioned a few symptoms I had experienced that week that made my doctor want to have me tested to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid so he suggested I go over to Orem Community Hospital to be tested. While there, they put me on the same fetal heart rate and contraction monitors that they use in NSTs. Thankfully, the tests for the amniotic fluid leak came back negative so no leak, but while on the fetal heart rate monitor they didn't like that baby girl's heart rate was so high. High this time! At first they thought it might be due to me being checked for dilation a couple times within a short window of time and bugging her, and then they thought it might be due to dehydration (which might explain my low blood pressure) so they put me on an IV for a couple hours and continued to monitor her heart rate. At this point, Mike came up and joined me at the hospital. But baby girl would not stop moving! She was moving and kicking like a wild woman for several hours and they couldn't get a baseline heart rate for her, and all the while I was having some pretty good contractions again. When I heard the nurses wanted baby girl to settle down so they could get a baseline heart rate for her, I suggested that they let me sit up rather than lay down because it does seem like when I recline back on my back, baby girl likes to move but when I sit up she doesn't move as much - maybe because she doesn't have as much room to move. Plus I hadn't eaten anything for six hours (since the nurses were afraid I might have to stay and be induced), so as soon as I sat up and got something to eat, then magically baby girl settled down and they got what they wanted. (I have to admit this little experience made me take some confidence in the fact that I might be starting to know this baby girl well enough to be able to suggest stuff to the nurses about her and that maybe I won't have as much trouble as I fear I will in knowing what she needs and wants and how to keep her alive.) :) Then after four-ish hours in the hospital again, Mike and I got to go home that evening.
This last week . . . started out alright enough. I was back to feeling pretty good and working too many long hours and through too many lunch hours. Tuesday night and on into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, I started having some pretty good and regular contractions. I woke Mike up around 7:00 AM and he and I made a plan for me to go into work a little late and to leave by 3:00 PM since the contractions had settled down again. I went into work . . . and didn't get out of there until 4:00 PM. That night, the contractions came back to the moderate pain level and to a pretty good regularity of around 10 minutes apart so I decided to stay home from work on Thursday. I tried to go to bed in my regular bed, but I quickly discovered that the contractions were more painful lying down, even on my side, that I decided to sleep the whole night in the recliner out in the family room. Cute, loving, Mike - at first he tried to go to bed in our room, but then a few minutes later he came out and slept on the couch next to me claiming that he couldn't leave me out here alone to face these contractions by myself. Heart him. :) Sadly, he didn't sleep all that well on the couch, but I slept pretty well since the contractions settled down.
Thursday morning, August 18, I started having pretty regular contractions again - about 8 minutes apart, but the pain was only moderately bad so I knew it was too early to go to the hospital, but I didn't go into work since they were so frequent and painful. Instead, I ate breakfast at home, went for a walk, talked on the phone to one of my sisters, showered, made some banana bread, and went to Walmart to pick up a few things when on my way to our next NST appointment. The frequency of the contractions tapered off by the afternoon, but since I had been having some good contractions the nurses offered to check my dilation while I was there for my NST. I consented and sadly . . . I'm only at a lousy 1+! After all those pretty good contractions! And several other pre-labor and early-labor signs! Bah. I was disappointed. I have been anticipating a build up of contractions that just keeps on building until the baby is delivered. But it appears that is not the plan that I'm on - I appear to be on the plan for on and off again early labor contractions for who knows how long (could be up to a week according to our pregnancy book, What to Expect When You're Expecting). So I cried to Mike over that last night - that I might have to face these on-and-off, moderately painful contractions for maybe another week before we can really get the show on the road! (Side note: I was secretly very happy that Mike and I had planned to have an NST yesterday so that we could see if I had made any dilation progress without having to do the whole new-mom-come-in-get-checked-be-sent-home business, so I got to save my new mom pride of not going to the hospital too early only to be sent home!) :D
Last night, I slept in my recliner again and this time I told Mike to sleep in the bed where he'd sleep better. He slept okay last night, and I slept pretty well again since the contractions slowed down again for me. And this morning and all day today . . . the contractions have all but disappeared and the few I have had have been very mild in pain. So I decided to go into work for a half day just to distract me from the disappointment of the false start yesterday. I totally felt goofy coming into work today after telling a few of my coworkers of the contractions I was having yesterday - like the boy that cried wolf - but I tried to be clear that I didn't know if the baby was coming or not. I just gave them the straight-up facts. Well, I went into work and discovered that my co-workers had planned a surprise goodbye party for me for today! They were all scared that I was at the hospital having the baby yesterday and wouldn't come in today for the party. Little did they know, that I almost didn't come into work because of feeling goofy about it as I described earlier. They all laughed and told me that maybe baby girl knew they were planning this party for me and she slowed down my contractions so I'd come into work for the party! :) They were cute to throw me a party with some yummy cookies. (Possible future blog post to cover more about the party and to share some pics from it.)
This afternoon, after I left work early, has been AWESOME! I have felt so good. On top of the world. I went to my doctor appointment, and he confirmed that I'm in early labor. He scheduled me for an induction on August 31st if by some miracle I haven't had this baby girl by then - but he thinks I'll probably have her before then given my current symptoms and contractions. And he told me that he's excited to deliver my baby girl since I'm such a "neat lady." Kind of a cool compliment. :) Then I went and got a pedicure. Stopped by Allred's to pick up some of their famously yummy peaches now that it is peach season. Got some gas in my car. Ran a few other errands. Did some laundry. Ran the dishwasher. And now I'm feeling good enough to write this incredibly long blog post! :) Seriously, I feel so good right now, which is why I think this is all such a roller coaster of emotions and adventures.
I do have a small feeling that this afternoon was my last hurrah - maybe it's because I felt and still feel so awesome and maybe the little goodbye party at work is making me feel this way too. So maybe this is my last surge of energy, good vibes, and all that before this little one arrives? Who knows, but I'm prepared mentally for this early labor stage to be anything it's going to be . . . I think. Famous last words, right? Right.
As a gift to you for reading this whole big, monstrous post, here's a pic of me enjoying my recliner, peach, and freshly pedicured feet and painted toenails. Ha ha! :) Oh and another cute pic of Mike putting together the baby's dresser. :)
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