Baby Time Already? I think not!

Yup, my body is impatient. At about 11:30 last night I started having contractions. Apparently I’d been having them throughout the day, I just didn’t know it. They started getting bad around midnight, but I just gritted my teeth and tried to ignore them. They weren’t bad, like a bad menstrual cramp, so nothing really new to me. They were probably about 10 minutes apart then. I was able to get some sleep, I guess you could call it that because I woke up a lot to contractions. I even had a dream that I was having contractions. Weird. So around 4 or 4:30am or so, I woke up and went to the bathroom for the 100th time and started timing my contractions again. They were every 10 minutes, quite consistent. If I stayed still long enough they would be about 12 minutes apart. Then I would go to the bathroom and they would go back down to every 10 minutes. Around 5 or so they moved to every 8 minutes. After an hour of that we decided to call the Dr.

I was told to either go to Labor and Delivery at the hospital or wait to go to the clinic at 8am. I didn’t want to go to the hospital, so I waited. (When I say I, I really mean we. Ryan was tracking my contractions, rubbing my back, talking to me the whole time – thanks Love). We didn’t go back to sleep and slowly the contractions became further apart. Then we got up for breakfast and headed to the clinic’s office.

When we got there, we signed in etc and waited. I was seen quickly and taken to a room with really really comfy leather recliners. (I told Ryan we needed one of these. I could relax better in it than I could in the bed.) The hooked me up to a stress test monitor thingy that monitored my contractions and the baby’s heart beat. I was supposed to click a button every time he moved, but he had the hiccups so it was hard to tell which was which. I had a few contractions while I was there, but they weren’t nearly as bad as the ones I had at home. After 20-30 minutes a nurse came back in and looked a bit alarmed at my contractions. Well, duh. That’s why I was there. I don’t know why they were surprised. Anyhoo, the Dr. came in to look at me and check me. Still not dilated. No shocker there. So she sent me to the hospital – Labor and Delivery to monitor me and give me some medicine to stop the contractions because I’m still a little early.

So we get to the hospital which is luckily a 30 second drive from the Dr.’s office. We’re a little lost because we haven’t been there before and the people at the info desk can tell we need help. We show them our form that the Dr. gave us and they didn’t seem to know where to send us either. I finally said, “I’m trying to NOT have a baby today. Where do I go for that?” and they pointed me in the right direction. Once we were in the right area, a nurse found us and said that the Dr. called and to expect us. She was super nice and comforting. We filled out the paper work and sat down. 1 minute later I was following a nurse to triage for monitoring. The room was small, but private, with a big bathroom. I was hooked up to the same monitors, one to follow the baby’s heart rate, one for my contractions and I think something hooked up to my arm monitored my heart rate.

I was given a gown to wear, which smelled like BO and asked all the usual questions. Then a long time later a nurse came in to give me Brethine (Terbutaline) to stop the contractions. It was a tiny needle and a tiny shot, but it hurt. Ryan at the time was on the phone with our insurance people asking questions so I was alone when the nurse left. About 2 minutes later I started freaking out. My heart started racing and my body was shaking and I got really scared. I was told that this was what would happen (my muscles should relax, but I would feel jittery and my heart would race) so I guess I should have expected it. Either way I didn’t like being alone so I called my dad. I think I may have scared him when the first thing I said was I’m in the hospital and my voice is shaky and I’m crying. Sorry Dad. He helped me calm down and Ryan was back in the room so I was feeling better. It was also comforting to hear the baby’s heart beat throughout the whole thing. I knew as long as he was fine, I would be fine too. I would take whatever shot or drug or contraction to make sure that little heartbeat was healthy. (new appreciation for moms). My lower back was cramping because I was shaking and because it was FREEZING in the room. I had 2 blankets on me and was still cold. Ryan was just in shorts and a T-shirt and he was freezing too. So the nurse came back in about 15 minutes later because I’m supposed to get 3 shots, 15 minutes apart. She checked my heart rate and said she couldn’t give me the second shot because my heart rate was too high (130 or 140). Ya, I could have told her that. I thought it would beat out of my chest. So she said she’ll talk to the Dr. and see what we should do.

I couldn't get this photo to rotate, and frankly, I'm too tired to care, you can turn your head. This is me in triage. You can kinda see the wires and cords coming out from under the blanket. The photo's blurry because we took it with our phone. Oh well.

About 45 minutes later she comes back in and checks all my stuff and gives me another shot. This one is better, well, it hurt more but I didn’t go nutso as bad. Ryan was there the whole time so I think that helped too. Then about 30 or 40 minutes later they tell me they need a urine sample. Well, I went when I first got in the room so I don’t know how much success I’ll have. I was hooked up to so many wires and stuff Ryan had to hold them all while I tried to go to the bathroom. (Not to be gross or anything. Just the facts). I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. Aww, the things we do for the ones we love…

So then they have to wait for the results…tick tock. Ryan gets some French fries for us, which tatted wonderful. I had another contraction, which frustrated me because this psyco medicine wasn’t stopping the contractions. Well, it probably was, I just had one slip by…

Finally at 2:30 a nurse comes in and asks me if I want to go home. I am relieved! I change and go out to fill out more paper work. They tell me to rest a lot, stay off my feet, no shopping etc. So, of course the first thing we do when we leave the hospital is go to Target. I stay at the café area while Ryan goes to fill my prescription of that nutso medicine to stop contractions over the weekend (the hurricane coming, I’m too early etc.). So he says it will take 20 minutes to fill so we decided to get some last minute baby stuff, just in case. We got diapers, wipes, laundry detergent for the baby clothes, pacifiers, and other essentials. I feel a little more prepared.

By the time we came home, Lesley thought for sure I had gone into full labor and was having a baby. We were gone for over 6 hours and I had only eaten some graham crackers and fries. I was starving when we got home that I microwaved a piece of pepper-jack cheese in two slices of bread and I swear it tasted like heaven. I might have just eaten anything at that point.

I am still having contractions, however they are not as painful or close together. But still not fun!

So, moral of the story, don’t go into labor early. It’s no fun. But at least I have an idea of what I’m in for and I’m not so scared anymore. If you’ve read all of this, thanks for caring about us.

We will be updating the blog more often now because of this “adventure” and also because of hurricane Ike. For those who don’t know, Ike is headed right for us and will probably hit us Saturday. We’ll keep you all posted.

We love you all!
Sarah, Ryan and Baby K (who is apparently ready to greet the world)