For the last few weeks, I have been feeling occasional contractions. I talked to my family physician, and she explained that the “tightenings” that I was feeling, were indeed contractions. When I told her that I didn’t remember feeling contractions so early with Dakota, she explained that with each pregnancy the contractions get a little earlier (with her third kid they started at 12 weeks). Great!!! A little annoyed, but at least I then knew what they were and that it wasn’t something to worry about. And I haven’t really worried about it…until today…
Yesterday we took a whole school fieldtrip. Yes…that’s right…we took every child in our school… on a bunch of buses… away from the comforts, routines, rules, and appearance of any shred of control of our school building…on a field trip…ugh! The field trip was to a musical performance at one of the local high schools, which doesn’t sound so bad, and we didn’t end up as a story on the news…so overall it was ok. Field trips are fun as a kid, but as a teacher they are a nightmare. School is really a precarious balance of control on the brink of chaos…and when you leave the school building…well… it leans more towards chaos. Field trips of any kind are exhausting. Yesterday, it meant that we were doing a decent amount of walking, a couple of hours of trying to get comfortable and sit still in a school auditorium, some more walking, a bus ride to and from, and an entire day with children from the minute that I got to school (thanks to a 20 minute commute that took an hour on the ice) to the minute that I drove away… other than the last 20 minutes of the school day while my little angels went to art class (while I ran around trying to get hours worth of teacher work done in 20 minutes). This non-stop pace meant that I wasn’t drinking as much water as I am supposed to, wasn’t able to “relax” much at all, and was just plain GOING all day. The baby apparently didn’t really appreciate all of this, as she was very active all day too (like mother like daughter). As the crazy day went on the “tightenings” that started out as just annoying were getting much stronger…and closer together. But I ignored them. By the time I got home there were some series of contractions where they were 5 or 6 minutes apart…and the feelings of worried and annoyed became a little more mixed. But, I did some online research and convinced myself that the contractions were just brought on by all the activity, dehydration, baby movement, etc. (and found out today that I was right…after a trip to the hospital).
Today was a little more “normal” as far as schedule and pace, but still pretty hectic. The contractions that I had ignored yesterday were back. Sometimes close together, sometimes very spaced out…but sometimes strong enough that I had to stop walking/talking and pause to let it pass. Very uncomfortable. Arg! When they were still happening on the drive home I decided that maybe I should just call the doctor and have someone else tell me that it was all in my head and nothing to worry about. But, the doctor’s office was already closed. So I called the hospital Labor & Delivery and talked to a nurse. She said that probably everything was fine, but that at 23 weeks I really shouldn’t be having much in the way of contractions and that she (and I) would probably feel better if I came in. I agreed to do so.
So, I picked Dakota up from school, took her home and got dinner started, Chris came home, we ate dinner and I headed to the hospital. Put on the gown, pee in a cup, physical exam, hook up to monitors…and sit…and wait. Wouldn’t you know not a single contraction the entire time that I was there! But, the baby enjoyed our little field trip. When the nurse went to hook up the monitor for the baby’s heart rate, she said “ok, lets see if we can find her in there.” As soon as she put the monitor against my belly, the heart rate came through loud and clear. Apparently the baby was right there, up close and personal! The nurse was very surprised that it was that easy, and said that normally at 23 weeks it is hard to get a decent read-out, but that wasn’t the case here at all. For the next hour I reclined in the hospital bed, did nothing, and watched television…quietly… by myself. It was kind of weird! As I said, there were no contractions (I guess all I really needed to do was sit down for a few minutes), but holy cow this kid is a serious spaz! She was rolling, twisting, kicking the monitor, and moving from one side of my belly to the other. The nurse just kind of looked at me funny and said, “I can see where she might be causing you a little discomfort
.” The baby’s heart rate was right on target through it all (although somewhat hard to keep track of because she was all over the place).
After an hour, a consult with the doctor over the phone, the lady from admissions had me fill out all my “pre-registration” paperwork, pee test results came back normal, the physical exam showed all was fine, the nurse filled out a bunch of paperwork, and they sent me home.
So…an exhausting field trip with fifth graders leads to a “relaxing” field trip to the hospital. They told me to “drink plenty of fluids, get some rest, stay off my feet, and avoid stress”…. apparently they didn’t hear me when I explained that I am a teacher and the mother of a toddler, but ok…I will try a little harder.
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