After our initial scare, I was really hoping to avoid another trip to Labor and Delivery with this pregnancy. However, Nora seems determined to make her presence known and we spent the nicest day of the year in a windowless hospital room.
I woke up feeling a little sick and tired but that seems to be my normal right now so I didn't think much of it. I will also fully admit that I was a little extra crabby too. Henry and I had some things to get at Target that morning, so we were just running errands. I noticed a few contractions that morning but I've been getting Braxton Hicks more frequently lately and wasn't concerned.
When we got home, right around 10:45, however, I noticed a big change. The contractions were suddenly much more painful and coming really regularly. I tried all the "tricks" to get them to stop -- tons of water, ate some food, laid down, etc. Nothing worked to slow them. By 1:00 p.m. I was on the phone with my OB and by 2:00 p.m. we were on the way to L&D.
Thankfully we got to go to our regular hospital, where I quickly learned they won't do anything to stop labor if it starts after 35 weeks. So, I was strapped up to monitors to make sure Nora was alright and take a look at the contractions. They also checked my cervix and we learned I'm a "finger-tip" dilated {so under 1cm} which isn't a problem at this point. The contractions were coming every 5 or so minutes but never got worse or closer together. Nora looked great and moved like a mad-woman the whole time. After a few hours on the monitors, they checked me again and my cervix hadn't changed. Therefore, I was discharged.
The unfortunate part was that I was still having decent contractions every 5 minutes. But since they weren't changing my cervix, they were just considered really consistent Braxton Hicks. The doctors suggested a hot bath, Tylenol and a sleeping pill if I couldn't rest.
Once we finally got home around 6:15, the contractions seemed to pick up again. I took Tylenol and a bath without a ton of relief. Finally around 10:00 p.m. they tapered off enough for me to sleep. I had a few wake me in the night, but I was so exhausted that they didn't keep me from sleeping.
I really hope they are stopped now, at least for the next 10 days. Contractions without the baby -- total suckage.
