False Alarm

Good morning my friends!

It’s a 3 day work week AND it’s the last few days of work for me before maternity leave.  To say I’m doubly excited would be a grave understatement.

If you missed yesterday’s post, check it out – I made Pumpkin cinnamon raisin bread pudding and it’s divine

Okay so let’s recap the weekend a bit.  Yesterday was your typical cardio, laundry, errands, and a mani.  Saturday will deserve a post of it’s own as a group of friends and I made a smorgasbord of Indian food, while watching Stanford kick butt against Cal   Oh yeah!

Let’s really chat about Friday though.  If you follow me on twitter, you saw that I was admitted into Labor and Delivery Friday morning.

(Note, this post will have some graphic pregnancy related information –you can stop reading now and just know I’m fine…otherwise read on)

Friday morning I was getting ready and noticed what I would call a mini-gush or spurt of liquid run down my leg.  And no, I did not pee myself thankyouverymuch.  But clearly this has never happened to me before.  I figured my water may have broke.

Zach and I had just taken a 3rd trimester / preparing for childbirth class less than a month ago and the instructor let us know that water breaking feels different for every woman.  It’s often not a gush.  It can be a trickle or barely noticeable.  But it is a clear signal to call the doctor. 

I continued to get ready and figured I’d call the advice nurse on the way to work.  As I sat outside my office building. the nurse questioned whether I had contractions or cramping and lower back pain.  Well duh, I’m 35 weeks, yes I live with back pain.  But I had been feeling some intense sharp pains.  And while I wasn’t feeling contractions, I was feeling consistent cramping all week (like menstrual cramps).  She said I was exhibiting signs of pre-term labor and I should come in right away.

I asked if I could make an appointment at a convenient time.  HA!  Yeah right…nope I had to come right in and get admitted.

En route to the hospital, I called Zach and told him what was up.  He asked if he should come and I said no, but don’t drive further north to work – just stay and work from home until I had news.

Upon arriving I was fully checked in as if it was the day.  Felt very surreal, yet I was unbelievably calm and not scared in the least.  More, hmm, amused by the whole situation. 

I had to undress and they hooked up all the fetal heartrate monitors to me, took my BP, temp, etc.  All was pretty well.

Except, the nurse immediately noticed how dehydrated I was by the baby’s heartbeat – it was too flat.  Once I started drinking water (with a splash of cranberry juice), Sawyer’s heartrate was singing again. Phew!

It took forever to actually see a doctor.  Thank god for smart phones.  I kept myself busy fielding texts from Zach, emails from work, and reading blogs (<—of course).

Finally the doctor arrived and, well you know, did a full on check.  She took a fluid sample and immediately the pH strip turned blue upon contact.  This is usually an indication that amniotic fluid is present and the water bag did indeed break. 

However, I didn’t have any other signs.  So she went to look under a microscope and discovered that nope, all was well.

To be on the safe side, she took measurements of the amniotic sack via ultrasound and I got a great photo out of it:

If you can’t see what’s going on, allow me to rotate the photo and point some things out

Can you see his adorable chubby face (right half is in shadow)?!?!  So so so amazing!  That’s my little boy

All in all, it was a very interesting experience and I felt like I was the pregnant woman who cried wolf .  All the attendings assured me that I did precisely the right thing and if anything happens like that again, to call and come in.  That helped me feel a bit better.

What surprised me was how calm I felt.  I wasn’t anxious or nervous, but more excited and uncertain.  Zach on the other hand was driving himself nuts by googling preterm labor. 

Bottom line is I am A-OK and Sawyer is going to hang out in his pouch for a few more weeks

Are you a cautious person?

Mamas out there, has this happened to anyone?  Something similar?

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