To the Hospital - and Beyond

Yesterday I woke up to sharp pains in my stomach. I thought maybe I had rolled on Jellybean and he was fighting back, but that wasn't the case. For the next hour I lay as still as I could while my stomach clenched and hurt. On top of that, I was having some lovely contractions. Now I'm no stranger to contractions, but I didn't know how to process the stomach pain on top of them. My poor belly hardened into a tight ball and wouldn't relax. Even a steamy shower didn't do any good. It stayed painful and hard as a rock for the next hour.

I hummed and hawed about what to do next. Nobody wants to be the girl that cried wolf (er, labor) at the hospital and be sent home in embarrassment. I wasn't convinced that this was even labor I was experiencing. Then I thought about it - how would I know if it was labor or not? I've never been through it before! I called my baby doctor and she said something along the lines of 'get thee to labor and delivery and do not have a baby today'. Okay, I can do that. I hope.

I texted Ryan to come get me, painfully got Cailin up and what passes for dressed these days and made her a snack. My belly felt like it was going to rip in half; I was nauseous but couldn't barf. I managed to chase Bailey outside and get us all ready for when Ryan got home. Upon his arrival at the house, the iPhone charger had to be located (in the truck), truck keys had to be found (on the bookshelf, safe from Cailin and also Ryan's searching eyes) and the truck's car alarm had to be neutralized (bringing a concerned neighbor to his kitchen window to ask if everything was alright - he had just had his own truck stolen a few weeks ago down south).

Let me just say our hospital is a complete gong show. I painfully waddled to emergency, hand on belly and Health Card in hand, my best 'I'm in labor' face on. The lineup up went up and down the hall and no one gave me a second look. After a few minutes of waiting I decided to go straight up to Labor & Delivery instead. The nurse on duty there immediately sent me back to the main level to register at Out Patients. I did, and made my way back up to L&D and onto the OB Triage room.

They hooked me up to monitors - one for the baby's heartbeat and one to measure contractions. Somewhere in the elevator the contractions had lessened and weren't very strong now. However, the clenching in my stomach hadn't abated at all, nor had the pain. They took my history, had me sit for 20 minutes to get a good look at the graph the monitors were making and had me lay back and rest. My blood pressure seemed high - 145/84 - but they didn't seem concerned about it. I was pretty happy to see Jellybean's healthy heart rate and be able to see his movements via the contraction numbers. Meanwhile, Ryan was having a terrible time finding/paying for parking in the shockingly ridiculously undersized hospital parking lot.

Eventually Ryan was able to get the truck parked, Cailin in a stroller and get up to where I was (after a bit of a search). Cailin wasn't sure what to make of all the monitors and such, but she was happy to sit on the bed with me and beat me up a bit before settling in to eat some crackers. My baby doctor surprised me by throwing back the curtain and checking on me to see if I was in fact in labor. In short order it was determined that I wasn't - but that it is not far off at all. I explained my issue to her and got a Zantac and some toast for my efforts. She thought I had some gastro problems.

After a little more monitoring, they told me to go home and take it very easy. If my pain didn't go away or got worse, please come back right away. So I did turn out to be the girl who cried wolf - er, labor - after all. Don't get me wrong, I was relieved Jellybean wasn't coming early - at 36.5 weeks, it is still a little too soon for him to make his appearance. But I am so done being pregnant that it's not funny. I feel really bad for those that go weeks past their due date.

Mom met us at home and took Cailin for the afternoon so I could rest. Ryan had to run back to work. Bailey and I snuggled up and took full advantage of the break and slept all afternoon. When I woke up I felt better. My stomach was still sore, but it wasn't doing that awful clenching thing anymore. It started again later, but not as badly as before.

Cailin had a great time shopping with Nana. She even got to go see Papa at the office! When Mom dropped her off at home, she gave a little wave and said, "Bye Nana!" at the door. She is really starting to talk these days.

Today I feel better. My stomach is still sore, but nothing like it was yesterday. Everyone is tired and dragging their feet. The weather is bizarre today - windy and sunny, then it pours buckets of rain, cloudy, back to dazzling sun, just in time to pour rain again. It's not that warm. It's the kind of day you lay on the couch with a blankie and do nothing. Coincidentally, that's exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Can't argue with that!