This is flying by! I can't believe how fast it's going.
Last week I started feeling a lot of braxton hicks. I don't remember feeling it at all with Kristopher, so it was definitely a little bit scary. I rested all day Thursday, and still had them occasionally. On Friday, I talked to the nurse and she said if I was staying super hydrated, and still continued to feel the tighteness (and also I had weird vaginal pinching feeling in the cervix area), to go to L&D to be monitored just in case. So, Friday evening I drank as much water as I possibly could, crashed on the couch and around 7:30 decided I should probably get checked just to be safe. We had a busy weekend planned and I was scared to do anything with the occasional pinches and my belly would get super hard. It was not like a real contraction though, so I felt safe enough to make the trip alone.
I got there, and they did a urine test to rule out any UTI possibility. Then, got hooked up to the monitors. The first 20 mins, I had one small contraction, but with no pain. They said they believe it was simply braxton hicks going on. The baby was pretty good about being monitored during that time, and was moving around nicely, good 20 min heart beat reading. All was good. They said they had to check me due to the pinching feelings, and it was determined that I am already 1 cm dilated!! She said the cervix was really high still, so that's not too uncommon with it being a 2nd pregnancy. They said to stay there while they ran it past the ob in charge, but chances are I'd be on my way shortly. A few minutes later they came back in and said that the OB would like to keep me for another 2 hours of monitoring and to make sure that I do not dilate anymore in that time frame. So, back to the monitor. At this point, the baby was fed up with all this attention. She was moving all around to try to get away from the band that monitored her heartrate. 15 mins later she was completely off the monitor, all squished up at the upper part of my belly. The nurse came back in and readjusted the band, and she moved about 10 mins later, all the way low. They came back in a 3rd time, and put the band right around my belly button and pulled it pretty tight. It kept her heartrate on there then. That part was pretty uncomfortable because my belly button is in between the inny and outty stage, depending on how the baby is positioned. It seems to be more sensitive over my scar from the gall bladder surgery. Of course, baby fought this, but wasn't able to avoid it anymore. I had a few more contraction spikes on the monitor, but it was really just a little pressure and rock hard belly feeling. No pain. After my 2 hrs were up, they came and checked one more time and there was no change in dilation so I was sent home with the assumption that this is just braxton hicks and the little discomfort I feel is because my child is a circus preformer. I was told if I feel pain, pressure, leakage, or these BH end up coming in a timeable fashion, to immediately head back in.
Since the L&D trip, I've had maybe 1 or 2 times a day that I feel them, but it's still not really anything painful. She's very active still, finally head down and seems to be moving a little lower. The pinching feeling has gone away thankfully, and I don't have any leakage issues going on. I'm curious if the dilated part is truly because I've gone through this before, or if it is a sign she is going to follow in Kristopher's fashion and come early. He was exactly 3 weeks early and he played these games with me at 35 & 36 weeks. And with him, I was checked at 35 weeks and was already 3cms. So, who knows what point that started. I do know when I was checked earlier in this pregnancy, I was told the cervix was tightly closed, so I'm a little confused on their theory of it being common for 2nd pregnancies just being that way. Of course, I'm just thinking way too far into all this. She will come when she's ready. The part that makes me feel ok about it at this point is that I know she's a fighter and no matter what point she comes, she's going to be ok now. I just feel a little scared knowing that I'm down to single digits on weeks left, and it's so uncertain as to when this will happen.
I washed baby clothes this week. That was fun. Somehow, I have collected quite the collection for 3 month size. She may only wear the stuff once each, but at least I won't be overwhelemed with laundry in the beginning! I want to get a few more newborn size sleepers. Kristopher was 7.7 and almost 21 inches, but I remember the first week or 2 all the 0-3 stuff was way too big on him. I had my mom get some newborn but we were washing a lot of clothes that first week or so till he finally fit better into the stuff I had already. This time, I figure if I have too much, maybe someday she can use that itty bitty stuff as baby doll clothes. :) I'd rather have too much than not enough. The only things I need to do yet is set up the pack n play, bring up the swing to the living room, and I want to buy a few more packs of diapers. Everything else, I think I'm set with. I even started to put a few things into the diaper bag so that her bag will be packed. I do need to buy myself a few things for afterwards and then maybe I'll even go as far as starting to pack my bag just in case she's early. The next few weeks I have a ton of appts for the boys and just other things in general, so I don't want to risk not being prepared. I'm a little bit OCD at the moment.
And to end this today, I want to say that colds during pregnancy really should be illegal. I have been fighting what I thought was allergies for about a week now, and last night I started having the really bad sinus pressure and drainage. I slept like crap, and today my eyes and nose are constantly watering. It's turned from allergy to cold. And it sucks. Planning a weekend of laying around and doing nothing. Hopefully by Monday I feel more normal. Monday is the "32 week" appt. And my friend is going along and we planned lunch and shopping afterwards. Hoping to feel better for all that.
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