OB Appointment - Moderate Bed Rest and an Irritable Uterus

Well, here's the deal...I was having pretty strong contractions since Saturday morning and even with all the resting I am doing (literally laying in bed or on the couch) the contractions became more frequent, harder, stronger and hurt more everyday that was passing. I was really starting to feel them lower and lower too, which also worried me. On Tuesday night, I almost made the call to the on-call OB but I did not want to go to the hospital and have everyone freak out about probably nothing. So Wednesday morning, I got up and got out of the house to run an errand and was only away from the house for an hour and 45 minutes and had contractions the whole time. Sometimes they are strong and sometimes not so much. Sometimes they are regular for a while and sometimes I go for hours without any. When I got home, I got right in bed, laying flat and drinking water but everytime I moved or got up to use the bathroom, I would get one or even a few.

I finally decided to call the OB after they opened from lunch and of course they wanted me to come in. I was ok with that, but it was the last thing I really wanted to do, but to make sure the girls weren't being stressed from the contractions was very important to me.

I met Tim there and we had one of our favorite nurses, she is so smart and really does such a good job on getting all the proper measurements of the babies. She measured my cervix and it had definitely gone down. Last Thursday it was 3.4 mm and today (only 5 days later) it was 2.7 mm! So yes, the contractions do have something to do with it but when the doctor came in he said that my cervix didn't really look any different than it did on Thursday, even though it was a few millimeters shorter.

Basically, I was to still quit my job and "relax" as much as possibly. Not complete bed rest but close enough. Not doing things alone, taking my time, drinking lots of water...all the things I already do....but the doctor spent a lot of time asking me, "what does relaxing mean to me"...and "do I know exactly what I am going to take out of my daily schedule to have more relaxing time"...felt more like an interrogation rather than my doctor giving me advice. Of course Tim loved it because he is always nagging me about doing too much.

I did get a contraction when I was being interrogated and the doctor felt my stomach and yes, confirmed that it was about a 3 out of a 10 sized contraction. I was glad to have Tim hear that I was really having contractions, since he keeps asking me am I sure they are contractions, and of course what should I think because I haven't been pregnant before and never experienced a contraction. But sure enough they are! So basicallyI have an irritable uterus and I am very sensitive to my body's reactions. Which I guess can be a good thing since I'm very tuned-in to what my body is saying.

So if they keep up the way they are, I will probably get one of those home monitoring devices and for now I am up to once a week appointments now. Lovely. However it looks like it will be one of the only times I leave the house during the week, unless I go to the grocery store, so I guess I should be grateful.

We did get some really great photos of the girls...well only Claire and Nataleee. Madelynn is still stuck down in my right lower hip cavity burrowed like a little squirrel.

The first three photos are of Natalee.....LOVE THEM!



Natalee...with her mouth wide open!



Claire

Claire

Claire