My first hospital visit.... hmmmm

Friday, September 10, 2010 0 comments
Well, first I'll say that I've been pretty tired lately.  So, I couldn't help falling asleep on the couch when we decided to relax for a little while after lunch.  Mauri got up to do some work outside, but I was too sound asleep to even notice until a strong contraction woke me up a little while later.
I didn't get too excited.  Like I said earlier, I've been having them, and often, over the last week or so.  I went outside with Mauri for awhile, and did manage to water the plants, but decided against mopping the floor inside like I had wanted to because the contractions just wouldn't go away.
A couple of hours later, after coming inside to relax again, Mauri asked if I wanted to go out to eat.  I told him that earlier in the day it had sounded like fun, but that now the contractions just made me want to stay home.  Maybe we could go for a doner kebap or something, to not have to worry about making dinner on a Friday night, but to be able to eat at home...
I started to time the contractions with a contraction timer that I downloaded to my ipod, and noticed that the contractions were a very steady 3 minutes apart lasting about 1 minute each.  OK, I thought that the early stages of labor were supposed to last longer?!?!?  I was planning on getting through them by sitting myself in a warm tub of water, and hanging out at home for sevearl hours.  Maybe a kebap isn't the best idea.
So, after a yogurt and a slice of watermelon, I decided we should calmly head to the hospital, just in case.
I'd been having the contractions every 2-3 minutes for over an hour now, and despite not having any other symptoms and the contractions not being as painful as I expected, I figured it was best to have it checked out. 
So, we headed towards the hospital, and I told Mauri to look for a normal parking space and that I would walk with him to the ER. (Luckily there were parking spaces available, being almost 10PM at night by now.) I was hoping that the walk would stop the contractions, and that I could turn around and head home.  Don't get me wrong... in a way, I would like to have this baby already, but on the other hand, well, I have an appointment in the morning to have my friend cut my hair (finally), and I have a non-religious baptism (Don't ask... a Spain thing, I guess) tomorrow evening, and I guess I just didn't really like the idea of having the baby on September 11.  Of course it didn't work, so we continued to head to the ER reception desk, and the girl at reception called for a wheelchair for me.  She seemed overly excited to see me possibly in labor, and wished me luck... and then admitted that she was 12 weeks pregnant herself.  (Ahhh I understand now) :)
So, a young guy came and wheeled me to the maternity section.  I went into a dilating room, and was hooked up to a fetal monitor.  Right away I started to have another contraction, and one of the midwives told me oh, "you are having contractions."  (Glad to know it's not just in my head.... You start to wonder when you tell people you've been having lots of them over the last week, and people tell you that they never had them until they were actually having their baby).
So, they kept me hooked up to the monitors for the next 20-30 minutes, and another midwife came in, looked at the printout, and said "I think this is it.  I doubt they'll send you home with such regular contractions so close together."  It turns out that there were other girls who had been there longer, waiting for the doctor who had been busy in a c-section, but they rushed me in to see him first because I looked the most urgent.
When I got in to see the doctor, he did an exam and an ultrasound, and everyone was very surprised to see that I was only 1 cm dilated.  Everything looked OK.  Eric now has an estimated weight of 3.5 kilos, and I was told that I had gained quite a bit (Believe me, I know!! no need to tell me!!), but that things weren't as far along as they had expected.
So, came the choice...
I could stay there the night and see how things progress...    Chances are, though, that things wouldn't move that quickly... or I could go home, get into a warm shower or bath to try to slow the contractions and try to get some sleep.  I was to come back if things picked up again (with more intense contractions or my water breaking), and to not worry about coming back, they'd still be there.  :)
I shouldn't feel dumb about having come in when I did either considering that I had everybody there fooled, including the doctor.
So, we decided to go home.
I set up a warm bath, and got in while Mauri made us dinner.  We ate at 11:30PM, and decided to watch a little tv before bedtime to allow the contractions more time to calm.  They must have because I found myself asleep on the sofa again, and Mauri told me to head off to bed.
I actually slept pretty well for awhile, but a contraction woke me up at around 3AM.  I haven't been able to sleep since, and have been having more contractions, but they don't seem quite as regular as a few hours ago.  So, I decided to update the blog, and will be heading back off to bed soon to try to get some more sleep!!!
Hopefully this all means that things will start to move more quickly now.
Maybe Eric will eventually decide that he actually wants to meet us...

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