Since it's been about 1/2 of the pregnancy since I've last posted, I figured that yesterday's events would be as good of a time as any to resume the blog. I'll post pictures of the bump soon so that the change from 16 to 35 weeks is more apparent.
Anyway, yesterday was a good fire drill for what could happen when Wiggles decide to make his appearance.
After lunch yesterday, I started getting sharp pains in my lower back and abdomen. Since they felt different than before, I wasn't really sure what this meant. After Deven talked me down a bit, I decided to call the doctor. However, being that I've been running to the restroom quite frequently, because Wiggles likes to use my bladder as a pillow, I went to the bathroom before making the call. At that point I noticed that I was bleeding a bit, so after panicking for a moment, I called the doctor's office, who said that I needed to come down to the hospital for an exam - at 3:30 PM...just before rush hour.
I was in the car at about 3:40 and called Deven who was already on his way. We met halfway and then drove down to MGH. By 4:40, we were at Labor & Delivery. Fortunately it was a quite evening for them, so I was taken right into triage and hooked up to a fetal monitor and one to measure contractions. It was definitely interesting to watch the print out of both, and the nerd in me enjoyed trying to see a correlation between them. Though mildly, I was actually contracting, but reassured that this was just my uterus being "irritable" and getting ready for the main event. After an unpleasant pelvic exam I was told that I was about 1/2 cm dialated and 30% effaced - which means labor isn't expected to come on anytime soon as people go a month with more dialation and effacement (thinning of the cervix). So, in short, everything looks normal, and the waiting game, which could go another 6 weeks, begins....
Since we were already at the hospital, we thought it would be a good opportunity to complete the rest of the hospital tour we started a few months ago. We saw the remainder of the labor & delivery unit and got a chance to see the postpartum recovery floor. We found out more about how the process works between the two, and what to expect - compared to what we learned over the last 5 weeks during our child birth class. I think Deven and I both felt more prepared having had the classes and learning what kinds of questions to ask. I also felt more comfortable just seeing how Deven was so calm (maybe not on the inside!) and such a rock for me, really helping me to relax. Needless to say, this coming weekend will entail some of the essentials for our little one's arrival - packing the hospital bag, installing the car seat & base, and finalizing our shopping list for those items we'll need during the first week - because ready or not, he's coming when he's ready :).
