Dr. B-Hicks Comes to Town

Last week this time exactly I started getting painless but strong contractions. I got in bed, settled on my left side, drank a glass of water, and began timing. 15 minutes apart the first hour. 10 minutes apart the second hour. Finally I called my doctor. She felt that it was probably nothing, just good old Braxton-Hicks, but told me to wait another hour and call back if the contractions continued. They did continue, at 5 minutes apart. I could predict the buggers by the end. At that point I was advised to go to Labor and Delivery, where I was hooked up to all sorts of contraptions and pumped full of fluids. (For the record, I wasn't even dehydrated--I've been drinking water nonstop).

The babies were doing well and bopping all about during the 3-hour monitoring session, and eventually the contractions tapered off. My doc did the fnn(?) test to confirm I wasn't going into pre-term labor (I wasn't), checked to see that my cervix was good and closed (it was) and took some blood and urine samples. Then she sent me home, with orders to go on modified bed rest. H and I slowly allowed ourselves to breathe again.

The next day the urine test showed I had a bladder infection and I was put on antibiotics. The B-Hicks have continued, however. My doc says that this is just a new phase of the pregnancy that I'm entering. As long as they aren't painful and I am resting and getting plenty of fluids, I'm told I shouldn't worry. Right.

I'm at 28 weeks. This is too early for my taste to have these types of problems.

So, modified bed rest really isn't a bad gig. For every 4 hours I'm awake, I need to lie in bed for 2 and preferably sleep. I'm still able to work from home remotely in two 4 hour shifts, thank goodness. My work was amazingly understanding and supportive... such a relief. I'm glad to be able to still work too because otherwise I would go stir crazy being home all day. I'm not a big soap or talk show fan.

I did go into the office briefly on Monday to pick up a few things, and my co-workers surprised me with a lovely shower. Turns out they had been planning it all along for Tuesday. It was a great morale booster, but when I got home I was exhausted and could tell that I was indeed now a prisoner of my house for the duration.

Remember how my MIL didn't want to have my family shower the first weekend of March because she thought it was, in her words, "Waaaay too early"??? Well, look at me now. I'm the breathless, barely moving whale that the peri predicted, right on schedule. The good news is that my weight has stayed steady for the past two weeks. I've gained 37 pounds total and seem to be staying there.

My family shower is this weekend--a massive gathering of my relatives, H's relatives, and my closest girlfriends. Luckily it is at my house, and the carrot cake plot has been thwarted. Will I survive? Stay tuned...