What a night!
So, we were at our small group last night and I started noticing a pattern in the contractions I was having. I've been having a LOT of contractions, but none of them have been painful. My abdomen tightens to a ridiculously hard basketball, and occasionally I feel some achiness in my back but that's about it. They've been happening consistently around 2-3 times an hour from the afternoon to evening since Friday. However, last night was different!
I started counting at 7:30 PM, and by 8:30 PM was up to 6. By 9:30 there had been 7 more and they were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. Hmm....so, I called First Nurse. Sidenote: that must be a hard job, because you could get calls about anything! However, this nurse was NOT a pregnancy expert, as she said things like "I think you're supposed to come in when they're every 6 minutes part, but I'm not really sure." and "I don't know if you should come in, what do you think?!" My confidence was less than inspired!
After talking it through for a while, she decided that yes, we should come in. Chris and I packed up the last little bits of our delivery bags, loaded everything into the car, and took off for Ames around 10:30 PM.
We got there, they wheeled me up, stuck me in a room and checked me - still 2 centimeters (which is what I was last Thursday), which would lead us to believe that I was not in active labor. However, when they hooked me up to the heartbeat and contraction monitors it showed that my contractions were extremely regular at about 4 minutes apart. What was even stranger was that they increased in intensity once I laid down, which is opposite of what would happen if it was false labor. The nurse declared me in the early stages of active labor and we settled in for the night.
Around 1:30 AM I awoke to the sound of my sweet husband vomiting in the hospital bathroom. :( He had complained of a stomach ache earlier, but we thought it was maybe just his nerves about going to the hospital...nope! Either stomach flu or food poisoning, this kid was SICK! He stuck it out until 4:00 AM when he threw up again, and then decided to go home and sleep it off/not expose me any more.
I had been having regular contractions all night, but was able to sleep through them. However, around 5:00 this morning everything just STOPPED. Nothing again until 6:30 when I woke up, and after that they were really sporadic. My doctor came in around 7:15 to check me again, and said that my cervix was really far back and I was not in active labor anymore. So I ordered a sweet omelet from room service and my dad came to get me and bring me home!
I always said that I really didn't want to go to the hospital too soon, that I would just wait it out until I knew FOR SURE! But when it came down to it, I had no idea what to do! My mom told me that when she had Amy she went to the hospital saying "I think I'm in labor, but I'm not sure..." and she was 4 centimeters dilated and had been in labor for hours. So, we just went for it...and failed. :) I'm really glad to have had the experience though. Now I know now what to expect and have a MUCH better idea of when to go in now. And, hopefully next time my husband won't come down with a violent illness and have to leave!
The other good thing that came out of this is that we discovered that we have a genius son - he even knew to stop his labor until daddy could be there!
So, we were at our small group last night and I started noticing a pattern in the contractions I was having. I've been having a LOT of contractions, but none of them have been painful. My abdomen tightens to a ridiculously hard basketball, and occasionally I feel some achiness in my back but that's about it. They've been happening consistently around 2-3 times an hour from the afternoon to evening since Friday. However, last night was different!
I started counting at 7:30 PM, and by 8:30 PM was up to 6. By 9:30 there had been 7 more and they were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. Hmm....so, I called First Nurse. Sidenote: that must be a hard job, because you could get calls about anything! However, this nurse was NOT a pregnancy expert, as she said things like "I think you're supposed to come in when they're every 6 minutes part, but I'm not really sure." and "I don't know if you should come in, what do you think?!" My confidence was less than inspired!
After talking it through for a while, she decided that yes, we should come in. Chris and I packed up the last little bits of our delivery bags, loaded everything into the car, and took off for Ames around 10:30 PM.
We got there, they wheeled me up, stuck me in a room and checked me - still 2 centimeters (which is what I was last Thursday), which would lead us to believe that I was not in active labor. However, when they hooked me up to the heartbeat and contraction monitors it showed that my contractions were extremely regular at about 4 minutes apart. What was even stranger was that they increased in intensity once I laid down, which is opposite of what would happen if it was false labor. The nurse declared me in the early stages of active labor and we settled in for the night.
Around 1:30 AM I awoke to the sound of my sweet husband vomiting in the hospital bathroom. :( He had complained of a stomach ache earlier, but we thought it was maybe just his nerves about going to the hospital...nope! Either stomach flu or food poisoning, this kid was SICK! He stuck it out until 4:00 AM when he threw up again, and then decided to go home and sleep it off/not expose me any more.
I had been having regular contractions all night, but was able to sleep through them. However, around 5:00 this morning everything just STOPPED. Nothing again until 6:30 when I woke up, and after that they were really sporadic. My doctor came in around 7:15 to check me again, and said that my cervix was really far back and I was not in active labor anymore. So I ordered a sweet omelet from room service and my dad came to get me and bring me home!
I always said that I really didn't want to go to the hospital too soon, that I would just wait it out until I knew FOR SURE! But when it came down to it, I had no idea what to do! My mom told me that when she had Amy she went to the hospital saying "I think I'm in labor, but I'm not sure..." and she was 4 centimeters dilated and had been in labor for hours. So, we just went for it...and failed. :) I'm really glad to have had the experience though. Now I know now what to expect and have a MUCH better idea of when to go in now. And, hopefully next time my husband won't come down with a violent illness and have to leave!
The other good thing that came out of this is that we discovered that we have a genius son - he even knew to stop his labor until daddy could be there!
4 comments:
Great story!! Laura and i were just exchanging similar stories of early labor that stopped. Poor Chris ): You are awesome and it won't be long. EnJOY!!!!
That's crazy!! Hopefully next time will be it. And I'm feeling grateful for you - hopefully Chris will be there 100% next time :)
Excited for you Nicole! You are so close!!
YAY!!!!!!!!! for false labor?! :) That boy is one smart cookie who knew that you work better when you know when to expect so he gave you a test run...and he already has started missing his daddy when he's not around.
I can't wait to hear about this little one being born!!! Great story to tell him!!! :)
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