Friday Night Fun...

For some reason Friday nights appear to be when the excitement begins for the Carters! We made another trip to Labor & Delivery on Friday night, no worries- everything is fine! Just as I was going to sleep on Friday night I started having lower back pain. The baby had been flipping around all day and I had noticed that she had flipped downward earlier in the night. She has since flipped upward again, but hey, at least she is still moving around!

Since the pain was extremely strong, stronger than any contraction I've had, and accompanied by a steady stream of contractions, I thought maybe I was experiencing "back labor". So I decided to get my timer out and see how often they were coming. At the same time I was in such pain that I was desperately moving around trying to find a position that would ease some of the pain. After about 30 minutes of the "back pains" I finally twisted around and found a position that alleviated some of the pain. Then the contractions eased up some and I decided to try to get some sleep. It was probably 1 or 2 in the morning, so it was about time!

Around 3 I woke up and was experiencing the same pain but this time it had shifted up a bit to the bottom of my ribcage and back and in the front as well. I stumbled into the bathroom and tried to "get comfortable" again. This time the pain was so strong that not only could I not be still or find a position that helped, but I started blacking out. My heart was racing, I was starting to sweat and I was in pain- not to mention about 45 minutes away from my hospital!

Now, Chris had slept through all of my pains of the evening. I didn't want to wake him if I didn't need to and he was planning on going to the Alabama game later on Saturday Morning. Once I started blacking out, I knew I didn't need to be alone. I know of a friend of a friend that had a stroke late in pregnancy, under a similar situation, and her husband didn't find her until several hours later. By then, their baby had already suffered severe brain damage and this information alone was enough to scare me into making another visit to the hospital! I woke Chris up and told him he had to get ready and fast. He was none too happy about this.;-) I called the Dr and he said to come in and get checked out. I got dressed as quickly as I could in my condition and then it dawned on me... I was suddenly nauseous. GREAT!!! Just what I needed.

After being sick I decided maybe the pressure/pain I was feeling was severe gas! I.KID.YOU.NOT!!! Pregnancy is no joke, it changes everything! After being sick I just wanted to lay down, but by then Chris was already up and showered and insisted that we go to the hospital right then. I was still having lots of contractions and was extremely sore in my back/lower chest from the previously mentioned pressure, so I agreed we should make sure everything was ok.

We made it to the hospital at around 4 and were greeted by our L&D nurse from our previous visit! We walked up and she said, "We've been waiting to see you two again! You made it longer than we thought you would!" Then I explained what was really going on and they took me back to a room to be monitored. They hooked me up, took my vitals and gave me some medicine within the first few minutes. The first 15 minutes on the monitor it wasn't placed right and I could feel contractions but they weren't showing on the monitor. I told the nurse when she came back in and we readjusted. Boy did that make a difference! Chris promptly fell asleep, but I was staring at the monitor watching all of the contractions again.

The gas pain was practically gone and I was feeling like a real idiot for not knowing the difference between gas pain and a major heath issue! In my defense, I have never experienced pain like that before so I guess you live and you learn!!;-) Better safe than sorry! Now we were dealing with the contractions and since I was at the hospital I needed to have less than 6 in an hour to go home. I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes so I was seriously exceeding the limit! Once again these contractions, while they aren't comfortable, I don't consider them to be too bad. They come, but they also go, so it's not the end of the world... If it was real labor, I'm sure I would know it!!! Given the strength and frequency of my contractions they kept offering me pain medicine which I refused.

Around 8 the Dr came in to check me to make sure I wasn't making any progress. I wasn't, so we just discussed the contractions and I assured him I was fine and would be much more comfortable at home. We had already discussed at my last appointment that we wouldn't do anything to stop the contractions from now on and if she is born today, so be it! He said I will never make it to my November due date, but that really comes as no surprise to me! I cannot imagine having these contractions for another 4 weeks... yuck!

We were discharged from the hospital around 9 and I went straight home to sleep. I was still having tons of contractions so I couldn't wait to lay down and relax in my cozy bed! Chris went on to the game and I called my friend Katrina, since we had planned to get together that morning to watch football together, and she was instead "on call" in case I needed anything or got lonely!;-) I ended up sleeping most of the day Saturday and Chris made it home before too late on Saturday night.

I'm still having contractions and am now showing signs of "progress", without going into too many details. We go to the Dr. tomorrow and are having an ultrasound to determine Caroline's position before our appointment. As I mentioned earlier, she is still flipping around... one moment head up, a few hours later she's transverse, and I might find that she's head down when I go to sleep. Her hiccups are a dead give away for where her little head is! She's still shifting around, so even if she isn't head down tomorrow(or if she is) I'm not putting much stock in that being how she will end up! I will update tomorrow sometime after my appointment... I hope everyone is having a good week!=)