Scary Night

So I wrote this other post last night, to detail mostly Lucia's crappy behavior and a scary afternoon for us, thinking that was that.

But my contractions weren't letting up, and I didn't feel right. I tried to relax with a shower, but I just felt lots of pressure in my abdomen and it wasn't letting up. I googled pre-term labor and noticed I had several symptoms: cramping, abdominal pressure and back pain. So I called the Labor and Delivery nurses here at Kaiser Oakland to ask their opinion. They said come right in. We had put Lucia to bed at 6:30 after she refused to eat her dinner and then "accidentally" dropped it on the ground (that kid is so headstrong, she'll get her way one way or the other -- sigh), so Pete woke her up and off we went. Since I was already anxious, I figured it was just my nerves but also figured it didn't hurt to get checked out. I wasn't feeling right.

We got in there, and once they had me hooked up to the monitors, the nurse said, oh I am definitely seeing a pattern of contractions. Gulp. Ok? They wanted to determine if the contractions were putting me into labor, or were just contractions. The nurse checked me, and yes, it seemed like the contractions were causing my cervix to dilate. Oh no. Oh no oh no. They called the doc, as the contractions were increasing in frequency and intensity (upside of all those painful hysteroscopies? These contractions were nothing in comparison. They were uncomfortable yes, and getting even more so, but not anywhere near a hysteroscopy. Just sayin.). The doc came down and checked me, nope, everything looked fine. Phew. Then she said wait, let's do an ultrasound of your cervix. Oh wait, it looks like it IS opening. Bad. Ok, let's do this other exam, and we can tell for sure. The other exam showed NOPE everything is fine and closed. Phew and double phew.

But my urine tests came back showing dehydration, uh, like bad dehydration. So the nurse got me a pitcher of water and I downed that. Then another. Then we talked about what I ate yesterday, and I didn't have enough carbohydrates. [Its a delicate balance with the history of gestational diabetes; I've watched my carbs pretty carefully this pregnancy] The doctor later told me that it was more likely the lack of water than carbs for the day. They re-tested my urine and it was better, but still showing ketones. So I had a third pitcher of water, two small juice boxes and an apple to try to get out of ketosis. The doc came back and told me to drink drink drink drink drink more, even if I felt like I was drinking enough consistently, and go home.

We got home around 12 and fell into bed. We are so thankful to have had Lauren and Justin drive all the way over to get Lucia and take her to their house for a sleepover. She was beyond excited and told me not to worry, Eddie would take care of her if she was scared. Hilarious.

I know I'm relieved (but up in the middle of the night now to drink more water, as I felt the contractions coming back and I was hungry). It was terrifying thinking about baby boy making his arrival way too early; I cried when the nurse told me that I might have to get a shot to help his lungs develop prior to a C-section. I had flashbacks of the horrendous NICU experience and said to the nurse, I just wanted a different experience this time. :( It was sad. I'm so thankful he's OK and staying put. From here on out, I'll be drinking tons of water and working on a more balanced diet.