No silly, not about the baby. Tuesday I had an incredibly rough day. I didn't sleep much Monday night and started having Braxton Hicks contractions shortly after lunch on Tuesday. I think my body was telling me I needed more rest. While I was working and running around after school, I couldn't really pay attention to the frequency but the contractions definitely felt worse than they ever have before. I started timing them around 7 pm at home and they were lasting about a minute. From 7-8:35 pm I had seven contractions, some 5 minutes apart, some 20 minutes apart. I wasn't worried because I've read enough to know that they were not labor contractions but I was incredibly uncomfortable, squirming around on the couch, and at one point I had to have Dan help pull me off of the couch so that I could go to the bathroom because I couldn't get up on my own. It was nonstop discomfort that got increasingly worse from around 1 pm until I went to bed at around 8:45 pm. My back was killing me and I was really regretting the nap I took on Friday instead of going to yoga. I didn't realize that the contractions were the cause of my back pain, although it may not have been as bad had I been to yoga.
After Tuesday, I am having second thoughts about my ability to make it through labor without pain medication. These weren't even the real, painful contractions and I had a difficult time with them. I know I definitely do not want IV pain meds (narcotics) because of the effect that they have on the baby; baby could be groggy when he is born, may have a lower heart rate during labor, and may not be ready to nurse as quickly once he's born. I am feeling that the chances I'll have an epidural are more likely than I previously thought.
The only thing that makes me still have hope is that I keep reading about the breaks between contractions during labor. If I can make it through a minute or two of pain, I'll have a few minutes in between to rest. During active labor it decreases to only a minute in between but active labor is the shortest phase of labor, lasting 30 min to 2 hours.
I am at a point where I will be fine with whatever happens. I am going to do the best that I can and if the pain is unbearable, I'm going to go for the meds. It's not too long before we'll have a healthy baby here, with pain medication or without!
Last night was a bit stressful, too. I had another busy day but not too busy to notice that the baby didn't seem to be moving as vigorously as usual. I was questioning whether I was just busy and didn't notice the movements or if the baby really wasn't giving me the jabs that I've grown accustomed to. I went to yoga and when the baby wasn't moving through that, I was really worried that something was wrong. Was the baby in distress after all of the contractions Tuesday? Were the contractions a result of something happening with the baby? Even with some pretty strong pressing on my belly, I wasn't getting a response.
I got home and followed the instructions that we got at our hospital labor class: I had a glass of orange juice and laid on my side to see if baby would kick. Nothing on the left side. Dan and I were getting ready to go to labor and delivery to get monitored. I switched to my right side and almost immediately the baby woke up and gave me some small kicks. I felt enough that I was confident that we didn't need to go to L&D and when baby got the hiccups before I went to bed, I felt even better. But I was still thinking about it all day today. I still felt like I wasn't getting the strong jabs and nudges that I'm used to throughout the day today... until I got home from work. Baby has been pushing and jabbing up a storm and now I feel really good!
Oh, and I'm never going a week and a half without seeing my prenatal yoga instructor again during any pregnancy. I went to a different instructor a week ago because my schedule just wasn't working to go to Holly's classes and it just wasn't the same. I feel like a human again after one class last night and hope to go to three classes next week but will definitely go to two. This should be the last Saturday that I miss during this pregnancy but she has a Monday class so it won't be long before I see her again. And I'm really looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Palm Springs!
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