Jinx or All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Deux

Because All Hell Breaking Loose, Part One (see late May/June 2010 for the recap - bleeding/SCH at 7 wks, bedrest til 13 wks and detailed color analysis of all vaginal discharge throughout) was such fun, a big hit, you laughed, you cried, you read it again and again - Well, I'm here to please! That's right, All Hell had indeed Broken Loose again!

So I really should know better by now. All this grateful crap, all this feeling good bragging. Should have been a warning to me. Things do not go smoothly in my life, and things were going way, waaaaaay too smooth. I was feeling good. I was feeling - the kiss of danger - confident. I am in the home stretch, right?

Ha. I jinxed myself.

It all began on Monday. Well, even on Sunday I was feeling a bit achy. I thought it was just some mild round ligament pain - as all the books tell me the critter is packing on the fat at this point, adding up to 1/2 lb. per week. So I was feeling the stretch. No biggie. Sunday was spend mostly watching Mr. P move some last stuff to the storage locker (I may have lifted a few things, but nothing heavy) and then futzing with the mural on the nursery wall. Where we both decided we needed to paint the room before putting up the mural. So we stopped. Not a ton of activity, I promise.

Monday I did some laundry, had lunch with a friend, then went to the craft store. I was out and about no more than 3 hours. I felt tired, so I blew off the grocery store, came home and napped. Which I generally don't do, but hey, that critter is growing! Must be making me tired and achy. Right??

Made dinner, ate it, and still felt tired, and more and more achy. Achy on each side of my lower abdomen, right where all the books say is where round ligament pain happens. So, I do not worry.

Around 9pm, I am beginning to feel a touch of achy around my entire lower abdomen. By 10 it is coming in waves of achy, nothing consistent, but is achy - is it becoming pain? - and coming in waves. I still am not worried, or thinking this is important. We go to bed, but I can't sleep. Yup, it is no longer achy, it is pain.

So I spend most of the night breathing through the waves of pain. Inconsistent waves, not occurring with any regularity, sometimes 30-45 seconds of pain and tightness, followed 90 seconds later by more, sometimes 8 minutes til another one. Heck, I think I went almost 45 minutes between the pain at one point. And the books all say, true labor is consistent, gets more regular. That was not happening to me. So I figured this was some weird mix of Braxton-Hicks with round ligament pain. But, damn, it hurt. I was having to really breathe through the pain, and used my favorite guided imagery technique (I scubaed in Fiji a lot Monday night) to get through it.

So around 6am, I got up, took a warm shower (oooh, that felt good!) and called my OB. Of course, they are not open that early, and I was not deeming this a medical emergency that would page the doc on call, so I just left a message for the nurse. Note - the power of delusion was very strong here. I really could not believe anything was wrong, or I was in labor. Even though I was in these waves of pain that took my breath away. Denial - not just a river in Egypt.

Mr. P went to work, and I told him I'd call him when I spoke to the nurse. So around 9am, the nurse called back, scolded me for not calling the on-call line, and told me to come in for a 9:50am appointment. Called Mr. P, and told him I'd drive myself. Honestly, how insane in that? How strong was my delusion? It amazes me now. Anyway, thankfully, Mr. P was living in reality, and came home immediately to drive me.

Met with one of the nurse practioners, who did a cervix check. Lots of internal poking around. Said she thought I was dilated a tiny bit, and called in one of the docs for a second opinion. OB came in, another internal exam (this will be the theme of the day - internal exams) and yes, I'm beginning to dilate. They said I was a "generous" 1cm. Cervix has shortened to about 1.5-ish cm. And that I was going straight to the hospital, and being admitted for at least the next 48 hours. Maybe a week.

OMG, really? Can you hear my delusions begin to shatter at my feet? That's what heard. That, and tears. My tears. OMG, I'm in early pre-term labor. At 33 weeks.

So they wheeled me down the street to the hospital, and I got to go to all the places I saw on my hospital tour two weeks ago. OMG.

To be continued....

(but not to totally freak you out with suspense, there is a relatively happy ending. this post is just way long. will post more this afternoon, i promise)