Pregnancy Update: Week 34

Thought I would take a minute to give you all an update on the progression of our wonderful pregnancy. At 31 weeks I was L&D for preterm contractions, which they were able to stop with Procardia. The next few days went well with me being at home and resting. I went back to L&D the day after I was released because I was feeling contractions again, but they weren't able to pick them up on the monitor, probably due to me taking the pill a few hours before I went in.

They explained to me how I can tell if they are true contractions or not. I was having painful cramping and I always thought that was what would signify a contraction, but it is a bit more than that apparently. The nurse explained to me that I would also feel my stomach hardening with my hands and that I wouldn't be able to push in on the top of the uterus because it would be so hard.

Since I hadn't noticed any real contractions happening for a few days I thought that I was in the clear and could just go off the medicine. I gradually came off it by spacing out the times I was taking the medicine until I wasn't taking it for 12 hour stints. I went to a normal prenatal checkup four days after visiting L&D for the second time and he said that was fine that I wasn't taking the medicine because I was no longer feeling the contractions.

Kebbie giving us her Cheesy Face at the Bicentennial on Saturday.

This past weekend we went up to the Frostburg Bicentennial Celebration on Saturday and watched the parade. I was more active that day than I had been for some time, so it might have caused me to overexert myself. I didn't get a nap in that day and was very tired when I hit the pillow that night. I woke around five in the morning with really bad heart burn, but when I tried to get out of bed to get some tums I noticed I was feeling cramping again and then I felt my rock hard belly. I got up and got the tums and started myself back on the Procardia. I went back to bed, but continued to have contractions. They didn't bother me so much as scare me. Eventually I was able to get come peace and go back to sleep. I woke up later that morning when our toddler got me up and I was noticing I was still having irregular contractions. They would vary from 10 to 30 minutes apart.

A friend suggested that I lay on my side in the tub for a half hour and if they subsided then they weren't true labor. I lay in the tub for about 2 hours and got the contractions to space out to around 50 minutes apart. Once I sat up they returned to be irregular, but I would only have one or two an hour. I continued to rest the rest of the day. I have been keeping up with my pills since we all don't want this baby to come so early. With all of these issues surrounding this pregnancy thus far we may end up having to make the decision to get in home care for me, but hoping it doesn't come to that.

We have been fortunate enough to have family around to take on caring for our toddler from time to time which allows me to get some rest. Hoping to keep reporting great things for the next four weeks. We are looking forward to going to a 3D/4D Ultrasound appointment this Friday. Hope we get some awesome shots of the face.