Update, 37 weeks tomorrow

Little Miss has been keeping us on our toes!  When I was pregnant with C, I didn't have any contractions at all.  I may have had one or two Braxton Hicks, but pretty much nothing until I was induced, and then I got the epidural ASAP, so I really had no idea what they felt like at all.  This time around is a different story.  I've been having Braxton Hicks since about 20 weeks, and they've been getting stronger and more frequent as the pregnancy has progressed.

A week and a half ago, when I was 35 weeks and 2 days, I went to the hospital because I was having frequent contractions (6 or more in an hour and my midwife wanted me to go in).  They had me drink water and gave me a shot to stop them.  The shot was some steroid that starts with a "t" that I have no idea how to spell, but it made me all jittery and crazy for a couple hours.  I was still having contractions (Braxton Hicks contractions are real contractions, except they don't change the cervix and they don't progress the way "real" labor contractions do) all day, but they were spread out and erratic and totally manageable.  Annoying, but not painful.

Then this week, I went back in because they were frequent again.  If I was relaxing, I had a contraction every 10-20 minutes, if I was up and walking around (say, to go pee or something) I would have a few in a row that were 2-5 mins apart, and then they'd spread back out.  When they first hooked me up to the monitors Little Miss' heart rate was high; around 209, and that freaked me out a bit.  Why was she stressed??  After relaxing and laying on my side, she went back to the normal range, between 130-170.  They didn't give me another shot because I was 36 weeks and 3 days, and full term is 37 weeks.  So they weren't going to do a whole lot to stop labor, but they definitely didn't want to encourage it.

At this point, Little Miss is fully developed and her organs are working, but these last few weeks of pregnancy are when she practices sucking/swallowing and when her lungs finish maturing.  If she were born now she could be totally fine and healthy, or she could have trouble breathing on her own, we could have challenges breastfeeding, or she could have trouble maintaining her body temperature.  There's no way to know for sure.  So, I was put on bed rest until Saturday.  37 weeks = full term which means that she's welcome to come at her leisure.  The good news is, even though I had all those contractions, my cervix isn't changing, so I wasn't in active labor.  Also today they've slowed down a LOT.  Tomorrow I'm back to full activity and then it's just a waiting game.

Of course, none of this means that she's definitely going to come before her due date.  I could very well stay pregnant up until or even past my due date.  There's really no way to know what will happen which is so frustrating sometimes, lol!

So now we're on baby watch.  She could come in the next few days, but she may wait 4-5 more weeks.  I wish real life were like the movies, where you're just going about your business and BAM your water breaks and that's the first sign of labor.  That would be so exciting!  But, of course, that almost never happens and it's a complete guessing game.  Anyway, that's all I've got.  Hopefully my next post will be announcing a new addition and not that I'm overdue and going crazy!!


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