Contractions??? Really???

Let me preface this by saying I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions since I was 17 weeks pregnant with these two little princesses. I'm used to them. . .and generally they don't hurt. . .they can be uncomfortable, but not painful. . .

Well. . .last night I was quite rudely awoken at 2 AM in pain! It felt like a Braxton Hicks contraction except with a decent amount of cramping and pain added in. Not just in my abdominal area either. . .down low (like menstrual cramps), up high (like the normal BH contractions for me), and some low back pain thrown in there for good measure. The contraction lasted about 65-75 seconds, and then slowly released. I was relieved. I got up to potty, then went back to sleep.

2:37 AM. . .AGAIN, I woke up to pain. . .the same thing. . .lasted about 65-75 seconds. I tried changing positions. I tried drinking water. I tried breathing techniques. Nada. Nothing helped.

This pattern had repeated itself 3 more times by 6 AM. At 6 I woke up Si and told him what was going on. He immediately thought I should call the OB's office. Of course the OB's office is closed (it's not only the weekend, but it's a holiday weekend). I thought about going directly to labor and delivery at the hospital. . .but I was SO tired at that point. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep and see if the contractions would go away. So that's exactly what we tried. We slept for another 3 hours. Luckily, the contractions got further apart and I only had one contraction between 6:30 AM and 10 AM. YAY. I continued to have contractions throughout the day, but they were totally irregular, and were further apart then they they had been in the middle of the night.

I kept arguing with myself during the day today whether or not I should call the OB's office. I knew that my OB was out of town not only this weekend, but all week, so it wouldn't be my OB giving me advice if I called. Finally at 4 PM I decided that I should just call the OB's office. I talked to the answering service and then a triage nurse who suggested that I go ahead and go into the L&D department at the hospital I was intending to deliver at just to make sure that I wasn't actually in labor. That's exactly what Si and I decided to do.

After being hooked up to the monitor and watching the heartbeats of the girls and the peaks on my uterine "activity", the L&D nurse confirmed that I was having contractions. The good news? That's apparently relatively normal at 31 weeks, especially with multiples, I wasn't having more than 4 an hour, and the girls seemed relatively unaffected by the contractions. The nurse spoke to the on call OB for my OB's practice, and she decided to order a fFN test (fetal fibronectin test - to determine my probability of going into full labor in the next two weeks), to have my cervix checked (to check for thinning, dilation, etc.), and to give me a shot of terbutaline to calm the muscles in my uterus and hopefully stop the contractions.

Thank you God. . .the fFN test was negative (meaning there is an incredibly low probability that I will go into labor and have these kiddos in the next two weeks), I am not dilated, my cervix is still thick and high, and the terbutaline slowed down my contractions after just one shot! YAY. We were at the hospital for about 3 hours, and were so happy that they let us leave with essentially a clean bill of health. I am supposed to call and go back in to see them if I start having more than 4 contractions in an hour at any point. The nurses also told me that each person seems to have a time of day that they have the most active contractions. . .for me it may end up being in the middle of the night/early morning hours. Lucky me! I can deal with it though (I will just be tired), just as long as these babies keep cooking for a while longer! So blessed to still have my babies healthy and inside of me!!

Hope you all are having a VERY uneventful weekend!