What a Difference a Day Makes

This is a little long but the past couple days have been a roller coaster ride!!!

I mentioned in my last post that I've been having contractions. They are not serious. It's a little early to be feeling Braxton Hicks contractions but I felt baby move a little early so I just chalked it up to high awareness of my body. I called and talked to the Dr. office they said, as long as I didn't have 5 an hr. for 2 consecutive hrs. and they are not painful, or accompanied by any other symptoms it's ok. That was Monday. Despite hearing that, I was still concerned. I called & talked to Mom friends who echoed the same things, not typical but normal & ok. Still concerned. I read online everything says contractions this early are fine. But there was still something in me that said, something is not ok. I called the Dr. again they tried to reassure me but I said I think I just need to come in. So I did! At this point I was pretty sure they would tell me no massage since I had noticed an increase in contractions during and after giving a massage. But I figured other then that they would say, you're just being a paranoid first time Mom. That is what I wanted to hear. I just wanted to hear it from my Dr.!

I was sitting in the room waiting for my Dr. and she walks in and says, you're not allowed to be having contractions yet! Which made me think, humm maybe there is more room for concern then what everyone is telling me! But she said the same thing I had heard multiple times. She wanted to check everything else too, just to be safe. During the ultra sound I said, is there any way we can find out what we are having (of course after texting Brent to see if he cared or it he wanted to be here for that). She said humm it's still early probably not but we'll check. After looking and looking she said it looks like a BOY!!!! We are not running out and to buy stuff yet (I'm not running anywhere :) she said wait a couple more weeks to be 100% sure but she's pretty confidant! I also got to bring these home!



If you look really close you can see a little arrow pointing to a little penis!!

So after the ultra sound Dr. came in and gave me the bad news. My cervix is way to short! They like to see it 4-5 cm. mine is only 1.5. So she said moderate bed rest, lots of rest, lots of fluids. She also mentioned a procedure called a Cervical Cerclage which would basically be sewing my cervix shut. Sent me home on moderate bed rest! With an apt to come back on Fri. to be recheck. That night when I went home I was keeping track of contractions and they just kept coming and coming. I ended up going to the ER to be checked out, and make sure everything was ok. My Dr. had told me to just go to Labor and Deliver if I needed to go in so once I was finally up there the got out the Doppler thingy to check baby's heart beat. She looked and looked, and we didn't hear anything. Finally I heard one, but thought, that is way too slow, then I realized that it was my heartbeat! After she had searched for a couple minutes and only found my heart beat so she decided to try the ultra sound machine. I almost had a panic attack! My heart sank I was doing everything to hold back tears as my mind is racing. They had always been able to find his heart beat that way! I was fearing the worst. All I could think is I can't do this. I can't loose him now! I've already felt him move! I know it's a him! Oh I can't handle this! I prayed with everything I had! I have never know such fear in my life!! It felt like an eternity before she came back with the ultra sound machine. As soon as she started I was searching for that little beating heart. The second I found it, the tears just flowed! There it was that little tiny heart fluttering away. A little life still safe and growing! There are no words for the relief that rushed over me! It was fun for Brent to be there since he had not heard the heart beat, or seen an ultra sound (other then pics) yet. And as if to say "Hi Mom and Dad I'm just fine" little baby boy waved his arm at us! I can't believe how much I love this little Nutterbutter already!

So on Wed. I was doing nothing but sitting and laying around counting and timing contractions and drinking and peeing! I thought what a difference a day makes, yesterday I was giving a massage, then working chasing 4 kids around, with no restriction and now I've become as lazy as my dogs! LOL But the support and friendship I felt was amazing. Just from a status update on facebook I had so many people offer any help I needed and offer meals, or help cleaning. That same morning the Dr. called and said she didn't want to wait till Fri. so she wanted me to come in to the hospital where she was on-call that day and be checked there and come prepared for the cerclage, no food or water after midnight.

Thurs. I went it and got registered and situated in a room and was just laying there watching tv when little baby boy started doing jumping jacks! I had my hand on my stomach and felt it with my hand too! That made me really excited because that meant Brent should be able to start feeling him move now too! It was so fun to feel him moving around and then have the ultra sound people come in and do the ultra sound, where I could see AND feel him moving! AWESOME!! The ultra sound went really well! I measured 3.3!!!!!! Which is in the ok zone! But my Dr. said that a cervix doesn't usually regenerate and rebuild that quickly so one of the readings was probably wrong. But she took me off of bed red with instructions to continue to take it easy. So no work. I'm no so happy about that. But whatever it takes to get this little guy here safe and sound! I have to go back on Tues for another ultra sound I'm hoping and praying that the 1st reading was the wrong one! And I can continue to go about life just taking it easy! My Dr. did mention she might want me to go see a high risk pregnancy specialist to get a more specialised opinion but for today I'm doing good and expect it to stay that way!

So again the difference a day makes! Yesterday I was on bed rest preparing for a surgical procedure and today I'm off bed rest and things look good! Things are going to be just fine! It might be a long road to get him here but that just seems to be our lot in adding to our family :) Brent is thinking we should name him something that means pain in the butt to get here!!! I think I agree! LOL Whatever it takes! It will be worth it! I'm so grateful for the spirit/mothers intuition/good body awareness that prompted me to go the Dr! And that I've been in tune with my body! My Dr. said multiple times how glad she was that I'm able to feel the contractions since most people cant at this stage! There are many blessings to count in all of this! Like we already know it's a boy! And I can have finger nails again since I can't do massage. And modern medicine! My grandma lost several pregnancies, it's very likely because of an incompetent cervix, so I'm very grateful for ultra sounds that can monitor that! And most important, despite some scary moments, both baby and mama are fine!!!!