Front Porch Friday: Produced from the Couch!

We've had a very interesting week around our house (as you may have noticed as I have not posted a lot this week)! Early this week, I felt great and was busy doing some part-time work for a local private school, making fleece covers for Jessica's training pants, amongst other things! By Wednesday, I noticed that baby John had not been moving very much, so I called the doctor's office to ask about it. They told me to proceed to Labor and Delivery to get things checked out. David was on his way home from work, so I made arrangements for Jessica and started having some contractions (probably from anxiety due to worrying about John). We went up to the hospital. They did an exam and monitored his heart rate, movements, and my contractions. Things seemed to be alright so they sent me home. They said he may have just run out of room in there. I thought that was kind of surprising because Jessica never quit moving...it just got more and more uncomfortable!!! Then I thought, "Hmm...maybe this baby will be less active than Jessica..."

The next night I started having some contractions and my pelvis started hurting. I laid down, and it just got worse. I started feeling nauseated, and John was really kicking me! David called Labor and Delivery. They told him to give me some tylenal and that it was most likely late pregnancy symptoms. I thought that was ridiculous as I had never had any feelings like that when I was pregnant with Jessica! I woke up in the middle of the night requesting more tylenal. The next morning I called the doctor's office, and they got me in for an appointment. A friend of mine and her daughter went with us. The doctor said since my last appointment, I had dilated 1 centimeter and that the symptoms I was experiencing were typical for late pregnancy when you carry really low. I had carried low with Jessica, but I have been pregnant twice since then (although one miscarried so I don't know how that would have felt). He said I could continue taking tylenal every 6 hours for the rest of the pregnancy, so that was good. We left the doctor's office, went out to lunch, and on the way home I started feeling very nauseated! When we got home my friend stayed with us to see if I started feeling better. Well, I didn't. It got worse....a lot worse....even with tylenal. I ended up calling the doctor's office, who told us to go to labor and delivery. I called David and told him to come home. My friend dropped the girls off with a friend and took me to Labor and Delivery. (David works 45 min from our house and Labor and Delivery is 45 min from our house in the other direction.) I couldn't distinguish when I was having contractions so my friend tried to check and noticed the very strong movements I was getting from John. She was really quite surprised. She used to work as an EMT, and both of us were getting nervous from the way I was feeling that I was going to be delivering on the highway!!!

We made it to the hospital, and she wheeled me up. They got me on the monitor, took my temperature, gave me some fluids, and some anti-nausea medicine. Baby John's heart was working at 207 beats per minute, and I was definitely having some contractions! According to my friend (and later my husband), I was making very little sense at this point! Thankfully, once the fluids and medicine kicked in, both me and baby John started to feel A LOT better. They got John on the ultrasound. He scored 6 out of 8. They were hoping for some bigger movements, but they were happy with what they got. He was probably just as tired as I was! I was still having to have people help me move because of the aches in my pelvis...probably from the dehydration and contractions. The doctor came by and sent us home. He did say he felt like we would be delivering before 40 weeks (37-38 weeks if he had to guess) and that it would be a SHORT delivery! I told David that the doctor had joked about sending us home with the home delivery kit, and David joked when the doctor asked what we planned to do tonight that he was going to buy a catcher's mit! I am not on bedrest, but they did say to take it easy since I am likely fighting off a virus and I obviously am very susceptible to dehydration (I had at least 10 cups of water that morning, 1 cup of milk, 1 bag of fluids, and 4 cups of gatorade yesterday!)

At any rate, it has been exciting around here! I am on the couch pretty much all weekend and taking it easy for the next couple weeks. David has been taking care of some things around the house, and my friend kept Jessica overnight for us last night. We have a long list of good friends that we can call on at any time, fabulous doctors, and thankfully a little more time for me to get a few more thing organized around here (and almost all of it can be done from the couch)! Things are looking pretty good! Now...off to find the bathroom and drink 4 more cups of iced gatorade!