26 weeks and L&D

I guess theres a first for everything this pregnancy. Last night was my first (and hopefully the last) trip to L&D. Oh and I'm 26 weeks...go figure. Not ironic at all.

For the first few 24 weeks or so I felt like a second time mom. I had something to compare my pregnancy last time to this. Since about 24 weeks I feel that I'm suddenly a first time mom left to wonder if things are normal. Sure I made it to 26 weeks last time but by 24 weeks I was in the hospital and didnt have to anaylze my symptoms because I was being constantly monitored and I knew they had me taken care of. Now I feel like I dont know what to expect or what to compare to. Plus she was much smaller than this baby so its been a different pregnancy all around. I actually LOOK and feel pregnant.

For the last week I've felt extreme pelvic pressure. Literally like her head is coming down or something. I feel totally swollen and brusied down there. I know pressure is a sign but was told by friends that have gone full term that it was normal so I kinda just brushed it off.

Yesterday I had the runs and there was tons of blood in it (sorry way gross I know). I know having hemmroids during pregnancy is normal (annoying but normal) but I wasn't having issues going to the bathroom so I just didnt understand why there was a massive amount of blood. When I saw it my heart sank and I thought it was from the baby but then realized nope! So gross and so much information I know. haha!

I didnt think much of it so I just went about my day. I went out with my MIL and SILs and we ended up at my MILs friend's house who is also an OB. I was chatting with her about the pelvic pressure and asked her if that was normal. What turned into a casual conversation kinda freaked me out! She was like uhhhh well that is a sign that things are happening and considering your history I would definetely go get checked out tomorrow. But then again maybe all you need is more belly support. She made me SO nervous!

So after that I went with my SIL to Chases softball game and I could not believe the pressure I was having and then I was also contracting on top of that. I walked what seemed a mile to the bathrooms because I felt like I was going to burst. Got into the bathroom and a little drizzle comes out. Seriously?!

We went home soon after and I told Chase I was thinking about calling the dr. We went home and I decided I was going to go lay on the couch and drink some water and put my feet up. Its then that I realized that that pressure was corresponding when I was having a contraction. Granted they were braxton hicks and not menstral crampy but they were still coming every 5 min or so.

Around midnight I went in to tell Chase that I was going to go to L&D to get checked out, just in case. It was probably nothing but I would feel so bad if it WAS something. I'm not going that route this time around. Worrying more about what the nurses and drs will think of crazy old me instead of worrying more about my baby. In hindsight the choice is obvious.

I got to L&D told them my history (they seemed to get me back a lot faster when I told them haha) and they had me change into a gown and gave them a urine sample. They then set up the contraction monitor and the heartbeat monitor. And wouldn't you believe it NO contractions. Not a single one was picking up. I could still feel them though and even had the nurse touch my stomach so she could see that it was hard. She said that is super wierd that it wasnt picking it up (not suprisingly this very thing happened the day I had Jayda....and yet her leg appeared into my canal...monitors arent everything).

She decided to do an FFN test which if negative is 95-97% effective in letting you know if your likely to go into labor in the next 2 weeks. That test was nerve wracking because they had to stick a spectulum up there and I was terrified I was going to bleed. Plus we have a no go zone policy down there so it was scary to break that rule! The test took an hour but it came back negative! 2 weeks...I'll take it! She also checked to see for any fluid and to see if I was dialated and it was closed and there was no fluid. Thank gosh!

So since the monitors didnt show anything...not even irratability she decided to put me into another room with a different monitor. Same story. Finally she switched out the cord and they finally started picking up. But by that point she said she had talked to my dr and all my tests came back normal. The best I could do is just do nothing today to calm down my contractions because they weren't doing anything.

I was glad to get the hell out of there though. It brought back too many bad and dark memories sitting in that bed, with those pillows, and that hospital SMELL!

Today Chase has been pampering me. He went and got me some gatorade and some ice cream because on top of it all I have a wicked sore throat and runny nose. I'm still contracting a lot but apparantly its not doing anything. My uterus is just really annoyed easily or something.

I guess I knew that everything was ok deep down (it def didnt feel like the labor with Jayda) but I didnt want to risk anything and I want to catch things BEFORE they happen. I ignored a lot of things last pregnancy and I promised myself I would not do that this time around.

The dr wanted me to call if I continued to get the blood in my stool and if I feel I need to get in at all they could squeeze me in. I have an appt on tuesday so I think I'm just going to wait until then since I'm sure not much has changed in the last 12 hours. I've been trying to take it easy all day since I'm still contracting a lot. I got my p17 shot today so hopefully that calms er down. Chase has taken Jayda all day and shes probably going to spend the night at my MILs since Chase works tonight.

Uterus, calm it down or else. We're SO close to 28 weeks I can taste it!