Oh, No! Not Again!

The last couple of days I've been getting really paranoid about the preterm labor. As you may know, I went into labor at 32 weeks with B, so I'm considered at risk for it this pregnancy. Just recently I started noticing that every time I stood up, my whole abdominal area would tighten up and stay that way until I sat down and rested for a bit. It didn't exactly feel like contractions, but I had no good explanation for it either. Honestly, the only comparison I could mentally come up with was what happened when I was on bed rest with B and stood up for some reason.

Wednesday night I fretted about it to both Terence and my mother, and both had the same advice for me. Ask the nurse when I went into the OB's office on Thursday morning. I was afraid I was making a big deal out of nothing-- maybe the baby was just shifting a certain direction every time I stood up, and it was making my muscles tighten. My mom reminded me that even if that was the case, the nurse would be able to ease my mind and I could quit worrying about it.

So yesterday morning I went in to the OB office to get my weekly progesterone shot. I only see the nurse for these-- my OB isn't even in the office on Thursday mornings. Yet the nurse seems to be very experienced so I told her about my tightening dilemma. To my dismay, she was very concerned. To her it sounded like something to worry about for someone with my history. She decided I could wait to talk to the OB about it at my regular appointment next week, but in the meantime, if it gets any worse, I need to head straight to labor and delivery at the hospital. She also explained that I was probably dehydrated and I needed to double the amount of water I was drinking and stay off my feet as much as possible.

In a way, I was very relieved because if I just needed to drink more water, that is something I can control. So being rather overconfident, I went to Walmart with Terence and the kids just to pick a couple of things up. However, after about 10 minutes of walking in Walmart, there was no doubt. These were contractions, not just some weird effect on my muscles by the baby's position. Terence sent me straight out to the car, and I spent the rest of the day drinking as much water as I could manage and staying off my feet. It must have worked because when I got up this morning everything was quiet on the abdominal front. Still, I think I'll stay off my feet again as much as possible today.

By the way, have you ever tried to drink a gallon of water in twelve hours? That's what the nurse wants me to drink, and I tell you, I've never felt more like a camel in my life.