The Contraction Machine

I’ve definitely had my share of those tight, squeezy, painful moments lately.

I contracted often and early (at nineteen weeks to be exact) during my last pregnancy with Lorelin, and was put on some medication to help control them. Anyway, this pregnancy has been a little different in that department – no real contractions to speak of, save a few Braxton-Hicks here and there.

That all changed on Saturday, February 2nd, when I started off my day with grocery shopping. I took both the girls by myself, and had SO many contractions in the store that I found myself stopping the cart at every isle, and basically just trying to “get through” my shopping as quickly as possible.

I knew it was more contractions than I normally had, but I told myself it was because I had attempted a shopping trip alone, where I had to lift kids up and out of the cart, bend down to get things, etc.. I cam home, put the groceries away, and laid down for a nap when the girls did that afternoon.

My dear hubby came home from his morning of church responsibilities, and although I contracted on and off throughout the afternoon, he took of any “heavy lifting” and encouraged me take it easy with lots of water on the couch.

The evening rolled around, and my dear hubby and I went to watch a UFC event at our friends Dan and Kelly’s house. From the moment the event started, I realized that my contractions had kicked into a new gear. They were definitely becoming more painful and closer together. I spent my evening drinking water, trying to find a comfy position on my chair, and running to the bathroom. We didn’t get home until around 11:00 p.m., at which point I actually started to time the contractions.

They were consistently five minutes apart, and I knew that although I DIDN’T want to, we needed to head toward the hospital. So, my Mom camped out on the couch (she was already there anyway to babysit), we packed up and carefully wound our way to the Emergency Room at Estrella Banner Medical Center.

The ER was a sight to behold – I thankfully did not have to spend more than a few minutes in there before I was sent back around to OB triage. (those were some poor SICK people – all manner of coughing, sneezing, and throwing-up……I wanted those germs far away from me!!)

In OB triage, our super-nice nurse, Amy, got me hooked up to a monitor, and commented that sure enough, I was having nice, strong contractions close together. She called the OB on call, and gave me a shot of terbutaline in the arm. After some more monitoring to make sure the contractions had stopped, we headed home around 4:00 a.m. in the morning.

My dear hubby got up at 7:00 a.m. to lead worship for church the next morning, and although I had to drop off supplies at the church, I did so in my pajamas and promptly came home. We spent Super Bowl Sunday at home, sleeping…

Although I did have to make one MORE trip to OB triage that next Monday afternoon, I am thankful to report that since that time, my contractions have calmed down to their more occasional pattern.