30 Weeks

It’s been a long week this week. So long that I forgot it was Tuesday and didn’t even realize until my father asked where my weekly update was. Hence, no picture today. I’ll take some pictures tomorrow.

This is going to be a loooooong post!

Here goes:

I had my OB appointment last Tuesday where I was given a TDAP shot. When I was getting it done, I was surprised at how high the nurse jabbed my arm. I wouldn’t even have called it my arm at that point, it was more like my shoulder.

Now, I know tetanus shots have a reputation for being pretty harsh when it comes to making your arm muscle kill for the next few days, so I expected nothing less. What I didn’t expect was the fact that my muscle felt fine after a couple of days but my shoulder joint continues to kill me. I’m having trouble sleeping, getting dressed and anything that involves the rotation of my shoulder where she jabbed me.

I thought it was getting better, but today it was hurting so much that I ended up taking some Tylenol to try to alleviate some of the pain. I’m not even sure it helped. I would have much rather had some ibuprofen since I’m sure I have some inflammation of the joint, but ibuprofen isn’t allowed during pregnancy.

Then I had someone come by to take a look at the bathroom for a renovation quote. He was so large he almost didn’t fit in the tiny bathroom. And then he almost broke the toilet by leaning against the tank with so much weight that it started leaking. Needless to say, regardless of the good reviews his company has we’ll be going with someone else. He also questioned my design choices, out-loud – which struck me as very unprofessional.

In other “it’s been a long week” news, Kyle took me shoe shopping on Sunday since my feet are getting squashed and uncomfortable in my old shoes so I needed some new ‘sneaks. While shopping he points out this lump on my leg. It was about the size of quarter and close to my ankle, and above it on my calf another pea sized lump.

We went home, and while Kyle made and packed some snacks, I called the labor and delivery department to see explain the mysterious lump and get confirmation that I should come in. (No surprise there, they said yes.) While I was skeptical that it wasn’t a clot (no tenderness, redness, etc.) we still wanted to be sure.

We get there and they strap me up to the monitors and take some vitals. I’m hooked up to a fetal doppler to monitor Ninja’s heart rate and a contraction monitor, all as protocol dictates when you’re admitted into L&D triage. We ended up waiting for about 30-40 minutes when finally a doctor comes in to ask if I’ve been feeling any contractions.

Nope, feeling fine. Ninja was trying her best to escape having a big ‘ole hockey puck sized monitor squashed on her head, but besides her squirming all around I didn’t feel a thing. I let them know that the monitor was most likely just recording my coughing fits as contractions since when coughing I tighten up all my ab muscles. So I demonstrated a few coughs while she watched the machine.

Yes, the machine does pick up my cough but it looks like a cough, and not like the contractions the monitor had apparently been picking up. Nurse and doctor quietly talk over the long trail of monitor paper pointing out peaks and talking about numbers and whatnot.

They decide they’d like to check my cervix and make sure that I just have an irritable uterus and that I’m not actually going into preterm labor.

“You know I came in because I have a lump on my leg, right? Not because I was contracting or anything?”

“Yup, but you’re contracting.”

I’m checked and my cervix is fine: no thinning, dilating or showing any signs of going into early labor. They want to keep me hooked up for 2 more hours, then recheck to make sure my cervix hasn’t changed. Fine by me, but would you look at my leg?

“Looks like a varicose vein, we’ll give you some compression socks.”

About 20 minutes after they leave (and telling me to ‘try and keep still’) I turn to Kyle and say, “Um, I think I may be having a contraction? My belly feels a little bit tight, it’s weird.”

Sure enough we turn to the monitor and I’ve got a huge peak going on. We’re no doctors but we both decided that yup, that’s what’s happening. And now we’re both worried.

They continue for about 20 or so more minutes on and off and the nurse comes back in. “Are you still not feeling these?” To which I let her know that I have started to feel a few, (I think) since my belly feels like it tightens up a little bit.   I also let her know that I’m feeling lightheaded and hungry since we’ve now been there for a few hours and I haven’t been allowed to eat or drink (stupidest rules ever). I check my blood sugar levels while she’s there and I’m just under 70 – which is considered low. I let her know that if I can’t eat or drink anything, I’ll most likely be in the 50’s/40’s in about 15 minutes.

I get apple juice and I feel better. Still contracting every once in a while, but feeling better. Doctor comes back in and checks me again – still no signs of labor, but she reassures me that I’m not just having ‘braxton hicks’ like I questioned and that they were actual contractions. My response is “but I’m hardly even feeling them?” Doctor says it could just be sign that I have a high pain threshold. Well, I’ll take that.

They decide to give me a bolus of IV fluids – since I let them know I threw up twice that day and was walking around a lot, and didn’t have enough fluid intake, and now was made to fast for 4 hours…

Took the nurse two tries to get my IV in (and that was using a 20, and for labor they use an 18 gauge needle- I really missed the IV team at that point) but half a huge bag of saline later the contractions are gone and I still feel fine. They keep me a little while longer, but decide that I was just most likely dehydrated. They give me some compression socks (for my vein) and send me home.

Weirdest day ever.  Long week.

I have no restrictions, and I was told to just “take it easy for 24 hours and make sure I’m getting enough fluids.” It’s not uncommon for dehydration to cause contractions so I’ll just have to be extra diligent about my fluids – especially now that it’s warming up.

Then to top off the week, our baby classes were supposed to start last night (Monday’s at 7) and we show up only to find that it’s been pushed back a week and no one let me know. I emailed the instructor and STILL haven’t heard back from her. This is the second time she’s left a bad taste in my mouth and I’m already disappointed and I haven’t even started the class yet! We might try to find some last minute class we can join instead of taking this one and ask for our money back. It was one of those things that just soured my mood for the whole night.

On the bright side? The weather has been absolutely WONDERFUL this week.  We hit the mid-high 70’s 3-4 days in a row.

In summary:
* My shoulder joint really aches & affects my sleep
* Varicose vein in my leg so I need to wear compression socks
* Baby is doing just fine and doesn’t have any plans to make her appearance anytime soon (she was quite high up in my uterus)
* I need to be more aware of my fluid intake
* Contractions are weird, but now I know what they feel like for future reference.
* Baby class was rescheduled so I’m looking into finding a new one