November 15th - 30 weeks tomorrow!!!

It's been harder to keep up with this pregnancy blog thing than I thought...

I had my last plane ride of pregnancy a couple of weeks ago, when I went to DC one last time for a conference (before "hunkering down in the birthing stall," as one of my friends so delicately put it).  Thankfully it was an uneventful trip and I came back on the 4th of November.  The next day, I started feeling some cramping, which got worse just about every time I stood up.  Three days later, it was to the point where I was grimacing every few minutes and leaning way forward in my chair to relieve the discomfort.  I couldn't remember if this was normal "Braxton Hicks" contractions or what, so I asked another girl in my department who is almost exactly as pregnant as me.  As I leaned against the wall in the clinic hallway, focusing on slowly inhaling and exhaling, she told me that she hadn't had any cramping whatsoever.  I decided then that maybe what I was experiencing wasn't completely expected, and so I went to my OB.

From there, he walked me to L&D immediately, commenting along the way that I didn't look very comfortable.  They got me checked in to one of the triage rooms and hooked me up to the baby heart rate monitor and the toco (contraction) monitor.  At first, nothing was registering on the toco monitor, even when I felt certain I was having a contraction.  Then, once the toco monitor was readjusted, the contractions started showing up.  They were beautiful, perfect, rhythmic contractions every 2-3 minutes - exactly what you'd like to see if you were in labor.  Except that I wasn't supposed to be in labor, as I wasn't even 29 weeks.  My OB came in right around then with slightly wide eyes and told me he wanted to give me a medication to stop the contractions.  At that point, they were actually starting to feel very uncomfortable, and I was starting to get more than a little nervous, so of course I agreed.  The medication slowed the contractions within 20-30 minutes, and I was discharged home with plenty of extra to take if they started back up.

Over the next few days, I tried to take it easy, and I really noticed things were better if I sat down and elevated my legs.  On my first day back at work (after a wonderful 3 day weekend), the contractions started right back up.  I took the medication and it calmed things down for about an hour, but then it started back up again.  I called my OB who, of course, sent me right back to L&D.  All the tests showed I was not in labor, but the contractions were real.  They gave me whopping doses of the same medication again, and it again pretty much stopped the contractions.  The problem is that it also lowered my blood pressure and gave me a splitting headache.  Eventually they sent me home, knowing that I had a follow-up appointment with my "high-risk" OB (Maternal Fetal Medicine or MFM specialist) today.

After hearing the events of the last week, the MFM took one look at the toco reading and told me he recommended bedrest.  Acknowledging that I am a physician and that immediately stopping work would be a challenge, he agreed to a compromise, of reduced work hours with a transition to bedrest if things got worse.  From talking with my regular OB, I had been prepared for this, and have already been working with my colleague and commander to start reduced work hours.  I can't say I'm too miserable about that, actually.  The contractions are getting pretty uncomfortable and who wouldn't like some extra time off?  If it weren't for the prospect of the baby actually showing up TEN WEEKS EARLY, I'd be thrilled.  Fingers crossed that the stress associated with working full-time is fully responsible for this turn of events, and that cutting down my hours will keep this little one in for the next 2.5 months. =)

Hopefully no more exciting updates anytime soon!