As you all know, things have been going very well for me throughout this pregnancy. No major complaints by any means, and we are definitely getting ready to finally meet this little man. My doctor has been impressed my my steady weight gain and strong heartbeat from the babe all along.
I went in for my weekly visit last week, was happy to see I hadn't gained any weight since the last appointment and my blood pressure was a whopping 90/60. Then we get to checking out the baby ... belly growth is right on track but his heart rate was a little low. He has been a predictable one, holding stead at 130 bpm all along, but this time, he was registering right around 118. I guess anything below 120 is a reason to take a closer look, so my doctor decided to hook me up to the fetal monitor for about 15 minutes see if anything looked strange.
I am happy to report that his heart beat must have just been in a low part because it was up and strong, varying between 120 and 150 (which I guess the constant fluctuation is a good sign of a healthy and happy baby). But while I was hooked up to the machine, which also monitors uterine contractions, my doctor noticed I was contracting about every 2-3 minutes.
This caused a little concern for her since I was only 35 weeks, so she sent me across the street to Labor and Delivery for further monitoring and a possible shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. Being the independent person that I am, I didn't want anyone coming to sit with me at the hospital, but I did call and let them know what was going on. Of course my sister shows up 15 minutes later with her nurse-knowledge flowing, checking my charts and chatting with my nurse to get all the details.
My body hadn't started dilating or anything yet, so she wasn't too worried about me going into labor but better safe than sorry. While in L&D, I was contracting frequently, so they gave me a shot and lots of water, which slowed them to every 4-7 minutes. So they shot me up again (can I tell you how painful these shots are? guess I should just embrace it and get ready for pain much worse.). This finally stopped the contractions and I was sent home a couple hours later.
I'm glad that they were able to stop them, and completely blame the early contractions on stress. The little visit there made me realize it could happen any day and that we really need to prepare ourselves for this life-altering event thats about to happen. I'm just glad he has stayed put for another week and if any contractions start now ... there's no turning back as my doctor will let nature take its course!
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