Labor and Delivery

This morning, of all mornings, I had a terrible pain in my left side, higher up, in-line with my belly button that radiated around to my back. Hubby left to go to orientation for his new program, My Girl was scheduled for soccer at 9 A.M. and I had a long list of things to do including pampering myself with a wax and trip to the salon.

My brother was scheduled to take My Girl to soccer since adult participation is required and I very well can't run around after a ball, pain or no pain. My mother was then scheduled to take My Girl for a day of fun with Grammy, culminating in dinner for all once Hubby returned from school.

Well, the plans changed - My Girl spent the ENTIRE day with Uncle Justin and by entire, I mean 9 - 5 and my mom drove me to the hospital where we hung out on L&D until about 2:00.

Dr. Barsoum was on-call and when I described my symptoms felt it was better to be safe than sorry. L & D knew I was coming and after leaving a urine sample was hooked up to the monitors. My pain had subsided and had I not called the doctor, probably would have brushed it off and stayed home, carrying on about my long to do list. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

At first nothing showed up except uterine irritability. The male resident came in and wanted to check my cervix. We got into a discussion about it and I requested a Transvaginal Ultrasound which he completely disagreed with. He said he would talk to my doc and if she felt a Transvaginal Ultrasound was indicated, she could perform it herself, but he refused. That's fine because I refused his internal.

He returned with the machine and informed me that Dr. Barsoum would be stopping by to perform the ultrasound. In the mean time, my very nice nurse decided to move the TOCO monitor around as I was complaining of discomfort. A couple of contractions were detected.

When Dr. Barsoum called to say that her rounds were taking longer than usual and that she was still coming, the nurse told her about my uterine activity. At that moment, Dr. Barsoum ordered a shot of Terbutaline which I received in my arm. Thankfully, I didn't experience the heart palpitations I was warned could potentially occur. And after the injection, I noticed my underlying cramping diminished significantly (the painful sensations were on top of this crampy feeling). My TOCO strip post Terbutaline now resembled the strips I've been producing weekly when I see Dr. Davis during my NSTs - basically nothing.

Dr. Barsoum checked my cervix which with four different measurements averaged a length of about 2. She sent me home with an increase in my Procardia from 20 mg every 8 hours to 20 mg every 6 hours. And she told me to take it easy. Something I sort of do and sort of don't do.

My mother and I stopped for lunch (which I have to admit, my appetite is lacking). We made a few other stops before heading home (I needed a Crucifix for Baby Boy's room and I got a pedicure - think of me what you will).

There is a difference between being up, on my feet and relaxing with my feet up. My irritability has certainly increased in the past 24 hours and I wonder if this is the beginning of the process.

I feel good being 34w 2d, just two hours away from 34w 3d. There is part of me that is so scared to labor that I would almost prefer my membranes rupture as a way to tell me okay, this is it for real. Having to decipher on my own, what is worthy of a call and what isn't, is a bit much for someone like me who worries about every single twinge.

I learned late last night when I picked up a voice mail that my c-section is officially scheduled for February 12. That's just 19 days away. So at some point between right now and February 12, Baby Boy will be here... oh, and he still needs a name...