It seems to be a contract-o-thon

29 weeks 3 days

Yikes! it's been over a month and a half since I have posted. I guess I really suck at this blogging thing. I haven't had much to say. Up until a few weeks ago everything has been going quite smoothly. I started this blog in the throws of my struggle with infertility and now, for the moment, I am an honorary member of the fertile world - and to be honest I am enjoying every minute of it. I read lots of other blogs, and often times when someone gets pregnant that talk about how they can't get past the pain of the struggle with IF and they have a hard time grasping the joys of pregnancy...During my struggle it was awful, I was sad, depressed, extremely frustrated and seriously in a funk - I have not forgotten that. I seem to have the ability to easily put things behind me, take with me what I have learned ( I will forever be a changed person because of IF) and go forward. So my infertility blog has become somewhat of a pregnancy blog, and I haven't had too much to say about that.

So, I am going forward - with LOTS of contractions! It started 3 or 4 weeks ago. I would have several an hour then 6-8 an hour so I would go into the office to get checked. They tell me to call if I have more than 4 an hour. I explained that I would be calling them every hour and going to L&D every night. So they upped my limit to 6-8. I was in the OB office 2x/wk being monitored for 3 weeks and had gotten 2 negatinve Ffn tests ( this did make me feel better). Last week the doc told me I was 50% effaced and I was not to travel to Florida the next day as flying was not in my best interest and that he was "very, very concerned". So I took it easy for 5 days, had my normal amt of contractions and all seemed OK. The plan was to go in for my weekly Ffn and cervix check and call if the contractions changed.

I went to work yesterday and began having contractions that were 3 minutes apart for about 3 hours, at this point I decided to go down to L&D and get checked out. It sounded like it would be an easy process, as the doc at the office said that if I got worse at work ( I work 2 floors above L&D) just to walk down and get checked out. 5 hours and $250 later I was allowed to go home. As they were slapping an arm band on me and admitting me to a room I realized this would not be a quick in and out. They monitored my contractions and agreed "yes I was having them 3 minutes apart", did a Ffn which was negative and checked my cervix twice which looked good -this doc said he didn't think that it was thinning. And then we talked about what to do next. My OB practice doesn't really believe in bedrest, evidently studies have shown that it does not decrease the occurance of preterm delivery - so they told me to take it easy but I needn't commit myself to bed at this point and it is up to me if I want to continue to work ( which I do, I don't want to use all of my leave before he is born). We also talked about drugs, they don't usually use turbudeline and other drugs for a prolonged period to stop preterm labor - he said that they haven't been shown to decrease preterm birth with long term use. He said that what they are good for is short term use - like if I was to go into labor it would buy us the 48 hours we would need to get the steroids on board to help C's lungs. It seems like their philosophy is somewhat against the mainstream, but I am a believer in outcome based medicine(not doing something just because that is the way its always been done) and I have had 2 of the docs tell me that since they changed the way that they deal with preterm contractions 3 years ago they have not seen any increase in preterm birth....thats a mouth full....Today I am at home and they have calmed down significantly.

This contraction thing is frustrating. "To call or not to call" it is never an easy answer. Everytime I go in they reassure me that I've done the right thing, but it I really struggle with it. Everyday that goes by I feel blessed and fortunate that we are one day closer to a safer time to deliver.

Other than the contractions things are good. The nursery is nearly finished, almost everything is bought. I am in a holding pattern on finishing the shopping as I have 2 more showers. They are near the end of July, which right now seems like a long time away - I will be 34 weeks...I hope I make it that long!

I feel like a big hippo! I have gained 23 pounds, I am feeling very large and cumbersome. I have wicked heartburn and sleeping is not so comfy anymore. I was watching Discovery Health today and there was a show about this woman having quads. Her doc has the best quad outcomes in the country...he recomends that his patients gain between 75-100 lbs !! I can't imagine! Apparantly the babies under his care stay in utero an average of 4 weeks longer and come out a good size,but seriously 100 lbs!

I''m nesting - yesterday we got new carpet thru the whole house. Last month we got air, just in time I may add. We have had 15 days over 90 and a few over 100 so far this month... somehow I thought Colorado was supposed to be cool, and then I moved here and figured out it is like living in a desert.