After a night's sleep, I am feeling refreshed and ready to tell you about my crazy Thursday.
It all began on Wednesday night. I was leaving cheer practice, had snowed a great deal while I was in practice, and I was walking to my car. On the way to the car, I had one of those slips where one foot decides it hates you, skids out from underneath you, and tries to kick you in the face. Because I'm so graceful, I quickly twist my whole upper body to catch myself on the sidewalk...turns out my lower half decided to stick it out and stay right where it was at. I ended up throwing my back out and cramping in my stomach muscles. I didn't think to much of it; it's not anything out of the norm for me to almost eat-it every day.
That night I was "grandma-walking" around my house and doing the usual tricks to get the kinks out of my back (hot shower, laying on a hard floor, stretching, etc). When I went to bed, I felt some odd cramps in my lower abdomen. It didn't hurt (like the rest of my body), but I kept telling Alex "something feels wrong", "something's weird". I text my aunt about it and asked her if I should be concerned enough to go to the ER. She is a CNA at our hospital and it helps when you're in a panic about baby stuff. She told me that as long as it doesn't start to hurt or get worse, I should be ok until morning. I felt a little better. However, the cramping kept me up ALL night.
The next morning right when the clinic opened, I called to make an appointment. Lucky for me, there was a cancellation and I was able to go right in to see my doctor. When we got there, the panic got the better of me and I was trying to choke back sobs as the nurse got my vitals. I kept saying "I'm sorry, I didn't get much sleep. So I'm very emotional". She was very reassuring that it was ok to be upset and that I was doing a good job taking care of my baby. After she left, the doctor came in. She asked what had happened, what was hurting, and what my concerns were. I told her about the fall and that my back and sides were hurting. I was having cramping in my lower abdomen, but it didn't hurt. It just felt wrong. She then got me up on the exam table and started looking for the baby's heartbeat using a Doppler. She moved around on my stomach for a bit trying to find it. I got more panicked by the second. She finally told me it was not terribly unusual for the Doppler to not find the heartbeat. I tried not to cry (unsuccessfully). I remembered that during one of my previous visits, they had to bring in the bedside ultrasound because they couldn't find the heartbeat using the Doppler. But that wasn't very calming at this point. The doctor said she would like to get an ultrasound to check on the baby anyways, so we could confirm the heart rate that way. Because our doctor is so great, she asked the ultrasound tech if she could get us in right away. And thank God she was able to.
We were in the waiting room for about 10 minutes (long enough for me to drink some water and get ready for the ultrasound). The ultrasound technician brought us back and got us ready. She told us she had already been praying for us (that made me feel A LOT better, like God was telling me that He was with me). As soon as she put the wand to my stomach, she said the baby was just fine. I cried...again. I was so relieved...and shocked, our baby looked like a baby! the last time we saw it, it looked like a bean. (picture on left) Now it looked like a real baby. I couldn't help but let the tears slide down my cheeks as the technician caught my baby's little movements and profile. It was amazing. Alex, who was at the foot of the exam table, started rubbing my foot (because he couldn't hold my hand). He was just as relieved and excited to see our baby had grown so much.
While we were staring at our beautiful baby on the monitor, the ultrasound tech asked if I had any fibroids (a non-cancerous tumor in the uterus). I told her that I didn't think so (I had no idea what they were at the time). She told us she was going to step out and look at my previous ultrasound. The look on my face must've been panic because she said "but first let me put up a good picture of your baby so you have something to focus on while I'm gone". She stepped out and I tried to relax and enjoy the good news of my baby's well-being. When she returned she informed me that I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions (small contractions of the uterus to prepare for labor; these start in the 2nd trimester and continue off and on until labor starts). I suddenly understood what felt weird and wrong the night before. It had felt like my uterus was contracting, but without the pain, I thought it had to be something terrible. The ultrasound tech printed off a photo of the baby for us and sent us back to the clinic.
We reported the heartbeat (150 bpm) to the doctor and she gave us the ok to go home. She asked that I stay home and rest. When we got home, my aunt called in a panic (she had heard that I was in the clinic because I fell and that we couldn't hear the baby's hearbeat). I told her the news and we got off the phone shortly after. Then Lena called. I told her everything that had happened and we talked for about a half hour. When I got off the phone, I was ready for bed. I asked Alex to wake me up at 12 to go to work...he didn't. I slept until 2:30. When I got up, I ran to work to check in. Not much was going on. So I went to cheerleading practice and had a short practice. By 7pm I was ready for bed; my back ached and I was emotionally drained. So I hit the hay and woke up the next day feeling tired, but much better....look at how stinkin cute my baby is! it has been said the baby has Alex's nose. (which is known to be large). so adorable.
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