I started feeling a little "off" the day before yesterday. Mostly fine, though, until partway through dinner last night, when I began to wonder if the pain in my lower abdomen was an incipient UTI. I went to bed as soon as we got back, leaving Mark to wrangle a hopped up MJ, and by midnight I was in serious pain. Cramps, low back pain that I kept thinking "ah, it's getting better! ..no, wait, it's getting worse… no, better… wait, there it is again…"
I finally had to admit to myself I was dealing with a possible problem when I found myself pacing in the bathroom practicing slow breathing and leaning over the sink. I waited until I was sure Mark had MJ well settled and then I went downstairs to google "preterm labor."
A few minutes later I woke Mark up to let him know I was about to call our midwife for advice. This got his attention pretty quickly as I am not the sort to call in the middle of the night unless I'm really worried. He disentangled himself from Mary Jane, who had only JUST settled into deep sleep, and waited while I called. I hoped this wasn't going to lead to an emergency room visit in the middle of the night. An awful prospect, but not as awful as being worried I was going into labor at 20 weeks.
She answered, I described the problem, she listened. Was I bleeding? No? Then yes, I could go to the ER if I wanted to; they'd probably do an ultrasound to see if my baby was okay, maybe a cervix examination, but there was not much more they could do at 20 weeks, she thought. 26 or maybe 24, possibly; twenty, no. So probably there was no real reason not to wait till morning, we worked out together. "You're traveling," she said, "you are eating different food, maybe dehydrated, maybe your bowels are more active, it's all linked together. Drink a lot of water and try to rest." She advised me to watch for spotting or bleeding and to go to the ER right away if I found any, or if the pain got excruciating, but mainly to try to get some sleep and to drink a lot of water. And call her in the morning.
Well. I hadn't thought I was thirsty, but I managed to put away four big glasses of water over the next half hour or so. And more every half hour after that. The pain got worse before it got better — I lay there in the dark wide awake for a long time, curled up with a hot compress at my back. But at some point I fell asleep in between contractions, and though the pain kept waking me, it seemed to be less frequent. I got up, went to the bathroom, drank a full glass of water several times. And eventually it was morning. And there weren't any more contractions. A steady, dull muscle soreness all up and down my sides; a low and burning ligament ache; a famishing desire for breakfast; but no more contractions.
Not much fun. I called the midwife back when it seemed late enough and together we decided I'd stay home all day, make sure to get plenty of rest and keep drinking water, and take it easy for a couple of days. So Mark and I scaled back our travel plans, cancelled getting together with friends tonight, cancelled a planned trail hike tomorrow. I stayed in bed most of the day, emerging for meals and glasses of water and trips to the bathroom (and now to plug myself into the non-wireless internet temporarily).
I still don't feel quite myself, but I'm not sure if the exhaustion is physical or emotional. I've never been through anything quite like that before — at least not prior to 36 weeks. It felt exactly like early labor does, the kind that eventually peters out and stops after many hours of being sure "this is it." Only, when one is full term, one is supposed to go with the contractions and visualize them opening you up and doing good work to get the baby out. It was peculiarly exhausting to find myself fighting them instead, arguing with them in my head and visualizing my body staying closed up and tight and keeping the little one in where he or she belongs.
bearing blog 