Yesterday in the early morning hours I woke up to discover a "wet" feeling, but since I had been up most of the night with random contractions and heartburn, tried to go back to sleep and figured if it was anything, labor would progress and I would wake up and go in. So when I did get up later in the morning (ah, the joys of working afternoons only!) and surveyed the situation, it did indeed appear that my bag of waters had broken - no huge gush, but definite wetness. I called my dear cousin who is a L&D nurse (well intern, but for now she is my personal nurse - thanks Em!) and described the goings on, and she said yep, sounds like it is your water - call L & D and describe it to them, and they will tell you to come in. Oh my! I was still in a bit of denial that this was "it" and was not having regular contractions, so figured I had plenty of time.
I quickly added the last minute extras to our waiting hospital bags, dried my hair and got ready, and straightened up the house a bit. Then I took a deep breath, called the hospital, and told them my story - yep - come in. I called Billy, and told him the news, and encouraged him to stay at work until I was closer to the hospital - but of course as soon as he found out he was excitedly out the door and waiting for me to arrive. So then I called my dad to come and get me, as per our plan. But couldn't get ahold of him. Hmm. Strange. Now, what to do? I felt like I could drive myself, but then figured that was not the best of ideas. After repeatedly dialing dad's cell/home numbers, I got a little panicky and called mom, who promptly left school to come and get me. (My plan B for going to the hospital was to have a co-worker take me, but since I was at home and not at school, I felt bad calling school to ask for a ride, so I figured, when in doubt, call your mom!)
So we trekked to IC, went to L & D, and they hooked me up to the monitors, and we see that baby is moving and doing fine, I am indeed having some mild contractions (that actually got somewhat regular, then stopped) . . . and that my water had NOT broken. Big sigh. Apparently there are 3 tests they do to figure out if one's water has broken, and 1 was positive and 2 were negative for me. Confusion. If this is not my water, what is it??? I know I did not wet my pants, and without going into detail, I was definitely not dry. (I still don't feel like I have gotten a good answer to what I experienced -- Em thinks perhaps I do have a pinprick hole in my bag of waters . . .).
They explain that this happens to lots of women - many people think their water has broken, but it hasn't, yadda, yadda (but NOT to ME, I am thinking, feeling like a huge fool). The doctor on call decided to do an ultra sound to check the amniotic fluid levels (in case it was my water), and just keep an eye on things for a while. At this point I am in tears, feeling so let down. Of course we had called some family members to let them know today was the day, so we started calling them back to fill them in. Allison had left work to change into comfy clothes before coming to the hospital, prepared to stay for the duration - so we called her to say don't come. Billy went back to work, and mom had to leave to go back to school, so Em hung out with me. The one fun part of the day was that during the ultra sound our little guy was moving as always, and at first had his thumb in his mouth, then started "waving" at us - as if to say - hey, I am here, but not coming out!!! Boys!
SO anyway, I ended up hanging out with Allison and resting at her house in North Liberty for the remainder of the day in case I made any progress until Billy got off work (and since I had no ride home). I slept a lot (from being up most of the night), and tried to keep track of contractions, but again, nothing regular. So Billy and I went out for supper (I didn't even care what - didn't try to think of labor inducing food), then came home and, SIGH, unpacked our bags again.
I continue to feel contractions, and some have been stronger, but again nothing regular. I am determined that we will NOT be going back to the hospital until we are SURE that our little guy is ready (I am thinking we are going to have our hands full with this child!) . . . But tonight we are going out for dinner to eat spicy Chinese food with Holly and Josh (apparently that put Amy into labor with Aiden). I have to get some more Zantac first though, because I am out and last night was no fun - heartburn like none other (and all I had was a turkey sandwich!).
So again, we'll keep you posted.
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