I had heard my mommy friends talk about Braxton Hicks contractions (which, for this post, I'll shorten to BH contrax). I had read about them in all of my baby books. But, to be honest, I had absolutely no idea what they really felt like. My OB told me about a month ago that I might start feeling them and to go to Hoag's Labor & Delivery center ("L&D") if I had 4 or more BH contrax in 1 hour.
Well, if you don't really know the difference between strange baby movements (i.e., pushing his butt out) and a contraction, it is easy to just sort of ignore BH contrax and pass them off as movement.
Yesterday, after my return to work, I started feeling a lot of these strange movements and I thought, "Hmmmmmm....maybe these are those BH contrax. And, if they are, I've definitely been having them sort of regularly and today I am having them about 4-7 times per hour." I had a regular check-up scheduled this morning with my OB so I thought I'd just ask her when I got there what a real BH contrax feels like and didn't worry about it too much. I wasn't in any pain or anything.
Jay went with me to my appointment this morning. On the drive over I felt those same "strange movements/possible BH contrax". Then, sure enough, when the OB was talking to me, I felt it again. So, I asked her to feel my stomach and tell me if it was just the baby moving or if I was having a contraction. She said it was a contraction and then asked how frequently I was feeling them.
Somewhat embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, I admitted that I had been having a lot of them - in fact 3 in the last 30 minutes.
So, she told me I was to go straight to L&D to be admitted and tested.... for at least 2 hours. Yikes.
Off I went. I checked in and they hooked me up to two fetal monitors - one that tracks the baby's heartrate and another that tracks contractions. They did a urine test and another test (I can't remember the name), which basically tested to see if I was producing a hormone that women start to produce within the last two weeks before they go into labor. They also did an ultrasound to check my cervix and make sure it was not dilated or effaced. So, now I've had a whopping 8 ultrasounds during this pregnancy! No pictures this time though.
The tests showed that I was, indeed, having contractions. But they were not too frequent when I was laying down in the hospital bed (about 2 an hour), I was not producing the labor hormone (yay), I was not dilated or effaced (big yay), baby's head is still down (phew) and the cause of the contractions is a mild UTI, for which I was prescribed antibiotics.
So, all in all, it was a relief to see that I was not headed into pre-term labor and to also find a cause for the contractions. The L&D doctor forbid me from going to work for the rest of the day, even after I explained that I sit at a desk for work. I am allowed to work from home, but no going to the office. I can go in tomorrow.
I suspect that my OB is going to talk to me about either reducing my hours or working from home very soon. Neither sounds that terrible at this point. I just don't want her to make me stop working (and earning money) all together.
As soon as I left the hospital and went to the pharmacy, I started having regular BH contrax again, so I guess the doctor was spot on telling me to go home and relax. The BH contrax seem to disappear when I am sitting in bed, even if I am working on my computer.
