37

Grace and I have made it to 37 weeks, as of Sunday! I haven't gotten much sleep at all the last three weeks through the regular ol' aches and pains and then... starting about a week ago... continuous contractions.

The first time I noticed about 5 in an hour we went into OB receiving (at 34 weeks, 6 days) and I was told I was still 2cm... whew! So they sent me home and told me to stay off my feet as much as possible and flood myself with fluids- as, apparently- dehydration is the #1 cause of preterm labor... good to know!

I was told to wait to come in until the contractions are 5-6 minutes apart.

Well, let me tell you, after a week I stopped paying attention... dangerous, I know... So Monday Rudy noticed I was having them pretty frequently so I stopped and paid attention again... 2-3 minutes apart. I was scared that I'd waited too long... again...

The nurse said my blood pressure was elevated, of course she took it in the middle of a contraction, so they kept me on monitors and ran lots of tests to make sure I wasn't developing preecclampsia. During contractions I rocketed to 150/100, but in between I was at my (more) normal 100/60. We were at 3, almost 4, cm but not progressing anymore- so I was sent home again.

I took Tuesday off for my health- to try and sleep with the help of Benadryl for a couple of hours- but went back to work Wednesday. Thursday I was at work when I got a call from the daycare... Mr. Daniel had a "103" fever. So I had to run, pick him up, go back to the hospital for my doctor's appt (4 almost 5cm and ready to go any minute according to Doc) and then make it up to North clinic so Daniel could be seen.

He was wheezing a little, but didn't have THAT high of a fever... and no- I didn't give tylenol... He got a breathing treatment and his ears looked at. The ears were good. The breathing treatment didn't help- which Dr. Brooks said was good because it meant it was probably bronchialitis (yeah yeah yeah- I probably spelled it wrong) and not something worse or the start of asthma.

So we stayed home Friday. Today all we've done is grocery shopping... still trying to take it easy- at least until Sunday... I'm gonna have a TERM baby... I'm determined to return those preemie things I bought "just in case"!