Well, I woke up this morning at 5am with pretty intense contractions. They were 3 minutes apart and painful for over an hour. More painful than I had experienced before. David and I decided we should get to the hospital to get me checked out. After David packed the car, we arrived at Los Robles at around 7:15am. My mom met us at the hospital and we all checked-in and went up to Labor and Delivery.
After I was in the room, and hooked up to the monitor, the nurse checked me and sadly, I was only 2cm dilated. However, the contractions recorded were 1-2 minutes apart. Zakk's heartbeat was right on target, no stress there, and my blood pressure was perfect as well. I stayed on the monitors for about 30-40 minutes until my doctor arrived to talk with me. He suggested we could break my water to speed things along since my contractions were really close together. I didn't feel easy about that idea because I was only 2cm's and the pain wasn't unbearable yet. My birth plan is to not have any interventions, until absolutely necessary; which it wasn't. They kept me on the monitor for at least an hour and determined I was in true labor, but only the early stages. I told the nurse I wanted to go home and labor from there until I felt I needed to come to the hospital. She called my doctor and he agreed that it was fine. Especially since I was seeing him anyway at 4:15pm for my already scheduled appointment. I really didn't want to be stuck at the hospital all day and night; they don't feed you, you are strapped to monitors, and it's not the most comfortable place in the world. After I got home, David and I ended up napping despite that fact I was still having contractions. It was less painful but still as consistent. After we woke up, we went on a little walk to help things along before my doctor's appointment.
At the doctor's office, they put me on a heart rate monitor, and baby's heart rate was in good range (see above) and under no stress. I was still having contractions about every few minutes. However, when the doctor checked me again, it was still only 2cm. He sat down with me and discussed what could be going on. He said that I am in labor, but there are 3 types. One, I could have been in "false" labor but since my contractions have been consistent for one hour or more that was ruled out. Two, I could be in "real" labor, meaning I was in labor but in my case progressing slowly. Three, I could be in "dysfunctional" labor, meaning my uterus was contracting from bottom to top, rather than top to bottom (which helps to dilate the cervix). With dysfunctional labor, there is no real way to detect it unless I was to be in a lab but what happens is, it will fizzle off and eventually stop itself, and then real labor will start up from top to bottom as it should. I told the doctor I am in no rush and wanted baby to come when he wanted to. He said, that was totally fine with him and he said I could go home and labor there until I knew it was time to go to the hospital. He mention, I will definitely KNOW it's time. With that said, I felt relief. He told me to just relax, take baths, and to make sure to come to the hospital right away if I experience my water breaking, any bleeding, and/or no fetal movements.
At home, I was able to finally relax. I ran a bath, lit some candles, listened to music, and am breathing through contractions as needed. The bath really made the contractions less intense, I barely felt them. I could only really tell I was having them when I saw my stomach tightening. Even though my contractions are super close together, they aren't really painful. I'd say a 3-4 on a scale from 1-10. I do have a pretty high pain tolerance but they are manageable and only take my breath away when they peak for a matter of seconds. Luckily, David is a really great coach, he reminds me to relax my muscles, let my body drop, and breath. I tend to tense up when contractions start and forget to breath. He's such an angel with all of this and has been taking great care of his mama to be.
Now, after a nice dinner, I am relaxing from bed reporting my long day. I know everyone has been very curious about what was going on. I wish I could say Baby-Z was here in my arms but it will NOT be long. I just want everything to happen naturally and I know he will be worth the wait in the end. Thank you for all of your support, continued thoughts & prayers, and all of the excitement! I will keep everyone posted as the days progress until our little bundle of joy is here.
