Warning: This is going to be ridiculously long. If you have mega staying power, go forth and read.
They’re back. The Braxton Hicks contractions from Hades. Not that they were ever really gone, but let’s just say they’re back in full force with a venegeance. I started to notice them getting more frequently yesterday. After a couple of hours with the contractions getting increasingly closer together (we’re talking every five minutes or so), I took a Brethine/ Terbutaline pill. I haven’t taken one at all since my doctor told me it was unnecessary since my cervix wasn’t changing, but I thought having so many warranted this particular course of action. It seemed to work to slow them down, so I just chugged a bunch of water and hoped they’d stop. Later that night, I ended up taking another pill because they came back.
Tuesday morning, I wasn’t having any, but by the afternoon, they were every few minutes and lasting for a long time, probably three to five minutes each. The prolonged nature of these contractions is what had me freaked out. I obviously took another pill and put a call into my doctor’s office to get their advice. This was around 4:00. The receptionist took a message for the nurse on call, saying “everyone is really busy right now.” Uhm, okay. She didn’t even ask what was wrong, which I thought was insane. By the time 5:30 rolled around, I was royally pissed off that I had not gotten a return phone call and borderline hysterically crying because I was just so worried about these contractions. I called the on-call doctor and ended up talking to a nurse that didn’t seem overly bright and failed to reassure me at all.
Around 6, I got a phone call from the doctor’s office. Apparently, the skank receptionist didn’t give the nurse the message until they were about to close, and I could tell this nurse was NOT happy about that. She asked who took the message, and luckily I remembered. I told her she didn’t even ask what was wrong with me, and the nurse said this message should have been given to her immediately. I felt somewhat vindicated.
She told me that I should definitely take the Brethine in this situation, which I figured. I was worried about Knox being affected by all these frequent, long contractions and she said he would be fine as long as it wasn’t hours and hours of back to back contractions. I felt like it was hours and hours of contractions, so I still worry about that. She did say if my cervix is not being affected by the contractions, then they’re probably not strong enough to affect him, either. She said I may need to come in and get checked more often (apparently I am moving into the doctor’s office since I am there weekly as it is) because we don’t want to miss it if these do start to change the cervix. I have to call the office in the morning and talk to them again about this. I think I am going to insist on being monitored in the afternoon, when the contractions seem to be the most frequent and strong.
As of right now, 10:30 pm, I am STILL having contractions, even on the Brethine. Not as many, but still every 15 minutes or so. This is just so abnormal. AND I accidentally took the pills five hours apart instead of six. Please, self, let’s not do another thing to freak me out.
I feel like the biggest psycho calling the doctor every other day, but it’s not like I am making this up or just seeking attention. I am having contractions pretty consistently, here. Every time they have monitored me (twice) they haven’t picked up but one or two contractions total. This makes me feel like they think I’m some hypochondriac or making it up. I almost hate to say my name when they ask who is calling, I feel like saying “It’s me, the frequent flier. Just let me come in, check my cervix for the thousandth time, and send me on my way.” So frustrating.
I just want Knox to be okay. I try to tell myself that calling too much is better than not calling and having something be really wrong. What if I ignore these contractions and they turn into preterm labor? Or they start to affect the baby and I’m sitting at home trying to ignore them? I cannot let anything happen to this little guy, so if that makes me a psychotic hypochondriac pest, so be it. I’ll update tomorrow, but hopefully these contractions hit the road by then.
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