I had posted in my weekly updates about how I had an appointment on Wednesday (5/29). I also posted about how I haven’t been getting much sleep.
Well….. The midwife did not like that at all. 🙁
I have been taking walks and bouncing on my exercise ball to try to get this stubborn little boy out of me and into my arms. I have been getting contractions, but they haven’t been timeable so we can head out for delivery. We told the midwife this and I was still having small contractions when we went into our appointment. However, they feel as though it is just prodromal labor (basically early, early labor so my body is gearing up, but it isn’t quite ready to do anything significant) and they want me to be able to get some sleep so I can make sure that I have enough energy for when actual labor kicks in. I have to say this was very distressing to me as I have been trying so hard to get the sleep but I either can’t get comfortable, I have to wake up for the bathroom, or the contractions wake me up.
So after a little bit of talking, we finally came to realize that what was probably helping keep me up was hidden anxiety. We were within a week of the anniversary of our stillbirth, EJ has been running out of room so he doesn’t move as much which drives me batty, and I am full of anxiousness just wanting him out.
So the “prescription” for me was to get all of my fluids in before 6pm so that I am not up for the bathroom as often, get a late massage and then relax and get some sleep, take calcium/magnesium to help calm the uterine contractions down so they don’t wake me up quite as often, and to take a long sitz water bath. Not all necessarily on the same night, but working around to get the sleep. This is how things are going so far:
1.) No fluids after 6 – I don’t even get out of bed until after 10am and I go to bed around midnight. If I don’t have fluids after 6, I will be going about 16 hours without any fluids which then will make me feel dehydrated and then the uterine contractions will get worse. Plus I take my prenatals at night and the calcium/magnesium is suppose to be taken with a glass of something so it isn’t as tart. Basically, I don’t do this one. 🙁
2.) Get a late massage – I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this one as our budget is really tight since we had to pay for the birth center out of pocket. However, Darrell pushed and made sure I got one (as an anniversary present) and we scheduled it for about an hour after our midwife appointment. Now, they don’t usually do a massage on women so far along in pregnancy, but if you are earlier, I would recommend it! It was awesome! I was a little uncomfortable because my belly was a little bigger than what the preggo pillow would allow, but it still felt good. When the masseuse hit my lower back/butt area, it was really painful. I have so many knots that it hurts. He worked on all of them and got a decent amount of them loosened up. It really helped with the hip pain at night. I will admit it was painful to get up off the table afterwards and I was sore for a good 24 hours but then it all loosened up and felt great! I slept for 5 hours straight that night before a bathroom trip and then another 4.5 hours afterwards. If I wasn’t so close to delivery, I would definitely go back again.
3.) Calcium/Magnesium – The midwife gave us a container of powder calcium/magnesium to take. When you mix the powder into a liquid, it fizz’s like crazy (a lot like Emergen-C). We had some gatorade in the car to drink during labor, so Darrell brought one bottle in and has been mixing those together. It tastes like a fizzy sweet-tart. It is suppose to calm the uterine contractions so that the prodromal labor isn’t so hard on me at night. I was a little skeptical, but it worked. It worked enough that I have only probably had about 6 contractions I have actually had to focus on in the last two days. Makes me a little sad because it seems as though Edward is going to hang out forever! 🙁 I was so hoping he was going to be early since he is measuring big (which he is still measuring 2 weeks ahead).
4.) Long, sitz water bath – Darrell had to go out and buy some drain plugs as our bathrooms didn’t come with them, but I finally took a long hot bath last night. Our tubs here are really small, so I barely fit and there wasn’t a lot of water. (Made me really miss my huge Texas tub) But I relaxed in the tub with the cats sitting on the bathroom floor. It was relaxing while it lasted. Darrell had to help me out as I couldn’t bend enough to drain the tub or even to actually get up without slipping. (I didn’t try to, I made sure he was going to come help before I even got in). I might take another one before Edward arrives, but probably doubtful. I did sleep a bunch again last night though.
So even after all of those “prescriptions”, the midwife also had a doppler that another patient had given her, so now when I get anxious and Edward doesn’t move, we can use a doppler to find him and make sure his heart is beating. If we really get worried, we can call and they will send us in for a BPP/NST (bio-physical profile/non-stress test – they hook me up to monitors to make sure baby is moving like he is suppose to and there are not heart decels and also do an ultrasound to measure baby’s size and amniotic fluid level). We still have a little bit of time before it is required (they require BPP/NST’s after 41 weeks just to make sure baby is fine) so we said no for now. I think now that I have passed Pixel’s anniversary, I have relaxed a bit and just need to continue to relax until Edward arrives.
I really felt pressured and ganged-up on at the midwife appointment which, of course, made me cry. I was tired but not able to sleep and was frustrated, feeling like everyone was telling me I wasn’t doing my best to sleep. But after all of this, I have actually slept more in the last two days than I probably have in the last two weeks. So as much as I hated it, they were right and now I am starting to get some more rest where I feel like a normal person again.
So ready for all these preggo hormones to be gone right now. 🙁