Pregnancy- July 2011

Ugh, that was about as bad as that appointment could go. Basically I'm still sitting where I was last Tuesday which is incredibly frustrating to me.

My OBs are still offering me an elective induction (breaking my water & seeing how that goes & if nothing happens adding pitocin). If I had been 4-5cm dilated I think I would've just jumped on it & scheduled it for tomorrow morning. But still being at 3 makes me hesitate for some reason. I told them I'd call them if I decided to go ahead with it.

Otherwise, I scheduled another appointment for next Monday at 2pm. I'll actually get another ultrasound if I go to that appointment.

I don't know what to do. On one hand I think it's ridiculous for me to schedule an induction before I even get to my due date for no real medical reason. On the other hand, I'm crazy uncomfortable and it sure would be mighty convenient for a crazy amount of reasons. For some reason I feel like a bad mother for even considering it.

Lurking ... but brain not functioning well enough to formulate any coherent responses. Hope everyone is doing well.

My thoughts exactly. Not feeling well today. Slept 12 hours last night and still tired.

Julie- sorry your appt sucked :-( only you know what is best for you and your body.

Hi ladies -
I've had a very emotional day and need to vent. I hope that you don't mind reading this - it's likely to be long and possibly incoherent. Feel free to skip it.

As I've mentioned, I started contractions last Wednesday after our bike ride. Figuring I had overdone it in the heat, I took it easy the rest of the day and on Thursday as they continued. I was 16 w 1 d when they started, so given their continuation and the fact that I had not had them in any previous pregnancy I called into the midwives. They asked me to drive into their offices and give a urine sample to check for a UTI. Ok, no problem other than they are 45 - 60 minutes away depending on traffic, it was evening rush hour and it took us 2.25 hours of travel for a 5 minute "pee in a cup" visit. Didn't hear back from them on Friday but contractions continued over the weekend and were worse with activity. I called to follow up on Monday and the sample was normal so they made an exception and saw me today when they are normally closed becuase they otherwise had no openings until August! The midwife I have a negative view of because everytime I see her there is a problem is the one I saw today. After taking my history, she conducted a digital exam (what they do at 36 weeks plus). She found my outer cervix to be soft and 1 - 2 cm and it to be approximately 2 cm long which would mean I was about 50% effaced. The inner oss was firm and closed but since I am 17 w 1 d, this is potential cause for concern. It could have mean I need a circlage (stitch to hold cervix closed), bed rest, serial ultrasounds, etc. She referred me to a maternal fetal specialist in another city a hour away and they offered to see me as soon as I could get there to get a sono of my cervix. DH is at home - working - while the kids play upstairs and then on his lunch hour he was taking them to swim class. So I was hearing this all on my own and tryng not to panic at the thought of bed rest and 4 kids. I was only really able to communicate with him via text to keep him updated becuase of where he was with the kids. I drove over and the specialist is awesome. Very low key, not alarmist and they got a good view of my cervix. The outer oss is open but there is at least 3 - 4.5 cm of firmly closed cervix depending on the angle on which it was measured. Therefore there doesn't appear to be any cause for alarm at this stage, I just need to be monitored. I need to stay out of the heat, well hydrated and on easy rest until my August appt. to see if that calms the contractions down, otherwise I get another sono of the cervix to see if there are changes.

I got home 5 hours after I left for my appointment, talked to dh for a little while then took the kids to the consignment sale to find neutral baby sleepers to get us through the first bit until we stock up on clothes for the baby once it's born. When we get home, I help my 8yo son start making the dinner he's responsible for but I'm tired, hurting because in addition to the contractions I'm cramping from the digital exam and internal sono and out of patience. DH comes up to try to settle me down but then gets frustrated with the kids because instead of dumping the dishwasher this a.m., my 6 yo lied to me and told me he did it but then just added the breakfast dishes over top of the clean dishes so there was no room for dinner dishes and he goes to bed before 6 pm.

This leaves me to make dinner, get the dining room, kitchen, and living room cleaned up, all the kids showered and bedtime done on my own. I understand he is depressed by their self-centeredness but they are not bad kids, they're kids who take shortcuts and don't think about other people - all age appropriate if inappropriate. He's feeling overwhelmed since I have been on easy rest and I'm frustrated because he is so upset over their behavior he's blowing it out of proportion I feel but I also haven't been around to really deal with a lot of it either. So now it's 8 and he's trying to sleep and I've managed to get the kids to bed and I just want to cry. I know part of it is I had a bad night last night as far as sleep, but part of it is I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

He has to go into his main office for a meeting on a day he normally works from home. Not normally a problem, but I scheduled lab work for 7:20 in the morning which means I have to get the kids up at 6:30 so that we can get there. I tried rescheduling but it has to be this week and there were no other available times and I don't want to do drop in. Then we come home for an hour and I have to take all of them to my son's filling appointment at the dentist (same reason as having to take them to the lab!). Then we have swim class and I have to drive up to a town 45 minutes north to get a Cub Scout uniform for my son to take to camp on Sunday so I can't put it off. We have TKD tomorrow night and he's there for 2 hours and I get to sit there with all the kids trying to keep them from destroying the place. Somehow I need to figure out how to get some grocery shopping in since we are a week past due and really out of everything fresh. I also need to pack to go to a conference 2 hours away Friday and Saturday leaving dh to mind the kids while working form home on Friday and then again all day Saturday so I can almost guarantee I'm going to come home Saturday night to dh in a really bad mood with a laundry list of complaints.

I'm just so tired that I can't see how to change this dynamic and I know the stress isn't helping. I also miss the bike rides with the kids and how positively they started the day and I miss being able to work out and going to the gym with dh. That is probably part of his issue - he hasn't gone in a week because I haven't gone and he is much more relaxed when he goes but often won't on his own.

If you made it this far, thanks for listening!

HUGS Katrina

Hooray for a date Rachael.

I have an apt tomorrow to see if I have made any progress. Bf cant go with, since he is gonna squeeze in a day of work (since we are just sitting around waiting at this point).

Maureen, can't wait to hear how your apt goes. Here's hoping for progress.

Katrina- I'm so sorry for everything you have been going through. Just reading your post made me exhausted with all that you have to do on a daily basis, I can only imagine how you must feel once your head hits the pillows every night. Just remember to try and take it easy and maybe slow down just a little bit if you can. Thinking of you :flowerforyou:

Maureen- Hoping for good news from your appointment!

Cramping/contracting after peeing?! Anyone else experience this? This just started about a week ago for me..... :ohwell:

Anyone else have a dull back pain when sleeping? This has just started for me and it hurts so bad I have to get up. It isn't sharp pains or anything but it really hurts... maybe just the way I am sleeping in my bed.

I totally have this! It is my middle back area that aches, sometimes lower. When this happens I have to sleep with my pregnancy pillow for a night or two and it is better. I think the added support helps.

Ok guys, I just had to share this video. It is sooo funny. It is not too often a video makes me laugh out loud!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-1F-CokXNU