Well, we had an interesting evening last night. Around 5 pm I noticed a distinct increase of leaking fluid, showered and changed thinking it might not be anything, but when 15 minutes later I seemed to still be leaking something I decided it was time to head into the hospital to be safe and make sure my water hadn't broke.
I wake Jeff up around 6 and told him I wanted to head to the hospital to get checked out in case my water has broke and we need to start labor. He gets dressed and off to the hospital we go. Both of us obviously a bit excited and nervous. I'm most nervous about the idea that if my water has broke then we are likely looking at induction and a higher chance of cesarean. Jeff is manages to miss nearly every street we usually take to get to the hospital and we end up on the freeway instead.
We arrive at the hospital, get checked in and are lead to a room within 15 minutes. I tell the nurse what I've done so far and that there is a distinct increase of leaking, however no gushing, so one nurse begins my history (with many wows regarding allergies and the fact my list won't fit in the slots on the computer) while the other gets me hooked up to the monitors and begins preparing for the exam. All this takes about 15 more minutes and 2 things are confirmed. 1) My water has not broke, nothing to worry about there, and 2) We have a very active baby. The nurses go away making comment that the baby needs to calm down a bit before we can be discharged. She then pokes her head in and lets us know there is a shift change and she will be leaving.
We see no one for close to an hour. Roo continues at a normal high level of activity and I now need to go to the bathroom. Both Jeff and I are more than ready to go home and don't quite understand why we are waiting around, Roo is always active and not likely to rest, especially when hooked up to an ultrasound. We call the nurses station, I am unhooked from the monitors so I can use the restroom and by the time I am done our nurse has come in to reattach the monitor and check on things. She states that 10 minutes of quiet rest are needed before she can let us go home and that in the past they have had to keep people overnight because of an overly active or inactive baby. We again discuss that this is completely normal for our little one and she encourages me to relax and do anything I can think of to try and get Roo to fall asleep for a bit. SIGH!!
While lying there, I get onto my side and get as comfortable as possible, not wanting to move and keep Roo awake. We try turning off the lights, but the button doesn't work. The nurse had suggested singing lullabies and seeing as we brought our I Pod, I decided to do the next best thing. My "normal" routine when going to bed and being restless is to turn off lights and turn on a specific CD I find relaxing. So, I decide to drape my belly with my sweatshirt (hoping to make things darker for Roo) and place one of the two earplugs for the I Pod on my belly, the other in my ear. I lie there, listening to my music and the changes in Roo's heartbeat, hoping to have 10 minutes of quiet time so we can go home.
Roo's heartbeat fluctuates quite a bit and movement comes and goes, but never doesn't go for more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time. At about 9 pm, Jeff, at this point restless and VERY hungry (he didn't eat before we came in, as I figured if my water had broke, he could go get food in the cafeteria once I was examined and if it hadn't we could go get food together) and decides to go and get something to eat. I tell him no problem and in walks the nurse saying "So, do you want to go home?" Apparently, after one of the longer quiet periods for Roo she had called the doctor and gotten the okay to send us home. She was able to count up 6 or 7 minutes of sporadic quietness and thus had the needed "baseline" to determine a resting heart rate without any outside influence on the monitor. She again reiterated that this is not a completely uncommon occurrence and trying to get a baby to calm down, as frustrating as it can be, is much better than having an overly quiet baby and not being able to let patients go home for that.
It was close to 9:30 by the time we finally got discharged and out of the hospital and we both needed food. We got to a restaurant 10 minutes before the kitchen closed and were able to get our order in and eat something and finally get home. The funniest part of the story is that during the entire time on the monitors (from about 6:30 to 9) I didn't have one contraction, however, as I am finishing my meal I have one, pretty good strength contraction. Jeff jokes about going back to the hospital and I am not so amused, as it is still hurting.
We get home and are able to relax for a bit before Jeff heads off to work. It's amazing how tiring it can be to lie in a bed and try to calm an overly active baby.
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