20 Weeks: Contractions, and lots of them.

This past week has been a whirlwind. Holiday prepping, house projects and contractions. That's right. On Friday, one day shy of 20 weeks, I had my first set of real, preterm contractions. Before now, the most I had ever had were 3 in one night and they were nowhere within the time frame to even be concerned. As a side note, they generally tell you if you have 4-6 in 1 hour you should call your doctor and be prepared to go to the hospital.

I took the day off Friday and while I was around the house I noticed, off and on, a tightening sensation in my belly. It definitely seemed a bit different than normal, but I thought maybe I was imagining things or that the babies were just lying more forward that day (thus making my belly more tight, which does happen frequently). What was so different is that this day, the feeling kept coming and going fairly often and it didn't last long at all. Looking back, the main difference between this and when it's just the position of the babies is that it positioning lasts longer and my belly physically looks a bit lopsided and harder on the one side.

Around 3pm I decided I needed to follow what they tell you - lie down, drink tons of water, start feeling my stomach for tightness with my hands and count what I thought were contractions (though at the time I wasn't entirely sure still). I noticed only 2 the first 2 hours, but later that evening, when Jay got home from work, I had 6 within 40 minutes and another 2 in an hour for a total of 8. At this point we gathered all of our resources from the classes we've taken which talk about preterm labor and called the emergency number for my doctor's office.

Within 10 minutes I received a call from one of the doctor's on call (Dr. Pearce). He asked me to tell him what had been going on and when then repeated "you're 20 weeks?" Making it seem like this was bit odd, but not unheard of. He then asked me to describe them in more detail. I told him that they were no more than 15-20 seconds in length, but at one point 3 of them were 2-3 minutes apart. They didn't in any way hurt. I could feel them coming on though through a tightening sensation and both Jay and I could verify that by touching my belly. He said that based on the fact that they didn't hurt and their length (which I'm guessing means they also wouldn't likely cause significant cervical change), he didn't want me to go to the hospital, but instead I should keep drinking lots of water and take it easy. If over the next couple of days they continued or intensified, I should call the office again and come in to get checked.

The good news is that they didn't continue for long. For the next two hours I maybe had 2 more, but that was it. I attribute this to drinking tons and tons of water (they tell you 4-8 in 30 minutes... yes I was drinking and visiting the restroom non-stop) and the fact that I finally stopped crying.

Why was I crying? Well. I'm pregnant.

Need I say more? :)

Actually, Friday was a really great day for us. I should have been jumping off the walls. But, with the preterm labor contractions I was upset and new news that came my way scared me a lot at the time. You see, Jay got a new job. This is the really, really great part. It's something he's worked very hard for and will likely present him a very nice career path for his future. It will also give us a more stable income for our family once the kids arrive and will allow him to work from home full time, which means more security in case of an emergency while I'm at home with the babies full time. So, all great great news. The upsetting part was due to the fact that we learned he would have to go out of town for training longer than expected. We are now looking at 3-4 weeks minimum, maybe even up to two months, with the bulk of this time occurring in January. I will be in my mid-to-approaching late 20s (weeks wise) by then and preterm labor becomes more and more of a concern around this time.

The thought of being all alone during something like that happening and not having him really freaked me out, which explains the crying. During this time, I was having the most contractions I'd ever had too. You hear about stress contributing to all sorts of things and this would be one of them. So, lots of water and a stress-free lifestyle are what I what I need right now to help maintain a contraction-free lifestyle. Hmmm... maybe I should go to a tropical island until the babies come...

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