Givenmy rocky road to a sticky pregnancy, I freely admit, I felt fully entitled to an uneventful pregnancy. I have been very lucky and have gotten just that.
Sure there was nature's cruel joke of anterior placenta, which meant I didn't feel the baby nearly as much as a normal person, which puts a paranoid pregnant person like myself in a tizzy every once in a while. But the upside of this is his kicks and jabs really aren't that uncomfortable and I don't usually have trouble going back to bed after one of my many mid-night bathroom breaks because he can't settle down.
I barely had morning sickness, had good energy allowing me to work out through most of my third trimester, and am still pretty comfortable with only 1.5 weeks to go. At about 33 weeks, the baby situated himself in the most uncomfortable position rendering me miserable and after about a day of pleading with him and much time spent in downward dog, my sweet baby obliged and moved off this horrid spot. So I truly was the keeper of an uneventful pregnancy.
I guess the kid didn't want to set the precedent of being a momma's boy and decided to stir things up this week.
Monday night, we decided to go out to dinner and while out, he was kicking something fierce. I was so uncomfortable I actually left the table to get up and walk to try to calm him down. During my 3 pee breaks of the night, I noticed I didn't feel him at all, which was unusual. I normally feel him for a minute or two and then we both go back to sleep. Tuesday morning, I got up around 6:30 and realized I hadn't felt him. I did some of my tricks to stir him and nothing. Given the anterior placenta, I didn't freak. Around 9, while in the car on the way to the doctor, I resorted to my most annoying of tricks. Essentially I pat my stomach to make a clapping noise and follow up by poking at his feet. He hates this. And yet nothing.
Once in the doctor's room, the nurse asked about movement and I told her it had been a long time since I felt him. They immediately sent me for an NST (non-stress test). I had had this twice before, once after the car accident, and once just to get a baseline given the anterior placenta. They put these big bands around your belly with two receptors. One tracks his heartbeat and one tracks contractions. I was given a button to press when I felt movement.
As soon as I was hooked up, his heartbeat was detected and strong. So I felt relief. The nurse left for about 30 minutes and I hadn't felt him once. The nurse returned and gave me juice to get things going and I maybe felt him twice after that. This wasn't good.
Then the doctor came in. She said "I don't like what I am seeing. He isn't being reactive. His heartbeat is in a normal range so this test alone isn't telling me I need to get him out today, but if I don't see improvement in the next 15 minutes, I am going to send you for a biophysical work up and if those results aren't good, we are going to look at getting the baby out." She then did my internal exam (2 cm!!) and said maybe that would irritate him and get him going.
Well it didn't. She had the nurse come back and collect the print-out for the machine. About 20 minutes later they told me I was going to need the biophysical work up. You might be thinking I was freaking out. Shockingly I wasn't. Since his heartbeat was normal, I figured need be, we could get this baby out within the hour if we had too. And since I have had the fibroid surgery, I am not afraid of a c-section.
About another 20 minutes go by and they take me in for the biophysical work-up. This is just a detailed ultrasound. They measured amniotic fluid, growth, and specific baby movements. Everything was good and I got such cute 3-D pictures. He definitely plumped out. His cheeks are so cute you could eat them. After this test, I had to wait 45 minutes to meet with the doctor to discuss my results. She told me since the second test came back normal we didn't have to deliver me that day but they wanted me to come in the following morning for another NST.
I managed to stay really calm the rest of the day which is more than I can say for my husband and my mom, who currently isn't speaking to my dad because he had his cell phone off during the baby drama. It wasn't until about 9pm that I started worrying what if something happens between tonight and tomorrow morning. Luckily he knew he had to go back to be a docile son and gave me some good kicks before I fell asleep. This morning he was active too.
The test this morning went fine. He improved since yesterday so they said I just need to be really vigiliant about movement and they would see me at my appointment next week.
This was a pretty eye-opening experience for both me and my husband. I am completely prepared in terms of my hospital bag, his room, his things, addresses for birth annoucements, and so forth. But I have been a bit of a freak when it comes to the brutal reality that he actually has to come out and what that entails. My husband is quite the opposite. He isn't worried about the birth process (likely since it isn't his parts squeezing out a baby) but hasn't done anything to prepare like packing for the hospital and turning in his FMLA paperwork. When I was being tested and told things weren't going well, I just wanted him out that second. I didn't care if it meant another surgery or a 3 day labor, I just wanted him safe. Greg on the other hand started freaking out about random things, like the Hep B vaccine and the ointment they put on newborn eyes. He started worrying about something at work that is due Monday but now might have to get down that day.
And once his freak out passed, the oddest thing happened. He wanted this baby here and yesterday. He ran into our neighbor who swears she went into labor from having to go up and down stairs a lot during a move. She went like 5 weeks early, so probably something else was up or the fact that she was lifting heavy stuff and going up and down stairs. So now he keeps telling me to start climbing stairs and when I push back, he said, let's get him out.
Even though this scare turned out to be no big deal, I can no longer say I have had a completely uneventful pregnancy. Hopefully this means I will have an easy, short, 3-push labor.
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