I had my 38 week appt. today - which should have been routine. I showed up for the appt, stripped down and immediately started having BH contractions. (Normal for me these days.) But my uterus never stopped constricting. My belly remained rock hard for the pre-exam hellos, the internal and during the post exam conversation. When the OB went to measure fundal height and I was still rock hard, he expressed concern.
The 10 minute "contraction", coupled with the headache I've had for 2 weeks = minor OB freak out. (And I use that term loosely because my OB is beyond calm. LOL)
So, they sent me for a NST which showed that my uterus was at a constant state of 50. From what I understand a normal contractions shows on the monitor as anywhere from 25-100.... and it's supposed to be a gradual increase. Thankfully, baby's heart rate stayed strong with only one decel. Finally, my uterus let up and they let me go when I stayed at 20 for while.
But of course I was there for 2 hours.
And these weird contractions aren't moving baby down! I'm still at only 1cm.
I don't know what to make of the headache. My blood pressure is still on the normal side and I have no protein in my urine. They ran a blood panel but my OB said he expects it to be normal. He gave me a narcotic that is safe during pregnancy for the pain, but I'm not really interested in taking it at the moment. They also said if I'm still pregnant, and still having headaches in a week, I'll need to see a nurologist. (For a girl whose dad died of Brain Cancer - that is a scary prospect....)
So, anyway, I'm finally home and trying to just be thankful that baby appears to be ok. Even if he does stick around inside until February. But it's been quite a day.
Re: Super long morning ending in bloodwork and NST
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((hugs)) I was just checking FB to see if you were back yet.
I'm sorry, that stinks.
Yikes! I'm glad everything is okay.
When I was having bh contrax or "pre labor contrax" I had a few that lasted about 8 minutes, when I called the OB they basically told me I was an idiot and wasn't timing them right. But sure enought when I went into real labor they were showing on the monitor as 6-10 minutes long, so I told them " see I told you they were long, tell your nurses to be nicer" they laughed.
That actually would happen to me, all part of having my fun "irritable uterus".
I remember when they finally explained the numbers on the contraction monitor to me, I became obsessed with the level. If I hit over 50 I was all, Wooooo! That's a biggy! DH would get so annoyed with me.
I have never seen Dr. L freak out before what a site... hee hee he is calm though!!!
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I'm glad everything was ok. HUGS?
LOL! At one point I got up to 75 and got pretty excited.
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Kind of scary, I'm glad you are ok Meg!
So they have no idea what is causing the headaches? And I'm assuimg you can't take anything for them.
Hang in there!
So sorry you had such a scary day. I know what it is like to have a routine visit turn into an all day experience.
I hope you get some relief from the headaches and the braxton hicks contractions soon.
(((hugs)))
Christian Alexander - 11/13/06
Amelia Rose & Owen Thomas - 3/29/11