Back in the Hospital

I think Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center should have a punch card or something. Maybe a "Buy 1 ER Visit, 1 Surgery, and Get a Baby Free" type thing. Either way, I was back in the hospital last night! Here's what happened:

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The night before last I kept waking up with pains that I assumed were gas pains. Needless to say I hardly slept. The next day I was feeling ok, just tired. The pains came back though, which were more irritable than anything. I got ready for the day then went to Walmart with my mom. By this time I had already started to have some Braxton Hicks contractions and some cramping. I had a lot of groceries to get so Mom wanted to come and help. The entire time I felt Braxton Hicks contractions and knew they were common. So I went on with my day.

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By the time I got home from Walmart it was about 3:30. I got all the groceries put away then started on a few projects around the house. The Braxton Hicks continued to worsen and cramping began. I thought about calling the doctor but decided it wasn't a big deal.

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Then I looked on babycenter.com under Braxton Hicks to see what was said about them. Apparently if I'm anywhere before 37 weeks pregnant and I'm having more than four Braxton Hicks contractions an hour combined with menstrual-like cramping, I'm supposed to call my doctor. Great. I'm only at 34. And all of that was pretty much going on all day. By the time I realized to call, the office was closed. But I wanted a second opinion so I called a friend who recently had a baby and who is also a nurse. She told me I need to call the doctor and figure out where to go get checked. So naturally I started to panic a little.

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I called Scott the PA, who was on-call, and told him what was going on. He told me that I need to sit down, drink a ton of water, and start timing the cramping. If they were between 4-7 minutes and regular I needed to call him and go to the hospital. Otherwise he said they would just go away in a couple of hours.

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So that's what I did. Tyson was still working at this time and wouldn't be home till about 8:30, so I was on my own! I watched Syracuse lose out of the college basketball tourney {dang it, there goes my bracket}, some Oprah re-runs, and timed the cramping the entire time. By the time Tyson got home {I had called him earlier and let him know what was going on} the times were about 6 1/2 minutes apart, then 12, then 6 1/2, then 8..and they weren't stopping. Great.

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After calling my sister-in-law Erika and getting her opinion I decided we should go to the hospital. I was able to talk to Scott right before we left to give him the details. I told him the numbers with the cramping and how far apart they were and he was concerned. He agreed that we should go to the hospital and that I needed to be checked to make sure I'm not dilating. If I was we needed to get Dr. Leavitt in there. Talk about a good time to freak out!

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Yesterday at my appointment I had a higher level of white blood cells suggesting that I might have a UTI. I had no symptoms, but still thought I should get a prescription for it. I picked it up this afternoon.

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At the hospital they got me all hooked up to the machines and asked me a bunch of questions. The baby's heart rate was right where it needed to be so that was good. I was also hooked up to the machine that monitors contractions. The nurse told me I was probably just feeling "irritability" and not contractions. She showed me on the machine what irritability looked like, which was what was happening at that moment. During the questions I felt another cramp coming on and looked at Tyson with a face full of pain. Then the nurse stopped her questions and pointed to the screen saying that I was definitely having a contraction. She asked me my pain level and then told me I needed to be checked to see if I was dilated. Thank goodness I wasn't! But the contractions kept coming.

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They had taken another sample and the results eventually came back. I did have a high level of white blood cells that indicated a UTI. Apparently a UTI this late in pregnancy can cause contractions. By taking the medication I picked up earlier the contractions should go away within the next couple of days. Until then, I get to deal with them regularly! Joy.

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A UTI is making me contract. And I'm still contracting regulary - about 6 to 9 minutes apart. I was given an ambien for sleep last night. It helped, but I still woke up when the contractions got bad. Hopefully those meds kick in soon!

I'm so glad we went into the hospital last night. Even if it was just to confirm a UTI. We needed to feel that peace of mind. And we found the reason for the contractions. A dumb UTI and not preterm labor, yay! I think if I hadn't gone when I did we would have gone in the middle of the night because the pain was much worse. Now I know what to expect when I start going into labor! And it has given us practice timing contractions. In the mean time I'll be keeping myself busy to distract myself from all of these contractions!