Saturday night I spent 3 hours in Labor and Delivery because I was having cramps that felt like period cramps and my doctor wanted to “rule out pre-term labor” (that is doctor-speak, courtesy of Lisa – thanks for the password, it really helped me get past the ER ladies who wanted me to sit there in the vomit-smelling triage area and fill out paperwork first). I am only 28 weeks pregnant, and while our baby can live outside the womb at this point, he would be really small and possibly screwed up. I know he wasn’t ready to come out yet, because during the whole ordeal he was happily doing somersaults inside my belly, enjoying his low-gravity fluid environment.
The nurse, who was really nice and spoke perfect English and has a husband named Stewart, too, told me that the number one cause of pre-term labor is DEHYDRATION. Drink your water, ladies! Anyway, after monitoring and testing and waiting for the test results, it turned out that I was NOT in pre-term labor, but I was experiencing IRRITABLE UTERUS. This, I had never heard of. Doesn’t every woman have this? I was told to go home, rest, drink plenty of water, and abstain from sex.
Meanwhile, Stewart hung around and held my hand and waited with me. If I didn’t know him, I would think he was perfectly calm. But something on his face told me that he was totally freaking out, so I kept trying to wink at him or smile to make him feel better. He was realizing that this is really going to happen, that hey, we’re going to have a baby, and we’d better get it together.
I know I keep posting things on this website that make it seem like I’m still surprised that I’m pregnant, and I’m unprepared for motherhood. Well, that is exactly the truth. Saturday night’s episode woke me up a bit, and so I’ve finally started to make plans and begin the nesting process. It doesn’t help that I threw my back out AGAIN on Thurdsay, so I’ve been grounded by my boss, who wouldn’t let me take my 2-week trip to Phoenix, which was my last reason to procrastinate on the baby preparation project. Last night we went to Home Depot to shop for carpet, and I only lasted about 40 minutes before I needed Stewart as a crutch to walk back out to the car. So now I am convinced that yes, I’m pregnant, and this is really happening, and I’ve got to decide between June Bug and Water Spout for the nursery wall color.
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