Counting Contractions

Earlier in the week, I was having a lot of contractions. Not the kind that would make me think I was in labor, just the subtle tightening-of-the-belly kind. They were pretty constant Monday and Tuesday. I couldn't really count how long they would last or the time between them, because my belly was just tight, all day long. I decided it was a good idea to stay home from work on Wednesday to give things a rest and see if it would calm things down a bit.

Thankfully, it worked. I had hardly any tightening yesterday. Just a few moments here and there. Back to "normal". We also went to see the doctor again last night (34 weeks, wahoo!). I told him about the contractions and he didn't seem too worried after checking the ultrasound. I have had some other new annoyances such as loss of hearing in my left ear, severe headache (the kind that starts in your eye socket and slowly makes its way through the rest of your head) and stabbing pains in the guts. Again, he didn't seem to think any of these things were very serious because my blood pressure is still normal, I don't have any protein in my urine and the babies are doing very well in their little amniotic huts. So as glad as I was to hear all is well, it was a little irritating to hear that I just have to live with these things for a few more weeks.

Baby A is still breech! Dang it! However, he said Baby B has turned but it doesn't matter because A is the one that calls the shots when it comes to delivery. He also requested I start doing the non-stress tests. I have my first one tomorrow evening after work. From what I understand, I get hooked up to a monitor that tracks each babys' movements and heart rates and they use the info to detect if there are any problems with the babes. I guess they don't usually do this for first time pregnancies unless it's high risk or there has been a miscarriage or loss before. A friend of mine told me today they lost their first baby at 38 weeks, but had they done a NST, it would have survived. Yikes!

I'm definitely at the point where I'm ready for these kids to get here. I know I'm going to beat myself for saying so later - like when I'm knee deep in diapers, bottles, boobs and poop - but the last few weeks or pregnancy basically suck. I'm super happy they are healthy and growing, though. The more time in the belly, the less time in the NICU. It's appropriate that the suffering and sacrifice start as soon as pregnancy begins, because that's basically par for the course once they're born, too. At least the payoff is totally worth it.