Labor & Delivery Wards, My Irritable Uterus, & The Prenatal Cradle

In my last pregnancy update, I shared how miserable I am with being pregnant. I didnt really tell you why exactly other than the fact Im uncomfortable (which is a given since Ive only got about a month to go). The fact is that Ive been having severe joint pain and pelvic pressure. That feeling like the baby is going to fall out is just awful. It got so bad that I finally called a nurse and told her I felt like I couldnt even walk, had lots of lower back pain and braxton-hicks contractions, and felt like Id be on the couch the rest of my pregnancy. She told me to come in so we could make sure I didnt have a UTI or kidney infection (which could land me in the hospital).

Trip to the Hospital

So I called my husband and dragged him home to take me in (we only have one car). We quickly discovered that I didnt have a UTI (I almost wished I did so they could just fix it) and they sent me to the hospital to Labor & Delivery for monitoring and to make sure that the pressure and contractions werent seriously putting me into labor.

Labor & Delivery Tour

I hadnt seen the Labor & Delivery area yet but was glad to see that it was even nicer than the birth center at my last hospital. Not that I was in one of the nice big birthing rooms during monitoring, but before we checked out a nurse offered to show me one real quick (nice of her!). She kept mentioning what great views the windows of each room had and all I could think was, Who is going to care about the view? LOL. I guess some people do care

Irritable Uterus?

ANYWAY, back to monitoring. They monitored babys heartbeat and my contractions for about an hour and found that I was having almost-constant braxton-hicks, small contractions that werent doing much but irritating my uterus and making life totally miserable. The baby is healthy, something I was a little bit concerned about. A midwife checked my cervix and found that Im 1 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Probably about normal for my stage. In the end they told me that I could go walk around for an hour and see if there was any progress, but since I knew I wasnt seriously in labor I passed on that. Plus it hurt to walk around.

Water, water, WATER

Their advice for getting more comfortable was to drink a LOT of water and maybe even try a pregnancy support band like a prenatal cradle to get some of the weight off my bladder and lower half. I thought I had been drinking enough water but when she told me I should be getting about 80 ounces of water a day I realized maybe I wasnt as hydrated as I should be. And I have to admit that since Ive been consciously drinking more water and keeping a water bottle next to me all day since then, I have felt a lot better. Apparently it doesnt pay to get dehydrated when youre pregnant its not good for you or your baby.

Prenatal Cradle Get One!

I checked amazon.com for a prenatal cradle immediately after I got home. The midwife had recommended the kind with the straps but those are pretty spendy and since I only have a few more weeks left (I pray) I went for the mini prenatal cradle. I was glad to find that the mini prenatal cradle is only $14.95 and for some reason theres free 2-day shipping on amazon.com so I ordered one. I think its really going to help but Ill have to update you on that since Im pretty sure I got the wrong size. I ordered a medium and cant get it quite tight enough even on the tightest setting, so I ordered a small as well and will probably send the medium back. I should get the small by Wednesday. I do think its going to help, though even the medium gave me some relief when I wore it around. There are a lot of good reviews on Amazon, too, so Im hopeful.

And that is the extent of any progress and excitement regarding my pregnancy right now. 🙂 I do feel a little better and more energetic which I have mixed feelings about but Im pretty sure Im getting closer. Though now Im not so sure if hell be coming early or not, whereas before I was feeling so miserable I was sure it had to be soon. I know hell come when hes ready, though.

Wow, the third trimester is exciting! 😉