Hospital Trips, Irritable Uterus, and Bed-rest

Not even a week ago we went through a pre-term labor scare. Since then I have been pounding water and keeping my feet up. I have barely walked around the house in fear of causing more contractions. Well last night around 9 pm after a perfectly relaxed day I started getting a few contractions, they weren't too strong so I started chugging more water and went to lie down. After about an hour the contractions started hurting and getting closer together, I was feeling pressure in my pelvis and cramps in my back and sides. It just did not feel normal. I tried laying on a different side, sitting up, taking a bath, drinking even more water, and they would just not let up. But after our recent trip into the hospital I didn't want to go in and be told that nothing was really going on. I didn't want to wake up my sweet husband who had to jump out of an airplane the next day. So I tried to sleep, I think I dozed a little but the contractions were too constant and painful to really get any sleep.

Fast forward a few hours to about 3 am I started timing the contractions on my phone. They were averaging about 40 seconds long and 5 minutes apart that's about 10 contractions an hour. I made up my mind at that point that they were not going to go away and their own and I didn't want to wait until it was too late to do anything about it.

So we drove 45 minutes away to labor and delivery...again.

I was hooked up to the monitors where they registered my contractions, baby girl's heartbeat looked good. They checked my cervix again, no change (thank goodness) so I'm still dilated to 1 cm. They did say that Evy's head is moving down a little lower which along with contractions could be a sign that she may try to come early. This time they decided not to give me the Trebutaline shot again but instead send me home with some Advil and the diagnosis of an irritable uterus. Irritable uterus? Really?

I felt ridiculous. I felt like the girl who cried wolf. I know I did the right thing by going in because better safe than sorry, right?

We got home around 7 am, and were completely exhausted. I saw my regular OB later in the morning to talk about our options and what she wanted me to do. She said that there are medications (Procardia) to stop contractions but she didn't want to put me on a daily medication like that right now if the contractions aren't causing cervical changes. But you know the only way they'll know if I'm dilating? The only way to know is if I go in to the hospital EVERY TIME I get more than 6 contractions in an hour. And with an irritable uterus she said its pretty likely that it'll happen again. As a precaution I'm having to get steroid shots (Betamethasone) to help develop Evy's lungs just in case she decides to make an appearance early.

So for now I'm on modified bed-rest. Scheduled for weekly appointments with my OB. And orders to get to the hospital if I have crazy contractions again.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll make it to at least 36 weeks, which is about another month. Because every day she stays in my belly the better off she'll be.

Wish us luck!