An Unexpected Trip to Labor & Delivery

If you read some of my previous posts, you may recall I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions on & off since I was about 22 weeks. I first found out about them during an ultrasound, where you could clearly see it occurring, even though I didnt feel it. Soon after that, I started feeling them on my own. I wasnt getting them daily, probably every few days, and when I did I would just drink more and lay on my side. 

Anyways, fast forward to this past week…I noticed they had been increasing in frequency, although I had not been doing anything different. I started getting them daily, and they still persisted when I drank extra. I tried not to worry (ha!) and started trying to keep track of just how often they were coming. At their peak, I was getting about 3-4 an hour and they each lasted about 10 seconds or so. I also started feeling slightly crampy in the midst of them.

Hubby & I decided to make a trip to labor & delivery just to be safe. I told him I would never forgive myself for ignoring something that perhaps could have been handled properly if it turned out badly in the end. He agreed. 

They rushed us right in, and got me hooked up to the machine for my first ever NST. The nurses were really nice, and they checked in on us periodically to update how Miracle was doing and if they saw any contractions. Of course (Murphys Law) no contractions were seen on the monitor the entire hour it was on me. Baby boy was doing great, very active, heartrate steady. 

The doctor on call decided to do an FFN test as well just to make sure we werent missing anything. Instead of me explaining what the test entails, here is the sheet they gave me on it-

We had to wait about an hour for these results, and thank the good Lord, they came back negative. No labor at least for 2 weeks! Everyone was very pleased about this. My urine also came back negative for any types of infection or signs of dehydration. In the end, they chalked up the contractions to BH and an irritable uterus. 

Upon discharge, they instructed us to come back if the cramps got worse, or if the contractions increased to just a few minutes apart. They also reassured us that we should come at anytime, better to be safe than sorry. I really appreciated that. Never having been this far along in a pregnancy, its hard to know what is considered “normal” or not. At least now we can rest easy that all is okay!