Adventures in Baptist East

So many women experience so many different things in their pregnancy that it can be hard to distinguish one thing from the next. Just like people, pregnancy is different for each individual and no two pregnancies are alike. For some the feeling of pressure is nothing more than gas or constipation; for me it's contractions.

In the wise words of my sister: Pregnancy, everything hurts! So when I felt pressure in my abdomen I originally thought nothing of it and made plans to get my hands on something carbonated and call it a night. It was when the pressure caused me to become short of breath and eventually lead to me having a hard time breathing I called the Dr. She told me to meet her at the hospital immediately and go directly to Labor and Delivery. Being a the emotional drama queen I am, panic began to set in.

The panic only worsened when we got to the hospital and they lead us to a room and told me to get in a gown and climb into bed. Thinking this was the beginning of a miscarriage I finally began to calm when we heard the heartbeat beating strong and constant. A few minutes later that calm was shattered as I heard the 3 scariest words a 4 month pregnant women could hear:

"You're having contractions".

My thoughts went into a whirlwind and my emotions couldn't keep up; contractions, it's too early, why, but I'm not in pain, and so on. The nurse reassured me all was going to be okay and the medicine they gave me to stop my contractions, I was told, would start to work in around 30 minutes. At the 45 minute mark the pressure in my abdomen reached gut squeezing levels and removed all breath from my lungs. Tears began to pour from my eyes as I realized the medicine wasn't working and I was still contracting every 3 minutes; with the increase in pressure it was getting worse.

We spent the night at the hospital and watched as the contraction monitor moved up and down anxiously waiting for morning to come so we could do an ultrasound and check on the baby. When the ultrasound tech shared that everything looked normal and completely on track I wanted to sob in relief. Even though they still had no idea why I was contracting the baby was safe, normal, and appeared healthy; nothing sounded sweeter to me at that moment and the need to cry out to Christ in joy overwhelmed me.

The doctors find me to be somewhat of a mystery. I eat healthy, exercise, and have done everything right so far, all the test results are good and everything is normal so why am I having contractions; especially ones strong enough to knock the wind out of me? Until further notice I am on modified bed rest at home.

Brandon laughed at our little adventure and blamed the "Kennedy Curse". I told him he should have known better than to think that this pregnancy was going to be easy, nothing is every easy for me. Right now, we're just glad that the baby is okay and I'm home.