Tuesday, May 14, 2013

False Alarm!

My husband commented last night that TV and movies have really messed with his head. He has this image of what it looks like to go into labor and our experiences so far have looked nothing like that. I figure there is no better place than the Mom Squad Blog to share the story of our false alarm, so here goes.

I woke up around 12:15am Monday (10 days til my due date of the 23rd) to go visit the little girls room. I've been doing that since I was born and think I have the whole peeing thing down pat, so when I woke my husband up to tell him that while I was in the bathroom my water broke, I was pretty darn confident. We called the doctor's office and the on-call nurse returned the call. I said with confidence, "My water broke." She asked if I'd had any contractions and I'd only had one. She said go ahead to the hospital. After our phone tree system totally broke down, my poor husband had to go next door and knock on the window of our 15 year old neighbor. He knocked and said, "Ashleigh! It's Josh. Don't freak out!" If you'd ever told me my 33 year old husband would be banging on a teenage girl's window in the middle of the night I would have had some serious questions to ask!

We headed to the hospital and arrive around 1am. Cutting to the chase, they did two different tests and reported back that my water had not broken. I think my reaction was, "Are you serious?" They sent me to get an ultrasound to measure the amount of amniotic fluid and there was plenty. The tech did say that since I hadn't had an ultrasound since my 20 week appointment he can't say if I'd LOST any fluid (no levels to compare it to) but that the amount he measured was perfect and baby looked fine. He also estimated that the little lad is already at 8lbs. Ouch.

While we were having the ultrasound, which took about 25 minutes I had three very strong contractions. I was almost squirming and I like to think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, so even as he was saying, there's plenty of fluid and the other tests came back negative, I was still thinking that we were having this baby.

We head back to our other room and the painful contractions stop, although I'd been having mini ones since 12:15. The doctor said it was probably because I had to lay flat and my oxygen levels were down that the contractions got stronger.

At this point it's about 3:30am and my husband comments that our alarm is going off in an hour to get up for work. The doctor asks me what I do for a living and I say, "I work on the morning show at a radio station." She stares at me and just says, "You're Abby."

There are certain instances in life where an amount of anonymity is desired. This is one of them. She said, "I listen every morning!" I said, "You just saw my nether-region".  Awkward!

The doctor is ready to send us home except for the fact that my blood pressure is sky-high. She keeps asking me preeclampsia type questions and they turn down the lights so I can relax before getting one more reading on my BP. All ends up well and we get in the car to head home around 5am.

Honestly, I still don't believe it. You know the whole, "You know your body best" women's intuition thing. I still think it was my water breaking in some form. Not that I don't trust the doctors or their tests. I do! I just keep replaying that moment in my head and am so confused.

The other odd thing is how this is the complete opposite from what happened when Liam was born. My water broke and I had no idea. After about six hours I finally called the doctor and they told us to go in. No contractions. When I got there the test read positive, still no contractions. When the nurse said my water broke, I said, "So what does that mean?" Duh. It means you're having a baby today! This time, I was sure it was my water, and I had a few contractions and we got the boot!

The good news is that I have my 38 week appointment today and it's with the same doctor as the other night, so we don't have to do a recap, just cut right to the chase!

Anyone have a similar story? Of course I looked online and saw a woman's post that two tests came up negative and the fluid levels looked fine and they had the baby the next day. What's your crazy labor story? 

6 comments:

  1. When our 2nd daughter was 'ready' to enter the world, we phoned the midwife on call, who happens to live a few doors down from us. She walked over to our house and did a quick little exam in our bedroom...of course I was thinking, "Oh my...are there clothes on the floor? Does the dresser look dusty?" You know...I was worried about all the things she's NOT focusing on!! :)
    The midwife was going on a walk with a friend around our neighborhood, so she told me to take a shower and she'd meet me in a bit at the hospital....she barely made it in time to deliver our sweet angel! (She did fess up that she almost broke my water during that exam in our room...had she done that, I probably would have had a very unplanned home-birth!!)
    Some anonymity is always a good thing, but I gotta say....it made for a great story when a neighbor asked at a block party, "How do you two know each other?" Ha!ha!
    We're all praying for you, Abby!!

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    1. Oh my! I would've been doing the same thing. Please pay no attention to the dishes in my sink or the mildew in the shower! Kinda like when you're at the OB and you think they care about the chipped toe nail polish. Ha! Although my dr did compliment my polish color yesterday. When Liam was born one of the last nurses that came in to check on me did the check which is pretty gross and then asked, "Are you Abby from Spirit FM?" I was like, "c'mon! This is just gross!" On the bright side I'd rather she asks after the check than before. Nothing worse than, "I love your show. Now for another show!" Ewwwww...

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  2. You're in our prayers Abby! I don't have any crazy labor stories as both of my children had scheduled dates, but the road was rocky with both as they had two different complications. Now I have a happy and healthy 4 year old and a happy and healthy 3 month old! Despite the false alarms and wondering when the baby is coming, it will all be over soon and you will be able to relax!

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    1. Thanks, Nicole! I am trying to relax and enjoy these final days. It was my boss' idea for me to stop doing the show and get an extra hour of sleep every day and I'm loving it. Even the commute! It's strange to drive to work when it's light out though.

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  3. Okay, here's my story of how Diego was born: It was July 3rd and my boss had just left very early to start the long holiday weekend and I had been issued orders to do the very same thing. I didn't. I called my mom from the office long distance to Tampa from California. We were chatting when suddenly I felt this long... lingering... PAIN. Then, it went away. When I hung up with Mom and stood up - KERSPLASH!!!! Oh, Abbey. So much water - it was embarrasing. I was totally alone in the office and had to slosh my way to the ladies room, outside of my office, with more water sluicing down my legs - ACK. I was so glad that my boss had left, which was really ridiculous. He's a wonderful man and would've been so supportive. Obviously, my water had broken and in a huge way. We had several days worth of newspapers stacked up and that's how I got home without soaking the car! Everytime I took a step more came out - good grief! We got the hospital in plenty of time as Diego was in no hurry at all to come out. Mom had time to fly across the county, take a taxi and wander through the hospital hallways and was still in time to see Diego get vaccuumed out! He took 14 hours and was a Fourth of July baby by that time. That was the first thing my husband thought of when I told him that my water had broken - hang in there and he'll be born on the 4th! That was the last thing on my mind! By the way, he was 3 weeks early, 8 lbs.

    Hannah on the other hand, FLEW out of my body on July 1st! We barely made it to the hospital in time, they were asking me all the important questions between strong, strong contractions (how much do you weigh? Do I have to answer that? I'm pregnant for goodness sake!), the epidural was barely administered when the doctor put on her goggles and said I'm ready when you are! Two pushes! She was 10 days early, 7 lbs.

    Thanks for sharing your story - loved the part about Josh knocking on the teenage girl's window! I miss you in the morning, but Jamie and Fernando are keeping in real.

    Stay healthy and enjoy this time in your life - oh and I vote for Graham or Owen for this little guys' name. I think those go well with Liam. Liam and Owen... Liam and Graham...

    Heidi

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  4. Hi Abby, hang in there and get some you rime while you can. I have a similar story, I was feeling those false contractions for a couple of days so I stayed home on a Monday, went for a walk and swim at the community pool and came home at dinner time and got dressed and went to lay on the couch. I felt this rubber band snap type feeling and got up to go potty ( because when you are that prego you are constantly checking) when I got up and took two steps whoosh the water came out so I said to my husband "its time" as he responded " I haven't finished cooking dinner yet" so off we went. They checked me out and said my water had not broken, but it was the mucus membrane , which i didn't think would look and feel like water, but I guess all girls are different. So they kept me on the monitor and just before they were going to send us home they did one more check and found I started dialating more so they admitted us. Riley was born at 2:48AM after 3 long hours of pushing.

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