labor is 'imminent'?

Monday I had an 'emergency' appointment. I wasn't scheduled to go in, but over the weekend I had woken up in the middle of the night and thought my water had broken, but I wasn't sure. I waited to see if I had any contractions and nothing was going on, so I fell back asleep. Looking back now I probably should have called the doctor on call then, but I was half-asleep so I wasn't thinking correctly. Then between Saturday and Sunday I had menstrual cramps 3 (maybe 4) different times, each lasting about 2 minutes each. Monday morning I called and my Dr's nurse had me come in to make sure my water didn't break and everything was fine. Well I went in and the Dr said everything was fine, but that what I was experiencing was Braxton Hicks contractions. I looked into what those are, and it's basically your cervix practicing for birth, as well as softening and 'thinning out' which causes the baby to 'drop'. My mom and her friends said yesterday it looked like I was carrying the baby lower, so maybe she has dropped. I see myself everyday so I don't notice a difference as easily. It definitely feels like it in my back. Whenever I stand it feels like my pelvis is seperating from my spine. I can't believe a little 5 pound baby could somehow feel like 50 pounds and make it difficult just to walk through the grocery store! I start my baby classes the first week of April, so I will learn all about what else to expect. I know the last is the mucus plug or bloody show (did they try to think of the grossest names possible??) and I'm always looking for anything that could fit the description (I'll save you the details) and haven't noticed anything similar yet. But that's what's going on! these signs mean that labor is 'imminent' and could happen in the next month. the good news is, my baby book said that babies born after the 34 week mark have a 99% survival rate, hooray! As long as we make it at least to 37 or 38 weeks then I'm happy although I am counting the days until I can sleep on my back and stomach once again and not have all those other awful pregnancy things (itchiness, restless legs, painful hips due to sleeping on one side, and the back pain I have now).

Originally posted March 25, 2009