I'm not in labor, but there are things happening. TMI alert for the rest of this post!
I had been having more-than-normal discharge during the night and in the light of morning I realized it was pinkish brown (probably indicating I'm losing my mucous plug with "bloody show" - I know - eww!). But, it had more of a liquid consistency than mucous and so I was a little concerned that it may be amniotic fluid with meconium in it. (Amniotic fluid="water breaking"=baby must be delivered within 24 hours because of the increased risk of infection.) The baby wasn't moving around much, so I had some juice and within a few minutes I could feel little Olga/Oscar squirming around. I spoke to the doctor on call (Leonard) and he suggested coming in to get checked out, just to be sure things were okay. Steve and I put our hospital bags in the car but didn't call anyone because I didn't really get the feeling that I was labor.
Up in L&D Nurse Jill (love her) ran tests to see what the substance was, and I even got a positive on the AmniSure, indicating a presence of amniotic fluid. But Jill cautioned me that the nursing staff has actually nicknamed it the Amni Not-So-Sure because it often gives a false-positive result. So, Dr. Leonard did a fern test (a check for amniotic salts using a microscope) and it was negative, confirming our suspicions that it was my mucous plug and not amniotic fluid. I did find out that my cervix is softened and *a fingertip* dilated (less than 1cm), and although that is relatively insignificant I still consider it to be progress over the last few exams! I was given a nonstress test and the baby appears to be healthy and happy. Jill and Steve told me when I had contractions on the monitor, but I'm still not feeling any of them.
Can I just state the obvious and say that all the diagnostic tests and equipment are fascinating to me? Biology rocks.
I'm trying to convey instructions to the baby for puncturing the amniotic sac with fingernails/toenails, but so far that's not working. Steve installed the car seat and is generally being the perfect, doting husband. Next up is my weekly appointment on Monday if nothing changes. Thank you for all the well-wishes and I'll try to keep you posted!
3 comments:
I have enjoyed reading your blog with all of your little updates. :) I was way off on my guess of due dates. Apparently, your little one is enjoying baking in the oven a little longer just like Catie. Good luck with everything Anne. I know you will do great! It is nice that Steve is so helpful, that makes all the difference in the world. :)
Yea! Progress! I'm so excited and I will be waiting to hear the news and see him/her! As a humorous side note, when I lost my mucous plug (the night before I was induced), Dave was disappointed that I didn't show him the first time I noticed and I had to call him the next time I went to the bathroom so he could see what it looked like. Weird...this coming from the guy who stayed in the room for my pap smear (speculum and all) and wants to watch me be cut open during this next c-section.
Progress is great news! Eat some pineapple, vaccuum your house, and go on a walk...thats what I did the day my water broke :-)
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