Monday, April 2, 2012

Mind Games

Well I said it over and over again before I found out I was pregnant with twins and I still feel the same. This pregnancy feels so completely different from my last one.

Particularly now that my body feels like it is preparing for labor. Pregnant with Jonas I got a few feeble Braxton-Hicks and at my last doctor appointment on his due date my doctor told me there was no way my body would go into labor on its own before the scheduled induction. There was zero dilation and no indications it was getting ready for labor.

But my body did go into labor two days before I was supposed to be induced. Fast and furious labor that progressed so quickly I didn't have any time to worry, just to deal with what was happening at that moment.

This time my body seems to diligently be following a labor training program. I've had a ton of Braxton Hicks in the last week and last night I felt the babies drop (no more Harland curling his toes under my rib cage). Then after a day of almost steady Braxton-Hicks contractions, last night my body went into prodromal (or false) labor which left Matt and I uneasily tossing and turning in bed for a couple hours. The contractions reminded me so much of my early labor with Jonas I had a weird recollection of the smell of the new carpet in our last house.

It's so confusing to me! On the one hand the hospital wants me to go in at the first signs of labor and on the other hand it goes completely against my nature to go into the hospital until I've had positive signs of advanced labor like bleeding or contractions too painful to speak through. But by that point last time I was 5 cm dilated and only another hour away from being borderline too far along for an epidural.

I just really hope I'm going to be able to recognize the right time to go into the hospital. The websites I've been looking at say that false labor could indicate that active labor is just hours away or several days. Not helpful. But last night did convince me that going out to the farm this weekend for my Dad's 50 birthday and Easter is probably not wise (Matt gets super stressed just thinking about me going into labor out there). Being an hour and a half away from the babies "birthing party" of 10-12 specialists or at the very least one OBGYN seems like a recipe for a scary delivery if anything abnormal happens so I guess we're officially homebound.

2 comments:

  1. I can't wait to hear when those 2 sweet little boys are here. Good luck. I agree that you should stay close to home. It is so hard to know when to go to the hospital when you are pregnant with one, I can't imagine 2.

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  2. When you have more than a couple of pains that you have to stop and breathe through, GO! Even if youre not in full blown labour yet, it will probably progress. At the very least, they will monitor you for a while and make sure the babies are fine. (and you can have a nap!) Better safe than sorry. We are so excited to meet these little guys. And, I know you will be back dong triathlons and running races wth me in the not-so-distant future and your *pregnant with twins* body will be long-gone!

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