37 Weeks- L&D again

Our 37 week appt was last Wednesday. We had the NST and the baby's heart rate was lower than past appts. It was coming and going in spikes. And my contractions were measuring rather close together. I mentioned the nausea and the doc said that it is normal to come and go at the end of the pregnancy. Regardless, I got sent to L&D again. They wanted to get me in for a quick U/S to check the AF again. So we head off, thinking it would be in and out, just like some of the other ones.

No such luck this time. We got to L&D and they hook me up to the monitors again since the wait for the U/S was going to be about 2 hours. While on the monitors, I start having very long contractions every 3 minutes. Nurse and doc came in, and immediately hook me up to an IV, saying they want to see if hydrating is going to solve the prob.

I mentioned I had been sick and that I was likely dehydrated. They don't really care and kept me on the monitors. They pushed out my ultrasound further, b/c they wanted to see my contractions lessen. I've had TERRIBLE back pain and the doc said it's definitely back labor- so that made the contractions much worse.

Anyhoo- the contractions spaced out to 4.5 minutes so they ended up taking me to the ultrasound. It appears if your contractions can be affected by hydration, it means it's not "true labor"- even though they are so close together. My amniotic fluid dropped to 8.17. The baby looks healthy but is measuring a due date now of 12/5 (last week it was measuring a due date of 12/10). It is also measuring quite large (I'm terrified of this b/c Dave was such a huge baby). Oh, and the baby is sunny side up (not breech- she's head down- but flipped face up). They said that this "sunny side up position" was causing my back pain b/c the biggest part of the head is on my spine.

They took me back to L&D where the doc says he's just not happy with my AF levels. They keep dropping. They hooked me back up to the montiors, and my contractions eventually spaced to 8 minutes apart. After a little more monitoring, he said that at this point, I'm not dilated/effaced enough and he doesn't want to induce. My AF is at the bare minimum- and if it stays there, it's ok. He wants to wait a few more days and see what happens. If it goes any lower, they will induce.

Next Steps: I have to watch for any fluid leaks, and promise to monitor my contractions and fetal movement like a hawk. I also promised to hydrate like crazy. I had to go back in to L&D on Saturday morning at 6:30am for more monitoring for a few hours. If they let me go Saturday, I have to do another ultrasound (u/s) on Tues with the Maternal Fetal Medicine folks before every weekly appt (called an AFI- to measure the Amniotic Fluid). But, if my contractions are still close, and my fluid is low, he told us they will induce the labor. So he mentioned to come with our car seat installed and a packed bag.

The good news is that they kept saying the baby looks great. So that was good to hear.
Sooooo- Saturday came and went well!! My contractions are now farther apart (9.5 minutes) but weren't being delayed by dehydration. I'm not any more dilated, but I have some spotting. So now we just wait.

They want our AFI on Monday now, instead of Tuesday. So I'll have that Mon, the NST and appt Wed, then back again next Friday. I get monitored every other day till she comes now. So I'm glad to have this extra time to finish getting ready and to rest up. What a week!

Below are some belly photos from 36 weeks (I forgot to post some last week) and 37 weeks!
36 weeks: Family photos with Rylee :)



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