Notebook

In a touch of irony, CDF had another, stronger, episode of labor (false or otherwise) today. It involved another trip to the hospital and, of course, we were sent back home, frustrated to have had another false alarm.

On Tuesday, around 1pm, CDF called me saying she was having contractions again and asked if I could come home. I hadn’t taken lunch yet so I set off. She had called the doctor, but it would take them an hour or so to get back with her.

It has been an exciting (using the word loosely) week. Starting off with Sunday, CDF was having more false labor. At least *I* thought it was false labor, and I went on to church, leaving CDF with Caroline Ford (a neighbor from across the street). Well while they were at home, CDFs contractions started occuring only 9 or so minuites apart (I found out later that’s a warning sign for preterm labor). So on the advice of Duan Ford, who is a police officer and aparently has some training in this area, they called the doctor who told them to head for the hospital.

So I got a call just before my Dad was getting ready to give the morning sermon/talk (he was filling in for Pastor John). I took off at high speed, and headed for home. I had told Caroline that I would meet them at the hospital, but changed my mind on the way when I thought it would be better to swing by home and make sure I got the overnite bag (just in case). Well I was very speedy and met them as they turned the first corner on White Rd. So CDF switched cars and we sped off for the hospital.

By this time CDF’s contractions had slacked off, so the trip wasn’t too stressful. She was able to walk without any difficulty into the hospital and up to the third floor.

When we were shown into a room (the emergency pregnancy room), the nurse hooked her up to a monitor that watched contractions and the baby’s heartbeat. Everything looked fine. After the physical exam, we were told that the cervix was closed and they were pretty sure she wasn’t going to give birth anytime soon, but they’d monitor her for the next hour since she was dehydrated slightly (which could be causing the contractions). A few small contractions were showing up on the monitor, but in general everything looked fine.

CDF rode to the doctor yesterday with Pastor John and Charles (it was very nice for them to give her a lift). She had a check-up and they said she looks fine. She got some antibiotics for a possible infection. She’ll take two pills a day for the next week. Hopefully she won’t be sore for too long.

We also found out that the doctor’s office had tried to call us back twice on Sunday night, but the phone company said our number was out of service. It’s the first time that it’s happened, and I hope it doesn’t happen to often (if ever again). Especially not when we were expecting an important call like that.

Yesterday evening we went for a short walk, at about 8pm. We were back home and I was working on packing for a business trip when CDF started having pains in the front, left side of her abdomen. She managed to hobble to the bed and when I got there she appeared to be having bad cramps. After a minute or two the pain started to go away.

Then it got worse.

Maybe five minutes or so after she lay down, she sat up. A minute later the cramps returned, and were much more severe. I started getting a little worried… this looked exactly like I imagined labor contractions, but I was sure 29 weeks is to early for that.

Eventually the cramp subsided and I sat down to see if any of her books said something about false labor. Fortunately it did… a whole section. What CDF was experiencing match the symptoms: they occur most often in the evenings and after physical exercise. The contractions (which is what they were) occur at irregular intervals and strong contractions are usually followed by by weak ones.

Fortunately, CDF only had two strong contractions, the rest were weaker. I think the whole episode lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. Today she’s going to the doctor so they can check and make sure everything is still okay (at least they called back this morning, never heard back from them last night :-/ ).

This past Friday CDF heard from the doctor about the results from the GTT. Her sugar levels were normal! Needless to say, everyone was very happy and a lot of prayers were answered.

She is more aware about her sugar intake now and she’s been checking the nutrition labels a lot lately (ketchup, salad dressing, soda, etc.). I think she’ll settle down now though.

We did get some helpful advice from Theresa McArthur about foods she can eat while keeping her sugar intake low. She’s not supposed to have more than 3 carbohydrate servings at one meal. Sodas are right out (until after the pregancy, of course). We’re blessed to know someone who can give professional advice.

On another though… I never realized that soda drinks had so much sodium. While Sam was contemplating putting salt in his drink (what he won’t try), somebody beat him to it!