I'm going to do my best to not come across sounding negative during this update but I've really been struggling with how everything has been going the past 2 weeks. For anyone that hasn't been hearing from us or others via text or phone, I'll try to summarize what's been going on...
On May 1st, I was in the hospital with nice solid contractions that were only 4 minutes apart for hours and after doing some walking around the hospital and monitoring the contractions and Aiden's heart rate for a while, we ended up being sent back home. We were told to wait until my contractions were so strong that I wouldn't be able to talk through them before we try to return to the hospital. Since then, I've had bouts of contractions nearly everyday, sometimes only mild ones coming sporadically throughout the day, sometimes coming full on and intense every 4 or 5 minutes for hours at a time, leaving me on my hands and knees rocking around on the floor at my desk. It's a pretty rotten situation to be miserable but be told you're more or less not miserable enough to do anything...
During our time at the hospital, our nurse was monitoring my contractions on a machine and noticed that in addition to the strong spikes of actual contractions lasting a full minute and coming every few minutes, there was also a constant almost twitching or clenching of my uterus that was registering on the machine. After watching for a while, she determined I have what is known as "Irritable Uterus". Not really knowing what that meant, it didn't mean too much to me at the time but I've since been able to do some research and what I'm finding is leaving me somewhat torn. Here is a website all about the condition:
http://www.irritable-uterus.com/ In some ways it's really nice to read over the information knowing that the majority of it is exactly what I've been trying to describe myself as feeling for the past couple weeks. It's sort of comforting to know that there's a name for this and it also makes it seem like it's easier to communicate how I'm feeling and what is happening with us. At the same time, it's still irritating because I feel like it's not any positive information. Basically, nobody has really studied much into this so there is no treatment and some doctors (like ours) don't really take it very seriously and just tend to blame braxton hicks contractions and have a sort of "get over it" attitude.
It's really difficult to come so close (I was checked in and hooked up in Labor and Delivery, totally ready to go) but then have nothing happen. Then to continue to have contractions almost daily for 2 weeks and still nothing, it's very defeating... I've started taking time off work on the days I'm having strong contractions and it's frustrating because it just takes away from the already limited time off I get after Aiden arrives. Our doctor left town for 2 weeks so he will not be back until Memorial Day weekend which doesn't leave us with much help during this time. We have an appointment Thursday with a substitute doctor from the same office, and I will hopefully be able to communicate the situation well enough to her to maybe get some understanding and, if we're super lucky, even an induction scheduled. I am in my 39th week and couldn't be more ready for Aiden to be here.
Dan has been wonderful through this whole thing, constantly reminding me that Aiden can't stay in there forever and once he's here, it wont matter that we had such a tough wait because he will be completely worth it. My mom and sister-in-law Sarah have also been a huge help through all of this, checking on me often and listening when I just needed to cry. I couldn't be more appreciative of all of this!!
Hopefully we'll have some better news after our appointment on Thursday or maybe even an Aiden to show off by then! But until you hear from us again, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and stay tuned!! :)
