scary.

Two weeks ago, on the 9th, we had a crazy night. Our kitchen faucet had broken that morning so we were headed out the door to Lowe's to grab a new one and to go by Trader Joe's for some dinner. As I was walking down the brick stairs we have outside our front door, I caught my heel and fell belly-first onto the walkway. I caught myself on my hands and knees as best I could but still ended up hitting my belly pretty hard. After sitting for a few seconds to make sure nothing was horribly wrong, we got back in the house, called the midwife and sat down on the couch to wait for instructions. I was having more contractions than normal due to the fall and I knew that any kind of abdominal trauma could mean a torn placenta or abnormal bleeding (which is why they tell pregnant women to ALWAYS go to the hospital after any kind of car accident) so I was pretty nervous. Let me tell you, if this was my first foray into Mommy guilt, I think I had a pretty good initiation into the club. I felt HORRIBLE that something I did could have hurt him, especially something that I felt so stupid for doing in the first place.

The midwife had us come to the hospital for monitoring and I was admitted and in a gown within the hour. We hadn't eaten dinner, the dogs were starving and we were definitely not planning on spending the night on the L&D floor. They told us we were going to be monitored but didn't tell us for how long, so, we left the house thinking it would be a couple hours. Turns out it was about 13 hours- continuous fetal monitoring, two bags of IV fluids, two ultrasounds, multiple tubes of blood, a RhoGam injection and a cervical exam (1 cm dilated, 60% effaced)- later that we actually got to go home. (Don't worry, the pups didn't starve :) Nick went home later that night to grab himself some dinner, feed the dogs and bring me back some pajamas and a toothbrush)

monitoring his heart rate and my contractions

ouch

Every test they ran came back normal, the ultrasounds showed no abnormal placental bleeding or reduction of amniotic fluid and he looked "perfect" (according to the nurses and midwife) on the monitors all night long. After a long night, they discharged us around 9 a.m. We were, of course, so relieved that everything was OK and were very happy to be headed home to our shower and comfy bed. Hospital beds are CRAP and the cot Nick slept on wasn't much better...

We had an appointment at the midwife the next afternoon (about 7 hours after being discharged) and it turns out that I was very dehydrated (even after two bags of IV fluids!). The midwife thinks I may have gotten a little lightheaded or dizzy and that may have contributed to my falling- so she told me to drink as close to a gallon of water a day as I could and to make sure that I was resting properly and eating well.

Moral of the story: watch where you're going. pregnant or not. but especially if you're pregnant! I had read all the warnings that told me to be more careful but since my body hasn't really changed much other than gaining the belly, I really hadn't had to alter much about the way I was doing things. I've been able to put my shoes on, bend over, get things down from cabinets, play with the dogs, etc. like normal so I guess I hadn't mentally adjusted to my altered center of gravity. Now, I am SUPER careful doing everything and have successfully rehydrated myself so I'm feeling much better. The swelling that had started in my feet has even (almost completely) gone away!

It was a scary and uncomfortable night but, on the upside, now we know exactly what to expect when I actually go into labor and get admitted to the hospital. I think it will help my anxiety so much to know some of what to expect (like getting an IV put in if I need one and wearing the fetal monitors). So maybe there's a silver lining after all :)

much love, L&N