Looks like I unexpectedly have time on my hands to blog! Last night, Nate and went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Hong Kong, called Linguini Fini. I had the totally addicting fragrant grass pasta with goat cheese fonduta and tiramisu for dessert. Unfortunately I started having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions over the course of the evening. We're talking one every 3 minutes, and they kept on all night. (Normally, BH are supposed to be irregular and 4 or fewer per hour.) Instead of going away when I got home, rested, and drank water, they got a little worse and I started having mild cramping, as well, all of which was pointing to early labor instead of BH. So first thing this morning I was on the phone with the hospital, who said I needed to come in and get checked by the doctor since I'm only 32 weeks 2 days pregnant.
Nate and I left Finley with our new helper (despite it being her day off- thanks Cathrina!) and came to the hospital, where baby and I were monitored for a long time and checked by the doctor. Apparently the contractions were actually doing something (I won't go into the details of all that on here), so the doctor said we really needed to get them stopped to buy the baby at least a couple more weeks. She put me on antibiotics and a really fun medicine to relax my muscles that makes me jittery, shaky, and my heart race. I've spent almost the whole time here so far hooked up to monitoring devices to keep an eye on the baby's and my heart rates, my blood pressure, contractions, and the baby's movements (the midwife commented on what an active little one she is- to the point that it's been difficult to keep the monitors on her!). I'm confined to the bed and bored out of my mind already, particularly since Nate was only able to stay for a few hours this morning before leaving to take over Finley duty from Cathrina. Nate and Finley were able to come visit for a very short time this afternoon, but had to rush back home in order to receive an IKEA delivery. Finley quite enjoyed playing with the buttons on my hospital bed while he was here.
Best case scenario is that all signs of labor stop between now and tomorrow and the doctor lets me go home then, so that's what we're praying for. I've still had a few contractions since taking the medicine, but they've been irregular and infrequent, so that's good. Of course I'm concerned for the baby, but I'm also worried about Finley who is spending his first day and night ever without me since he was born. I wasn't planning on this happening for several more weeks yet, and therefore in no way had prepared him. Nor have I finished teaching things to our new helper in preparation for this. For example, she doesn't yet know how to put him down for nap, so I'm really hoping I can be home tomorrow before then!
So what's the good news in all this? Good news #1: The baby's head is already down and engaged so it's extremely unlikely that she would move out of position and flip around. (That explains why I keep feeling like I'm getting pounded in the bladder!) Good news #2: I was the first patient put into my shared room, so I get the awesome view out the window. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture with my phone, but it's getting a bit too dark now, and I'm stuck still being monitored again anyway. Good news #3: My roommate also has not yet had her baby, so I have no baby in here with me and may actually get to sleep tonight. Good news #4: It made me quite pleased this morning when my midwife, Ashley, commented on how little tummy fat I have and therefore how well she could feel the baby moving and hiccuping! That is exactly the kind of compliment a pregnant woman who feels huge needs to hear! Ashley also said the baby feels "solid" and "strong". I think she's going to come out kicking and punching, just like Finley!
