yesterday's field trip

Yesterday marked my second visit to the labor and delivery/ triage floor at the hospital.  I had really bad cramps on Wednesday night.  During the day on Thursday they pretty much went away, but I still had some lower back pain.  Thursday night brought on more cramping, so Friday (yesterday) my ob decided that I should go be monitored for uterine contractions for a while. 

Although I was up there for a few hours, luckily, it was an uneventful experience.  I had no contractions while there.  We found both babies' heartbeats right away, and the little ones were very active.  My blood pressure was a bit elevated when I first got there (not a big shocker- I was going to the hospital!), but they kept the cuff on me and it was rechecked about every 10-15 minutes and came right down to normal. 

Basically, they think the cramping is just a normal part of my pregnancy.  It's pretty much low, front, and center, acting up more at night time when I'm lying down.  I can use a heating pad on its lowest setting for cramps or backache, as needed.  I can take Tylenol before bed to help with cramping.  Rest.  Drink water.  The usual stuff.  Everyone was so nice to me.  They kept reassuring me to always call my doctor or just come up if something doesn't seem right to me.  They'd rather see a patient a hundred times and have everything be perfectly fine than to have someone show up after the fact when there's a problem that may or may not be fixable upon arrival. 

I had my first fetal fibronectin test.  It was a bit more uncomfortable than a pap smear.  The test checks for s certain protein that would be an indicator if labor is likely in the next two weeks.  A negative result is about 90% certain that labor will not happen in the next few weeks.  A positive result gives about a 50-50 chance of labor, it's not a given.  My test came back negative, so even though there are still people on the wrong end of the 90%, I'm thrilled.  My cervix was still long and closed.  All in all, not how I planned on spending my day, but I got a lot of reassurances that everything is ok with my babies and my body.