I owe Deb $5

Saturday afternoon Deb started having slightly more painful contractions.  Other ones the only way she knew they were happening was to poke her tummy.  Her doctor said when you're having a contraction, your tummy will go from feeling like the softness of your nose to the firmness of your forehead.  When you have contractions for an hour that are consistently 5 minutes apart, that is when to go to the hospital. 

Deb wasn't focussing on contractions, as she couldn't feel them she had to then continually poke at her tummy to know when one was happening.  I was getting upset that she wasn't sitting and timing them, or paying attention to them.  I tried to get her to go to the hospital, as in times when she was focusing, they were about 4-5 minutes apart.  I was trying to say, this is go time, and she was fighting me about going to the hospital.  She didn't want to waste time going. 

Back history for the past week.  She has been experiencing general constant uncomfortable/pains in one way or another, and that really hadn't changed that day.  She had also had two membrane sweeps.  One on April 1st, she was 1 cm dilated, which the day after she lost her mucus plug.  No baby.  The following week, April 8th, she went to her doctor, and had another, she was 2 cm dilated.  Next day she lost her mucus plug, again.  Did you know it grows back if you don't have the baby in a few days?  I didn't. 

Saturday night she finally said that she would have a shower and if the contractions don't stop or ease she would go to the hospital.  In the end she had two contractions in the shower that had mild pain, so she agreed to go to the hospital. 

I went from grumpy, as I hadn't felt she was taking doctor's advice seriously.  She figured that there was no major pain involved so no rush.  I didn't agree, a contraction is a contraction, when it is regular. 

Alas, after Spencer was in bed, we packed the last minute stuff into her bag and off we went to the hospital.  At the hospital, she got her band and into maternity triage.  They hooked her up to the monitors for 20 minutes and asked the book of questions for medical history.  Yes she was having contractions every 2-4 minutes, but she didn't feel one of them.  Once monitoring was done we waiting for a doctor to come in and do a cervical exam.  She was still 2cm dilated.  Very disheartening.  While the doctor was there she did yet another membrane sweep.  Deb mentioned this one was much more invasive, and Declan wasn't too happy with it. 

While we were waiting for the doctor Deb and I made a bet.  She said they would send her home, I said no way, because her contractions were too close together. 

The doctor said that she could send us walking around the hospital for a couple hours and see if that helps.  But I mentioned that we had been walking all day, as we had gone to Aggie days and grocery shopping and what not.  So we got sent home. 

Since then Deb has been "feeling" the contractions more, but the next benchmark for us to go in is if she has regular contractions that she has to breath through.  She is still a ways off of that, from what she has been telling me. 

So we are still in the waiting game.  Today is one of her due dates.  The doctors either say the 13th, or the 15th, depending on menstrual cycle or insemination date, but the ultrasound doctors and her OB don't agree.  So lets hope that he comes soon.