What a Weekend!

To say things have been a little crazy around here the past couple of days would be a total understatement! Here's a little rundown on what we've had going on around here.

On Friday Blake took off work to help get some things done around the house since we were planning an early birthday party for Dathan. (his is only 2 days before the baby is due so we were thinking doing it now would be better just in case) I had some contractions off and on but just contributed it to being on my feet more. That night I ended up with back pain and nausea on top of the irregular contractions that were still happening. Needless to say I didn't really get much sleep.

On Saturday we got up and went ahead with plans for the party although I felt like something was a little off but just wasn't sure if I was feeling real labor symptoms or just end of pregnancy uncomfortableness. (is that a word??) Anyway, the closer it got to the party time the closer and harder my contractions become until about 30 minutes after it had started they were 5 minutes apart. I also felt crampy, still had nausea and then diarrhea (which I've never done in labor before?), and just overall active labor symptoms. I called the midwife and we decided it would be good for us to head that way just to see what was going on. So we packed a couple of bags and left our company here having a party while we headed to TN! Thankfully it was all family so it was no big deal for them to just be here by themselves and they were totally understanding that we had to leave. :-)

On the way there (which is about a 50 min drive) my contractions were 3 minutes apart so we were like, wow this is really it! They weren't horribly painful but uncomfortable enough that they felt real. It's typical for mine to not get terribly bad til right before the end anyway so it seemed likely this one was going the same way. We got there and she checked us both out a little, then did a urine test. She wasn't totally pleased with a couple things but wanted me to drink some water and do another one since I seemed to be dehydrated. I was only dilated to a 2 but the baby was at a little more than 0 station and I was very effaced so we still figured things would go pretty quickly if my contractions kept up. After doing the next test she confirmed that I had a slight uti/kidney infection and we needed to start me on antibiotics immediately. I did that and also started drinking tons of water. The contractions slowed to 5 minutes apart but were still consistent and hard enough they seemed to be doing something.

After waiting a couple more hours the contractions became a little more irregular so we decided to head home for a little while and try to rest in our own beds and just see what happened. It was a long night again for me with still feeling labor symptoms and not able to get much rest. I'm still drinking alot and taking strong antibiotics to hit the infection before it becomes more serious. At this point we aren't entirely certain if the combination of infection, dehydration, etc is what triggered the labor or not. Since it hasn't entirely stopped yet it's looking like maybe it's just getting close for him to come but we are kinda just having to wait and see.

The plan for now is to take some doses of magnesium (which can slow or stop labor) in order to give my uterus a break and hopefully allow me to get some rest for when it really kicks in again. I'm trying to just take it easy and go with the flow for now, although that can be a little hard with how I'm feeling at the moment. Prayers for wisdom and most of all strength are very much appreciated. I know he will come at the perfect time even if it doesn't look exactly like we planned or thought so I'm trying to just not to worry and let the Lord take care of it! To be honest, I am really hoping that this doesn't go on for several more days since I'm already so tired and sore but then again I would probably feel a little more comfortable for Daxton's sake if he had more time to grow and get stronger.

I will try to keep you all updated with any changes over the next few days and please keep me and this baby boy in your prayers. We are so excited to meet him soon!

                                          Tyra

ps. I think I forgot to mention that I was 3 cm before leaving last night so the contractions were making some progress....just slowly. Also, I'm only 37 wks and 3 days so that is pretty early for me since the other 3 have come late. This one may be totally different though so now we will just wait and see how it goes from here! :-) I'm also linked up to My Joy Filled Life again so be sure and click through to see to read all the other pregnancy updates.