An Unexpected Trip -- To Emerg.

Last evening was a bit worrisome. I had been having abdominal cramping since about 2pm and thought at first it was just routine Braxton Hicks that I have been use to having previously with all three of my kiddos thus far. Well around 7pm last night, things started feeling progressively worse and the cramping was more constant as appose to scattered practice contractions. I kept very quiet about my cramping {as to not freak out Liam} and tried to lay down for an hour or so before going in for a midnight shift at work. Problem being once I layed down I felt the pain even more severely and felt the urgent need to get checked out. I could still feel baby moving every once and awhile so that was reassuring but I couldn't stand not knowing what was happening to my body.

So after Super Gramma arrived to watch the sleeping children, Liam and I packed up and headed for an unexpected trip to emergency. We waited quite a while for triage and when she finally was able to see me one of her first questions was of course "how far along are you?" Well, most pregnant Mom's would be able to tell you such details, like " Today I am 16 weeks and 4 days pregnant. ". I know I use to know exactly {well, at least I knew for my first and second pregnancies}. Now? I am horrible and losing weeks all over the place. I told the lady I was 19 weeks and after her saying "you couldn't be 20 weeks so that you could skip this process and head on up to labour and delivery saving you hours of waiting right?" LOL I was under the impression you couldn't head there until you had preregistered at 20 weeks {which apparently I should do since I am actually 21 weeks today}! I think the woman was in awe of my stupidity but for goodness sakes after 4 pregnancies already, 3 children later and now this pregnancy my lack of brain cells has severely increased leaving what I feel a woman {that woman being me} who is severely suffering from placenta head! I guess after 20 weeks you are able to head on up to labour and delivery, so that is what we did...

To make a long story even longer {sorry. but I seem to like details}, I will continue. After getting the routine check {blood pressure, urine sample and checking baby's heart rate}, things were all looking good {thank goodness}. I was able to be seen immediately by the two student doc's who had just asked all the exact same questions as the very kind nurse who was with us. I swear that after she asks all the questions and writes everything down that the student doctors just look at the charting and ask exactly the same things so that they can look good the the resident doc when they report to her before she comes in! And she did eventually come in and examine me and my cervix, reassuring me once again that things were looking good. She said my cervix was still closed and back in so this rules out preterm labour {thank goodness again}. So after narrowing down and deciding that indeed we could rule our labour at the moment she explained to me about the stretching of the uterus. I try not to laugh because I have heard a million and twenty times about how there can be cramping and pains when the uterus is growing and stretching. But I have honestly never had this pain with any other pregnancy before. She also explained that with subsequent pregnancies {like in my case}, it could get progressively worse every pregnancy and that really there was nothing to be worried about but to know that it will likely continue throughout the rest of my pregnancy {great!}, and "oh, by the way, there is nothing you can do about it!" She suggested I try to take some Tylenol and try to find the most comfortable position to ease the pain. So I did, and I did, and I managed to get a few hours sleep last night between Tessa AND Abigail waking up after we arrived home and making sure they were all settled. It seems as though everyone may be getting colds around here again! There are two runny noses and lots of sneezing going on! So over one hump and now to another. It would be great to have some healthy moments this winter but it looks as though it is going to be a long and trying one! Abigail has been absolutely miserable the past few days {totally testing our sanity} so I have decided to get her urine dipped today for a possible UTI. I figure it couldn't hurt to rule this out. It really would explain the total behaviour change. But, then again it may just hurt, cause trying to get a 2 almost three year old who is not potty trained to pee in a sterile Tupperware container is NOT an easy task. Wish me luck!

Oh and I almost forgot... We had our ultrasound last Monday and discovered that baby Porter #4 is another girl! I will try and post an ultrasound picture later! And now, I will leave you to rest your eyes after this totally lengthy post that could have been so much shorter if I had left out ALL of the details. Again I am sorry, I love details!