False Alarm

Yesterday was a whole new adventure in pregnancy ... not one that I really enjoyed, to be perfectly honest.

Josh got up to get ready for work at 6:30am. I woke up at 7am with what felt like menstrual cramping. I paid no attention to it at first because the Doctor told me that it could be due to dehydration which happens more in the mornings now that I am a snorer  :-/  So after sleeping for a little while longer I got up to drink some water thinking that it would ease my discomfort ... it didn't.
I continued about my morning with no real change to the cramping. So I text Josh just so that he was aware of what was going on just in case it was real labor. I started paying more attention to pain to see if it got worse and if there was any pattern to the frequency ... there wasn't any pattern and the pain stayed the exact same all day long.
The pain was in my lower abdominal and lower back ... but I had no bloody-show, no more mucus plug shedding and no water breaking, so I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I did decide to go to work, but only made it through 1.5 classes, after which Coach Elly took over so that I could go home.
The discomfort continued and settled in my middle/upper back for the evening. Thankfully Josh was able to give me a back rub. After going to bed I did have to get up to walk around a little bit before turning out the light to try ease the back pain so that I could get comfortable. It wasn't until about 3am or 4am that the cramping finally stopped. So I dealt with the cramping for just a few hours short of 24 hours. I understand that actual labor will be worse etc, but at least it will be worth it because I will get to hold my son when its all over. When this false labor was all over, all I got was relief with that nagging feeling that that wasn't the last time I would be dealing with that.

Here is a little bit of information on False Labor ... something that I didn't really know about or pay attention to until yesterday.

Signs of false labor include:

• Irregular and unpredictable contractions (for example, intervals between contractions of ten minutes, six minutes, two minutes, eight minutes, etc.)
• There is no progression of labor
• Contractions are felt as a generalized abdominal tightening
• Change in activity or body position causes contractions to slow down or stop
• There is no evidence of bloody show
• Membranes have not ruptured

Where do you feel the contractions? With true labor, the pain tends to begin high in your abdomen, radiating throughout your entire abdomen and lower back, or visa versa. In the case of false labor the contractions are often concentrated in the lower abdomen and groin.
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/falselabor.html

Needless to say, I feel like a whole new woman today and got lots of stuff done around the house etc. I have had two or three contractions all day long and nothing more than that. And I do look foward to real labor so that James can come out and into this world  :)   It wont be long now!