False Alarm

I was woken up to a gush of fluid at 3:30am this morning thinking 1 of 2 things.

1. My water just broke
2. I just peed myself.

Hoping it was not the latter I got out of bed to examine my pajamas in the bathroom. It was clear and odorless but not a ton of liquid. After a few minutes of chatting with my husband, we decided to wait a few hours (easier said than done) and tried to get some rest. If labour was going to start within 12 hours, I figured I would take all the sleep I could get. I called the hospital at 8am and they told me to come in because they need to confirm whether I was in fact leaking amniotic fluid.

I arrived at around 9am and was hooked up to a fetal monitor. At this point, I was not having any contractions  so I knew it couldn't be the real deal but still needed to investigate the water breaking possibility.

After a few hours, the nurse informed me that she could not tell if I was leaking fluid and the doctor would have to perform a sterile speculum exam. She explained that it's like getting a pap test except due to the risk of infection, the speculum could not have any gel/lubricant and that it would hurt like hell.

She wasn't lying. It literally felt like the doctor was trying to rip out my cervix using metal claws. Of course being Thanksgiving Day, they were short staffed and I had to wait 2.5 hours  before they did this metal test from hell. I also had a resident doctor who was not a professional at this exam. As soon as he clamped down he explained that he had to take the speculum out and reposition. Are you f@&*&ing kidding me?!

All this to say- I was not leaking amniotic fluid. I am pretty certain that I didn't pee myself either so maybe it was just very watery cervical fluid. Ok I know that's not nice to think about but some things in pregnancy are just plain GROSS...like hemroids.. but more on that subject another day ;)

Meanwhile I was hooked up to the fetal monitor and could hear bean's little heatbeat thumping away for 3 hours. That was definitely awesome. Every so often it would get really loud like someone was hitting the top of a microphone. The nurse explained that was the baby bumping around in my belly.

I also was having Braxton Hicks every 2-5 minutes. Not a true contraction but interesting to see how often they are actually happening. The nurse even came in at one point to ask if I was feeling all these cramps. She was monitoring my "contractions" on her computer.

3.5 hours later we were sent home, dashing any hopes that we would meet princess bean on Thanksgiving Day.

So maybe our monday morning was a preview to the main event. We were not nervous in any way. In fact, I was amazed at how calm we both felt. I know now that we are truly ready (kitchen or no kitchen).

It's crazy to think back to the crap we were going through only a year ago. We hadn't even signed our IVF consent papers yet. What a difference a year makes.

So today, I am thankful for science. The science of IVF that gives a fighting chance to so many disheartened couples. Maybe it's not romantic but it sure is miraculous.