A Week of Braxton Hicks

(I finished my diaper bag....yay!)

This week was interesting, to say the least. I always take "5-W" by Nature's Sunshine the last 5 weeks of the pregnancy, and this time, it gave me such intense contractions, that I had to stop. I guess once you get to the fifth pregnancy, your body doesn't need herbs to tell it what to do...it will just go into labor when it's ready.

What happened last week was, I upped my 5-w herbs to 6 a day. I felt the baby move down into my pelvis, and I had sex all in about a 6 hour span of time. That night my uterus (?) or some body part down there went into over an hour of spasms (I don't even think I would call it contractions) and kept me up most of the night. In the morning, I hurt. I was in so much pain I couldn't roll out of bed. THAT night, Mark rubbed my feet and about an hour later, I went into labor. The contractions lasted til 10AM. I can handle labor. I can't handle contractions happening on top of the most sore stomach muscles I have ever experienced. ANOTHER agonizing night with little sleep. The next morning, Mark made up a 60 oz. drink of "CALM" (my fabulous magnesium drink), and the contractions stopped. Magnesium is a muscle relaxant, so I guess it relaxed the muscles enough to make the contractions stop.

I had contractions on and off for the the next day and a half. But they weren't super consistent. IN the meantime, I called vitaminshoppe and asked the guy if I had done a million situps the night before, and now could not walk because my stomach muscles were so sore, what should I take? He told me there was an amino acid drink that gets the lactic acid going out of your muscles called "Extend". Mark went and got that drink and I started drinking it, plus lots and lots of fluids and gatorade. I have to admit, I have never been in so much pain in my life. It was the most painful experience I have ever gone through. Pain is an interesting thing, it wears you down on all fronts....spiritually, mentally, physically and takes you to a point mentally you thought you would never go.

In the meantime, the rest of my body was sore from bracing myself for the stomach pain. So now, my back, my arms, my chest, and my rear end were sore from "support". oh brother. Thankfully, I have help, and I was able to take 2 naps a day, plus, got some rest at night. I did NOT want to deliver in this condition and thank GOD the contractions stopped. I can't remember when the ordeal started, but, by Thursday of the week, I was feeling better, and by Friday, I was up and at 'em again.

In the midst of it all, the midwife kept checking me to see if there was any progression and had me go get a sonogram because she was nervous the baby was breech. The sonogram was our first. I thought it would take about 15 minutes, and they poked and poked and poked my stomach with the wand and took a good 45 minutes measuring and looking and typing. That was on Tuesday, and I was still in a "state", but the sonogram REALLY helped me mentally. Seeing the baby gave me a reality check that there was a real human being with lips and nose and hair and chubby cheeks that was coming out in God's timing.

Physically, I left in the same condition, but mentally, I had taken a turn for the better. The next morning when I woke up, I had a couple of contractions and just surrendered it all to God. A willingness to deliver came despite all of the negative conditions I would have rather not had there.

This is Sunday, Father's Day, and the only contractions I have had have been due to dehydration. As soon as I drink some water, they stop. I feel 100 percent better and am ready to go. Probably, I would not have gone through all of that if I had not been quite so bullheaded about the herbs. I knew in my heart I was pushing the envelope taking them, but I just kept at it. AND, I kept having continual Braxton Hicks all day starting the day I took one vitamin a day...so upping the dosage when I was already experiencing a level of discomfort was not smart.

Well, you live and learn. That's one less herb to take should I get pregnant again. Ha Ha.