Tricky Times

I have 11 days before my official due date… 5 if I had kept my scheduled c-section.   Now is the time that every cramp, every dizzy spell, every twinge brings on the question… is this it??

Two nights ago while making dinner, I started seeing spots in my vision.   Then my whole right eye started looking like the snow on the old TVs before everything was digital.   Then I got dizzy and short of breath.   I talked to my doctor on the phone and he said, “Eat some dinner, get someone to watch your son and come on over to the hospital.”   I was tested, of course, for pre-eclampsia… something that would have been a real shocker considering that I have chronically low blood pressure (pre-pregnancy it was about 90 over 50, and since I’ve been prego it’s been about 100 over 55).

Anyway, after two hours of tests and monitors, I was sent home, and Casey and I collected a very wired Kenny from my parents, who had been hanging out with him at the mall next door to the hospital.   Other than that one weird episode, I’ve actually felt better the last four days than I have in the last month.  

Until today, that is.   Kenny and I drove over to the pool mid-morning, and I tripped and fell in the parking lot.   I hit the ground hard – fortunately on my hands and knees, and other than a few scrapes, I didn’t hurt myself.   BUT I’ve been having waves of awful cramps ever since.   There have been a few contractions thrown in for good measure, but nothing “regular” or even strong enough to call the doctor about.   They were really bad for about an hour before dinner, but have eased up since eating.   Anyway, we’re kind of on alert over here, wondering if tonight’s the night… wondering if I can hold out for my scheduled appointment at 9 tomorrow morning.   The last thing I want to do is make another post-Kenny-bedtime trip to the hospital half an hour away, only to turn around and end up at home again and in bed too late for any of us to get a good night’s sleep.

The biggest complaint I have is that it hurts like crazy to walk!   I think I must be pretty close to 100% effaced, because everytime I take a step, I have shooting pains through my pelvic bone, as if there is something in there wrenching it apart.   Nice.   I can’t help but waddle… it’s all I can do not to crawl.

Suffice all that to say I’m pretty ready to have this baby.   I’m DONE.   Enough with the irregular contractions, the sciatic nerve twinges, the cramps, the false alarms… get this baby out of me!!!!!