Contractions

I started having contractions off and on around 20 weeks pregnant.  I remember having them during school hours, and they lasted for about an hour or two. 

The first couple of times it happened I attributed it to having Chai Tea.  I love chai tea, but it can contain star anise, a substance that can bring on contractions.  No more chai for me. 

Then I thought it was just from having Starbucks in general.  Something about their coffee?  Don't worry, it was decaf. 

I also realized I wasn't drinking enough water and I was on my feet a lot.  Usually when I had the contractions, I would have to sit and teach through them, while gulping down water.  They would stop after a while.  And no, these were not Braxton Hicks.  These hurt! 

One night, Husband and Baby and I went out to dinner.  I started having contractions and they started getting worse and worse.  I decided maybe it was time for a hospital visit.  We grabbed our food to go, met my parents at our place so they could watch Baby, and drove to the birthing center about twenty minutes away.  By this time, I had consumed about ten glasses of water to try to get them to stop. 

We checked in and I was hooked up to lots of monitors.  The baby's heartbeat was fine, and I didn't have any other contractions while there.  The cool thing, though, was the movement the baby was making.  She didn't like the monitors on my belly and kept kicking them.  That was neat to me because I hadn't really been feeling her move. 

After monitoring me for a while with no contractions, they sent me home with instructions to drink lots and lots of water.  I didn't get checked to see if I was dilated or anything.  I didn't want to because sometimes that can cause more harm. 

From then on, Husband was constantly asking me if I had my water.  As were all the other family members that were aware of me getting admitted.  I felt really dumb, that my own not thinking had caused so much ruckus.