Monitoring Day 1

Today was my first day of monitoring Dominick. I wasn't too sure about what to expect. And I definitely wasn't too sure on how to get there with traffic being heavier with Highway 40 being closed by us. I left my house at 7:30 for my 8:30 appointment and had no trouble at all. I was at the hospital by 8:05 and in the waiting room by 8:15 so perfect timing probably.

When I walked into the waiting room and it was packed. I was nervous about them being so far behind and thinking that this was going to take forever. But it wasn't too bad.

At 8:20 they called me back to start the monitoring. This was the non-stress test. She started by asking me questions. She asked how far I was and if I had had any contractions. I told her that I wasn't sure. Starting on Wednesday I started having these bad cramps, almost like menstrual cramps, that wouldn't go away. I wasn't sure what they were but they were painful. The nurse kind of shrugged it off and told me that cramping wasn't unusual but if I felt my stomach harden into a ball with these cramps then this was a contraction. I told her it sometimes felt like my stomach was hard but it was so hard to tell sometimes. She told me I probably wasn't having contractions and was probably just getting tired and crampy towards the end.

They hooked me up to two flat circles that monitored my contractions and the baby's heart rate. They told me that they wanted to see the baby's heart rate jump up at least 15 beats per minute for at least 15 seconds. They wanted to see this happen twice. They gave me a button to hit every time I felt movement so it would be easier to track since the baby's heart rate was supposed to go up with activity, just like ours.

As soon as they hooked me up, Dominick got the hiccups. I was clicking the button every 5 seconds! The nurse came in and I told her that since he had the hiccups I was hitting the button a lot. She told me just to hit it when he kicked or punched. So I waited. He gave me a few kicks but nothing good. She came back about 10 minutes later and looked and his heart hadn't jumped at all yet. So she "buzzed me"!

It was a little handheld machine that made a loud noise. It didn't hurt the baby or me, it just sent a loud noise through my abdomen so Dominick would wake up a bit. Well he sure woke up. My whole stomach jumped! She left for another ten minutes and when she came back his heart had jumped up once but they still needed to see another jump. So she leaned over and started shaking my belly. She left again and when she came back the third time he passed! His heart rate had jumped up 3 times, so that was very good.

She was looking at my chart that was printing off and reading it when she noticed something. She told me that I was indeed having contractions during the test and asked if I could tell. I said yes, it was the same cramps I'd been having. I was told that if I have more than 6 of these an hour, to call the doctor immediately. So that's something I guess. My body is getting ready.

After the non-stress test, they put me back in the waiting room to wait for an ultrasound room. When that was available I went back and did the ultrasound portion. The tech told me that everything looks great. He has his little feet pushed up against the top of my uterus like he's squatting and ready to push himself off at any moment! She gave me the estimated weight of Dominick and he's approximately 5 lbs. 15 oz!! That's a big baby for 34 weeks! After the ultrasound I saw the doctor (my doctor wasn't there but another doc in the practice) and he wants me back in 3 weeks to check on growth. They are concerned about Dominick getting too big. I'm measuring around 37 weeks, not 34 weeks.

I wish my doc had been there because now I'm confused. On Tuesday my doctor said he was surprised that the baby was smaller than he expected and now Dominick is measuring 3 weeks ahead? Oh well, I'm not going to stress about it.

So long story short, I'm supposed to be paying attention to my contractions and to call as soon as I get 6 an hour. The doc also said to be ready because my body is gearing up for labor. So maybe Dominick will be here in 2008! Crazy!!