We waited for a while, and then I finally went back for my usual urine sample. The nurse asked me if I was having contractions, and I said yes. She weighed me - I lost a pound, so I'm now at +32 lbs - and my blood pressure was fine. Since I had contractions, I was hooked up to the ol' cardiotocograph. Derek was in the room with me while I sat there. He seemed to think it was hilarious to make me laugh by busting out stupid dance moves to Stella's heartbeat. He also decided to snap a quick picture of me in the process:
Luckily, I only had 1 for real contraction while I was there. Stella was sleeping for most of the monitoring process, so she had no movement and her heart rate was relatively stable. They like to see a lot of variability in the baby's heart rate, so Dr. Helmken gave her a vigorous shake. She woke up, and they monitored about 20 minutes of good heart rate variation.
Then, my cervix was checked, and I am not dilated. I told Dr. Helmken that I don't like the Procardia, and she said that's common. Apparently, it drops your blood pressure, so that's probably why it made me feel like shit. She said as long as I'm resting, then I'm good. She said she'd like to see me make it through these next two weeks, and she said, "If you make it to 37 weeks, then you can start being active again and exercise."
Now, this was just shortly after Derek and I were taking bets on when Stella will arrive. I said I think she'll come on Maggie's birthday - March 18. He said April 5. I told him then he was crazy since Dr. Helmken just told us last week that I'm not making it to April. Derek thinks it's a mental thing, and he's always trying to psych me up to last until my due date.
In other, related news, I went to work today, and that was good. Derek dropped me off and picked me up. I took the elevator - even though I felt like a total weenis - and I limited the number of trips I made down our long hallway toward the bathroom and kitchen. My office really is being amazing about it, and they're even going to just send students to my desk rather than having me greet them up front. I was really happy about that.
On the way home, I had another for real contraction. I'm having those annoying-ass Braxton-Hicks contractions all the time, but the for real ones totally arrest my attention. Either way, we're at 35 weeks now, and we don't have much longer to go. I mostly want to make it through this week, for my work shower and then our Baptism class on Saturday. You're welcome to place your own bet on when she'll come. I'm sticking with March 18. :)
