Preterm Labor Scares

Yesterday around 4pm I started to experience a lot of achy lower back pain. In addition, I had what felt like some pretty nasty menstrual cramps. I was feeling Lyme achy to begin with, and my brain was a little fuzzy, so I figured I was overtired and needed a nap.

When I woke up two hours later, the stomach and back cramping really intensified, and I had tightening in my abdominal muscles that came in intervals. I also started having to pee every 15 to 20 minutes.

Type those symptoms into Google, and preterm labor comes up. Scary stuff. But I've never had a baby before-- I don't know what contractions feel like, and it wasn't like I was unable to move around or breathe. So I waited it out a bit.

Long story short, I was finally admitted to the hospital for observation around midnight.

The good news is that the baby is still healthy, and I'm not showing any signs of labor at the moment. Yay for false alarms!

Ladies, if these scary symptoms happen to you, it's helpful to know that symptoms of a bladder infection during pregnancy can be nearly identical to those of preterm labor. If I had known that earlier, I still would have gotten checked out, but I wouldn't have been as nervous. Once I checked out ok in the contraction department, it was just assumed that I had a UTI.

But here's the mysterious part: After all that, my initial tests came back negative for infection. None of us are really sure why I'm experiencing the pain, and we can't speculate whether it's Lyme related, but it's unlikely.

I will say that even before pregnancy, I've been known to have a lot of problems "down there" when it comes to frequency, burning, and stomach irritability/cramping/digestion. All were due to Lyme and co-infections, so I'm not sure whether it's just coincidence that this is happening during pregnancy.

Bottom line: if there's an issue, get it checked out, even if you're unsure of the severity. And no matter what the issue, stay hydrated. Apparently, it's super important no matter what the problem is. Also, if you're lying down, make sure it's on your left side.

I'll be on bed rest for a little while until we get more cultures back, but I feel much better knowing that the baby is staying put for now.

Best part about this is that we were able to sneak in another quick ultrasound. (When you have Lyme, you get ultrasounds all the time.)

We learned two things: 1. Baby Wyatt is still definitely a boy, and he's not shy about it. 2.) His ears stick out like his dad's. While that might lead to teasing from the rest of the world, I think it's pretty darn cute. Hooray for floppy eared babies!