Bedrest due to "premature labour"

My OB told me that she wouldn't stop me if I went into labour after my last apt on 3/26. I thought my baby was listening, because that morning I threw up, and had mild contractions accompanied by trips to the bathroom. At my apt I told my OB about throwing up, but forgot to tell her about my diarrhea. She noticed the contractions at the time, but they were mild and I figured they were just Braxton-Hicks.

That night I went to the BMC Listerine dinner. I had a good time. :) It was fun to put some names to faces and see some other folks again.

The next morning, I was having regular contractions 10 mins apart lasting about a minute and I was in the bathroom every time. I thought this was rather unpleasant and a bit weird, but figured this was just my lot in life. However, my husband and mother weren't convinced, and my husband called the OB in the early afternoon. The OB told me to take Immodium and that stopped the bathroom trips, but not the contractions, so I was asked to come in at 4.

I went in and was strapped to fetal monitors that measured the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. The monitoring was not as uncomfortable as I thought it might be. My contractions were now 8 minutes apart, but still mild. The OB said they were mild enough that the baby's heartbeat didn't respond to them at all. My cervix was also not responding much. However my contractions were like clockwork. And I just had this feeling that it would take a long while, but if they continued, eventually I'd give birth. My OB left for a while, and didn't come back until some minutes later.

Again my baby seemed to be listening, because the very next contraction was stronger, came after 6 minutes instead of 8, and through the monitor, I could hear my baby's heartbeat rise with it. My OB returned and told me she got into an argument with the hospital, who said that my baby was still premature at 36 weeks 3 days and therefore my delivery would be considered high-risk. Furthermore they had a code red at the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) and if I came, they'd have to send me to another hospital. Well, the last thing I wanted was to give birth at a strange hospital, and have some perinatologist poking at my baby. I'm sure they save lots of babies' lives, but I'd rather not have them near my baby if I can help it.

My OB told me to go home and rest until Sunday, and to try and calm things down. So I went to bed, and after a while, things did seem to calm down until 11pm when the contractions and the bathroom trips started again. I had already taken the maximum dose of Immodium, and we didn't know what to do, so my husband called my OB again. She said to take another Immodium, but if that didn't work, not to take any more, because the medicine wasn't working. She also suggested that it might be viral. Well, that jogged the memory of my husband who suddenly remembered that his officemate had been sick with the stomach flu over the weekend. I wish he'd told me that earlier, but at least my body finally got the message. The next trip to the bathroom, I didn't have a contraction, but instead felt that very unpleasant gut-wrenching sensation that usually accompanies the stomach flu. I hadn't felt anything like it the entire time and I've never been happier to experience it!

So I stayed in bed through Monday morning; sick for a couple days and then just resting. Though others of his co-workers reported they got quite sick, my husband never had more than mild stomach pains, so he took good care of me. He brought me some books on tapes from the library, so I wasn't totally bored. I'm having mild contractions again, though not regular, so I suppose it's a good thing I stayed in bed.

Before all this happened, I was waffling between wanting the baby out, and wanting to wait until it's time. Now I'm willing to wait. I'm fairly certain I could start the whole process again by taking castor oil. And I would if it was that or induction, but my OB says she'd be willing to hold off induction until May 5 (42 weeks). That's a loong time from now. And letting my body putter along and slowly get things ready seems much more agreeable to me now.