Fright night

Last night as I was nursing Miss M before bed, I noticed that I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions. She nursed for quite a long time (more than 30 minutes), and I had at least five in that time period.

Braxton-Hicks contractions are normal at 28 weeks. I know this. I also know that the uterus can't be stimulated by nursing for a while yet. But don't think that I wasn't a little freaked out.

After Miss M went to bed I lounged on the couch with my hands on my belly. More contractions. I drank a lot of water. More contractions. Interspersed with increasingly frequent bathroom runs.

I finally went to bed and tried desperately to relax. No dice. When Taxman came to bed an hour later, I told him what was going on. I knew it was probably nothing...when I was 27 weeks pregnant with Miss M I had a similar incident: a full morning of frequent Braxton-Hicks. I had called my OB and, to be cautious, he had me come in for an ultrasound and an IV. Not only was I not experiencing preterm labor then, but I was almost two weeks late in delivering her....3 months later.

I didn't especially want to call my doctor. It was very late, and I had pretty overwhelming evidence that they were not real contractions. (I could lie down. When I was in real labor, I was in excruciating pain when I was horizontal, so I spent a few nights sitting on my birth ball.) Frankly, the worst part of it was realizing that if I did call my OB and he did want me to come by the hospital that we had no plan for our sleeping sweet girl, short of me going alone. Taxman's parents, who have been her only babysitters, are abroad for the week. Even if we did have a high school or college student on our occasional payroll, it was the middle of the night.

So now I am thinking that we should make arrangements with our close friends who live across the street that in dire emergencies they should be our middle of the night contacts. (We'd obviously do the same for them and their toddler.) Miss M would, of course, flip out if I were not there in the middle of the night, but during the day she knows them and loves them. So there would be screaming, but by the light of morning I think she'd be ok.

But I digress. Ultimately, after several more glasses of water, and the appropriate number of visits to the bathroom to compensate, I was able to get to sleep. Today was back to normal. I am guessing yesterday was a combination of too much running around, not enough rest over the weekend, and not drinking enough water.

Hopefully that will be all the pregnancy excitement for now, and I can get back to concentrating on how to convince Miss M to stop hitting me while she's nursing. She did it tonight, and she was abruptly trundled off to bed after being warned. It is just testing limits--she has been a little rough with me while not nursing as well--but I certainly don't want this to lead to weaning. On the other hand, I can't allow her to beat up on me. In a few months I'll be holding and nursing someone else as well, and hitting me/her father/her sibling just can't be acceptable behavior. Sigh.