Week 23-Hello Hospital

Week 23.... Well the most interesting thing that week was probably our trip to the hospital at 3:30 AM. I woke up around 3 with a lot of pain in my stomach, so I went to the bathroom (sorry ahead of time this post may be too TMI for the very light-hearted---AKA it's not that bad but just in case...). Anyway, I did have a little gas (sorry :/) so I thought that was the problem so I went back to bed. But about ten minutes later as I got back in bed the very strong pains came back, and I also had some pain in my lower back. I'm a pretty deep sleeper and I love my sleep so anything that keeps me awake has to be pretty powerful. I got up again and got some water and started praying because Taylor had a big test that next morning and I didn't want to wake him up unless there really was a problem. I tried to lay back down again and the pains came back and were really bad and I felt like something was really wrong. I woke Taylor up and told him I needed to call the doctor. I called the emergency line at my Dr.'s office and was transferred to my Dr.'s nurse practitioner she works with. She pretty much didn't know what to tell me because contractions aren't really normally at 23 weeks, but I didn't have any bleeding or anything, so we didn't know what was wrong. She suggested I go to the hospital to be monitored because if it was contractions it wasn't good. Taylor and I got up and got to the hospital and were directed to Labor & Delivery because I was past 20 weeks. I will tell you that really freaked me out. We signed in right after a girl who was about to pop who was there for a scheduled c-section. Her family was all there wearing bright green shirts that said "Team Gavin" with their respective family relations on the back ("grandma" "aunt so-and-so", etc.). It was super cute and exciting but it made me so nervous that I was not very far along and being seen in the same place as people who were about to give birth! 

I got put in a hospital room and then had me on a contraction monitor. She also wanted to test my urine to see if I was dehydrated or if I had any infections that could be causing the pain. I gave her a sample, and it wasn't much but I figured I probably give them way more than needed each time, right? She took the urine for sampling and kept me on the monitor for a while. 

In the meantime a woman came in asking if we had a living will, if I had a birth plan, etc. and I started to feel so overwhelmed! We didn't even own a crib (still don't), and they were asking me all these serious questions that we hadn't even thought about! That made reality set in really quickly. 

Later the nurse came back and said they didn't see any contractions being recorded but just some possible uterus irritation being recorded. I was happy that everything seemed to be OK and was ready to go home. Poor Taylor stayed up studying for his test the whole time, and since his progress in school is important to both of us I wanted to get him home! But then the nurse told me that they didn't have enough urine from me to sample, so we had to stick around until I was able to give them a bunch more. So she brought in this giant cup of ice water for me to drink and then wait until I could give them a bigger sample. Eventually I did, and they tested it, and the test came back normal. 

They weren't ever sure what caused all my pain, but gave me some instructions to stay off my feet for a bit, avoid heavy lifting, etc. Although going to the hospital for 4 hours in the middle of the night wasn't ideal, I was so grateful everything was OK. It's funny because I don't always feel like a 'parent' quite yet, but ever since I became pregnant, it's become so natural to be OK with just doing whatever is best for our little girl, even if it's uncomfortable, unappetizing (like eating really healthy food that I really don't want to be eating), or scary. I am not saying I'm perfect and unselfish by any means, but I am starting to understand the love and devotion that parents really have for their kids! 

Total side note: when you go to the hospital (it was my first time), you should really wear those little booties they set out for you. I thought I was fine but ended up freezing cold just being in the little hospital robe and with just a sheet I was kind of too tall for.