Labor and Delivery... AGAIN.

Yesterday started off as a pretty promising day - I went and got my eyebrows waxed, picked up Derek's new video game, and perused Borders for a while looking for a good book. I headed home and cleaned the guest bathroom and then settled down to do some work on my school stuff. At about 1pm I started having Braxon Hicks contractions. They weren't awful but they were enough to make me stop working a few times during that first hour. By three they were getting pretty uncomfortable and starting to get regular so I grabbed my book and a bottle of water and went to lay down in bed. They didn't let up, even when I laid down and drank water - the two things you are supposed to be able to do to ease them so at 4pm I started timing them. They were coming about every eight minutes and by 5pm I had had seven contractions. I called Labor and Delivery and the nurse said to try taking a hot shower to relax but if that didn't work I was to come in for monitoring. So, I called Derek and filled him in and got in the tub. I think I stayed in the water for about 30 minutes but I was still having the stupid contractions. I asked Derek to make something quick for dinner (last time we went to the hospital we STARVED) and I got dressed and ready to go.

We headed for Memorial and got checked in around 7pm. They hooked us up to the fetal and uterine monitors (it's sad - Derek has seen them do it three times now and he can run the machine on his own). Addison was doing fine, her heart rate was in the 140's and 150's the whole time and she was moving all over. During the first hour, my contractions were coming every two to three minutes. The nurse decided to do a vaginal exam to make sure I wasn't dilated. Thankfully, everything is still closed up tight. I did a pee test to see if I might have a bladder infection and the results came back negative. We don't really know what to think because the lab found blood in my urine, so there could be a bladder infection/urinary tract infection that hasn't fully shown up yet or I could have a kidney stone. By about 8:30 the contractions were starting to spread out and get less regular. The nurse spoke with my doctor and they gave me a 600mg Motrin and instructions to take it easy and drink insane amounts of water.

Now, twelve hours later, I'm still having random contractions but so far nothing like last night. I'm going to set up camp in the recliner and work there today (instead of at the dining room table) in hopes that keeping my feet up will help a bit.

::sigh:: Never a dull moment around this house - that's for sure!