But not this early . . .

"Yesterday I had a regular prenatal doctor appointment. Everything looked good, sounded good, and my weight was good. Next appointment was scheduled for the new year and at almost 9 months.

My Dad arrived in town last night for a long weekend of pre-Christmas fun. We had big plans of getting dinner then a Christmas tree (yes, it is a bit late to be getting one) that were foiled by both the airport and the weather. Dad's flight arrived on time but had to wait for their gate to open up. Then we had to wait close to an hour for his bag. In the mean time the weather outside was getting dicier, slush freezing and snow flurrying. It took us another hour to drive back home (normally about 20 min). Not a big deal, we'll secure ourselves a tree tomorrow.

That is until the morning when I noticed some spotting. Hmmmm, not this again.

I decided to call my doctor and she wanted to see me immediately. I was feeling just fine so figured that after a quick appointment, my Dad, Jackson and I would go get that tree and have fun setting it up before Ross came home from work.

Well, seeing as things had gone a bit sideways in the past 18 hours, my doctor's visit would foil my plans for the day.

After being examined my doctor said that I was slightly dilated. Hmmmm . . . they hooked me up to a belly monitor to watch for contractions. There are two monitors, one for baby's heartbeat, the other for contractions. There is supposed to be 20 continuous minutes of data for a good reading. Well BITB wasn't too thrilled to be monitored and rolled a bit, kicked a bit, preventing a continuous reading.

There seemed to be enough information for my doctor to read, no contractions and heartbeat was steady. However, it was decided that because I was about 3 cm dilated (oh, 3? I was thinking maybe 1 or even 1/2 when she said "slightly dilated") I had to go straight to the hospital for overnight observations.

OVERNIGHT!!! My dad just arrived and we're supposed to get a tree!

I call Ross and he meets us at the hospital (thank goodness we did the hospital tour earlier in the month, though that didn't really help me remember which nurses station to go to to check in) and I was given a room.

A nurse and doctor came in and asked questions and checked me out. This doctor agreed that I was dilated but thought closer to 2 cm. Either way, it's dilated, and a little early.

I was hooked up to monitors again, and was told I'd be checked after another 2 hours. Ross and my Dad went to get us some food while Jackson and I watched Sesame Street and listened to the monitor's beeping.

After two hours the doctor saw no change and thought it was fine for me to go home (YEA! but on sorta modified bed rest) and called my doctor to say so. Well, there was a short time when we were told, no in fact you're to stay over night (BOO!), but then after some more talk between the doctors I was finally discharged. Whew! I was not too thrilled to be there over night, but if it was necessary, then I was willing to do it. However, I'm glad to be home and relaxing with my Dad, my Husband, and my Son. Interestingly, how luckily am I that this experience happened when those 3 men were all in the same city with me!

And now for some modified bed rest . . . it's going to be hard not to do all the things I normally do around the house. I can't pick up Jackson, I can't vacuum (too bad, though interesting I am still allowed to do dishes and laundry), go up and down the stairs too much . . . I'll include the whole list later.

And hopefully, we wont have to see the hospital again until MUCH closer to my due date."
--Clare