Late night maternity ward tour

Last night we made a quick stop over at Portsmouth hospital for what ended up being a quick one hour tour of their maternity ward. After about 4 hours of increasingly longer and stronger Braxton hicks contractions, I started to have some bad lower back pain, cramping and some pelvic pressure the doctor on call said we should go into the hospital just to be safe. My uterus had been as hard as a basketball for about 90 minutes straight by the time we got there and I couldn’t feel the baby move like I usually do so it was a little nerve wracking. No joke the second they hooked us up to the monitor, our lil’ Mr. Mattson started kicking, punching, moving from side to side, a real one man show this one! The nurse said I was definitely having contractions, which made me feel like we did the right thing coming in. While being monitored she asked all sorts of questions about the pregnancy and my medical history. After explaining our previous pregnancy history (aka Ellie) and my surgery history involving ivf to get pregnant with both of our babies,  she stopped me and said “Oh I remember the day you delivered, I was working that day.”. I was a little confused (thinking she was confusing me with some other poor couple who had to go through ivf just to loose their baby at term) and told her “Oh no, I actually delivered my daughter at Exeter Hospital.” She said, “Yes I remember hearing your story”. Apparently we are famous ‘round these parts! Not the kind of thing anyone hopes to be famous for but hey, what can you do?

  After being on the monitor for about 30 minutes or so, the nurse checked my cervix and I wasn’t dilated at all, which she seemed very happy about while Seth looked a little disappointed. He was looking pretty excited and hopeful that we were going to get to meet our little guy very soon so that burst his bubble a little bit. Even though all that we are thinking about is that we both really just want to meet him and make sure he gets here safely we both felt a little relieved that he will have a little more time to mature in there, getting his lungs developed and putting on a few more pounds. 35 weeks is just a little too early. We know from the biophysical profile ultrasound we had done earlier this week that he is looking BIG and healthy. The measurements put him at a weight estimate of at least 6lbs, maybe more. So if he actually stays in there until our scheduled c-section date at 39 weeks, they are guessing he’ll be around 8lbs or so. A good sized fellow with wiggly legs and feet who likes to keep us on our toes. I can just see him now, running around as a toddler in his custom superhero cape yelling out “Danger’s my middle name!”. Unofficial middle name ok buddy?

  After the doctor took a look at the heart rate and contractions print out they said his heart rate in response to the contractions looked great and that the contractions were irregular enough that we could head on home. It was a nice tour of the maternity ward and the staff were all very friendly. We came home around 12am and went right to bed. I didn’t sleep all that well, the Braxton hicks contractions and back pain kept waking me up. When we got up this morning, my back and legs felt totally exhausted and sore. I’m still having plenty of Braxton hicks contractions today, but it seems like my body just warming up for the real deal. I would not be surprised if this little guy decides to come earlier than our scheduled c-section date. I feel like I’m just along for the ride with him & he likes to keep us guessing. Either way we are in the month of March which means we get to meet our little boy very, very soon! We can’t wait to continue this adventure with our very own little super hero! Love you so much buddy J