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The Mommy Track

Waiting for my body to say go

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published August 28, 2005

This whole being-pregnant thing has been just swell, but in about six weeks or so I'm going to have to deliver this baby. And while I can't wait for junior to arrive, I'm not looking forward to the nitty-gritty. The average labor for first-time moms lasts about 15 hours - 15 long hours of cramping, contracting and . . . well, cursing.

It was this past week, as that sobering reality sank in, that my body decided to jump-start things.

I went to the doctor's office last Monday, concerned that I hadn't felt the baby jabbing since Saturday. I've read such lulls can be perfectly normal, but the doctors have told me to bring this stuff to their attention anyway.

My anxiety melted away pretty quickly, once the nurse wrapped the baby monitor around my basketball-sized belly, and the nearby machine showed junior's heart rate at a healthy 135 beats per minute. The machine even logged sudden changes - up to the 150s, then back down to the 130s - that showed the baby was getting a good workout within the womb.

The problem was with the second monitor nestled just below my ribs. The machine logged a contraction, and an exam revealed I was starting to dilate.

Not good news for a baby due in mid-October.

Calm but concerned, the midwife sent me to the hospital to get things checked out. After the monitors there logged another contraction, the nurse gave me a shot of terbutaline to bring the preterm labor to a halt.

None of this was the kind of dramatic stuff you'd see on ER. No panicking, no pain. I couldn't even tell the difference between the contractions and the other churning in my belly. The nurse at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital put me at ease, and I think I was less worried about the whole thing than my husband and coworkers, who didn't get the details until later.

There's no way to know for sure what sparked the early contractions, but studies have shown a rise in preterm labors during the summer months, when the sweltering heat and dehydration take their toll on pregnant women. The nurse told me I definitely needed more fluids and rest, two things I never get enough of (Wayne still chides me about our Key West honeymoon, where I became so dehydrated one evening I could barely drag myself down Duval Street to our motel).

My boss, Bill Stevens, theorizes the August heat is also to blame for the baby's sleepy weekend. After all: It's too hot to move.

Junior's got the right idea.

So I'm chugging water and trying to take it easy - in between the frequent trips to the bathroom, of course.

Coincidentally, my Monday visit to Helen Ellis was my second trip to the maternity ward in three days. On Saturday, Wayne and I took an all-day childbirth class - a cram session of sorts for the working folks who can't make evening classes - that included a tour of the hospital's maternity facilities.

That class included four expectant couples, all first-time parents who are both excited and scared about the physical feat before us. We watched movies of real births, learned about the stages of labor and even practiced the Lamaze panting while staring at our "focal point" (in this case, a three-foot-high fake plant dubbed "Freddy the Fern").

I'm not sure how much of that breathing I'll remember to do when the contractions come. But I found the anatomy lessons really useful; knowing which muscles are moving, and why, helped me feel like I can work with my body instead of being overwhelmed by the process.

At least, I feel that way now - until my body makes its next executive decision.

Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 28, 2005, 01:14:15]