Shakin Things Up!

Apparently baby groundhog thought life was too dull at our home and decided to shake things up a bit last week.  Monday night I was having one of those “crap I did too much today” days when my ever growing abdomen hurt like the dickens and I knew that I needed to put my feet up and rest. So I did.

Unfortunately, throughout the night that night I was sporadically being woken up because my stomach was tightening into a painful vice. It was completely different from labor contractions but still very painful. Once again I kept telling myself that I must’ve over exerted myself while rearranging the kids’ rooms and just needed to rest.

Tuesday morning was off to a rough start. Every time I would stand up I would get these fake yet painful contractions but the moment I’d sit down the contractions would stop.  Thankfully I know that real labor doesn’t stop by simply sitting so I went about my day thinking that I was just having the dreaded Braxton Hicks contractions again.

Tuesday night I endured on again and off again sleep because of the painful tightening of my belly.

Wednesday morning was no better. The contraction pain had increased dramatically over night and I was now nauseous from the discomfort. While at the bus stop one of the other moms pointed out that I was stopping to breathe through these contractions and I looked miserable.  I couldn’t take it anymore so I thought I would call my doctor to seek her advice. Unfortunately my doctor was in surgery that day so I talked with a nurse about my symptoms. She was just as confused as I was and said that it doesn’t sound like preterm labor but she wasn’t really sure what was going on. I was instructed to lay on the couch until I heard back from the doctor. I waited and waited and waited. Finally I heard back from my doctor and she said to stay on bed rest for the remainder of the day and that she would see me and her office in the morning.

At the appointment in the morning my doctor checked my cervix for effacement/dilation. She said that everything looked great and I was not dilating at all! Phew! Dr. Gilbert then checked my belly and found the problem. Apparently while I was pregnant with Isaac the muscles in my abdominal wall had separated (there’s a word for this but I can NEVER remember it) and they never went back. This meant that my poor uterus had no support or stabilization from my abdominal muscles. When I stand up my uterus is being forced to support itself thus making it tighten up. Dr. Gilbert gave me a prescription for a beautiful belly brace and also instructed me to spend time each day laying on my left side with my feet elevated.

So far things are going great. I’m now having very little discomfort and I’m forced to nap every day (because seriously, what person can lie on their side for an hour every day without falling asleep?)

As for the muscle separation- I’ll be receiving physical therapy after groundhog gets here to help my muscles go back where they belong. Maybe I’ll even have rock hard 6 pack abs by summer ;)