A very bloody show

So yesterday a gal walks into a doctor's office....Hmmm, I never was really good at jokes. Maybe I should start at the beginning. Last Friday I called the nurses b/c there was ever so slight a streak of pink mixed with the regular mucus when I wiped. (TMI, but you are probably used to that, dear reader.) Nice nurse said, "might be your mucus plug starting to work its way out. Keep an eye on it and let us know if anything changes." And that was it. Or so I thought. It seemed to have stopped.

At my regular appointment yesterday, the doc took a swab for the strep test and since she had noticed my call to the nurses in my patient notes, she asked about it. I played it down (doctor that I am not), but she said, "let's just take a look."

Survey says? Three centimeters dilated. Um. hold up. Record scratch. Whaaaaat???? She told me on the one hand that some women walk around for weeks at 3 cm dilation, but that I should stay home from work today and that no, I could not go away this weekend as we had planned. Obviously, the more time baby stays in my womb, the better off he'll be.

I drive straight home like a good doobie. Walk up the stairs. Go to the bathroom. You know. Routine stuff. Until my routine suddenly changes. Blood in my undies. Heavy period flow. Also something that looks like a dark red slug on the tp. I call my doctor. Only I call the wrong one, b/c I have been calling my PCP for the past few weeks asking if the mercury-free flu shots are in yet (got one). Call the right number but realize it's after 5 and they will have to page the person on call and I will have to wait, bleeding on the bathroom floor. This movie-esque image combined with my oh-so-creative mind that had me convinced my placenta had ruptured were just too much for me. Did I mention I was home alone? Did I mention blood is not something I enjoy finding in my underpants? Did I mention I have not had any contractions and this really does not seem to be the correct order of events? So, I called 911. By then I had regained some semblance of calm an called my Sweetie, too.

How does this story end? Hopefully with a lot more time in the oven for the wee one. They monitored baby's heart rate and my contractions (I did start to have some in the ambulance ride), checked my cervix again (same), made sure the bleeding subsided. I am now on bed rest for at least a week and should call if contractions are consistently 10 minutes apart (rather than the usual 5 minutes).

It felt good to write that all down. Now I can let go of some of it and just rest.