Funny that right after I wrote that last post about feeling all relaxed and chilled out, I started feeling… off. Nothing related to anxiety or anything like that. Just, pain. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was like a combination of occasional contractions (which feel sort of like my entire torso is made of concrete; so, um, OUCH), and also sharp stabbing pains in my lower abdomen.

And I’m also having some of the, ah, digestive issues (cough*the runs*cough) that I had when I was pregnant with Catie. It’s not as bad this time, and it started way earlier in my pregnancy with Catie, but still. It’s not fun. No one knows why this happens to me, either. I’m just a Pregnancy Anomaly. Maybe I’m allergic to the third trimester, who knows.

So, I’ve been pretty miserable for the past few days. I’ve had several moments where I’ve wondered how bad it needed to be before I went to the hospital. But there was no discernible pattern to any of the pain I was having, so I knew I wasn’t in labor. I had an OB appointment today, and I figured that I could just ride it out until then. And Dave has been taking over most of the child-care duties in the evening so I can take it easy, which has helped.

I saw my OB today, and I feel about a thousand times better now that I have a diagnosis:
* The stabbing pain is most likely round ligament pain, which for some reason I never had with Catie, but I feel better knowing that it’s normal. Even though it hurts like hell.

* The most probable cause of the Braxton-Hicks contractions is dehydration because of the intestinal issues I’ve been having. I’ve been trying to drink a lot of water, but my doctor suggested that I also need some energy drinks (like a Gatorade-type thing) to keep my electrolytes in check. I love Vitamin Water, so that’s easy enough.

* She said to try to monitor how often I’m having contractions. I told her that typically I’ve been having two or three an hour. She said she’s ok with that, but if I have six or more, I need to be off of my feet immediately and downing fluids. If they still don’t stop, I need to head to the hospital.

* She also said that if I went into labor right now (at 34 weeks), they probably wouldn’t do any major interventions to stop it because Baby 2.0 seems to be developing fine and all that, but she’d prefer if I waited at least another 2 or 3 weeks until I’m officially full-term. I agreed with her wholeheartedly. Even as uncomfortable as I am, I’m in no huge rush to serve this kid her eviction notice. I would really love to avoid the NICU if at all possible.

I’ve decided I’m most likely going to be working from home for the remainder of my pregnancy. It’s not really an issue with my job at all; they don’t care where I work as long as I meet my deadlines. And I’m fortunate to have a really awesome manager who has little kids himself, so he’s very understanding about pregnancy-related stuff.

I probably could still continue to go into the office, but my fear is that if I start having contractions and need to get off of my feet, it’ll be easier if I’m already at home and close to my bed. That’s actually how I’ve been working most of this week – in bed with my laptop on a TV tray over my belly. And I’ve been oddly more productive than you’d think.

So, that’s where things are now. No imminent baby arrivals at this point, but all signs definitely point to the fact that I should be taking it easier than I have been. I’ll be working on that.