The Two (Plus) Hour False Alarm

I can't believe that I am actually going to share this in such a public way but there may be other women out there that have had this happen to them and feel all alone - so here goes - your not alone. Because apparently

It happens to 50% of pregnant women.

Well gosh that makes me feel so much better and a lot less stupid!

Last night around 9PM Jason and I were getting ready to head upstairs for the night. I used the restroom and noticed in my pad that there was a redish-brown mucus (a.k.a. bloody show). This has been the most prominent in a week or so, therefore getting me a little anxious, but not too much. I walked upstairs and started getting ready for bed. Around 9:15 I felt like I had "leaked" which usually doesn't happen, especially when I am standing and only moments before had gone to the bathroom. So I changed my pad and then seconds later felt an even larger "trickle." Now the reason that I am wearing these pads in the first place is due to leaking, but I have never "felt" the leaking this way before . . . nor has it been so noticeable. Therefore I say "I think my water is leaking - and or may have broken" of course I add "but I am not sure." So for about 45 minutes Jason and I get into "going to the hospital mode." In that time I feel crampy but I am not having contractions. So I think to myself and say aloud that I don't think it really broke, but still I am not sure. So finally I call the Doctor on call at about 10PM.

The doctor calls back quickly and I explain that I feel so "silly" because "I am not really sure that my water broke" she says that I should go to the hospital based on what I told her. So we grab everything and go.

Once there, we are ushered to a room where I am told to disrobe and then the Nurse disappears for about 20 min. So I sit there telling Jason that "maybe she forgot about us" and "I feel stupid, because I doubt that my water really broke." Being the great guy he is, he says it is for the best to make sure that it didn't so that we know the baby is ok. This only mildly makes me feel less dumb. Finally the nurse returns, hooks me up and explains the delay. She can't find the testing strips they use to see if there is amniotic fluid. So after hooking me up she disappears again. At about 11:10 a new nurse arrives and has the strips and says that the other nurses shift ended (I think to myself now wasn't that convenient for the other nurse). So she tests me and my pad and says - nope, this isn't amniotic. Then she disappears comes back and disappears again then comes back. During that time I have gotten my "street clothes" back on and am anxious to get home. I sign a HIPAA form and am free to go. It is now like 11:40PM.

For something that took the nurse 1 minute to determine, I feel like I could have been there for a max of 30 minutes and not almost two hours. So there you have it, the false alarm. Now I am even more frustrated that she isn't coming out. Because there was the little bit of hope that it was really happening.