I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday. I'm a little more ripe for labor than last time, but my cervix wasn't dilated yet. I've been wanting them to do a procedure called "sweeping the membranes" which sometimes stimulates labor, but they've been unable to do it because it requires getting up past the cervix and detaching the membranes above it which requires it to be dilated. This procedure causes a release of labor hormones that may make things go a little faster Saturday.
I was disappointed because I had a little bit of bloody show a couple hours beforehand. I was convinced that something had to be happening. I went home and desperately tried castor oil. Now people say it tastes awful, but it just tasted like I was drinking vegetable oil. It really didn't have much of a taste at all. I washed it down with some Diet Coke and hoped that maybe it will help get it started, so I can try and avoid being chemically induced. It worked some magic, but no baby.
I have read everywhere that bloody show is just a streak or spot of blood. I started bleeding lightly like I was just starting my period. At first it was kinda dark and dried looking, so I didn't worry. As time progressed it got heavier. I started feeling intense Braxton Hicks contractions. They didn't hurt that much, just kinda felt like my uterus wanted to strangle me. It was a bit hard to breath sometimes and the really powerful ones bent me over involuntarily. They were coming quite often, but I didn't time them or count them. I was in the midst of the "energy burst" many women say happens before labor. It was around 10:30 pm and I was cleaning house like a mad woman when ordinarily I'd be heading to bed. Mr. Cobra and our Doula were laughing at how much energy I had.
Then I started getting the uncomfortable gassy cramps from the castor oil. For whatever reason, that made the bleeding turn bright red and I started seeing clots in it. My whole pregnancy I've been taught that seeing bright red blood is bad. I called Labor and Delivery about it and they said to come in to get checked.
On the walk to hospital (it's only 3 blocks away), the contractions really started to slow me down. I almost had to stop. When I got to the hospital, they had me do a urine sample, which I couldn't get a clean catch because there was so much blood coming out. It was watery blood, but there was so much, I thought something might be wrong. I'd rather be safe than sorry. They monitored me and I was getting contractions every 3 minutes, but they weren't that painful. The baby was doing fine. They did an internal exam and I was only dilated a fingertip which surprised almost everyone considering the amount of bloody show. One nurse said that it's common to have that much blood when dilated to 4 cm, but I wasn't even close to that.
Everything was fine, and it is apparently okay to bleed a lot. We stayed there until 3 am to see if the dilation was progressing, but the contractions tapered off. Everyone was so tired that we all fell asleep waiting for the doctor. We could've tried to keep the contractions going, but no one would've had the energy to deal with a long labor. I took a tablet of Benadryl (as recommended by the doctor) and was finally asleep by 4 am.
So tomorrow will be the day…
