About a month or so ago I experienced my very first back spasm.
Allow me to state that I hope to never go through such a thing again--once is more than enough. At the time, however, we did not realize that that is all it was. It occurred at about eight o'clock at night, and after my whining and whimpering for about 45 minutes, we opted to go in to the hospital just to make absolutely damn sure nothing was wrong with Skipper.
First time parent panic: check!
Would I do the hospital trip all over again? You betcha.
We arrived, we explained that it was lower back pain combined with being about 21 weeks pregnant, and they immediately sent us to the labor ward. They got me into a hospital gown, put me into a hospital bed, and then proceeded to wrap some strange device around my abdomen to ascertain A) was I experiencing contractions and B) how Skipper was doing.
I told the nurse what side Skipper seems to favor (my right, for the record) and she quickly found the heartbeat. She then enlisted Sam to help hold the heart monitor in place while she contacted the overnight doctor. While we waited, Sam started talking encouragingly about how Skipper didn't seem distressed at all.
Chka-chka-chka-chka... probably the most reassuring sound in the world just then.
And that's when she discovered the heart monitor.
BAM! went the heart monitor as Skipper kicked where Sam was pressing it down. The noise was extremely loud--so much so it startled Skipper, as her heart-rate kicked up a few notches.
Silence.
Chka-chka-chka-chka-chka-chka-chka-BAM!
Silence.
Chka-chka-chka-BAM! Chka-chka-chka-BAM! Chka-chka-chka-BAM!
This went on for a good three minutes before Sam started laughing so hard the heart monitor slipped. He then repositioned it until he found Skipper's heartbeat again, but after that she didn't kick so consistently.
But it's true--my baby kept 4/4 time while in the womb.
(And yes, everything is still just fine. The official diagnosis was that I'd been over doing it. I'm being a lot lazier now, so stop worrying, Dad!)
That's pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteI remember one of our boys actually ran away from the heart monitor when he was big enough. Would put his foot against Kim's belly and kick off in the other direction. Can't remember which one it was, though.
Yikes! My girl is the exact opposite. If she realizes a heart monitor is there, she attacks it with a vengeance. Of course, she does that with anything that's pressed up against my abdomen, aside from the cats. I think she likes their purring too much. :-)
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