More-drama-than-wanted weekend

You kinda think that by the time you get to 35 weeks of pregnancy, that big drama you're waiting on is the bambino's arrival, right? Well, us longtimer IFers should know better by now...

NoodleGuy's cousin, who had been staying with us for 2 weeks while attending a vet internship in Boston left on saturday morning. We took her out to brunch and then we puttered around for a while. I went shopping in the afternoon (word to wise: never go fall shoe shopping while 8 months pg) and came back and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Around 6pm, we were making pasta for dinner, and I started having some BH contractions. Nothing major, but the strongest I've felt before and painful. They went on from about 6-8pm, not wonderful when they clenched, but no biggie. Then around 8pm, I had another clench that just never went away. I was so uncomofortable all night and barely slept, i couldn't get in any position that wasn't painful and my abdomen was SO hard. However, Bug seemed fine, he was dancing up a storm -- possible because the clenching was tightening up his condo.

I still felt like total crap in the morning and while I knew I wasn't in labor, we thought I should get checked out anyway. So we called in, went in yesterday a.m.. Indeed, no labor signs, cervix was high and tight. Bug looked great on the monitor and though I had 1 or 2 minor contractions while there, nothing real. It was frustrating because I was basically writhing in pain, so uncomfortable and the really nice OB on call said there wasn't a ton they could do. They suggested constipation, dehydration, maybe eating something that disagreed with me and to take Tylenol, go home hydrate like crazy and rest up. So we did so and I was pretty miserable still thru about 4pm. Around that time, NG gave me an awesome massage and I was hydrating like crazy, drinking a 32 oz cup of water every hour and by 9pm or so starting feeling better. I didn't sleep great last night, but much better and feel pretty good this morning. I slept in until about 8:30 and feel pretty OK as of now.

I'm still hydrating and can only assume it was dehydration even though I do drink alot. But we have been running around for weeks, helping DH's parents move and my baby shower, etc. Plus, we had eaten alot of spicy/salty foods in the past weeks, so I'm sure that contributed. I was in tears at the thought of going 5 more weeks feeling like that, but hopefully, if I make a concerted effort to drink like crazy going forward, we'll be OK until D-Day.

But, folks, that wasn't all -- during my massage, NG found a little zit on my arm and scratched it off. No biggie, didn't bleed or anything. But somehow during the night, I must have scratched it open again. I woke up to pee for the 12th time at 3:30am and felt something tickling my arm. I looked down and there was blood running down my arm from the little , teeny cut/zit. I went back in the bedroom to show NG and turned on the light and there was blood everywhere, like a small animal had been murdered in my bed. Truly bizarre. It's like the little scratch isn't clotting at all -- even this morning when I took off the bandaid, it started bleeding again. Dr. Google tells me that the heavy bleeding from a small cut isn't abnormal, with all the excess blood volume in pregnant lady's bodies, tiny cuts bleed a ton. But what is perplexing me is the lack of clotting - I thought pregnant ladies clot too much. Anyway, I have an OB appt tomorrow morning and boy, she'll get her money's worth! Usually I'm the mellow, easy patient who has had no issues (except that darned yeast infection). This time I'll have tons to talk about! :)

**EDITED TO ADD ** I forgot to mention that I did a fair amount of weeding on Saturday afternoon, a few hours before the abdominal pain started. NG and I can only guess that it contributed to the dehydration and/or maybe I strained my ab muscles a little bit. But, dang, the side door walkway looks SO much better ;).