Contractions update

I begged my OB to squeeze me in for an appointment yesterday, I really wanted another cervical check for some peace of mind. So she did. Following my usual routine, I walked over to the hospital from my office, about a 20 minute jaunt. It’s about the same amount of time whether I walk or take the T (subway), so I prefer the extra exercise.

I got there at around 11, and she finally had time for me at about 12:45. Whatever. She theoretically was only working until 11:45, so I was really pleased she stuck around!

Another cervical check gave similar results as over the weekend; long and closed. Whew.

After that, we chatted for a bit. I gave her the lowdown on what happened on Saturday night, she asked me about exercise (nothing since biking on Weds night / Thurs morning), and we talked about a steroid shot if the contractions picked up again. She also mentioned bedrest, but said that we’d give it until my appointment next week, and reassess at that point. In the meantime, NO exercise. Not even walking any more than necessary.

What really hit me about that was that although I was still feeling intermittent contractions, while I was sitting in the waiting room (after my 20 minute walk), I noticed that they were back to about 15 minutes apart. Later on in the afternoon I was late for a meeting, so hustled from my building over to where the meeting was, about 2/10 mile. And had more contractions during the meeting, now about 10 minutes apart.

So. Given that rather convincing evidence, I WILL be taking it easy for the next week. Rather than walking a report over to a co-worker to sign (different building again), I’ll put it in the interoffice mail. No biking, no weight lifting, and no golf this weekend. Sniff. Hopefully things will calm down, and we can avoid any further mention of bedrest!

My mom is a bit of a vitamin junkie, so she did some research on this yesterday, and came up with an interesting theory. I drink a ton of milk, about 40 oz (just over a liter) in a day. Which means lots of calcium. Which can cause muscles to contract. So she suggested that I take a magnesium supplement, which does the opposite. There is some magnesium in milk, but not nearly as much as there is calcium. I checked with the doc, and although she said she doesn’t necessarily think it will help, it won’t hurt, so she gave me the go-ahead. So I’m going to start that today. I think it makes a lot of sense – magnesium sulfate in an IV is one of the things they give people to stop contractions, so I think a bit of supplementation, especially since I don’t eat a lot of the foods rich in magnesium, is the way to go, since I am still having contractions intermittently. I’ll also go and see my acupuncturist tomorrow if they haven’t completely stopped by then.

I’m still not overly concerned, but I will be paying very close attention!