"I am 37 weeks and for the past couple of days I have been having cramping, a sharp pain on my cervix, and flu like symptoms of nausea and diarrhea and I have been SO tired".
~I found another woman that is in my shoes.
For the past 16 days I have been in false labor on and off. I contract almost daily, for the most part it's just a donut of pain around my lower back to groin and waves of nausea. Sometimes it's rhythmic, but mostly just painful. I get the delicious ice pick to the cervix pains and I alternate through periods of diarrhea. Still no bloody show or "lightening". I alternate between ridiculously exhausted and unable to sleep. I think the thing that bothers me most, other than the fact the contractions don't develop into active labor is that when I have the false labor the baby becomes EXTREMELY active and the pain of the baby slamming her head into my ribs is worse than the uterine contractions. I am terribly annoyed by the off and on nature of these warm-ups.
I have the most awful nervous tendencies. I have been biting all my nails off and continuously picking the same scab on the back of my neck until it gushes with blood. I do not want to do these things but I am a basket of nerves and anxiety. I need an outlet for the nervous energy.
I see two people for medical care, one is an ob-gyn and one is a nurse practitioner employed by the ob-gyn. Unfortunately for me they differ in opinion of how the baby is positioned. Because they cannot agree they are sending me for an ultrasound to check her position on Tuesday. I cannot wait until Tuesday, because Tuesday's ultrasound will determine if I am having a scheduled Cesarean.
The doctor and I agree that the baby is footling breech, but I saw the nurse practitioner this week and because she feels the baby is head down she would not answer any of my many questions in regard to cesareans. Because I feel that she is breech I have come to almost except a c-section delivery. I had a few nights of nightmares about it last week in which I could see them slicing me open but those seem to have past. I just want a plan though, I want to know what to expect!
If in fact she is breech will they attempt to turn her? If they beat the odds and succeed in turning her will they induce me so I can have a vaginal delivery? If they don't turn her how soon will they schedule my c-section? With a scheduled c-section do I show up and they take me to the Operating Room or do they induce me and let my labor for a while before taking me to surgery? What happens if I go into active labor with a breech baby, do I still have to wait for the contractions to be four minutes apart? Can I go into labor with a breech baby, since there is no head down there to apply pressure to the cervix in order to help it dilate?
