Stilllllll Pregnant

So when I had my cerclage removed and we discovered that I was 50% effaced and dilated to a 3+, the OB said that if I should start having contractions 5 minutes apart or less, then I needed to be prepared to go to the hospital. First, though, she said to make sure to lay down, sip some ice water and see if the contractions went away. Then if they didn't go away, she said that I should take a warm shower and see if that did anything. Then, if the contractions had been coming consistently 5 minutes or less apart and I had done everything I could to get them to go away without any success for 2 hours, I needed to head to the hospital immediately. Well, Friday evening that happened. I was contracting every 2 to 3 minutes and I just could not get the contractions to go away or even slow down at all. In fact, they continued to come and they were getting more painful. So, we quickly threw our bags together (we had not packed yet, oops), and called some family members to arrange for some of my siblings to take shifts sitting at our house to watch over Kyrsta while we were at the hospital. Before we knew it, we were out the door and on our way. We quickly got admitted and settled in to be checked by the nurse. After all the paperwork was completed the nurse checked my cervix. I was 60% effaced and dilated to a 5. But, the baby's head was still very high. So, the nurse couldn't determine anything and we had to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And... well, you get the picture. I did a lot of walking of the halls. I was checked several times. I had been on the monitor for hours contracting every 2 to 3 minutes without any variation. But, to make a long story short, even having contracted every 2-3 minutes for 7 hours, my cervix had made almost no progress. The only difference was that I went from being 60% effaced to being 70% effaced. Essentially, from what we can tell, my cervix is stuck at the scar tissue that was left behind by the cerclage. Because the baby's head was still so high up, the doctor didn't want to come in and break my water. The fear is that if the baby's head is so high and the water is broken, it's possible that the umbilical cord could come floating out with the amniotic fluid. I'm not sure what that would mean other than it might make a c-section necessary. And I don't think that risk is worth taking. Not when I could just make myself be patient and hopefully not have added complications. So, in spite of being in the early stages of labor, I got sent home. Since my contractions cannot really get any more regular, we were essentially told to wait until either the contractions are so painful I can't cope with the pain any more or until my water breaks. Ugh. That was not pleasant news. After my water broke with baby K, I still didn't dilate. They had to hook me up to high levels of pitocin for a little longer than 20 hours before my body finally pushed past the scar tissue and got from a 6 to a 7. After that, however, I was pushing and Kyrsta was born within 30 minutes. I am a little bit nervous as to what that previous experience will mean for this labor and delivery. I have continued to contract regularly (I am so miserably uncomfortable) ever since being released from the hospital. I really think my body is doing what it can to try to get past the scar tissue and it will continue to contract and contract and contract until it finally succeeds. But, if I have to wait to go into the hospital until my cervix is that far dilated, I could be ready to push very very quickly after that. I am a bit worried if that happens that I won't even make it to hospital in time to get the epidural. Orrrr... I could just contract and contract and contract for another 2 weeks until it's time to be induced. Orrrr.... (and wouldn't this be nice?) my water could break on its own. Who knows? Anyway, I guess to sum it all up, we have no idea what's going to happen. My regular appointment with my OB is on Tuesday. Hopefully we will have a little more information after that. Until then, I am enduring. My contractions are continuing, although they have slowed down just a little bit. I think my uterus is tired. If that's possible. But to put a happy spin on things, my Dad said to me earlier today, "Brittany, just think of how many calories you're burning with all of these contractions!" Heck, maybe I'll be sporting a six pack after this baby girl is born! :)