False Alarm

As I was getting into the shower this morning, I noticed a lot of moisture on my inner thighs...what the? Did my water just break? It was a clear, viscous liquid with no odor, no it was not urine, no it was not sweat, but I have no idea what it was. Going with the possibility that my water may have just broke, I went ahead and got in the shower, fixed my hair, put on my makeup and was about to get dressed when I decided to call my coworker who has had three children and is a nurse. "It sounds like your mucus plug" she says, "but you should call your doctor."


I call my ob/gyn, they don't open until 9am...it's only 7:45am at this point, so I decided to get dressed and go to work but have Brandon put my bag in my car before I send him to work, just in case. I get to work but am not feeling well, lots of back pain and some mild cramping in my lower abdomen. Nine o'clock rolls around, I haven't got much done anyway because I'm telling everyone I see that I think my water broke, and I call my ob/gyn, talk to the nurse who says, she wants to see you! Yay...I'm thinking, I must have given her the correct answers to think something is happening, even told her I have an appointment scheduled tomorrow, can it wait until then...no, she wants you to come in..NOW! Okay, I got the message!


So, I leave work and head to her office around 9:30am...wait to see her until about 10:30am. I am weighed and my blood pressure measured twice, both times it was fairly elevated. When I see her, she first listens to the baby's heartbeat with the doppler. She's fine, nothing new for her, in there moving and shaking as usual. The nurse takes a manual blood pressure and it's a lot better, after I've been laying on the table for a while. She takes a swab sample to test the "fluid" I felt and said I've progressed to 1.5cm dilated. She does not think it was my water, she also thinks it was my mucus plug.


To be safe, she will test the fluid and sent me to the lab for a HELLP panels which will test for HELLP syndrome which features a combination of "H" for hemolysis (breakage of red blood cells), "EL" for elevated liver enzymes, and "LP" for low platelet count (an essential blood clotting element). She recommends I take it easy, asked that I monitor my blood pressure, taking it every 3-4 hours, and let her know tomorrow what it has been running. If it stays elevated, she may want to induce. Apparently, the cause of HELLP syndrome is unknown, and the only treatment for is delivery...so off I go to the lab.


But, before I leave her office, she offers to schedule an induction next week...which was very tempting. I really want our baby to come when she is ready but have been feeling so crummy lately, just tired and really READY for her, none the less, I declined. I had joked with Brandon last week that he would need to come to all of my appointments from now on to prevent me for taking her up on any offers to induce, but much to my amazement, I declined this mornings offer. She decided our time together today would be my visit for the week (which was originally scheduled for tomorrow) and said she'd see me at my appointment next week. When I originally scheduled that appointment, I was hoping I wouldn't need it, I guess we shall see!


I go to the lab and wait and wait and wait, finally have a blood sample drawn and am told it will take 4 hours to result, stop at Subway and head home to "take it easy". I received a call from the nurse about 3:30pm and am told the swab sample was negative so my water did not break and the consensus is still that it was my mucus plug and the HELLP panel was negative. Good news, bad news I guess. I've been on the couch/napping all day but plan on going to work tomorrow. My coworkers seem to believe one or two more days at work should do the trick, after all being on my feet all day is pure torture lately. I'll keep you all posted...as much as I can, of course if she comes, I won't be blogging about! I hope you all have a great week!