The Undiscovered Country

The wonderful thing about Tigger . . .

Life is about learning - a day to day adventure to discover something heretofore unknown.

For instance, at 1:18 am this morning as I took one of my many trips to the bathroom, my bladder can still hold more than I expect.

Unfortunately (depending upon your point of view), I thought something else other than my bladder had burst so early in the morning.

I awoke Dave and said, "I think my water may have broke."

Twenty minutes later we were out the door. I didn't leak any, so I was fairly confident my water didn't break, and Thomas was merely trying to make more room for himself. Then again, I also wanted to make certain. I don't like to second-guess and worry if I don't have to.

We had called ahead, so they had a room already prepared. I undressed, put on a gown, and the nurse placed the baby heartbeat monitor and another one to measure any contractions. The nurse then performed the swab, and we waited about 45 minutes for the results.

It turned out negative, so no bursted balloons here! Still, I enjoyed listening to Thomas' heartbeat, as well as watch the graph jump when I had a contraction. I had three strong ones - still erratic in time and intensity, so no chance I was in imminent labor.

We had to wait almost another hour for the doctor on call to check me out and discharge me. She wasn't available, so she had the nurse measure me (at 3 cm; still not much happening in that area). The nurse couldn't feel the baby's head, so the doctor (over the phone) ordered an ultrasound to determine if the baby's head was down.

My has Thomas grown! For a second I thought, "My body will be able to expel that?! No wonder giving birth is so painful!"

Upon determining Thomas' head was indeed down (something I didn't doubt. He's been head-down since almost the beginning) they released me, and Dave and I fell back into bed at 4am.

I could say I'm embarrassed for overreacting, but I'm not. I figure where the baby is concerned, I shouldn't be guessing if I'm unsure about something. Besides, for a first pregnancy, it's quite common for a woman to go in thinking her water broke, when in reality her bladder spasmed.

I done learned something today. That always makes for a good day - or at least one not wasted.

Mostly though, I wanted to share a cartoon with you I found in "Chicken Soup for the New Mom's Soul." I'm thinking Thomas has a new nickname: