Bloody Show

Again, I must stress that if you are not interested in knowing the gross things about pregnancy, you should not read this blog.

Today, as I was sitting on my exercise ball in front of my computer answering emails for work, I felt like I had peed my pants...just a little. I went to the bathroom, and when I wiped, it was nothing but bright red blood. There was blood in the toilet also.

Now, I've been having spotting all throughout my pregnancy, but it has never been bright red. It has usually been brown or pinkish. So this was something completely different. I called the homebirth midwife to let her know what was going on. She suggested that I call the Kaiser doctor and see if I could get in. She was concerned about my placenta possibly separating from the wall of my uterus.

I called the Kasier advice line and told them what was going on. They told me to come on in. The doctor checked me (1.5 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and at 0 station) and said that the blood was just my bloody show. She also said that it would probably get more bloody as my contractions got more intense. She did an ultrasound to check the fluid level, which was fine. The baby's heart was in the 150s.

She decided to put me on the monitor to check my contractions. I was on the monitor for probably 30 minutes, and the baby wasn't moving. His heart rate was pretty steady between 120 and 130, but he wasn't moving. They zapped me with the little noise maker/vibrator thing to try to wake him up. It didn't work. They gave me orange juice. It didn't work. The doctor came in and zapped me twice, and he finally woke up and started moving. His heartbeat got up to the 150s again as he was moving.

I was having very mild contractions throughout, but nothing to write home about. In fact, they were even less intense than the ones on the monitor at 35w5d.

So now, we're back at home. I'm feeling a lot of pressure down there when I stand up or walk, and blood pours out of me every once in awhile. But no regular contractions. And the wait continues...