26 weeks !

Well we had some excitement over the weekend.   On Friday, I was down at a friend's house helping out with a garage sale.   Several times during the afternoon I was having contractions.  Not painful, just belly hard as a drum type.  Braxton hicks- no biggie.  I made it home around 4pm and laid down for a while.  Unfortunately these darn contractions wouldn't go away.  Instead I started having some cramping type pain as well.   Again, nothing major but just uncomfortable.   I drank water & laid on my side.    It seemed to be better laying down but the minute I would get up - BAM back at it.

Finally I told DH that we should probably go get it checked out.  It wasn't painful enough to bother me but the fact that it wasn't going away and I've seen way too many people having really early babies lately made me decide to go get checked. 

Naturally I didn't even begin to worry until we got there.. lol.. OMG - what if they put me on bedrest? lol.. I have soo much going on between graduation of my oldest and orientation for my oldest 2 that I don't have time to be bedridden.  (I would do it if told though). 

So we checked in, peed in a cup and got comfy in the very uncomfortable triage room.  A good note- my OB was on call!  DH got to meet her :)   Love her !   We got hooked up to monitors, Baby Girl was  stinker as always and did not want us to find her heartbeat.  She's rotten like that :)

Dr came in and did the fFN test* and also a cervical check.  4th pregnancy and you learn something new every time.  The outer part of my cervix is dilated some but the inner part is closed up firmly.  I had no idea there was an outer & inner part.. ha.  My Dr assured me that having already had 3 children, it's normal or the outer part to be dilated some.  We just worry about the inner part..

And then we sat and waited for results ..

fFN came back negative!  Yay!   Urine came back saying that I had my very first ever BLADDER INFECTION..  Geesh..  Apparently bladder infections can cause contractions while pregnant so this was the answer :)   Antibiotics for 1 week and no restrictions otherwise.  I was released to go.

So all in all, my very first labor & delivery trip early in the pregnancy and all is good.  Just a silly infection :)

**fFN test : The fetal fibronectin (fFN) test can't tell you for sure that you are in labor, but it can tell you that you're not. This is useful because in the early stages of preterm labor, it's very difficult to tell if a woman really is in labor based on her symptoms and a pelvic exam.

A negative result on the fFN test means it's highly unlikely that you'll give birth in the next week or two, which can set your mind at ease and allow your practitioner to hold off on treatments that may not be needed. A positive result, on the other hand, is not as useful. It means you're at a higher risk of giving birth early, but it doesn't guarantee that you're about to give birth or that you'll deliver early at all, so it won't help your practitioner decide how to manage your situation.

And now a belly pic..  Beware- it looks deceivingly small.. ha.  

Looking small today. Don't worry it's not normally like this! Ha!

26 Weeks 

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air.
And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about 1 2/3 pounds and measures 14 inches (about the size of a scallion) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles should soon begin to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three months