Shelby's Life and Whatnot

In which we are introduced to "Labor and Delivery" at UCI

So today was an eventful day. I've been having a lot of lower back pain lately, particularly this past week, so I finally called the doctor about it. I talked to her nurse (whom I love) and she spoke with the doctor and said that the doctor wanted me (us) to go to Labor and Delivery (L&D) at the hospital to "get checked out." It was like, "Oh, ack! That's not the answer I was expecting!" Well I'll jump to the end of the story now to reassure you that everything is just fine. The doctor was concerned that I might be in preterm labor or having contractions, which at this stage in the pregnancy can feel like, and be mistaken for, lower back pain. Good news is that there were no contractions and the pain is just musculoskeletal, so Biff is fine.

We arrived at L&D but the observation room is very small so they didn't initially allow Kevin in. Which I think may have been a blessing at first, since the woman in the bed next to me was in labor and was clearly in a lot of pain. Fortunately (for her) she ended up with an epidural and being admitted. I got hooked up to the baby monitor to detect contractions. It was funny when they tried to find Biff's heartbeat with the doppler. They found it, and then he kicked the monitor, so they moved it, and he kicked it again, and then they moved it again and he kicked it again. The nurse laughed and said, "Oh, he doesn't like to be poked!" Unfortunately we haven't been able to get him to repeat the trick at home. He is pretty active and if you have your hand on my stomach at the right time you can feel him, but we haven't been able to get him to kick consistently for Kevin. I'm sure that will come as he gets bigger.

I had a very thorough exam with a very nice 4th-year med student (yay teaching hospitals! It was just like Stanford! Haha) who put me through my paces trying to determine the source of the pain--bend this way, bend that, lift your legs, etc. etc. The final diagnosis is basically just musculoskeletal pain. The unfortunate thing is that there's not a lot they can do about it. At the hospital they gave me a muscle relaxer and that was niiiiiiiiiiiice. Certainly helped a lot there! But obviously that's not a permanent solution! So the doctor suggested hot/cold compresses, getting a maternity belt (basically a belt to hold up the baby), and trying physical therapy for some stretching and strengthening. I was exhausted when we got home so I wasn't able to follow up with my doctor today, but I'll call tomorrow to discuss physical therapy. Hopefully the insurance will cover it!

Anyway, that was today's 3 hours in L&D. Hopefully the next time we go we'll come back with a baby!