These weeks of my pregnancy are so very anxious. As Binky kicks and lets me know all day that she is there, the reality that a little person is inside me is constant. But with that, comes the fear. She is a living person in there right now…one that, if anything were to happen, wouldn’t have a chance at surviving outside of my body. So I am counting down the weeks until viability. I think the parents of a preemie will always do this. Twenty four weeks, the edge of viability, will be another day where I start to breathe a little bit easier.

At my appointment with Dr. Risky last week she told me to start taking Unisom before I went to bed. It’s a sleep aid (which I definitely need), but it’s also a nausea aid. I was skeptical, but it has really worked for me. Not so much as a sleep aid, but it’s allowed me to wake up NOT feeling nauseous about three-fourths of the time. This is a drastic change for me – if I can stay ahead of the nausea with my Zofran, I have days where I actually have a bit of an appetite.

So, I had higher hopes for Tuesday’s weigh-in at Dr. Risky’s office. I got on the scale after a solid (for me) week of pigging out (Mike says my “pigging out” is still eating like a bird) with a lot less vomiting…and I’d gained half a pound. I was pleased with this amount. I’m still  below my pre-pregnancy weight, but at this rate I could be past it by the time Binky is born. Seriously…this is what I say to comfort myself.

The rest of my exam was fairly routine until Dr. Risky asked about my contractions. I told her that I’m getting about one to four contractions a day, with no pattern or consistency or pain. I almost wouldn’t notice them if I didn’t spend the majority of my days sedentary. But this didn’t please Dr. Risky. She said that I am only feeling one to four of them, but that I could be having more that I’m not aware of. In her words she, “really really REALLY doesn’t want me to have any contractions at all.” She started ticking off her reasons – my water broke at nineteen weeks with Maddie, I have a classical c-section scar, I am on blood thinners, etc. Hell, I don’t want any contractions either, but I figured Braxton Hicks were OK.

Dr. Risky thinks I may have an irritable uterus, and decided to prescribe me a tocolytic agent to try to stop my contractions.  Having done some reading up on it, there are some potential side effects associated with long term use. I could potentially be on this drug for as long as ten more weeks. I am weighing the pros and cons of taking vs not taking the drug (indocin), so if anyone out there has taken it for this sort of thing, please let me know. I really do trust Dr. Risky, but it’s hard to know what to do in a situation like this.