My Stomach is Where?!?!

Folks, did you know, when pregnant, that your stomach sits above the baby bump basically at the end of your sternum? Well, I didn't. Is this a normal resting place for your stomach (aka: when not pregnant)? Again, I have no idea. What I do know is the stomach bug  I have been suffering from since last week is not in fact a stomach bug, but...wait for it....contractions! Yay, no stomach bug! But wait, contractions......??

You would think that after 5+ weeks in the hospital I would be fully acquainted with contractions inside and out. I guess as you get bigger, however, contractions start to feel differently. I finally called my doctor's nurse line last night after much prodding from my mother (apparently seeing bright bursts of lights while suffering from a headache - which I described as fireflies flying across my field of vision - is never normal, pregnant or not). This is a brief rundown of the conversation:

Me: Good Evening, I would like to briefly ask about normal third trimester symptoms such as headaches and stomaches.
Nurse: Not a problem! I am pulling up your chart now. Ma'am, are you pregnant?
Me: (What? Why else would I ask?) Yes ma'am
Nurse: Oh, ok. Are you in your third trimester?
Me: (No...I just thought I would get a little preview of what's to come) Yes, 33 weeks and 3 days.

We establish I am in fact pregnant and move into discussing the actual symptoms:

Nurse: So, do you have a sore neck?
Me: I've been on bed rest since November, so it is difficult for me to tell if the sore neck is due to my bed rest or headache.
Nurse: You've been on bed rest, why?
Me: (Getting worried again) Preterm labor
Nurse: Oh, ok. So did you take medicine for this? Are you still taking medicine?
Me: Well, when I was in the hospital I
Nurse: You were hospitalized?!
Me: (Are we looking at the same medical chart???) Um, yes, for over a month

As you can imagine, the conversation never really recovered from this point. Fast forward to today (Tuesday). I got a call from my normal doctor and nurse team and they asked me to come in for a quick check. I believe they were worried about preeclampsia based on all the blood pressure and protein tests I took. However, once we hooked me up to the TOCO (haven't mentioned that machine for a while) it became evident that I was having contractions every two minutes.

In all, Noah and I were at the doctor's office for about 3 hours. The doctor confirmed the contractions are preterm contractions versus labor contractions and I was (finally) given a prescription for...drumroll please....PROCARDIA! Woot! Because the preterm contractions (not to be confused with normal Braxton-Hicks contractions) are not expected to launch me into legit labor, the doctor  decided to hold off from emergency steroid shots. So, in summation, it was an eventful day and I am exhausted, but Noah and I are fairly confident that we will reach 34 weeks sans newborn child. (Of course, sending us happy thoughts encouraging Baby Boy to stay inside would be greatly appreciated).

I would like to give a big shot out to both our employers for their flexibility with this whole situation. Absolutely nothing has been easy and we have been shown a tremendous amount of empathy, patience, and love. Today I would especially like to thank Noah's team for allowing him to once again  drop everything at a moment's notice to drive his less than calm wife to the doctor! Thank you!

Jessica