Apparently I am not able to go near a hospital without something unexpected happening. Thursday was the second of many regular appointments to get my amniotic fluids checked (AFI) and to have the baby's heartbeat recorded (NST).

So there I was at 5:00, hooked up for the NST. The monitor showed the baby's heartbeat as well as my uterus activity. Right away we noticed that I had a small Braxton-Hicks contraction. Twenty minutes or so we saw that I had another one. I didn't feel them, but there they were. The baby was moving around, but her heartbeat wasn't very active on the screen. So when the doctor and nurse came in, Ken and I assumed they were going to give me an ultrasound to see what the baby was actually doing. This is what happened last time we were there.

Nope. According to the doctor, having two contractions (small though they were) in a half hour is not good. They needed to take some tests to make sure that I wasn't going into pre-term labor. So one urine sample, a cervical exam, and two swab tests later... they let me go home. While my cervix was extremely soft, it wasn't at all dilated. Thank goodness. Ken and I aren't ready for a baby quite yet.

I ended up taking Friday off from work. I think the stress of the students and all the stairs are not helping with this pregnancy. Plus, my mom told me to take it easy. What very good advice!