Grumble

So I got a quick stay in the hospital today! Even got a nice jug of water and a Naked Juice to make my stay more comfortable.
I called this morning to my doctor because I had been having more frequent contractions the last couple of days that felt a lot more distinguishable than before- not painful, but like a good couple of "oooh- yes, okay, this is a contraction" contractions. I'd get three in an hour and I'd think...okay, when the next one comes I'm calling, and then of course I wouldn't get another one. A few hours later it would start up again. So I decided that this morning I would go ahead and just ask Dr. B about it. I called and told the lady at the front desk that I had a couple of questions about some contractions I'd been having and if I could talk to Dr. B or her nurse. Dr. B and her nurse are not in today, so she said she was going to put me through to a triage (is that how you spell triage?) nurse. I should have just hung up the phone then, but instead I had to boil the last three months down to a five minute phone explanation of why I was having contractions, and then said that I wasn't really having them now, so I could just wait to talk to Dr. B later- but I said the "contraction" word, and so of course she wanted me to come in and see the Dr. on call. She wanted me to come to the Loveland clinic, so I thought "Well, if my cervix is getting shorter for any reason, I may as well get checked out just to be safe". 20 min. later I get a call as I was getting ready to leave from the same nurse asking me if I could come to the Ft. Collins clinic instead. I told them Loveland was closer, but I could come to Ft. Collins. She explained that if my cervix was getting smaller, that they would like me in Ft. Collins so they wouldn't have to send an ambulance over if they had to admit me. An ambulance? Okay, yes, I'll drive to Ft. Collins. She briefly talked to someone else for a moment and then came back and said "nevermind, just go straight to the birthing center at Poudre Valley Hospital on the third floor, they will take care of you there." The hospital?! Come now, is that really necessary? Apparently yes when you use the words "high risk" and "contractions" in the same sentance to someone other than your doctor. So I drive out there, get completely lost in the hospital getting to the birthing center, get completely lost in the birthing center just trying to find a place to check in, and they get me to a room. Like a real room with a bed and TV and everything and the nurse hands me a robe to put on. I just kept feeling stupider and stupider the entire visit- I explained my life story to the next nurse who came in who hooked me up to the contraction monitering thing, even though I said I hadn't had any this morning and I just wanted to ask about the contractions I was having previously. No, I'm not bleeding, no I'm not leaking anything, no I wasn't dialating at my last appointment, no I didn't test positive on the fFN test, no I haven't had any steroids yet, YES, I was just sent here on default because of my "high risk" thing! Three hours later, no contractions at all, the doctor finally sees me, checks my cervix, and sends me on my way.
Lesson learned: hang up the phone next time my doctor's not in.
The good things from this experience:

• I emptied out my change compartment for a homeless man on the corner of Prospect and I-25. Never given money like that to a homeless person, but he gave me a warm smile and thanked me, even though it wasn't a whole lot. Made me not think about myself so much on the way to the hospital.
• The baby seemed to having a ball the whole time we were there- the nurse had to change the position of the fetal monitor twice because it kept moving around so much and she kept losing the heartbeat. She labeled it as being "very active" in her report- you could hear on the moniter everytime it moved- it sort of sounded like a giant windstorm in there with every twist and turn and jab and poke it was making. At least one of us was getting their fun out of the experience!
  
• I mentioned that I'd been crocheting baby hats and was looking to put a bunch together to donate to the hospital to the nurse and she said that they are usually in need of smaller hats for premie babies as well as babies that are born prematurely and don't make it- they still give blankets and hats to those babies too, and they are always too big. My heart swelled in sympathy and I am now going to crank out as many premie sized baby hats as I can- anyone interested in helping let me know!