Have a Nice Trip, See You Next Fall

I made an unexpected trip to see Tina and Allison today. I fell flat on my face in the backyard, tripping in this little ditch in the middle of the yard (great place for it, huh?) where the sump pump empties out of the basement. It was like falling in slow motion, and when it was over, I couldn't believe I was lying flat on the ground, my face nearly in the grass.

It was amazing how much the baby cushioned my fall (poor baby!) because I hardly felt a thing. When I got up, I was most worried about my ankle having twisted in the ditch, and then I realized, "Oh, shoot! I just fell on the BABY!" Sure there's lots of cushioning in there, but still - not the most comforting realization.

I sat on the back steps and wondered what I should do. I felt fine, but had this nagging feeling that maybe I should call my OB anyway, just to make sure. Perhaps there's some huge issue with falling on your belly that I don't know about. The wonderful receptionist, Cybill, took my message and told me she'd talk to Tina or Allison about what to do when either one of them was done with her current appointments.

I immediately remembered a dream my mom called and told me about a couple weeks ago. She dreamt that Lily had fallen in that same ditch and broken her foot, and told me that we should move it just to make sure that didn't happen. I told her we always intended to move it - it just hadn't happened yet. She wasn't laughing when I called her and told her her dream had come true, only I was the one who fell and not Lily.

I called Ryan next. He was understandably concerned and told me to keep him updated. He also told me to make sure I watch out for that ditch. Thanks, babe. I told him the ditch is not staying there and we WILL be figuring out a place to move it to. No one makes a convincing argument like a pregnant woman who has just fallen on her baby.

All through these three phone calls, Lily was going back and forth between the site of my fall and the back steps, bringing me one cube of ice at a time that had fallen onto the ground out of my water cup when I fell. Boy, she can sure keep herself busy!

After confirming that I had indeed fallen on my belly, Cybill told me that Tina wanted me to come in just to make sure everything was OK. I wasn't sure what this visit would entail, but I got in the car and headed right over there, secretly hoping get another view of the baby via ultrasound. No such luck. Allison hooked me up to the fetal monitor and gave me a 1/2 hour non-stress test. (I had two or three of these last pregnancy when I was 8 days late.)

I was certain Lily would fuss through the whole test. She's a busy little girl and I'm sure being strapped into her umbrella stroller for 1/2 an hour was not on her to-do list for today. When Allison brought me in some juice (I love Allison), Lily's big mouth opened wide and Allison had herself a good laugh before offering to get a juice for Lily as well. I've never given Lily a juice box before - just never had the occasion - and was curious to see what she'd do with it. She was a little leary of taking it from Allison and putting the straw in her mouth, which was unexpected, so we set it aside and left her to herself while the test continued.

Amazingly, after the 1/2 hour was over, she was still content in her seat, looking at her book about kitties, happily sucking away on her pacifier. I couldn't believe it! The first thing I did after being unstrapped was give her the juice box. She was so excited to not only hold this thing all by herself - that's a big issue for her lately, having to hold everything herself - but to also have so much sweet, undiluted apple juice at once. She's usually so happy with just water, that her normal treat is water spiked with just a little juice. This was her reward for being such a patient little girl.

I could use many wonderful adjectives to describe Lily, but "patient" is nowhere on the list...

Allison looked at the printout and said the baby's heartbeat was absolutely fine, and then commented that I had had a lot of contractions. I definitely noticed one, but beyond that, I guess they weren't strong enough to get my nose out of my magazine. I told her that a mess of contractions was nothing new for me, this pregnancy or last, and she commented on how good that was...all the practice my uterus is getting again.

That was pretty much it. Hopefully, no new fall-related symptoms will arise. I'm told to be on the lookout for bleeding, lack of baby movement, or hard contractions. Will do.