Had a bit of a scare last night. Stephanie, my wife, said she hadn't felt the baby move for two days and had felt a tightening in her uterus. So we went to the hospital at about 6 PM to get her checked out.
As soon as she laid down on the hospital bed and relaxed, the baby started to kick and move, which was a relief. But the monitors showed Stephanie was having about 8-10 contractions a minute... not good since she's only 6.5 months pregnant.
Stephanie said she'd been out nearly all day with our daughter doing the post-Christmas thing: running around from store to store exchanging and returning gifts. She hadn't stopped to rest for practically the whole day.
It seems as if the contractions were caused by excessive activity and a lack of rest.
The nurse said they were thinking of giving Stephanie a shot of something (can't remember the name) to make her uterus settle down. The nurse explained it would make Stephanie feel flushed and jittery, like drinking too much coffee and running a race, but that it would stop the contractions.
My first thought? No, thanks. That doesn't sound like a good deal at all.
Stephanie agreed with me that she didn't want the shot, so I told her to relax, visualize a peaceful place, and breathe deeply through her nose and out through her mouth.
The line that was tracking Stephanie's contractions changed instantly. And it changed dramatically. The line leveled out and instead of a whole bunch of sharp peaks and troughs, there was in its place a smooth, curving line, like a stretched out "S".
Long story short, common sense saved the day. The nurse decided Stephanie didn't need the shot after all.
Remember the old joke? The man says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." The doctor replies, "Well, don't do that anymore," and writes the man a bill for $50. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in real life.
The lesson here is that common sense can often do more for you than the medical community can. I'm not suggesting you self-diagnose and self-treat in just any situation... only that you have a measure of common sense and reasoning that can go a long way toward healing your body.
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