stomach bug

I woke up at 2 a.m. with what I can only describe as a terrible belly ache and the shivers. I ended up having some gastrointestinal distress and eventually vomited, which is something I rarely do and haven't had the pleasure of doing at all during pregnancy. After that I had lots of cramping and some contraction-like feelings but nothing regular. Kevin got up with me and we spent the rest of the night in the living room trying to decide if I was in the early stages of labor or if I had a stomach flu. We both stayed home from work and saw the doctor at noon. I wasn't showing any signs of labor and didn't have a fever, so he said he thought it was a stomach bug. He ordered me to stay home from work to rest and drink lots of fluids until after I see him at my regular weekly appointment end of day Wednesday. At this point, the nausea has subsided. I just have a very, very bad pain in my lower right abdomen that hurts when I move or when she kicks me. I was able to take a 2-hour nap, though. We know that your body can "cleanse" itself in the days before labor, so there's a chance something might happen this week, but for now we're treating it as a stomach problem, which was my initial hunch. So please just pray/hope that I either feel better tomorrow or go into labor! If I'm going to be in agonizing pain, I want some results, lol!

I also got the bad news today that I'm a group B strep carrier. Group B strep is a bacteria that lives in your system and doesn't harm you (it's a different strain than the one that causes strep throat). There's nothing you can do to contract or prevent it; 10 to 35% of people are just carriers. Unfortunately, you can pass it along to your baby in the birth canal and it can cause lots of problems, so they treat you with IV antibiotics your entire labor. I'm pretty disappointed because lately I had set my mind on trying to have as natural a labor as possible, including using the shower/labor tub at the hospital, trying different positions and yoga poses, etc. Kevin and I took a yoga workshop and have been enjoying learning about natural child birth, so it's kind of a bummer. I can still try NCB, but I'm going to be limited in my resources to manage pain when I'm hooked up to an IV. I guess it's good that I know now so I can adjust my expectations.

A bit of good news: Kevin has been awesome today. He got right up with me and brought me whatever I needed and helped in any way he could to make me more comfortable. I never had any doubt, but I know he's going to be wonderful when this all happens for real.