Irritable Uterus = Irritable Mama

I have had a rough day here and I am feeling kind of low.  Fortunately I invited Rich and Mel over to watch Survivor with me tonight and some friend time has done wonders to improve my mood.  The reason for my melancholy: irritable uterus.  Jen Longcor was the first person that I described my pains/discomfort too who had not only heard of it, but put a name to it.  90% of doctors, midwifes, nurses and other pregnant ladies I have talked to about it have never heard of such symptoms.  Tonight I googled the term and found a web-site, http://www.irritable-uterus.com/, which assured me that other women have had this problem too.  There is some comfort in knowing I am not alone.  I actually started bawling when I read the following passage from the web-site: "We have suffered from IU, some of us through multiple pregnancies, so we know how difficult life can really be when living with an IU or when living with someone who has an IU." 

I know my tears were due to a combination of things:  LOTS of cramping today, no help with the kids, exhaustion and hormones.  It was still nice to feel validated in reading someone say, "what you are going through is hard."  But mainly I was crying because I am a mere 25 weeks pregnant and have 15 more long weeks to go.  I know from experience that it will get much worse before the end.  I have a TON of contractions to look forward to before I actually go into labor.  The personal stories posted on the web-site made me more nervous about going into pre-term labor than I think I need to be, so I stopped reading.  I am grateful that I have carried both girls full term and because of that I have no doubt that this pregnancy will go full term too.  But having an IU does make recognizing pre-term labor much more tricky so I need to be aware.  This is because I experience several of the signs of pre-term labor on a daily basis.  Already.  Menstrual-like cramping, lower back pain, 4 contractions (painless) an hour.  I started feeling Braxton-Hicks (BH) contractions just after 20 weeks, same as with Reagan, and get them every evening.  During the day I sometimes feel my abdomen tighten and it stays tight for quite some time.  This is common of IU, according to the web-site.  The cramping comes and goes through out the day and is definitely worse than it was a few weeks ago.  This is the most painful of symptoms thus far, and boy does pain wear a person out. 

I am glad that I have a midwife appointment on Monday.  It will be good to discuss all my symptoms with a professional.  I am just hoping the person I see has had some experience with this.  The worst is when I get a blank look or a really concerned look.  I know this is my normal.  But of course I want them to be aware and I want to take precautions when necessary.  I am going to need to work hard on not overdoing it these next 3.5 months.  Ending up on bed rest and or medication would be terrible.  Today I felt like I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other and that is not the way I want to feel at only 25 weeks along.  I am incrediably thankful for my beautiful girls who brighten my every single day.  Even though they are a lot of work, it is nice to have the evidence of how worth being pregnant is, right before my eyes.  I wouldn't say it makes it easier, but makes it more tolerable.