What on Earth Was That?

Last night around 8:30pm, I started to feel uncomfortable. By 10:30pm, I would definitely call what I was feeling pain. However, there were no defined contractions - no tightening of my belly, nothing to time, just general pain (like the worst menstrual cramps I've ever had x10).

Dave put some counter-pressure on my back with a hot compress, which eased the pain back there briefly, but I felt like I need that everywhere from my waist to my toes. By 11pm, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I decided to try to go to bed and get some rest.

Between Dave and I, we got me positioned in bed with the hot compress draped over my waist, touching as much of my back and abdomen as possible. This got very uncomfortable very fast.

I had heard of this thing called "back labour" and, given the amount of pain in my back and legs, I decided to ask my online community friends what their back labour was like. None of their descriptions fit the bill, but some of the positioning eased the pain a little.

I struggled until about 12:30, trying various positions and heating the compress and doing anything else I could to ease the pain. Eventually, sleep took me, despite the pain, which woke me several times throughout the night.

I got up for a bathroom trip around 5:45 and noticed that the bulk of the pain was gone, but it had left behind residual aches and burning. It feels like I ran a marathon or spent the day at the ski hill or something crazy (you all know how sporty I am ;) ). My legs feel like they are on fire and they tingle and everything from my waist to my toes aches.

I honestly have NO idea what happened last night. Babe is moving and seems happy (listened to his heartbeat and it is going great guns). I had worried that he had repositioned himself (and heaven forbid he turn breech at this point), but he seems to be in the same position he was. There don't seem to have been any long-term effects from last nights festivities, but we'll see what the rest of today (my birthday, I'll have you know!) brings.