I’ve been able to feel the baby move for a few weeks now, so I can pretty much pinpoint where she is in my vast uterus, whether or not she’s flipping over or just punching her mom, or if she’s just lounging about.  So imagine my surprise when I felt a new feeling a few days ago.  It wasn’t a flip, or a punch, or a gentle swaying lounge.  I wasn’t entirely sure it was the baby at all.  After some thought and concentration on the feeling when it happened, I came to the conclusion that the feeling could only be one thing: a contraction.  Well, I guess it could have been one of two things: a contraction, or my child suddenly expanding to the size of a watermelon and trying to bust out of my stomach.  Contraction made more sense.

Now, I’m five months pregnant.  Braxton Hicks contractions (contractions that feel like labor contractions but don’t actually signify the start of labor) are very common on the final weeks of pregnancy, and some women start to feel them as early as 6 weeks.  I certainly wasn’t expecting to feel anything like that at this stage, so I was kinda freaked out.  And then of course, you hear and read the horror stories of women who had contractions and went into early labor, were hospitalized, etc.  (On a side note, for anyone who reads this blog and knows someone who is pregnant or trying to become pregnant, it is probably a good idea to refrain from sharing those kinds of stories with them.  It’s kinda inappropriate and mean, like telling someone the story of your cousin who died bungee jumping just as they are about to jump.)  For someone who’s never been here before, it’s a little scary.

Luckily, I had an appointment today with my OBGYN.  I told her what was going on, and she seemed pretty nonchalant about it.  Made me pee in a cup, tested said pee, and came back with the diagnosis.  Voila!  I have a bladder infection.  How is that related, you ask?  I did too.  Apparently, your bladder can contract, which in turn makes your uterus think that looks like fun, and then it contracts.  My uterus is a follower, not a leader.  I’ve got to have to little chat with it about that when this is all over.

So, now I’ve got an Rx for antibiotics (safe for baby), a mean bully bladder, and a uterus who follows along for fun.  Luckily, that’s all it was.  I’ll take bully bladder over the alternatives any day.  But it’s just one more thing to add to the list of unpleasant pregnancy surprises.  I mean, shouldn’t preggos be exempt from this kind of stuff?  It seems like a kick in the teeth that in addition to all the other wonderful little things we get to deal with, we also have to worry about bladder infections that cause contractions.  Yippee.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.