Prodromal Labor

Hi All!
How are you?  I'm actually doing really good.  Which, is kind of miraculous, actually. ;-)

Yesterday I had ten solid hours of contractions that were coming every 2-5 minutes.  And they hurt. I thought I'd have a baby for sure.  But nope.  They weren't changing my cervix! That is what is called prodromal labor. Basically meaning labor/contractions that are "false" and don't lead to a baby at the end.  Fun times. :-P

I went down to the hospital in the afternoon because I thought my water had broken.  The nurse did a swab test, and as she was doing it (very ROUGHLY, I might add) there was fluid leaking.  So we thought FOR SURE my water had broken but 3 different tests came back negative for amniotic fluid.  We still don't know what it was! Weird, huh??  The whole time I was contracting every 2-3 minutes, but when she checked my cervix I was only dilated to a 1.  So she sent me home.

After I got home my sister was  doing some acupressure on my legs and they were so swollen that there was an indentation from where she had pushed for over an hour later! :-O I also started feeling really sick, threw up, had a headache, etc... so we went back down to the hospital.  Turns out I was fairly dehydrated so I got some IV fluids (after 3 rather painful pokes; one in each hand before the nurse finally listened to me about which vein to use) and I felt a lot better after that.  The baby perked up, too.  It was kinda crazy; she showed me the printout of the baby's movements and it was basically a flat line before the  fluid, and then after she was wiggling and moving all around and her heart rate was better. So I'm glad I went down.

Overnight everything stopped and today I've had only a few Braxton Hicks.  But the amazing thing is, I'm okay with it.  I have total rest and peace to just wait for her to be ready.  Labor WILL start.  She WILL come.  I have a doc appt tomorrow and I'm going to see if he'll strip my membranes, as that worked with both my boys.  I feel comfortable doing it because it only works if your body is ready anyway.

I'll keep you posted!  For now, I'm a cleaning fiend. Albeit a very slow, 90-year old granny moving, cleaning fiend. ;-)

Emotional

Hey there,
So, today I can't stop crying. I am so ding dang emotional!  I am so so so tired of having contractions that aren't doing anything, and that aren't progressing to real labor.  They wake me up, they hurt, but they are doing nothing. Nothing.

I'm really, really trying my best to just be patient, to give her all the time she needs and know that she'll come when she's ready.  But today, it's hard.  I am so mentally, emotionally, physically exhausted.  I just want this part of pregnancy to be over with.  My body hurts everywhere.  I can't walk without it hurting.  I can't get in or out of bed, up or down on the couch, drive, cook, pretty much do anything without pain.

I'm hoping I'm close.  I remember when Christian was born, the morning before I went into labor I called my mom sobbing because Kate (who was just 14 months old) was throwing her food on the ground and it was just too. much. to. handle.  So I took her to my mom's, went home and started cleaning and went into labor.

I hate to come on here and just complain; no one likes to read whiny words.  But I'm just keeping it real.  Right now, it's hard.

Hopefully really soon I'll be holding a baby girl, and my body can start going back to normal.  Until then, I'll just keep my Kleenex box handy. :-P

Come out, baby! Please?

Hi All!
How are you?  I'm doing pretty good, actually.  Last night I had contractions off and on all night, and really thought I'd have a baby by now.  But then they stopped. :(

My ankles and feet are SO swollen.  I don't even recognize them; it's so weird.  I've never had issues with swelling before.

My fingers are just as bad.  My joints hurt like crazy; I can hardly squeeze the shampoo bottle!

But, it's just a time and season and I think (HOPE!) that once I have the baby all the swelling will go away.

Here is my little baby corner that I set up in the living room:

The pictures of my backyard aren't uploading right now, so I'll have to post those separately.

Mostly, I'm writing to ask that you pray/send good vibes/ etc... that Little Miss will come out soon.  Like, today.  It's a full moon and babies are historically born on full moons.  I've had so many contractions over the last week and I'm kind of just mentally exhausted with all the waiting and wondering.  I'm ready.  Everything here is ready. The kids are ready. Josh is ready.  We're just waiting on  my body and baby to be ready.  So if you could say a quick prayer that today is the day, we would be eternally grateful!

I will try to get on here somehow and post as soon as she is here. :)

Friday Update

I had my 38 week OB check up today. 

Everything looks good! My blood pressure was up a bit, and I'm extremely swollen, but it's been really humid and hot today.  I'm not worried about it, and just hope it goes down quickly once Baby Girl is here.

The doctor checked me and my cervix is closed, but starting to efface.  The better news is that her head is firmly engaged in the birth canal and is pressing on the cervix.  He  said that is actually a better indication that labor/delivery are near since in women who have had prior pregnancies the cervix doesn't even have to thin all the way before it dilates, and it usually goes quickly once it starts.

I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions every 3-5 minutes for a couple of days now, so I'm really, really hoping she comes this weekend, or on the full moon Monday. ;-)  I'm currently drinking red raspberry leaf tea, in hopes that it'll help the contractions get stronger and progress to the real thing.

The baby is also back in a good position. I can totally tell when she is facing the wrong way because my back absolutely KILLS me.  And when she is in the right position there is little to no pain.  So I'm praying she stays where she is until she comes out!

All in all I'm doing very well.  Not too uncomfortable and everything is ready for her to make her grand appearance!

Hopefully you'll have sweet baby pictures to look at soon! :-D

T minus 13 days and counting!

Hi All!
I'm still here... still pregnant and still hanging in there. :)

My back was really super bad over the weekend; there may or may not have been more than one public displays of crying that happened. It was highly embarrassing.  I weeded on Saturday at our church property; partly because I wanted to do a lot of squatting to encourage baby girl to just engage and start labor already. :-P  But boy howdy did I pay for it.  I was nauseated the rest of the weekend from the pain in my back it caused.

So I'm learning I just have to take it easy and not push myself.  Not rush things. She will come when she is good and ready, and I will wait.  I'm starting to read stories on BabyCenter about ladies trying castor oil and other things.  Some are successful and some are not.  I am tempted to try it, but then I am assaulted by guilt, so I know I won't. 

I have an appointment this Friday and I plan to have him strip my membranes.  It worked with both boys, and I'm hoping between that and the full moon on Monday that we'll have a baby soon. :-D

I'll keep you posted, and I'd appreciate prayers that she can be fully baked, with mature lungs, and ready to come out in the next week!  The week I'm due is so full of activities that it would be awesome if I was done giving birth, out of the hospital and could just focus on my family that week.  Christian and Kate both have graduation programs, my grandparents are coming into town to visit, etc...  It would just be so great to have a brand new little bundle of sweetness to show off. :-D

All in all I am doing well.  I actually am not frantic to get her out, like I was at the end of my pregnancy with Owen.  I am so excited to meet her, and want her to come ASAP, but at the same time I am content to wait until she is fully ready so we can have a good birthing and nursing experience.

I plan to get the camera out of the hospital bag and take a picture of my baby corner, my backyard, etc... and I'll post them here so you all can see where I spend my days. :)

Practice

I'll have to take pictures with my camera and show you all the "Baby Corner" I've set up in my living room.  It has my recliner, the bassinet and all the things I'll need within reach once baby gets here.

The bassinet is set up with a blanket and the lovey I bought her.  It's super cute and has an owl on it.  The other day Owen and Christian were throwing it around, so I decided to have a little practice session with them... How to Hold a Baby. :-D

Owen went first and was very gentle and careful:

Then it was Christian's turn.  I'm gonna have to work with him a bit. ;-) He was holding the "baby" away from his body and really flopping it around. So I had him hold the baby over his shoulder.

About 15 seconds after I took this picture he was wildly throwing the "baby" around, trying to hit the ceiling fan. :-O Guess we'll be closely supervising his cuddle sessions with Miss N. ;-)

And last but not least, here I am at 37 weeks pregnant!

Ok, I lied. One more.  I think this is hilarious!

Focus on the Positive

Hi All,
How are you today? I'm... well, I'm here.

I woke up with massive swelling, can't get my rings off and I'm afraid they are going to cut off the circulation in my finger!

I also had a really bad headache, so I called the OB and they had me come in for some monitoring to make sure it wasn't pre-eclampsia.  My blood pressure was excellent, and has been this whole pregnancy, so after a few hours of monitoring I was sent home.  Baby Girl is doing well, her heartrate was good and she was moving a lot.  Despite having regular contractions every 5 minutes, they aren't changing my cervix. :-/

I've had that before, regular, time-able contractions... well, Braxton Hicks really.  I can tell they aren't the real deal.  Anyway, after I got home I went to bed and slept for 3 hours straight!  Woke up  just in time to greet Josh and the kiddos.  He brought chinese food for dinner and it stayed down all of 30 minutes before making a violent reappearance.

So now I'm just taking it easy and laying down again.

There's a lot of negatives that I could focus on... all my joints are hurting, even the ones in my feet.  My hips hurt so bad it wakes me up at night.  My back is still out.  My stomach hurts, and even the BH's hurt because they squeeze everything so tight and there isn't any room left in there.  I'm heavy and tired and blah, blah, blah.

But today, I choose to focus on the positive.  I have a healthy baby girl, just waiting to be born.  I have 3 other healthy, happy children.  I have an amazing husband.  I have the world's best friends and family.  Seriously, I do.

And even if I have to wait 3+ weeks to meet this little gal, it'll all be worth it.  All of it. 

I have another appointment on Friday, so I'll be back to fill you in on if anything has changed. :)