Week 39: CONTRACTIONS!!!

contractions

is this for real?

What a week this turned out to be.  In 3 previous babies and birth stories, I had not experienced anything like this.  Turns out this baby really wanted to keep us on edge.

The week started out with Halloween Day.  As eager as I was to meet this baby, I was very thankful that first off, her birthday did not end up being Halloween, and second, that I was able to enjoy the day with the kids.  I would have been disappointed to miss out on their dressing up and enjoying the festivities.

Sophia was a doctor this year, Noah was a dinosaur, and Phoebe was a little piggy.  They were so sweet in their costumes, it wasn't hard to forget that I was very anxious for this baby to venture into the world.  We took them out to a Trunk or Treat event at their preschool, and then stopped to trick or treat down one street on our way home.  It was the first time that they did the traditional trick or treat experience, and they just kept saying, "I love Halloween.  It's all about CANDY!!"

It turned into a late night for us (big surprise), and so we put the kids to bed in a fog of exhaustion and collapse on the couch.  Not much later, we headed to bed.

Turns out, I didn't stay there long.  If I thought that night last week was a trick, this night was almost miserable.  The contractions started shortly after midnight, and weren't close, but fairly regular, about every twenty minutes.

I spent the first couple of hours trying to sleep in between.  After hours proved this was a futile effort, I got up to finish the last final things I wanted to have done if we would be leaving for the hospital before long.  I switched and folded some laundry, sent some directions to our kids caregivers, made a list of last minute things I would need to grab, threw a few final things into my suitcase.  And then sat on the couch and waited.  And waited.

For nothing.  Contractions slowed...and then stopped.  I crawled back into bed in a heap at about 5 am, for a very quick hour of sleep before it was time to get rolling for the day.

The rest of the week progressed in much the same way.  Contractions during the night, nothing but complete fatigue during the day.

I went in for my appointment that week to hear that I was about 1-2 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced.  Not quite what I would have hoped for or expected, but progress none the less.

People kept asking me this week what the plan was for next week (meaning once I passed my due date without a baby).  I have yet to have made it to a 40 week appointment, and we hadn't talked about it at all, so I wasn't sure.  There really wasn't a plan.  I was thinking I probably should have asked, but I had just never had the need before.

And that was how week 39 went.  Until Friday.  But that's a story in itself!  :)

Week 38: 24 October, 2011

I had pretty much forgotten what it's like to be at the very end, and then to wake up every day wondering, "Will this be the day?  Are we going to get to meet this baby today?"

I hadn't had many very regular contractions since that night of my last appointment.  I did go in this week, but there was nothing to check and therefore nothing to report at this point.

Wednesday night was the beginning of the little game this little peanut played, just to tease me.  I had to work on Thursday, and so I was making an attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour on Wednesday night, so that I could be as rested as possible before my o' dark hundred alarm went off in the middle of the night morning to start my work day.

Our sweet and loving little girl had different plans for the night, though.  That was the first night that I was awake through the night with contractions.  They weren't regular enough that I made an attempt to time them (mainly because I was still clinging to hopes of a good night's sleep before work).  After my fair share of labor and delivery stories already, I know that they number one thing they say once contractions start is to get as much rest as possible, because you just don't know how long it will last.  So I kept telling myself this, and was very valiantly waging a losing war with the proverbial sleep sheep.

I have no idea how much/little sleep I got that night.  All I know is that there were several contractions that made me think we'd be headed to the hospital before the day was done, I felt like I didn't sleep much at all, and once the alarm finally did go off, I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed to get ready for work.  And once that happened, the contractions stopped.  So I headed in for a very unproductive day of work.

Week 37: The Home Stretch

After last weeks "scare," I now feel like this baby can come any time and we will be thrilled.  And since I am now at 37 weeks, it literally could be any time.  I am into the "safe" zone, at which I am considered full term, and there would be no stopping labor.  It's funny how that that mental milestone makes me feel so much more prepared and eager.  
But I had totally forgotten the feeling of wondering every day if this is going to be the day.  It's funny to wake up every morning and think, "What's the date?  Will this be my baby's birth day?"

I have decided to do my best to live in the moment, in spite of being anxious to meet this baby.  There isn't a whole lot of time left as a family of 5, and once this little girl arrives, life will most likely be pretty chaotic for awhile.  Who knows what kind of time I will get with my other 3 favorite little people once I am spending a good portion of my time feeding, changing, diapering and soothing a newborn.  So I want to cherish the moments now, and to make the most of our time together.  I want to savor the moments when I feel like I have life under control.  I want to love on and nurture each of my 3 special little people every chance I get.

I am also reminding myself that there is a good chance this might be the last time I am pregnant.  With that in mind, I want to hold on to the good things about it.  I want to enjoy feeling this baby move inside of me.  We all know that's by far the best part of pregnancy anyway, and I know that there will come a time when I will miss it.  Even though it sometimes keeps me from very restful sleep right now, I know that down the road, I will look back and wish I could experience that feeling again.  So I'm trying to savor the moments before they are gone forever.

Now, that's not to say that I am not fully looking forward to gaining full mobility once this baby comes out.  This time, more than any other, that is what I find myself most anticipating about not being pregnant- being able to have full range of motion, so to speak.  Full movement, flexibility, agility, whatever.  I just look forward to feeling "normal" again!

And now that we really truly could have a baby at any time, Tim has finally caught the name fervor.  We have been having more frequent discussions about who is going to win the great name debate.  I am not sure that we are all the way decided yet, but we're finally beginning to make some progress.

Week 36: Ready?

The 36 week mark means the end of my monthly OB appointments.  (After this, we move to two weeks, and then every week for the last couple.)  Since Tim is off work on Fridays, I usually try to schedule my appointments for then so that he can be home with the other kids.  Life is much easier if I don't have to take them into the OB's office with me.  :)
Before this appointment, I took Noah and Phoebe over to the museum across the street with us to spend the morning with some friends from church.  We were there for the better part of the morning, and then we had a picnic lunch at the park.  Usually, we take either the wagon or the stroller and walk on over to the museum.  If I were ever to time it out, I am sure that it would take longer to get everyone loaded in the van, strapped in, drive over to the museum, unbuckled from carseats, and then situated in the stroller than it does to just walk on over.  Well, for the first time in 5 years, I actually contemplated driving to the museum.  As I pulled the wagon full of Noah and Phoebe and a blanket and our lunches and water bottles to the end of the driveway, I found myself questioning if I could even make it across the street!!!

Somehow, I managed to survive the day on my feet.  We made it home just in time for me to gulp a glass of water (in preparation for my regular pee test) and head out the door for my appointment.  The best part of this appointment was a super speedy ultrasound to make sure this baby girl is headed down and out.  They had told me at my last appointment that they would also do an exam this time to see what was happening.  The sonogram revealed that our little girl has "assumed the position" and is just where she needs to be.  But since I said that I hadn't had any contractions that had me "excited," they would skip the exam at this point.  Which was fine with me, since it's all relative anyway.  She'll come whenever she's ready, no matter how ready my body may or may not be at this point.

Funny thing is, after the nurse practitioner left the room at the end of the appointment, I had my first contraction that stopped me in my tracks.  I had to pause for a minute and let it pass before I could gather my things and head out of the exam room.  And actually, then once I got home for the night, I sat down on the couch and realized I was having regular contractions throughout the evening.

Now, as much as I thought I was ready to have a baby and be done being pregnant, this freaked me out.  I wasn't "ready" like I wanted to be.  I still had stuff to get done.  Nothing major, but things like washing the carseat and getting it ready.  Dealing with all the baby stuff in bits and pieces that were scattered throughout the house at this point.  Deciding on a name for this little girl.  Washing some clothes for her to wear.  Making sure I had at least a few diapers on hand so that we wouldn't have to go to the store unless we wanted to.

So the next day dawned, and I found myself in a flurry of activity to take care of all those little loose ends so that I could actually be "ready".  And sure enough, at the end of the day, with the carseat assembled and ready, the clothes washed, diapers in hand, I felt so much better.  And "ready."

Now, if only we could agree on a name...

Week 35: "Poor Boy"

It's kind of ironic how at this point in time, my posts seem to write themselves in the sense that each week, I seem to find a very common theme to many of my conversations.  A couple weeks ago, it was the "when are you due?" question.  Last week, it was the "what are you going to name her?" question.

This week, it seems to be the "Poor Boy" theme.  The conversations about whether we are having another boy or girl have become very predictable.

"What are you having?"

"Another girl."

"And what do you have at home?"

"Girl, boy, girl."

"Oh, poor boy."

"BUT, he'll sure know how to treat a woman someday!!!"

That's become my canned response to this overplayed conversation.  After all, I have found that a boy who grows up surrounded by girls is actually a pretty rare gem.  So much so that I married one!

Week 34: The Name Game

At this point our biggest issue is agreeing on a name.  Which is clearly a problem for us.  If we were in agreement, we would have a name by now.  This is the first time I remember this happening, but I have one idea and Tim has another.
Every time I bring up the topic, in an effort to bring us to some kind of agreement, our discussion goes something like this:

Me: "So, what are we going to name this baby?"
Tim: "I don't know.  What do you think?"

And that sums it up pretty well.  That's as far as we ever get.

But every time I turn around, someone is asking me what her name is.  I have no answer.  Still.  I'm ready to have it decided.  I feel like part of the reason to find out the gender ahead of time is so that we could name our baby and so I could start thinking of her by name.

Tim suggested at some point over the summer that he might be bribed to agree to my name.  He's mentioned a few times that I have come up with no proper bribe to put this debate to rest.  But the problem with that is that I don't want to come to an agreement because I offered to do all the dishes for the remainder of time.  I want to be in agreement because we've decided whatever we name our daughter is truly the best name for her.  We're just not there.  Yet.   I keep trying for it.

On the other hand, it is nice to have a truthful way to deflect the "What is her name?" question, as I wouldn't answer it even if we did have a name decided.  There's gotta be some kind of surprise once she's born.  And it's just a lot easier to say that we haven't decided than it is to say that I'm not telling.

This weekend was the high schoolers fall retreat.  Once again, we weren't sure until the very last minute that me and the kids would be able to go, but thankfully it worked out for all of us to be there.  In fact, because of the vehicle situations and timing, Tim was even able to ride with us both ways!  What a special treat!  Especially since that meant that he was available to help unload and then reload all of our crap gear for the weekend!  What a blessing.

All of us had a great weekend with the high school kids, but I sure was glad we only had a weekend's worth of being at camp this time.  I don't think I could have handled much more of hauling my crew all over camp this time.  All of the buildings at camp are in relatively close proximity to each other, especially in comparison to the camp we were at in California, but it still felt like a major ordeal for me to carry anyone anywhere this time.  I was so thankful once again to have brought the stroller.  And believe me, I used it whenever possible this weekend.

This week was also Tim and I's tenth anniversary.  That's a big one!!!  We had always dreamed of taking some kind of celebratory vacation.  But, with being so close to having this baby, combined with the fact that we are still desperate to find someone to watch our kids while we are in the hospital, we decided we would have to hold off on that dream.  I'm trying not to dwell on it too much, but I can't lie about the fact that I am sad that it won't work.  Instead, we spent one night in a hotel on the north side of Denver.  Which was still great to get away.  But just doesn't compare to a week in Hawaii or some other tropical destination.

Week 33: How many more weeks?

A typical conversation in my life these days (maybe every conversation in my life these days) goes something like this:

"How's it going?"
"Great!  How are you?  When are you due?"

And every time I answer, it feels like an eternity away.  November 7th.  That's seven weeks still.  It feels like a lifetime.

As I was picking up Sophia at school one day this week, one of the other moms said, "You still haven't had that baby yet?"

To which I obviously responded, "No, not for awhile yet."  With a totally fake, polite chuckle.

To which she said, "You must have what, like 3 weeks left?"

To which I inwardly groaned.  And continued the fake smile.  And said, "No, a few more than that."

Even though I FELT like I must have looked, based on the track this conversation was on.  But I am looking forward to the conversations of this nature coming to an end!