Waiting
10.10.10 came and went. We made it to 39 weeks. And in about 30 minutes (from now, as I write), we will make it to 40 weeks. So, here is a little recap of the last week.
Monday. I had my first night of pretty regular pre-labor, or prodromal labor, as I think it is called. Somewhat regular surges (contractions) from about 7-9pm, but nothing really very strong. It was also the first day on the calendar with no real plans, as we thought we would have had a baby by then.
Tuesday. Another day of just going with the flow. In the evening, I did have another few hours of pre-labor. It was becoming more interesting, especially since it was starting around dinner time and lasting until bedtime and through the night (just more spaced out). I did have a little bit of a spurt of energy in the afternoon and I vacuumed and mopped the floors. Not sure if that was that real pre-arrival-of-baby spurt of energy, but it didn't last.
Wednesday. I saw my chiropractor in the morning and felt genuinely pretty good. She commented that I was really relaxed, with the usual tension in my neck and shoulders mostly absent, and that my hips/pelvis were barely off. Kind of unusual for me. So, I decided to go home and try to relax and concentrate on having this baby come. Oh, it was also my Grandma Jane's birthday, so it seemed like a good day for a baby to be born. After trying a few natural induction methods, I did have some interesting activity. Around 5:45pm, I started tracking surges that were coming every 3-5 minutes, but were only lasting 45-55 seconds. They were definitely stronger than anything I'd had before, but apparently not the real deal. I called my doula after 1 hour and 30 minutes of tracking to ask her opinion. She indicated that I was probably in very early stages of labor and put herself on call for the night. However, while I did experience some increased activity that night (compared to previous nights), by morning things had slowed down to every 15-20 minutes. And they were in my back a lot (probably due to baby's position).
Thursday. I had an appointment to see the nurse practitioner at my OB. Stephan stayed home until the appointment, just in case, but things really had slowed a great deal by then. I had not seen the nurse practitioner before, so it was a very different appointment. While my OB is very much a midwife in an OBs body, her nurse practitioner was a very by-the-book traditional medical professional. So, we didn't bother her too much with questions. Her recommendation was to walk, walk, walk. In addition to being more traditional, she was, shall we say, not nearly as proficient in her internal exam. We found out that I was 2cm open and 60% thinned, which was encouraging news. (It means that my body is doing what it is supposed to do!) But her internal exam caused incredibly painful cramping for the rest of the day and evening. After talking to my doula right after the appointment, we agreed that I would just take it easy the rest of the day and not worry about encouraging labor. So, I took a nap and just laid low. Didn't even take a walk. That evening I was so miserable with the cramping contractions, but thankfully they did not last.
Friday. I woke up feeling better and the cramping was almost completely gone. I even went with my mom and Eisley to her gym class. (Those moms were quite surprised to see me!) And, while I definitely did not think I'd be making it to this appointment, I was glad to keep my prenatal massage appointment that afternoon. To be honest, after being so relaxed and positive on Wednesday, the cramping contractions that I had most of Thursday really caused me to tense up. So the massage was definitely needed. She worked my induction points again and did her best to get my body as unkinked and relaxed as possible! Oddly enough, all of the surge activity that I had during the day actually died down that evening. I guess my body needed a break.
Saturday. We had a really good day yesterday. There was no real agenda, but we were able to hang out with Eisley and just relax. We went out for some breakfast while it was a little on the cooler side (though that didn't last long). We all had a rest...and by rest I don't mean sleep, as Eisley hasn't napped all week! More of a midday break. My mom spent all day making Eisley a very adorable bathrobe. I looked everywhere for something for her, but was not having much luck, especially since I wanted a terry cloth robe for after her baths. So, my mom made her one in pink with some very cute accents. I'll post some pictures in another post, as they are not off my camera yet. But after a long day of sewing work, we decided that mom shouldn't have to cook, and I was too tired, so we ordered out. I decided to try some asian food with breaded, fried chicken and sauce and spice. I figured one of those might send my body into labor. (Nope.) We also walked down to the park with Eisley after dinner. The weather has finally broken a little here, so it is actually kind of pleasant around that time of day. (Normally, I NEVER walk to the neighborhood park because of the heat!) I had very regular surges throughout dinner and our walk and into the rest of the evening. I even had to get up twice to go to the bathroom last night, partly due to the surges, partly due to drinking more red raspberry leaf tea before bed! And while my body may be working on getting 'ready' to have this baby...apparently, it just wasn't time yet, despite all of the natural induction things I tried.
Sunday. I woke up feeling really beat up today. Probably from the extra activity that I haven't been doing up until recently. I can do the walking, but it's definitely not the easiest thing on my bones, I guess, with the added weight. I stayed home from church again. I just can't see sitting still for 2 hours right now. I took a 40 minute walk and by the time I got back, it was kind of warm and I was quite tired. So, while Eisley didn't sleep, I did. Well, I practiced my hypnobirthing relaxation and then took a one and a half hour nap. This not a luxury I take often because I usually want to be productive, but apparently, that is what my body needed. I have had very minimal pre-labor activity today. Although, I did have some increased surges on my walks today. Yes, that is right; I took 2 walks today. We went to the playground again after dinner.
Tomorrow is my due date. If you has asked me 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks ago, I honestly didn't think I would still be pregnant right now. All of the meal planning that I did 2 weeks ago was great, but now I find myself in need of doing it again. We are starting to have repeats in our menu, which wasn't supposed to happen before the baby came, you know? Things need to be cleaned and tidied up again. More laundry to do. Not that these things don't have to be done all the time; it's just that we thought the next time would be after this little guy came. In fact, I even had to take the nail polish off from my last 'pamper-the prego-pedicure' I had 2 weeks ago. I definitely didn't see that coming! (And sadly, I can barely reach to do it myself and don't want to go get another one.)
So, I hope to have more news for you soon. In the meantime, I will work on posting pictures of the princess in the house. And I suppose I'll get another belly shot in for you. Although, I haven't gained any weight in 3 weeks (Praise the Lord!), so I'm not sure if the belly will be quite as shocking. Well, at least it's not so much for me.
As always, stay tuned for news...
Monday. I had my first night of pretty regular pre-labor, or prodromal labor, as I think it is called. Somewhat regular surges (contractions) from about 7-9pm, but nothing really very strong. It was also the first day on the calendar with no real plans, as we thought we would have had a baby by then.
Tuesday. Another day of just going with the flow. In the evening, I did have another few hours of pre-labor. It was becoming more interesting, especially since it was starting around dinner time and lasting until bedtime and through the night (just more spaced out). I did have a little bit of a spurt of energy in the afternoon and I vacuumed and mopped the floors. Not sure if that was that real pre-arrival-of-baby spurt of energy, but it didn't last.
Wednesday. I saw my chiropractor in the morning and felt genuinely pretty good. She commented that I was really relaxed, with the usual tension in my neck and shoulders mostly absent, and that my hips/pelvis were barely off. Kind of unusual for me. So, I decided to go home and try to relax and concentrate on having this baby come. Oh, it was also my Grandma Jane's birthday, so it seemed like a good day for a baby to be born. After trying a few natural induction methods, I did have some interesting activity. Around 5:45pm, I started tracking surges that were coming every 3-5 minutes, but were only lasting 45-55 seconds. They were definitely stronger than anything I'd had before, but apparently not the real deal. I called my doula after 1 hour and 30 minutes of tracking to ask her opinion. She indicated that I was probably in very early stages of labor and put herself on call for the night. However, while I did experience some increased activity that night (compared to previous nights), by morning things had slowed down to every 15-20 minutes. And they were in my back a lot (probably due to baby's position).
Thursday. I had an appointment to see the nurse practitioner at my OB. Stephan stayed home until the appointment, just in case, but things really had slowed a great deal by then. I had not seen the nurse practitioner before, so it was a very different appointment. While my OB is very much a midwife in an OBs body, her nurse practitioner was a very by-the-book traditional medical professional. So, we didn't bother her too much with questions. Her recommendation was to walk, walk, walk. In addition to being more traditional, she was, shall we say, not nearly as proficient in her internal exam. We found out that I was 2cm open and 60% thinned, which was encouraging news. (It means that my body is doing what it is supposed to do!) But her internal exam caused incredibly painful cramping for the rest of the day and evening. After talking to my doula right after the appointment, we agreed that I would just take it easy the rest of the day and not worry about encouraging labor. So, I took a nap and just laid low. Didn't even take a walk. That evening I was so miserable with the cramping contractions, but thankfully they did not last.
Friday. I woke up feeling better and the cramping was almost completely gone. I even went with my mom and Eisley to her gym class. (Those moms were quite surprised to see me!) And, while I definitely did not think I'd be making it to this appointment, I was glad to keep my prenatal massage appointment that afternoon. To be honest, after being so relaxed and positive on Wednesday, the cramping contractions that I had most of Thursday really caused me to tense up. So the massage was definitely needed. She worked my induction points again and did her best to get my body as unkinked and relaxed as possible! Oddly enough, all of the surge activity that I had during the day actually died down that evening. I guess my body needed a break.
Saturday. We had a really good day yesterday. There was no real agenda, but we were able to hang out with Eisley and just relax. We went out for some breakfast while it was a little on the cooler side (though that didn't last long). We all had a rest...and by rest I don't mean sleep, as Eisley hasn't napped all week! More of a midday break. My mom spent all day making Eisley a very adorable bathrobe. I looked everywhere for something for her, but was not having much luck, especially since I wanted a terry cloth robe for after her baths. So, my mom made her one in pink with some very cute accents. I'll post some pictures in another post, as they are not off my camera yet. But after a long day of sewing work, we decided that mom shouldn't have to cook, and I was too tired, so we ordered out. I decided to try some asian food with breaded, fried chicken and sauce and spice. I figured one of those might send my body into labor. (Nope.) We also walked down to the park with Eisley after dinner. The weather has finally broken a little here, so it is actually kind of pleasant around that time of day. (Normally, I NEVER walk to the neighborhood park because of the heat!) I had very regular surges throughout dinner and our walk and into the rest of the evening. I even had to get up twice to go to the bathroom last night, partly due to the surges, partly due to drinking more red raspberry leaf tea before bed! And while my body may be working on getting 'ready' to have this baby...apparently, it just wasn't time yet, despite all of the natural induction things I tried.
Sunday. I woke up feeling really beat up today. Probably from the extra activity that I haven't been doing up until recently. I can do the walking, but it's definitely not the easiest thing on my bones, I guess, with the added weight. I stayed home from church again. I just can't see sitting still for 2 hours right now. I took a 40 minute walk and by the time I got back, it was kind of warm and I was quite tired. So, while Eisley didn't sleep, I did. Well, I practiced my hypnobirthing relaxation and then took a one and a half hour nap. This not a luxury I take often because I usually want to be productive, but apparently, that is what my body needed. I have had very minimal pre-labor activity today. Although, I did have some increased surges on my walks today. Yes, that is right; I took 2 walks today. We went to the playground again after dinner.
Tomorrow is my due date. If you has asked me 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks ago, I honestly didn't think I would still be pregnant right now. All of the meal planning that I did 2 weeks ago was great, but now I find myself in need of doing it again. We are starting to have repeats in our menu, which wasn't supposed to happen before the baby came, you know? Things need to be cleaned and tidied up again. More laundry to do. Not that these things don't have to be done all the time; it's just that we thought the next time would be after this little guy came. In fact, I even had to take the nail polish off from my last 'pamper-the prego-pedicure' I had 2 weeks ago. I definitely didn't see that coming! (And sadly, I can barely reach to do it myself and don't want to go get another one.)
So, I hope to have more news for you soon. In the meantime, I will work on posting pictures of the princess in the house. And I suppose I'll get another belly shot in for you. Although, I haven't gained any weight in 3 weeks (Praise the Lord!), so I'm not sure if the belly will be quite as shocking. Well, at least it's not so much for me.
As always, stay tuned for news...
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