WAITING...

So, today is the day I will check into the hospital and start the induction. I can't believe she made it - I thought she would come on her own over the weekend. Early Saturday morning I woke up so many times, and was up from 3:30am on with strong, painful contractions. They got to around 7 minutes apart, and then petered out around 9am. We thought for certain she was arriving on Ryan's birthday! She is just a tease. I have had bloody show for the past three days - Ryan and Jenna love me to say that.

Now we are just playing the waiting game for the hospital to call. I am SO bored having sat around on bedrest for nearly a week now. I truly don't know how women do it who have to spend months on bedrest. How much terrible daytime television can you endure? I've read two books since Thursday.

Ryan's birthday wasn't exactly a huge 30th bday celebration, but I did break my bedrest to at least go eat out some lunch. While we were out, btw, a man walking past me told me, "That is HUGE!" pointing at my belly. I said, "Yes. It is." I bought Ryan three gifts for three decades (DVD spree at Best Buy, indulgence at the "museum" - aka Saks 5th Ave, and DirectTV installation for his third floor sanctuary). I ended up making a card for him because I didn't go back out to buy anything :-)

The housekeeper is supposed to be here now, and she is always early... not sure where she is at, but having the house all spic and span, and nice clean sheets on the bed, etc., will make me so happy when we come home from the hospital.

How many more hours until I hold this baby in my arms?

Go to the light...

We think our little one might be confused. We think she believes she needs to break out, and hatch like through an eggshell. So, she is adamently beating on my insides, and trying to get free. We are trying to tell her, look for the hole - go through the tunnel - move towards the light...

I spent several hours on Saturday excited as my contractions became regular and more painful. They were between 6-7 min apart for over two hours. Alas, they turned irregular again after that.

I began to fear this morning that my uterus was going to contract forever, even after I have the baby. Ryan said I will be like one of those people who has hiccups for 20 years or something crazy. My belly is just nearly always contracted. It is killing my back and sides.

I have a dr appt this afternoon, and if nothing more has happened, I really think I will start crying right there while being examined. We had hoped that she would want to come out as a special Father's Day gift yesterday, but I guess not. Ryan's birthday is coming up, so maybe she wants to be a bday thief...

Photo shoot

This week had plenty of excitement! I felt terrible on Wednesday and Thursday, and ended up on the fetal monitor for a while on Thursday. I had been having contractions (not painful, just uncomfortable) for 36 hours solid. I barely dilated any further though - maybe 1/2 cm. So, no active labor. The monitor showed I was having contractions one right after another though, but the baby's heartbeat was responding appropriately. I have my regular appointment Monday, so maybe a little more progression by then...

And a product plug - all women, even those who are not lactating - should buy Lily Padz. They are magical latex covers that somehow adhere defying all laws of physics, giving you a smooth (leak-free) appearance and you can't even feel them when they are on.

The CD and DVD from the photo shoot that Jenna bought us came today. What an amazing job Jenna's friend Rob did! (Another plug - Rob's photography business is called Studio R1, and he is awesome! He will be doing the baby photos as well.) Here are a few of my favorites:


Check out the rest of them here.
I also updated the belly pics post.

SO ready...

I feel like I have been handling this really well so far, but at this point every day is getting harder. I can't believe how uncomfortable and sore I am. My hips are just in pain, and I think I pulled something last night rolling over in bed. My hands and feet are so cramped and swollen.

I floated in the pool again yesterday, and that feels really nice. I have Braxton Hicks contractions several times an hour all day and all night. They don't hurt exactly, but it is a very uncomfortable feeling. My whole stomach gets rockhard and tight and it feels like a big muscle cramp. Baby hates it, and then she beats me even more than usual.

She has hiccups all the time, which I read means she is practicing swallowing and breathing, so that is a good thing. She moves ALL the time, and my whole stomach is rippling and shaking like there is an alien trying to get out. I like to call her killer now, because she is a rough one!

Now that the end is close, and as ready as I am to have her any time (please, baby, come on out now...), I still think I am going to miss having her inside me. It is just this constant presence that I am used to - the kicks and movements. I think it will be strange to just be myself again. While I won't miss the nausea and heartburn, I think I will miss having this little person inside me.

Our neighbors, Susan and Eli, moved yesterday, so that has us bummed out. It was so nice having friends you trusted living next door. I am happy they found a place they like closer to Eli's work, but I will still certainly miss having them here. Especially over the next few months! Ryan and I look at houses online every day - we are ready to take the profit from this house and get a place with more land. We know it is smarter to wait another year, but we knew when we moved here that we weren't "Wakefield" people. Our house is a gorgeous house, and we definitely made a smart choice investing in this new construction. But, I think we are ready to get a place that meets all of our criteria.

I think I will go take a cool bath...

Something is cooking...

I started my weekly checkups on Friday, and was excited to have an internal exam (who ever thought I would say those words...) to see if anything was progressing. I fully expected her to say, that nothing was happening yet. Turns out I am 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. Of course, many women go three more weeks with nothing more happening... and others can go into active labor anytime.

In any case, it was definitely exciting and a shock to hear something real like that. It is very different than knowing eventually it would happen, and reading about dilation and effacement in pregnancy books. Ryan was also shocked, and it made me laugh.

I am really like a giant hippo or whale. My hands and feet have been hurting in the morning, and it is getting worse. The dr says I have late pregnancy carpal tunnel in both my wrists, which is what is causing my fingers and joints to hurt so badly. She assures me this will go away after I deliver - it better!

I have all of my maternity plans in place at work, so that makes me feel much more at ease. Also, we have pretty much everything in place for the baby.

These weekends have really been different for me - I am not teaching a class, and I am not taking a class, and I have most of my IBM work under control... so I go into the weekends with just a few chores to take care of, but mostly just enjoy the weekend and relax. I guess that is how weekends typically are for most people. For me, this is a totally foreign experience! I am trying to really enjoy it, because I know this "free" time will be gone when the baby arrives. We have been spending a lot of time at our pool, Falls River Swim Club. Being weightless in the water feels so nice, but I do feel three times as heavy when I get out.

Gestating like an elephant

I really don't know how those poor elephants do it. They have to go through 22 months of gestation!
Some updates on my experience...

• I had a scare a few weeks ago with some night-time contractions. Turns out I had a UTI, which can cause contractions. I got to sit on the fetal monitor for a while though as a precaution, and baby was SO busy. She kept trying to keep the monitor off my belly.


• My speech is impaired. Words don't come out of my mouth the way I mean them to. I guess this part of the "Baby Brain"


• I have gained about 22 lbs at this point.


• There is no more room. My ribs hurt SO badly.


• Baby is big enough I can kind of tell where she is at in my belly now. She hates if I poke her.


• I have many nights where I wake up around 4:30am and just can't sleep anymore.


• I had to do a glucose test last week where I drank some sugary lemon-lime water and then they did a blood test. Results were normal.

I have another check-up on Monday, so I hope everything goes well. I think I will schedule another elective ultrasound. I want to see her again!!!