Lazy day with some regular contractions - 39wks 3days

Spent today reading some books from the library. Finished two, and am working on the third, but I feel extraordinarily lazy for it :)

I have been contracting irregularly all day, though, while I read. Sometimes every 15 minutes, usually every 30. Then, this evening, they got to be every 2 minutes for a couple of hours. But, of course, they're slowing down again. It's encouraging when I have contractions like this, though. At least my body's warming up to do what it needs to do.

Enough pot-watching. I'm off to bed... I'm sleepy-tired :)

Another day of waiting - 39wks 2days

Well, I had a lovely and distracting visit from my family, which has done wonders for my impatience. We went out to Red, Hot, and Blue for lunch before they headed back home this afternoon. I was definitely sad to see them go. It's always a party when the girls come to see me and this has been no exception. I basically got to forget about how I'm going crazy waiting for a baby to come out, and instead we went shopping, ate ice cream, and took pictures of Kaylee and Dan dancing.

Later this afternoon I went to the birth center again and got to visit with Laurel, the nurse who oriented me when I worked there. She's so sympathetic, but also spent a good deal of time laughing at my predicament, especially when I told her we had let everyone know that my water broke. We just don't handle it the same way at Special Beginnings, which means that very rarely, you get someone in my situation. All excited and ready and then... hurry up and wait.

At any rate, the baby showed off again on her NST--I've never seen a more beautiful and textbook-perfect strip. Laurel drew my blood again, and we looked over my previous results. My cultures were negative (which means no GBS--yea!) and everything has been exactly what it should be. David (one of the midwives) stopped in to see me while I was on the monitor, and his impression at this point is that my bag of waters had a leak, but has most likely sealed over. I'm basically back to being a 39wk primip, except that I still get monitored and blood drawn just in case.

On the labor front, no real contractions today. Here's hoping it happens soon anyway...

Grandma comes to visit - 39wks 1day

Very mild, occasional contractions are all I've felt since yesterday afternoon, so we're just hanging out and enjoying a visit from my mom, my Aunt Sue, and my cousin Meg with her daughter Kaylee. Church this morning was wonderful with so many people wishing us well an praying for us. Sue and Meg had made us a big Sunday dinner that included squash, corn, and tomatoes from the garden, and then we went out to do a little shopping.

And now, here's a little something from Kaylee:
n' uvbbb iu u \\\\ \\\ \]]] ]]]]]]]]]]]]]
/ /v '// G


On that note, I'll get back to visiting :)

Practice Makes Perfect - 39wks 0days

I got a lot of practice this morning, but it turns out it was just that--practice. The contractions spaced out over the next several hours and then went away completely for a while. This is just how it goes for a first time mom. My body has to figure things out and it takes a while. Patience may be a virtue, but it's not one that I possess in great quantities, so this has definitely been emotionally trying for me. Dan is staying upbeat, and is encouraged that every day I contract more and more. Patience is something he's never had in small supply. Some days I think the man is nearly a saint. Until he leaves his dirty socks balled up on the couch, that is. :)

Went to the birth center and saw Jessica today. One of my favorite midwives, she's moving to England very soon, so it's been really fun to be going through all this with her still here. She's a really neat person, and I remember the first time I met her when I was an L&D nurse at the hospital here in Annapolis. We got on the subject of home birth, and I found out she'd had her first baby at home in New Hampshire. At the time, I hadn't met anyone who had actually done that, even though I'd read tons of literature on how safe it is and how many people are now choosing that option. She's also a knitter, and I'm going to miss late nights at the birth center poring over knitting projects while someone's in labor.

Anyway, so, at the birth center, I got another NST (the baby is beautifully reactive and healthy), and some more blood drawn. So far, everything looks great. No signs of infection, and I finished my 3 days of antibiotics this afternoon. I still have my IV in (optimistically) in the hopes that I go into labor soon. I'll be treated with antibiotics in labor, so I haven't taken out the IV in the hopes that labor happens in the next couple of days.

Here's hoping my body keeps practicing, and that practice makes perfect very soon!

Still contracting! 39 wks 0days!

So, here's something interesting...I managed to sleep a few hours, but by 6am, I can no longer stay in the bed. The contractions are just too hard to deal with lying down. Coming about every 3-5 minutes, and still not really really strong, but they are definitely there, and have been for a couple of hours. Let's just hope they stay there!

Fine print: First babies take forever, so you're all only allowed to get a tiny bit excited. These contractions could still go away, or they could stay and it could still be a couple of days... The fun part is just patiently waiting =)

We're going for a walk, now, which makes me and Cocoa happy. Poor Dan--I hope he got some sleep the other night!

More contractions, but not quite labor... 38 wks 6 days

Went to the birth center and saw JoAnn again today. Got my antibiotics refilled, and got an exam to see if I'm still leaking fluid. Good news is that I'm not, which decreases the worry for infection. We're still going to monitor things with blood draws and NSTs periodically, but no one is anxious to induce me or anything like that.

Meanwhile back at home, I had an adventurous evening of contractions. Some nice and strong, some pretty darn mild, and no regular pattern that stays with me more than an hour or so, but it seems like each day my body does a little more of this start and stop contracting. As Pat says, we're taking a meandering path to birth. Which is just fine since my cervix appeared to still be long and not very dilated on that exam this afternoon. It's going to take a lot of these contractions to soften it up and get it to dilate. So, right now, I'm typing standing up, because it's easier to deal with the contractions in that position. They've been every two minutes for the past couple of hours, but they're starting to slow down now. I'm going to try heading to bed--it is pretty late, and poor Dan and Cocoa are already snoozing.

First, though, a song that keeps playing through my mind. Emotionally, I'm so very up and down. It's so exciting that we're this close, and so disconcerting that we still don't know how close we are. There's a song by Mercy Me that I keep humming and thinking, and it's funny because this is one of those few times when any of us would actually wish for the pain to start. I didn't like this song at first because when I was thinking of rain, I was thinking of tragedy, but it turns out that really, I have an opportunity to praise Him even in the middle of this waiting game. And maybe the pain of just plain old labor is enough without imagining "tragedies." Anyway, here are the lyrics (and you can youtube it to hear the song, I'm sure)--


Bring The Rain
by MercyMe

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

I am yours regardless of the clouds that may
loom above because you are much greater than
my pain you who made a way for me suffering
your destiny so tell me whats a little rain

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty
I'm forever singing

everybody singing
Holy holy holy
you are holy
you are holy

A good night's sleep 38wks 6days

I slept for 12 hours!!! I haven't done that in months and it felt glorious. I have a feeling I won't do it again for years and years, so I'm really basking in the luxury of the moment. A few strong contractions overnight, though, was all that I had labor wise. The bathroom is coming along nicely, though, and Dan is putting the tub surround up today!

I'm still on the antibiotics, but I haven't been leaking any fluid in the last day, so when I go in to the birth center today, I'll get checked to see what's happening, and a culture to make sure I'm GBS-. As long as things stay fine (no fevers, infections, etc) we'll just keep waiting for my body to do this in its own time.

A little labor tease 38wks 5days

Today I was encouraged a little when I started to get some good contractions. I mean really good. Like, huffing and puffing and holding on tight to the counters kind of contractions. They were every 2-3 minutes and getting stronger and stronger for almost an hour, and then...poof! Gone again. Oh well :)

We went to the birth center this afternoon where I got my blood drawn, antibiotics refilled, and an NST (where you watch the baby's heartrate on the monitor) and everything looked great. The baby was beautifully reactive on the monitor, and everyone was full of well wishes at the birth center. Jess, one of the midwives, was very encouraging, telling me to be patient. Everyone's been full of stories of women who's water was broken for days and days before they went on to deliver normally. It's a very positive envionment.

So, I'm sitting here with my antibiotic hanging from a nail on the wall, and as soon as it's finished we're heading to Home Depot for more stuff to finish the bathroom. It's coming along nicely, by the way :) Maybe I'll post some pictures tonight. Stay tuned...

Wishin' and Hopin' 38wks 5days

Good Morning!

Baby Kee has established that she is very happy right where she is. So, we're just waiting... Continuing with the antibiotics, some labor stimulating techniques at home, and nesting away :) We'll take another trip to the birth center this afternoon to refill on those antibiotics, and at this rate, Dan might actually be able to finish the bathroom touch ups before the baby gets here!

A fun day, but no labor yet... 38wks 4days

So, it's been a long day, since I didn't get a whole lot of sleep after my last post. We got up this morning to loads of well wishes. Thank you all so much for praying for us and thinking about us--we really appreciate it.

On the labor front, there's not a lot happening. A few strong contractions here and there, and lots of mild ones here and there, and that's about it. We had lunch with Eric (mmmm... Indian food!), and did a little shopping. We got our car seat installed (Thanks everyone that gave us that!) and are playing house with all the baby stuff we've gotten lately :) We're doing a few things to encourage labor to start, but are still trying to stay relaxed about the whole thing. We took a trip to the birth center for a an IV and some antibiotics to prevent infection, and I'll keep taking those every four hours. Then we stopped at the mall and got a blizzard =)

I'm really lucky to be able to go through all this at home. This is the beauty of midwifery care--I'm getting the medical care I need without having to stay in the hospital. It's a wonderful thing to take walks in my neighborhood, nap in my bed, and play with my dog while we wait.

So, we're still waiting... and we'll keep posting when there's news.

My water broke! 38wks 4days

Yesterday I continued to have the same off and on contractions, nothing special, except that there were definitely 3 or 4 that I had to breathe through. Makes it weird when you're trying to be all professional at work and the baby's doing acrobatics and I have this nice strong contraction and I really really have to pee! But, in all, nothing to indicate labor is approaching.

On the way home from work, Baby Kee and I had a nice long talk about how smoothly we want this labor to go, how we're both ready for it, and if she wants to come tonight, that's alright with me.

So, off to bed we go. A little after 2am, I have to pee, so I do my walrus dance to get this body out of the bed, and realize that my underwear is wet. Hmmm...not a huge gush, but enough to know that I didn't pee on myself. My water broke.

Poor Dan. I yell out to him from the bathroom, "Honey?"
"*sleepy mumble*"
"I think my water broke!"
Sounding a little more awake, "For real?"
"Yeah, for real."
Lights go on, and instantly he's there, "What do you need me to do?"

He's so sweet.

We already had a doppler rented for our trip to WVA, so a quick check of heart tones keeps me from having to wait to feel if the baby is still moving. She sounds beautiful. I have some pH paper that shows whether this is truly amniotic fluid, and it is. The fluid is clear, which is a good sign.

So, I call the midwife, and while I'm waiting for her to call back, Dan and I pray together about the labor and the baby and most of all for God's will in all of this. JoAnn is the midwife on tonight, and we talk a bit when she calls back. She laughs at how I don't need to come in to document rupture of membranes since I did that already, and gives me the normal precautions. It's so sweet to have coworkers and colleagues as my midwives, because we talk about how disappointed I am that my water has broken before labor starts, and she understands my concerns, but is very reassuring.

So, now I'm all excited, but have had a whopping one contraction in the last hour. I'm going to finish drinking my juice and head back to bed. It's a perfect time to call Annelise, since she's already awake, but no answer in Uganda right now. Oh, well, hopefully labor will get started after a good night's sleep.

Prayer requests -
For labor to start SOON!
For safety from infection (which is the main risk when your water is broken)
For our little girl to make it safely into the world, no matter how she does it
For her mama's strength and endurance through all of this
For her daddy's sanity :)

Check back soon for updates!