I had very real hopes that my “posting every day ‘til baby” was going to be cut shockingly short. Last night found me waking with contractions off and on through the night until, by 5:00 am, they were so uncomfortable and so closely spaced that there was absolutely no hope of sleeping through them. Had this been a first time pregnancy for me, I probably would have headed off to the hospital as they were coming consistently and more than every 5 minutes. Luckily, having had a baby or two (or five), I recognized that they just weren’t quite as horribly painful as they needed to be. Still, they were so consistent and showed no signs of stopping, so, by 8:00 am I was pretty sure that they would eventually intensify enough to send us hurtling off to the hospital. I was telling Mike that I was afraid his agenda for the day might have to be put aside and even telling the kids (who have been asking about labor and contractions and how one knows a baby is about to be born) that it could possibly be the day. And it all seemed quite lovely. Nearly all of my labors have started in the very middle of the night and have been intense enough to send me to the hospital in an hour or two. I know that sounds great. Nobody wants a crazy long labor. But I was actually quite enjoying the idea of a labor progressing at a little more leisurely pace. It was morning. I could get the kids ready and things packed. Maybe even tidy the house a bit. Then, the contractions just . . . stopped. Just like that. False alarm. False labor. Although, I do feel a little like, “false” labor doesn’t give everyone dealing with it enough credit. There was a lot of something going on, and I was thoroughly exhausted by morning time. It makes it sound like you’ve been a fool – duped by a good trick. As much as I feel bummed that it didn’t progress, it is interesting to me to recognize that my body must have some inkling that the end is near. It must, somehow, know that soon it will be time to ship this little camper out into the world. Still, it is odd. With Abe I truly wasn’t aware of so much as a single braxton or a hick. There was simply nothing until cold hard labor. But with each additional child my body seems to do more and more trial runs and part of me thinks, “What’s with all the practicing? Surely you already know how to do this?”
Anywho, the idea of these posts wasn’t necessarily meant to be just a cataloguing of pregnancy symptoms day after day, but here it is 9:00 pm and it is time to go watch “Thor” with my husband. That’s right. You heard me. Thor. I don’t think it is just home video footage of our old giant dog. I think it is something else. I’m sure it will be grand. How could it not with a name like that? And grand or not, I am ready to go snuggle up to my favorite person and put this tiring day to rest. Plus, Mike is making us shakes at this very moment. So, it is clearly just as well that I am still here for tonight.
4 comments:
mmmmm - shakes and Thor - sounds to me like a great evening. Truly - that sounds like such a welcome thing - I have been so stressed these past two weeks with school (midterm projects), soccer, kids, bridesmaid dress shopping and who knows what else. Thank goodness I'm not pregnant too!
Yes - that silliness of your body practicing - surely it would know what to do by now and wouldn't need to bother you until it's "time". Maybe it's just warming up - re-familiarizing itself with, "ok - this is what we've got to do - I remember now". But honestly - you only just had Jesse two minutes ago - so how could your body possibly forget?!
Lastly - I never emailed you back about trip info. I'll just call you before we head out of town and see what you'd like to do. Love you!
Look, here I am again! And oh, you could so use normal normal nights of movies and shakes and nothing to be accomplished!! Someday, Marz. Someday. Only, kind of fun to be getting a bridesmaid dress . . . especially when you don't have to say, "always the bridesmaid never the bride" because you already were the bride.
oh, how i can relate! i never had preterm labor and i think i labored for the last month with will. i kept seeing the dr, asking "what does all this mean?" because, like you, surely it meant something. no. my dr just told me the more pregnancies you have, the more "irritable" your uterus gets. well ... my uterus wasn't the only one, after many nights and days of good contractions and no baby. :) i'm just glad, for your sake, that there was a hubby to snuggle with, a shake and a good movie. :) and hopefully next time your irritable :) uterus gets going, i hope it really goes and you get to snuggle a baby at the end. :)
Oh Jami, I love everything you just said!!
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