Well it has been quite a busy week. After contractions starting last Wednesday, they continued all weekend, especially picking up at night and if I was standing or moving. They were mild and mostly ignorable. However, I felt a little trapped since moving exacerbated the contractions and they kept me from sleeping as well. Charles did a great job picking up the slack, but I was still able to go shopping and help cook as long as I sat down and rested when contractions started.
Because I was still functional we got all our grocery shopping done and I was able to make 8 nights of meatloaf and also we made all the Christmas lasagna.
Then, Monday morning I woke up with a dull pain in my cervix after a pretty bad night of sleep (but wasn’t sure whether it was from contractions or not). I went to my doctor’s appointment, which started with my non-stress test (baby heart rate and contraction monitoring). After an uneventful first 8 minutes, I started not only getting contractions every few minutes, but they actually hurt (unlike most of the previous week where they were tight and uncomfy but no real cervix pain). During the 25 minutes NST, I had 6 contractions and then continued to contract throughout my ultrasound and waiting to see the doctor (not my doctor, she is out of town). The doctor decided to check my cervix and found it open about a centimeter, 1.5 cm long and the baby’s head completely dropped down against the cervix. I hadn’t been checked in about a month, but at that point, the cervix was 4 cm long and completely closed, so either over the month, or the previous days, there was definitely progress. Since labor is really defined as a changing cervix, and she had only one data point in a month though, she said to go home and call if my water broke or if it seemed like I was in intense labor. Basically, this pre-labor can go on for days, so we went home.
Since it was Christmas Eve and we were excited to spend time with my family, we deiced to have me rest since the contractions seemed a lot less intense and frequent (although still fairly incessant) while reclining or laying compared to sitting up or especially standing/walking. This worked for Christmas Eve and Christmas and allowed us to have a great holiday and have fun with the family. We really didn’t want a Christmas baby, so he obliged and my labor stayed in this phase. In addition, I actually got a little bit of break last night from about 8pm – midnight) with almost no contractions.
Last night I had a lot of trouble falling asleep with some pain and bladder discomfort (bathrooming every 15 minutes or so, great fun!). Then at 4 am I woke up feeling like I was having much more intense contractions. I followed the Doula’s list of pre-labor rule outs by taking a nice hot showering and eating and drinking water. Things continued. After doing some timing they seemed to start about 4 minutes apart and then progressed to about every three minutes. I was texting with the doula throughout the early morning and she decided at about 7am that she should come check on me. Normally, in addition to looking at timing, you can judge intensity by whether the mom can talk through contractions. However, with my talkative personality and high pain tolerance, this is a tricky metric for me. After timing contractions for about 45 minutes, we discussed what to do next. She said they were inconsistent in frequency – from 2 – 4 minutes apart and they were lasting between 1 and 2 minutes. I felt over this time that they hadn’t gotten more intense, if anything they seemed very consistent and some were even better now that resting. She said although that contractions don’t have to come like clockwork, the duration and intensity is usually more consistent as well as progressively worse if the labor is starting in full. I was also getting a little sleepy at this point so we decided she should go home and I should try to rest and bit and we’d communicate during the day.
I actually was able to take about an hour and half nap. The adrenaline from the morning had made my arthritis better than it has been in weeks, so I was actually really comfy in bed and after about 5 hours of the more intense contractions my brain was willing to ignore them in favor of sleep. When I woke up I noticed they were still coming fast and furious though. Luckily Charles got a nap and then was also able to head to the gym during all of this (although tethered to his phone in case things changed).
So, now we are waiting to see what happens next. Definitely this is pretty intense so I hope that things progress at some point, but I don’t want to be stuck at the hospital with them tempted to augment labor to fit their timeline. There is no reason to not stay comfy and happy in the comfort of my la-z-boy couch for a while longer. My doula will come back whenever, but mostly we are looking for my water to break or the contractions to stop me more in my tracks. I am going to periodically time my contractions and let her know throughout the day. However, I am really bad at paying attention to pain (after over a decade of learning to tune out unnecessary information from arthritis), so it takes a lot of focus to be good at timing them.
Our only major decision now is whether Charles should make our stew for the week and more cookies while we’re here. For now, I am going to enjoy listening to Taylor Swift and relaxing! I feel really ready to meet our son and I welcome him whenever he is ready. So far I am proud of myself for dealing with this prolonged early labor and I think I was right that I am pretty tough and will do well in labor (although I am sure it will hurt a lot more before it is done!)
Dear Baby McClintock –
We can’t wait to meet you. Your Dad and I have been looking forward to having kids since shortly after we first fell in love. I knew when I met your daddy that he would be an amazing dad and that bringing children into this world with him would be the peak experience in my life. We waited a little bit, but decided it was time and now here you are, literally, knocking at the door ready to join us. I wasn’t always sure I had the maternal instinct but it has been fun watching myself change through the pregnancy. I loved watching you grow on the ultrasound and felt such pride as you developed into a healthy baby and showed all your superpowers (flexibility, nearly constant practice breathing, and strong kicks). I am so happy I was able to create a healthy and safe place for you to grow until you are ready to join us!
I can’t wait to hold you in my arms and gaze into your eyes. More importantly, I can’t wait to meet you and get to know who you are and what makes you happy! Watching my nephew, Luke, I have enjoyed seeing him become his own individual and have strong opinions and ideas. I am so excited to know what you think and what you want. I also can’t wait for your daddy and me to show you all we love about life and the world. You will love how much your dad is able to find fun in every moment and excitement in every new experience (and he has taught me as well). He makes every experience more fun and I can’t wait for you to experience that. We have so much passion for the world and everything in it and I can’t wait to see that bloom in you as well. I consider myself wonderful at seeing and celebrating the many good things in life, even on a bad day, and I can’t wait to show you! We may be silly sometimes (we will burst into random Disney sing-offs or have a lively and fun competition over a game) and hope you learn from us to never take life or yourself to seriously.
I want you to come when you are ready, but I want you to know your daddy and I couldn’t be more excited and more ready! We love you.
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