Simply Made

Well- since we still haven't gotten our birth story up yet- I thought I'd share a bit from the pre-labor... I'm calling it pre-labor now instead of fake labor, because at my Tuesday appointment with the midwife, we found out that the contractions were doing a lot- I was 5-6 cm and 90%... pretty dang far along for not even being in first stage labor...

anyhow:

Sleepy Girl, originally uploaded by SIMPLY.MADE.

Early Sunday (July 20th, 2008) morning (2-3:00 AM) contractions picked up. We were out of bed, timing and trying different comfort measures/ positions by 4… contractions were still fairly far apart and inconsistent, but much stronger than before. Erik and I were pretty sure we were entering advanced first stage labor. At about 5:30, Matthew woke up and asked that we both lay down with him…. But only his bed was good enough- not ours!
I laid down next to him while Erik sat in the rocking chair and read us a book. I thought Matthew was asleep, and could feel a contraction building up, so I tried to move out of bed into a more comfortable position- but alas- he was awake and upset at the thought of me leaving. Erik helped me through the contraction, and around then, I think he went back to bed…
Matthew told me I was “perkit (prefect) like a chocolate milk” and asked to eat something- I was feeling like a snack too so we went into the kitchen and ate bananas together. I had 3 contractions while we snacked in the darkness- Matthew sweetly held my hand during each one, then he asked to watch ‘A Bug’s Life’. We headed downstairs and watched TV until about 8:00. I napped on the sofa in between contractions- which I would guess were about 15 minutes apart. After that, contractions fizzled down in intensity and then in space, we showered and headed on to church. During church I’d say I had 3 or 4 contractions. We came home, changed clothes and went to an Indian restaurant for lunch. Few contractions here and there… Matthew took a nap when we got home, and so I took the opportunity to doze off also- no contractions woke me up from 3:30 to 5:00PM.
Monday morning I had a few contractions starting at 1:00 am and lasting until about 6:00 am, Erik went to work as usual and contractions were very few and far between.
Tuesday Erik stayed home to drive me to my doctor's appointment. I was uncomfortable all day from the weight on my lower abdomen. No contractions though. AT the appointment, we were told to call in as soon as contractions started with any pattern at all- and to think about heading to the hospital soon afterwards. With as far along as I was (more than 1/2 way ready to have the baby) we were told not to plan on laboring at home too long, unless we wanted to deliver there.
Wednesday (July 23, 2008) Erik stayed and worked from home since my mom and sister were both at work and wouldn't be close by to offer assistance if necessary- and since we were so close to being ready to deliver... we were both a bit nervous and excited.... though as the morning turned to afternoon, we were both feeling quite silly for being so sure that the baby would make her entrance that day...