So on Tuesday, my due date, I got acupuncture, and I definitely felt like it started something. Since then, I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions non-stop, and I'm pretty sure I lost my mucus plug or some bits of it over the last day or two. I've also been feeling increasing pressure on my cervix.
Last night I was desperate enough to try taking a long walk--I wanted to harness the power of these Braxton-Hicks! Plus, my Dad has been pushing the walking for a week now. So James and I went to UConn and I waddled around at top speed and raced up and down many sets of stairs. I will say that this had the effect of making the contractions I was having more painful. However, if we would stop for even a minute, they would stop being painful, and once I returned home, that was it. They might have been been painful because I was asking my poor abdominal muscles to hold up a 30 pound uterus while I jostled it all over.
Anyway, I couldn't fall asleep last night, partly because my back was hurting, and partly because I drank caffeinated tea all day yesterday. I eventually fell asleep on the couch watching Harry Potter 4 and with my ribs belted together.
And now it is Thursday the 18th--the last day of my prediction window that I felt was incredibly realistic. ::snort:: Anyway, honestly, if it wasn't for the acupuncture, I would have little hope of giving birth before 41 weeks. But my friend claims his patients are more or less "on time", within a couple of days.
So I have another acupuncture appointment today at 1pm and considering all the pre-laborish stuff I've been having for two days straight, I'm feeling good about the possibility of going into labor tonight. Please send little James all the evacuation vibes you can possibly spare!! ;-)
Expecting our Little Brother in November!
Showing posts with label False Labor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label False Labor. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Contractions Update
So I continued to have regular contractions throughout the whole morning. Around 6, I felt like they were just starting to being more "building" and significant, and I was having more pressure/sensation in my cervix. At 6:30, I finally admitted to a half-asleep James that I was having regular contractions (he definitely woke up quick)!
At 7/7:30 or so, he went down to get the computer and we started timing them again. They were generally coming every 2-4 mins and lasting 60-90 seconds. I was also having a lot of sciatica pain during this time (but not necessarily at the same time as a contraction). It was funny to be sitting there with James facing the possibility of being in labor. All I could think about was that my birth tub liner and my birth kit hadn't come yet.
"If this is labor," I said, "I just wish we were a LITTLE readier." James laughed at me.
"Seriously!"
However, as much as these contractions seemed by the book, I was a bit suspicious because while they had changed and become a bit more intense, they hadn't changed very much over the 4-5 hours I was observing them, and they still weren't painful. I was thinking of the marker of not being able to talk through a contraction--it wasn't anything like that for me. In fact, talking with James distracted me and made them seem even less intense and sometimes nearly unnoticeable.
We called our midwife soon after this and left her a message--then around 8:30 we texted her to ask if she'd gotten our message and told her I was having contractions (she called us right back after that)! James told her what was going on and she said that she was with another Mom in labor (out of town) and that false labor is really common for first time Moms. She advised us to stop paying attention to the contractions, don't time them, and do something distracting like watch a movie.
So James went to work and I started watching Notting Hill (I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!). At 10:00 or so (in the middle of the movie), my exhaustion finally caught up to me and I fell asleep.
I awoke at nearly noon to James calling me. I was pretty pissed off at having been awakened.
"Are you having a contraction?" he asked.
"I don't know, I just woke up!" I complained.
"Okay, well, good, I'll talk to you later."
But then I was awake. So today has been . . . unproductive in any sense. The contractions haven't gotten any stronger, longer, or closer together. I was too tired to accomplish anything. I watched a lot of TV and attempted to post on I-Village but was mostly foiled by slow pages. Now it's 5:00 and I haven't made anything for dinner. ::sigh::
Hopefully tonight I won't have any issue sleeping. Tomorrow we have our home visit midwife appointment where we'll talk about the plan for the birth, I'll meet the backup midwife, and show everyone the house, bathroom, etc. I think I also have the Group B Strep test tomorrow (send me "testing negative" vibes!). Marilyn and Mariclare will be here since they are part of my birth team--Mariclare will be taking pictures and Marilyn will be videotaping and generally helping.
I think Mariclare will also be coming over earlier to take pregnancy pictures with me and James! I will have to post some of them on here.
Anyway, so maybe tomorrow I will get to see if I am dilated at all and we'll see what position the baby is in. I have a feeling he is once again transverse so I want to know for sure how he is laying so I can encourage him to go head down and engage and stick there.
So that's that. It's nearly time. Oh, and funnily enough, my birth kit arrived in the mail today! And my changing pad. So I'm a little "readier" now. ;-)
At 7/7:30 or so, he went down to get the computer and we started timing them again. They were generally coming every 2-4 mins and lasting 60-90 seconds. I was also having a lot of sciatica pain during this time (but not necessarily at the same time as a contraction). It was funny to be sitting there with James facing the possibility of being in labor. All I could think about was that my birth tub liner and my birth kit hadn't come yet.
"If this is labor," I said, "I just wish we were a LITTLE readier." James laughed at me.
"Seriously!"
However, as much as these contractions seemed by the book, I was a bit suspicious because while they had changed and become a bit more intense, they hadn't changed very much over the 4-5 hours I was observing them, and they still weren't painful. I was thinking of the marker of not being able to talk through a contraction--it wasn't anything like that for me. In fact, talking with James distracted me and made them seem even less intense and sometimes nearly unnoticeable.
We called our midwife soon after this and left her a message--then around 8:30 we texted her to ask if she'd gotten our message and told her I was having contractions (she called us right back after that)! James told her what was going on and she said that she was with another Mom in labor (out of town) and that false labor is really common for first time Moms. She advised us to stop paying attention to the contractions, don't time them, and do something distracting like watch a movie.
So James went to work and I started watching Notting Hill (I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!). At 10:00 or so (in the middle of the movie), my exhaustion finally caught up to me and I fell asleep.
I awoke at nearly noon to James calling me. I was pretty pissed off at having been awakened.
"Are you having a contraction?" he asked.
"I don't know, I just woke up!" I complained.
"Okay, well, good, I'll talk to you later."
But then I was awake. So today has been . . . unproductive in any sense. The contractions haven't gotten any stronger, longer, or closer together. I was too tired to accomplish anything. I watched a lot of TV and attempted to post on I-Village but was mostly foiled by slow pages. Now it's 5:00 and I haven't made anything for dinner. ::sigh::
Hopefully tonight I won't have any issue sleeping. Tomorrow we have our home visit midwife appointment where we'll talk about the plan for the birth, I'll meet the backup midwife, and show everyone the house, bathroom, etc. I think I also have the Group B Strep test tomorrow (send me "testing negative" vibes!). Marilyn and Mariclare will be here since they are part of my birth team--Mariclare will be taking pictures and Marilyn will be videotaping and generally helping.
I think Mariclare will also be coming over earlier to take pregnancy pictures with me and James! I will have to post some of them on here.
Anyway, so maybe tomorrow I will get to see if I am dilated at all and we'll see what position the baby is in. I have a feeling he is once again transverse so I want to know for sure how he is laying so I can encourage him to go head down and engage and stick there.
So that's that. It's nearly time. Oh, and funnily enough, my birth kit arrived in the mail today! And my changing pad. So I'm a little "readier" now. ;-)
(False?) Labor
I woke up maybe an hour ago to go pee, but then I couldn't fall back asleep. I was having horrible biley indigestion (tofu pup) burps (ewwwwww), and I could NOT get comfortable in bed and was having some sciatic pain, and also a lot of feeling tightness in my chest and unable to breathe . . . and Lil James had the hiccups and I was also having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions . . . since I couldn't fall asleep for more than a half hour, I ended up looking at the clock and realized that I was having contractions kind of regularly . . .
So I decided to get up since the indigestion is awful and I thought I could sit up, drink some water, and at least not be uncomfortable in bed.
So I opened up the contraction master website and started timing contractions, and they are coming every 3 1/2 mins on the dot and about a minute long! Ahhh!!!
I really don't feel like this is really it but I also don't know what to think. I wish I knew that he was still head down and I would feel way better about this whole situation. Siiiiiigh. I'm 35 weeks exactly today and we're not supposed to do the home-birth unless I am at least 36 weeks. Based on my last period I would be 35 weeks plus 2 days, and based on my 18 week ultrasound, I would be more than 36 weeks (I was measuring 9 days ahead), so my midwife might let me go at home if he IS actually head down and everything else seems normal.
But really honestly this doesn't feel like it is it to me! I was just telling James a few days ago that I don't feel like he is getting close at all, and I am sure we'll go to our due date or nearly . . . ak!!
I guess for now I will continue timing and see if they get stronger/longer/closer together, and then call my midwife if they do. I can't believe this!!
So I decided to get up since the indigestion is awful and I thought I could sit up, drink some water, and at least not be uncomfortable in bed.
So I opened up the contraction master website and started timing contractions, and they are coming every 3 1/2 mins on the dot and about a minute long! Ahhh!!!
I really don't feel like this is really it but I also don't know what to think. I wish I knew that he was still head down and I would feel way better about this whole situation. Siiiiiigh. I'm 35 weeks exactly today and we're not supposed to do the home-birth unless I am at least 36 weeks. Based on my last period I would be 35 weeks plus 2 days, and based on my 18 week ultrasound, I would be more than 36 weeks (I was measuring 9 days ahead), so my midwife might let me go at home if he IS actually head down and everything else seems normal.
But really honestly this doesn't feel like it is it to me! I was just telling James a few days ago that I don't feel like he is getting close at all, and I am sure we'll go to our due date or nearly . . . ak!!
I guess for now I will continue timing and see if they get stronger/longer/closer together, and then call my midwife if they do. I can't believe this!!
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