Saturday is the day I've been counting as my weekly shift. So, 38 Weeks started around 8 am when Sonja woke up. My sister in law had already been awake long enough to get donuts {which I shouldn't have eaten, but did anyway, because who can resist a Boston creme donut?!} and once Sonja realized someone was up and ready to play with her, she let me rest in bed for another hour. We finally got up and ready around 9:30 am and headed to get coffee and the farmers market. We ran into some sweet friends at my local coffee shop and enjoyed a breakfast snack. As the day went on and we walked around the market I started getting upper back pain. I know with Sonja all my pain was in my back and my mom experienced back labor, but the pain was too high up, although rhythmic. So, another day of practice labor continued, low abdominal cramping and slight back ache, but nothing progressing. It was definitely getting old. I just asked my body to either get legit or quit cause, this whole, "Is THIS it?" thing is getting annoying. But, to keep myself busy I painted the living room wall, which had recently been exposed from some ugly wall paper. I've still got a few more tiny home projects to keep me busy this week. But I ended the evening with a prenatal massage {and requested ankle stimulation to allow my body the option of starting labor} and went home to see if anything happened.
Nothing happened.
Sunday I went to yoga, although at this point, I'm pretty limited in my practice. There's a giant uterus and baby in my way every time we twist. After yoga, we headed to my father in law's to enjoy some lunch. More practice labor, but nothing real. again.
Mondays are my free day, I don't work or have any prescheduled activities. Sonja and I went grocery shopping and ran some errands. Nothing special to report on, just a lot of waiting.
Tuesday morning we went to my Prenatal appointment at my Midwive's office. Baby was head down {very low!} and moving. My pulse was high, probably from my sugar spike from my morning orange juice. All other vitals normal and Group B Strep test results were negative. We discussed how I'm actually unprepared, emotionally, for this birth. I had a little anxiety during the week about going into labor and I realized I haven't said nearly as many positive affirmations or visualizations for this birth. I just keep expecting it to be quick, but I'm not sure how to handle it, if it ends up being a longer birth. There's really nothing I can do at this point except accept my birth will be exactly as it needs to be.
After the appointment we had to rush to my office job, Sonja joins me weekly, not sure what my plan will be once I have two kiddos. Once we were done at the office we headed to Open Gym with my sister in law and the little girl she nannys. If you have the opportunity to find an open gym in your community, I highly recommend it. We paid $40 for a year membership, which allows various open gym sessions a week. It's a great chance for kiddos to run around, get their energy out and interact with other littles. The open gym sessions we go to is from 0-5yrs, so there are plenty of little kids to practice sharing with and such.
Wednesday, I met with an old friend for an interview. She's in nursing school and one of their projects is to follow a pregnant woman for 4 weeks, complete with home visits and meetings. I doubt she'll get a full 4 weeks out of me, but at least she'll get the full birth story! I doubt anyone else in her class will be following a woman with a midwife team as opposed to a hospital. Hopefully, it will spread some awareness at the normalcy of birth. Plus, it was really sweet talking to her about the whole pregnancy. After the meeting, I rushed home to get ready for work. I can not tell you how DONE I am with teaching. I am sick of answering questions and physically helping students with technique at this point. I really hope I don't have to be there next week. After teaching, my sister took my weekly {sometimes bi-monthly} maternity photos and surprisingly, I could still do the yoga pose for this week's series. After we got back from the walk, I cuddled up in bed with Sonja in bed and let her watch Dora on my iphone {usually a special treat for long distance car rides, air plane trips and the occasional visit to my office}. Normally, I would have felt guilty for letting her indulge in useless technology, but for real! I needed to rest. Once, I work up from my nap, I was greeted with my evening contractions and even some nausea Has anyone else experienced nausea as a contraction? I didn't notice the pain of the contraction, but the nausea came in a perfect wave like one, it peaked and then faded just like my contracts... Anyway, we headed to dinner for my Husband's Uncle's Birthday. I knew it wouldn't go anywhere, so even though Husband offered to just get mine to go and bring it home, I decided to go. The only thing worse than being in practice labor out and about is being at home alone in practice labor. I splurged on my meal, ordering drinks, salad and an entree, because, who know's when the next time I'll get to go out to eat?
Thursday, I couldn't find the energy to do anything fun. Sonja requested a trip to the bank with the drive up machine, and that was easy enough, since I had a deposit to make anyway. After that, we headed to Whole Foods for a smoothie and pink apples {also her request}. I wanted to go to the botanical gardens or children's museum, but the though of walking around anywhere amplified my shortness of breathe and all I could do was sit and rest. We took an early nap around noon, and I headed to work around 3 when Husband got home.
Friday night we had dinner at Husband's Nonnie's house and enjoyed some family time. I tried to stay at the table to enjoy the conversation but eventually the fully baby belly had me on the couch while everyone else enjoyed their wine. After some dessert I finally suggested we head home so I could get some rest.
Saturday was a nice break. Normally, we go to the farmer's market but my sister in law offered to pick up the veggies leaving husband and I at home with Sonja to relax. After hours of trying to decide where to get brunch we gave up and headed to Press coffee at Scottsdale Quarter. I wanted to use my walking for the day at Restoration Hardware, I really love their rooftop patio and thought it would be beautiful. The drizzle of rain earlier in the morning had all their furniture covered so we didn't get to hang around long. And Husband was super concerned about Sonja breaking something {her listening skills have been at their worst over the past few weeks}. So, after a short but sweet outing we headed home for a lazy day. Little did we know it would be our last night as a family of three...
Birth Story coming soon!
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I can't believe you're already 38 weeks! Praying for a wonderful birth for you in the coming days :)
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