Prelabor?
Last night was much of the suck.
Even though sex at this point in pregnancy is almost more work than it's worth, Andy and I decided to give it a try and see if the prostaglandin action would be enough to get my cervix a little more prepared to ripen. I fell asleep around midnight, only to wake up about an hour later with contractions that I couldn't sleep through.
At 2:30, I finally got out of bed and went downstairs to read in the recliner. Fully aware that my body likes to do the whole regular-but-fake-contractions bit, I timed thm for a little while - they were mostly about 5 minutes apart but much different from the usual painless contractions I usually experience. These hurt! Not "OMG There's No Mistaking I'm In Labor" pain, but a lot of back pain and digestive discomfort went along with these.
I tried to go back to sleep at around 4:00 AM but just laid awake unable to find a comfortable position. When I wasn't having a contraction, my hips and back ached and my stomach gurgled and did a "Snap Crackle and Pop" bit. I finally fell asleep close to 5:00, but was awake when Andy's alarm went off at 6:00. So I got up and took a shower with him, hoping that would help me relax enough to get a tiny bit more sleep before Noah woke up. It did make me feel better, and I probably got a total of 45 minutes more sleep before Noah came into my bedroom saying, "Mama! I hear the garbage truck- that must mean it's morning!" *cry*
Still having contractions, though they are less intense and pretty much exactly 10 minutes apart. Andy keeps checking in on me to find out if I need him to come home, but I'm not entirely sure this will switch over to actual labor anytime in the next 24 hours. Hell, it could be a week but man that would suck.
I have a prenatal appt at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning because the ultrasound tech is going to be out of town on Friday, my usual day for appts. I'm kind of interested in seeing if there has been any change in cervical dilation/effacement, but I'm also kind of afraid to go and find out I'm like 3 cms dilated and have them tell me to go over to the hospital and get prepped for the c-section. I don't imagine I'll have that kind of change yet, though - I haven't noticed any difference in my cervix from MY checks, but then again I can only reach one side and not the os so who knows.
I'm freaked out about how this is going to work with Noah. If I wasn't lying awake because I was in too much discomfort to fall asleep last night, I would have been lying awake worrying about the childcare situation anyway. The plan is that my brother will watch Noah for us, but he's not really available at the drop of a hat. He is a store manager of a gas station in Minneapolis and has to wait for a replacement before he can come out to our house, which is 15 minutes from the station in non rush-hour. So, it's likely we'll have to wait around 2 hours from the time I call him to the time he can make it to our house, provided it's during the day. This didn't worry me when we were planning a normal vaginal delivery - I just figured I'd call him early enough where I knew I'd still have plenty of time before I actually needed to be at the hospital. But now with the cesarean...
I think we'll just wing it, which makes me slightly uncomfortable but what are you gonna do? Maybe I'll end up getting to the hospital when I'm like 8 cms dilated and I'll be like, "Hey, is Baby A breech again? Can we just give this a try?" Ha! Obviously that won't work if she's still transverse/oblique, but whatev.
Damn, this is kinda scary.
Even though sex at this point in pregnancy is almost more work than it's worth, Andy and I decided to give it a try and see if the prostaglandin action would be enough to get my cervix a little more prepared to ripen. I fell asleep around midnight, only to wake up about an hour later with contractions that I couldn't sleep through.
At 2:30, I finally got out of bed and went downstairs to read in the recliner. Fully aware that my body likes to do the whole regular-but-fake-contractions bit, I timed thm for a little while - they were mostly about 5 minutes apart but much different from the usual painless contractions I usually experience. These hurt! Not "OMG There's No Mistaking I'm In Labor" pain, but a lot of back pain and digestive discomfort went along with these.
I tried to go back to sleep at around 4:00 AM but just laid awake unable to find a comfortable position. When I wasn't having a contraction, my hips and back ached and my stomach gurgled and did a "Snap Crackle and Pop" bit. I finally fell asleep close to 5:00, but was awake when Andy's alarm went off at 6:00. So I got up and took a shower with him, hoping that would help me relax enough to get a tiny bit more sleep before Noah woke up. It did make me feel better, and I probably got a total of 45 minutes more sleep before Noah came into my bedroom saying, "Mama! I hear the garbage truck- that must mean it's morning!" *cry*
Still having contractions, though they are less intense and pretty much exactly 10 minutes apart. Andy keeps checking in on me to find out if I need him to come home, but I'm not entirely sure this will switch over to actual labor anytime in the next 24 hours. Hell, it could be a week but man that would suck.
I have a prenatal appt at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning because the ultrasound tech is going to be out of town on Friday, my usual day for appts. I'm kind of interested in seeing if there has been any change in cervical dilation/effacement, but I'm also kind of afraid to go and find out I'm like 3 cms dilated and have them tell me to go over to the hospital and get prepped for the c-section. I don't imagine I'll have that kind of change yet, though - I haven't noticed any difference in my cervix from MY checks, but then again I can only reach one side and not the os so who knows.
I'm freaked out about how this is going to work with Noah. If I wasn't lying awake because I was in too much discomfort to fall asleep last night, I would have been lying awake worrying about the childcare situation anyway. The plan is that my brother will watch Noah for us, but he's not really available at the drop of a hat. He is a store manager of a gas station in Minneapolis and has to wait for a replacement before he can come out to our house, which is 15 minutes from the station in non rush-hour. So, it's likely we'll have to wait around 2 hours from the time I call him to the time he can make it to our house, provided it's during the day. This didn't worry me when we were planning a normal vaginal delivery - I just figured I'd call him early enough where I knew I'd still have plenty of time before I actually needed to be at the hospital. But now with the cesarean...
I think we'll just wing it, which makes me slightly uncomfortable but what are you gonna do? Maybe I'll end up getting to the hospital when I'm like 8 cms dilated and I'll be like, "Hey, is Baby A breech again? Can we just give this a try?" Ha! Obviously that won't work if she's still transverse/oblique, but whatev.
Damn, this is kinda scary.