38 Weeks and 5 days. I was sure baby would be coming soon! I had originally thought he would arrive over that weekend. Half right, as he began arriving over the weekend!
I meant to get one last pregnancy picture before we left for the hospital. Again, definitely didn't happen.
Progression: As I had been dilating for a few weeks I figured it was time to try to jump start labor! My last Dr. appointment found I was at 4 cm... which my book says is technically active labor. I wasn't having regular contractions or even painful ones yet. I began walking down the halls at work every couple hours to improve circulation, give me something to do, and to hopefully speed along that dilation. I would walk every couple of hours, which added about 1-2 miles per day to my steps! Not bad and probably really good for me either way with my swollen ankles and legs. While at home I started sitting on my exercise ball when watching TV or eating a snack. It relieved some of the pressure on my hips and supposedly helped baby to drop since gravity was doing it's thing. Not too sure about the latter, but since the former was true I really wasn't going to be too picky! On Saturday Matt and I went to the gym. I ellipticalled for 2 miles (definitely the slowest 2 miles I've ever done), did the leg weights I've continued through pregnancy, and went to stretch and do some free weights for my arms. Stretching proved very difficult. I convinced Matt to leave a little early as I was super tired. Trying to prompt baby to make his appearance!
Anticipation: The anticipation of going into full blown labor was the worst! I kept waking up thinking, "Today would be a great day to have a baby... oh dear! Maybe baby can just stay snuggly in there!" I would go back and forth in utter excitement with no room for any other emotion to fear of the birthing process. I was so ready to meet him, however, I definitely wanted him to come sooner rather than later. On Saturday night I had a dream that my water broke and I was super excited. It was one of those dreams where I was sleeping, the water broke, I got up to confirm, went and got Matt, and we prepared to have the baby. It was so realistic and felt like it was actually happening! I was very disappointed when I actually woke up. Throughout the weekend I packed and repacked my bag and baby's bag for the hospital. I took out some things I didn't think we would actually need and added a few new items. I printed out our birth plan and added that to the baby bag. I did some more cleaning around the house, but didn't want to completely re-do everything I had already finished in that department. Our house is ready for baby! Sunday afternoon Matt and I went grocery shopping specifically to stock up our freezer. Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised when we got the total at checkout. Not nearly as bad as we had anticipated. We wanted to dig into that food right then though! At least we wouldn't have much longer to wait!
Labor: Over the entire weekend I was having my "bloody show". I had thought that losing the plug and the show were the same thing. Now I know that they are two separate occurrences and it makes more sense that baby didn't come after my plug detached. I tried not to get too excited about the show as I knew baby could still wait awhile to come... but I was hopeful! I started getting stronger contractions throughout Sunday... but more on that in the birth story post (coming soon!). At one point I said to Matt, "If baby's coming then fine, but if this isn't real labor it SO isn't worth it!"
Thankfully, it WAS worth it!
Pregnancy fin.
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