12/30 labor

12/30 noonish AST

Last night I was having consistent contractions, but seemed to lessen as I went to sleep. I was woken up several times in the night with contractions, but nothing that kept me from going back to sleep.

Today I woke and ate, and the contractions came back. I am having them every 2-3 minutes as very noticeable contractions. I have not had pain to speak of yet, just bearable pressure with occasional times of unbearable pressure. I feel a general malaise, like in other labors. I just want to hide in myself and listen to no noises. My back is aching and I feel very tired. I have waves of nausea with most contractions. The baby is not moving in a contraction anymore, so that discomfort has ended.

Tomorrow night is full moon, and while not superstitious, I do believe that the gravitational pull is a reality. Just look at the great oceans which are affected so easily by the moon and its pull. Our bodies are made up of a great percentage of liquid. And, I believe that since God made the moon, I can recognize His creation as a force that can affect me.

We are one day past the "due date." I am happy that this baby has finally decided that it is time for birth. I am glad that s/he has waited this long to be born, rather than making an appearance at 26 weeks or so and requiring a long hospital stay. Praise be to God for His timing in all things.

Could this be labor finally??

8:55pm

I think I have finally gone into real labor. This could be yet another false start, but I truly hope not. I set up the "tub" in the shower. I made my friend's circular pool into a rectangular tub for comfort in labor.

I tried it out and it works just fine. The first hot bath I have had, in my own home, while living in Dominica! The breeze is not awful, but if it were a windy night, we would have problems.

Contractions are coming pretty regular with hard ones about 6 minutes apart and 2 small ones in between, kind of like a continuation of the hard one. So, if I had to say exact timing between them, 2 minutes between each with varying degrees of strength. I don't know what if anything the small ones are doing.

I will update as I can.

Update anyone?

I have been really bad about posting. I really should tend to the updates more often...
With that off my chest, I want to let everyone know that my due date has changed again! We counted from the real dates that Travis wrote down in his date book, and found that my due date is really supposed to be December 29! That is just a few days away. You can imagine our surprise when we thought of all the time I spent on bedrest thinking that the baby was way too early to live outside the womb. Maybe if I had known, I would not have been so careful... so maybe it is a good thing that we did not know.
The past 3 weeks have been fun filled and busy. We had visitors from Colorado off the cruise ship 12/20, and visitors from Oklahoma- Shelby's visitors really. We finally counted the dates on the 17th or 18th and I was able to be up and about for our company and Christmas.

As for baby: No update from a website, but my own rendition. Baby is fully developed and ready for birth. You may be in labor or there soon. Congrats on surviving 40 weeks of ups and downs!

Last Sunday (12/20) I started having intense contractions with lightheadedness and a pukey feeling and thought This is it! But, alas, I am still pregnant. Here we see another Sunday and I, again, am having contractions, harder this time, but not hard labor.
I am knitting an 11th-hour diaper cover. I finished some seamless baby booties in purple and green. I am finishing up some cloth diapers to use. We will see how that goes.

Lately I feel like I have an 8-pound octopus residing inside of my belly. I am warned by a few mothers of twins that this means more than one, and I will probably eat my words, but, no, I am not having twins *beating hands and feet on the floor*. I am having just one baby- right God? The ultrasound tech told me there is no way I have twins, so I am hedging on that. Although I am preparing for a baby with as much extra as I can. I already wash 1-2 loads per day, so what difference does it make if I have to wash a third??

I am sort of glad that I did not have a Christmas baby. That would have made our ham dinner a little late, like 2 days late.

This morning during meeting I started having a dizzy spell. I was singing and started feeling lightheaded and my vision was going dark. I guess the singing made me oxygen deprived. As soon as I put my head down I started feeling better, but it took several minutes for me to feel as though I was not going to faint. All the contractions since then have given me breathlessness and dizziness. Hope this is it!!

Signing off for now. I have to update the family blog.

Look at me grow.

The above picture was taken October 12th or so...

Here I am December 7th. Look at me here. It is not usual for me to be up but decided that I must get a picture to show myself how I am growing! I keep looking down at the belly and think that I seem to be staying the same size... forever. But now I see there IS a difference.

Back labor??

Yesterday I did what I knew I should not. When it was time to go to the chiropractor, there were no local buses due to a cruise ship being in, so we started walking. I had a bad feeling about walking but went along with it thinking that we would get a ride after just a bit of walking. Was I ever wrong!
We walked about 10 miles, really only 3/10 of a mile, but it FELT like 10 miles! It did not take us long but we walked down toward the river and then across for a bit before we were picked up by a tour with 2 people in it.
We arrived several minutes later in Wotten Waven at the chiropractor's office. She was at lunch and we waited for a good 1/2 hour before she was ready. Meanwhile, I tried to sit, walk, stand, and finally ended up using the restroom several times. Severe pain had started in my lower back and I had waves of contractions along with nausea and lightheadedness. The contractions did not seem to go away completely and they were very hard. Walking helped but also made me walk quickly back to the bathroom. Finally I had to sit and stay in a chair, moving around to find a "comfortable" position. All the ladies with labor out there know that there is no comfortable position, there is only "hurts too bad", "doesn't hurt as much", or "hurts the least."
When the chiropractor walked out, she did not seem too worried since she knew I had been having contractions on and off for weeks, but when I told her that I was too dizzy and wanted to puke, she took notice. She decided to adjust me outside standing up. The pain did not go away and Travis did not get adjusted. The receptionist drove us straight home, making sure to go over all the potholes and bumps. Not really, but it seemed like it ;)
After the adjustment, I just wanted to sleep and forget everything. I slept for about 2-1/2 hours total. Upon waking, the pain was not better, but walking helped.
I called my mom who said something like, "Sounds like back labor. You know they tell women to walk to bring on labor right?" Of course, I knew, I just ignored that bad feeling at the beginning. I am so sick of being on bedrest!
I called my sister who told me a few ideas to slow labor. She told me of the old remedy of a glass of red wine. Knowing that Friday night was not the night I would find red wine- anywhere on island- I suggested rum, which I have on hand for eggnog flavoring. She told me that 1-2 shots would be ok but not to get drunk. Ha! 1/2 a shot is enough to get me drunk! I finally tried that but it did nothing to slow the contractions or diminish the pain.
Next, I drank red raspberry leaf tea. I do love it strong. It did not work. I drank a high dose of magnesium citrate which was suggested by a family member. This worked the best, but only for about 30 minutes. I thought I was all out of ideas.
We watched a comedy trying to get my mind off the pain and contractions. The semi-reclining position really helped, especially while I was laughing uncontrollably. If you need a good laugh, watch Old Dogs. Robin Williams and John Travolta are hilarious in this movie. I am usually not a big John Travolta fan since he tends toward a lifestyle in his movies to which I will not attain, but I don't remember one cuss word or one sexist comment. There were no intimate scenes, but there is drinking in the movie. Still very hilarious!
After the movie, I noticed that the pain had lessened just a bit, but then I arose to visit my second home, the room with the white seat. As soon as I started walking the pain came shooting back but eased after that. When I came back to bed, I could not find a comfortable position, or even semi-comfortable. I was up and down for about an hour and could not doze off.
Finally I decided that melatonin was my choice of drug to force my mind to sleep. The melatonin certainly forced me to sleep, but every time I woke to use the restroom, I would be hit with a wave of pain and nausea. Along about 5am, I noticed a shift in pain which let me sleep deeply and comfortably without waking with pain.
I still had a little bit of pain and remembered what my mom had mentioned about back labor. I remembered also that baby has been "face up" when I lie down, this noticed by all the kicks and hits being in the front of my belly. So, I rocked hips and the baby turned so that his little back was laying in my hanging belly. Way more comfortable!! Unfortunately, I cannot stay in that position all day.
The pain stayed away until about 1pm (is it 2 pm already???) when I went to the kitchen and fried eggs for the hash that Travis had made for "breakfast."
I am back in bed, semi-reclined with knees up. I talked again with my sister who suggested laying with knees up since this is a known position to inhibit labor. I still don't know if I am in true labor, but I don't want to be, so I am doing whatever I can to keep the pain and contractions away.
Right now, Junior is punching and kicking upward and I am having pain in the back again. Labor sucks, false and real! I just have to keep my mind on that precious goal which I will hold in my arms very soon. Watching life go by with me in bed is irritating to say the least.

I have had the hymn Blessed Assurance in mind lately.I really enjoy Fanny J. Crosby's hymns. Here is a link to the website where I found the words and the music.

33 weeks

Here we are at 33 weeks. We have made it past Taleah's gestational age when she was born. For some reason, if I make it past 32 weeks, 6 days, it is like everything will be fine and the baby will be able to breathe if born today. I know that this is not neccesarily so, but there is that mental block that is so scared of any birth before that age. Somehow my brain disregards the fact that I had steroid shots to boost her lung development!

Contractions have started again even with caffeine. Last night lying in bed, I felt the baby's movements in a different way. I have this extreme low back ache like back labor even though I know nothing is happening. I have to slouch to get it gone. It hurts to lie down on my back or sudes, but feels great to lie half on the stomach with my knee brought up beside my belly to prop me up. I don't know if this is pain from the sciatic nerve or just body aches. Last time I felt this bad, I was in labor with each boy.
I wish I had a time capsule to move ahead 3 weeks and have the baby and then move back to this time with baby being normal birth age. Keep dreaming.


Funny, my info on the pregnancy website says "You are 33 weeks and pregnant." It usually reads You are __ weeks and __ days pregnant.
What is happening in the womb this week: Your unborn baby's senses continue to develop. If you talk to your baby, she can hear you. In fact, her world is full of sounds. In addition to your voice, she can hear your stomach growling and your lungs taking in air, along with the reassuring vibrations of your heart beating. Also, your baby's skin has turned from red to pink and she has started preparing for life outside the womb by storing iron in her liver.
This week your baby stretches to around 12 inches (crown to rump) and weighs in at about four pounds, eight ounces. Thank you babyzone.com

I read that 35 weeks is considered full term for all the organs development-wise.

We are nearing that now. 2 more weeks! Can you believe the journey seems that quick? Funny, but looking forward, 7 months seems eons in the future!