Sigh

Well, let’s just say it’s been an eventful week.  I haven’t been blogging much because we haven’t been home much.  The night, or I should say early morning of Thanksgiving, contractions started waking me up every few minutes at night.  By 4am Thanksgiving morning, I decided to get up and see if I could get them to stop by soaking in the tub.  It was at that I was able to time them to be about 10 minutes apart.

Thinking I could easily go days like this, I didn’t think much of it, but around 5am, it started picking up and getting closer together.  It was at that point that I gave Knut the heads up that we’d probably be headed to the hospital that day instead of his parents house for turkey.  However, when the kids got up, my contractions stopped.  Well, almost stopped.  They slowed down to every half hour or so, which is pretty normal at this point in the pregnancy.

So we didn’t miss Thanksgiving, but I tried to take it easy.  By evening, the contractions quickened to every 10 minutes again, but at least they were mild enough that I could sleep through them, and slept very good that night.  Yesterday morning Knut let me sleep in until 9am since he knew I was still so tired from the night before.  I headed downstairs to get some cereal, and half way through my bowl, intense pain took over, and I thought I had instantly been thrown into the transition point of labor (just before pushing).

The pain was stabbing, and strange.  I got scared because I was worried something was terribly wrong, which didn’t really help matters.  I had a regular appointment with my OB scheduled that morning, and after calling the hospital first, they told us to go to our appointment, so we could see the OB before headed into labor and delivery.

My doctor barely had to look at me before sending me over to the hospital, where I was immediately prepped for labor.  The contractions were intense and 1-2 minutes apart for and the nurses started prepping the room for the new baby who we all assumed was rushing her way out.

Then things changed after about 2 hours of this.  I got so tired and wanted to lay down for just a moment.  When I did, the contractions slowed, and I was able to shut my eyes for about 30 minutes, and then the contractions stopped all together.  Well, that baffled us all, so I decided to start walking the hallways to get things going again.  I got them back to about every 5 minutes, but not nearly the intensity that it was before.

So by evening, with absolutely no change, they sent me home.  I usually deliver so fast that we try to get into the hospital when contractions are every 5 minutes, so being sent home when contractions were that far apart made us feel a bit confused as to when we were supposed to come back, but I think I’ll just have to follow my gut on that one.

Realistically, these contractions could go on for quite some time.  I know our goal was to make it to December, and Knut is taking this opportunity of coming back home to see to it that that happens.  He (Knut, not my OB) has debated about confining me to bed until December, but has allowed me to get up and sit around the house.  I am full term now, so the baby can come without very much worry, but realistically, the closer to the due date the better.  That’s still 3 weeks away.  If walking at the hospital brought on contractions, than walking at home is exactly what Knut doesn’t want me to do.

I’m not disappointed that she’s not here yet, because obviously the timing isn’t right quite yet.  However, I’m discouraged that I went through all of that intense labor and have no baby to show for it.  You tell yourself things to help you get through it.  You tell yourself that soon you’ll be holding the baby.  You imagine what she will look like and if she’ll have lots of hair or be bald as ball.  I feel like I made myself all sorts of promises yesterday, and then I felt lied to…by myself.  Does that make sense?  O, the complicated emotions of a pregnant lady!

So now “laying low” which is what I’ve been trying to do the last few weeks, Knut has taken to a whole new level (which is quite unusual for him, as he normally is the one to push me).  No one instructed him to do this, but he has it in his mind that if I can stay off my feet we’ll make it to December, and that has been our collective goal.  Fortunately for me, that’s just a few days away, and then he’ll let me resume normal activities.  Right now, as soon as I get up and start doing things, contractions start coming every 5 minutes again.  I sit down and they go away.  So I guess I’ll be sitting.

Yesterday we were planning on decorating for Christmas, so I was hoping that we could do that today.  I just LOVE decorating for Christmas and think it’s just what I need to raise my spirits.  Knut thinks that will be too much for me, and after thinking about it, said maybe he’ll let me do one box and see how it goes from there.  At least the Christmas music is blasting.  That helps a little.

I guess I’ll get a lot of knitting done in the next few days!  Now there’s a bright side!