Today, I am 35wks, 5ds.
This last month there have been a lot of changes. First for the boring stuff. We got the birth certificate stuff worked out finally! We made a court date finally, and my attorney spoke with the judge to prepare. The judge informed her he was happy with the documents we had submitted and was not going to require us to appear in court!
Woo-hoo!!!!
So that stress is done with.
Baby boy has continued to grow well. I have been seeing my Midwife on a weekly basis for a while now. We are pretty sure he is a decent sized baby. His head is in my pelvis, butt just under my breasts, legs folded, feet in ribs. When he moves, I'm always having to move around and lean to one side; do whatever I can to accommodate his position to give myself some relief. It's pretty uncomfortable most of the time. haha. But I'm used to it by now. Just one of the things we women deal with for those amazing tiny people. :) So I really don't mind.
As for baby boy, he has been trying to make his appearance too early. At 35wks, 1dy I was having some very strange pains in my pelvis and cervix and lots of pressure. After going in to see my Midwife because of that, we found out that I was 100% effaced (cervix completely thinned out ready for labor) and 2cm dilated. I had already lost my mucus plug, and my Midwife was able to feel the amniotic sac.
Thinning and dilating weeks before labor is common the more pregnancies you have, and this is my fourth delivery, but I just can't get mentally comfortable with being completely effaced already at only 35 weeks. I won't lie, it is weighing on me and keeping me worried. I'm very careful about the movements I make, making sure not to put additional pressure on my pelvis. I was put on partial bed rest with some very specific instructions until I saw my Midwife again for a check. That bed rest thing isn't easy for me...
Two days later, at 35wks, 3ds I saw my Midwife again and she checked me again, there was ZERO cervical change. GOOD NEWS!!! So I was no longer confined to my bed, but still had some instructions just to be safe. Light activity, no stairs.
We can do this, everything is going to be ok.
So here I was last night (Thursday) and suddenly started having contractions that were averaging 5 minutes apart, lasting for an average of 1 minute.
not. good.
Especially this being the second time this has happened. (I don't remember if I posted about that last time, but this happened several weeks ago). It went on for a couple of hours. I followed my Midwife's protocol to attempt to stop the contractions and they finally slowed down enough that we figured I would be ok for the night. They never did STOP, but they slowed down. Scary stuff I tell ya.
I have never had to worry about pre term labor before. I have never been this close to labor before 36wks before. I tell ya, I don't like it. I'm still having these contractions today, but they are not at all consistent, which is a good sign.
Inconsistent = no baby.
However, I am now on full bed rest. No classes. No walking. No standing. No nothing. Butt on couch or in tub only. I have never had to be on bed rest before in my life. This is a new experience for me. I have come to the conclusion:
BED REST BITES!!
But it's for a worthy cause, so I'm ok with it. I may be going stir crazy (STIR. CRAZY. I tell ya), but I'm ok with it. All for the sake of this little baby boy. I will do anything to keep him in as long as I can. I want to do everything I can to make sure Doug and Charles get a beautiful healthy baby boy, and don't have to go through the agony of having a newborn in NICU.
Doug and Charles will be here tomorrow. They are driving down in the morning to be here just in case their son decides to go ahead and quit teasing us and makes his appearance. With the way this little guy has been going, we just can't feel confident one way or another; if he will stay in long enough or not!
But I am excited they will finally be down here really soon!
I'm so excited for them to finally be able to feel him move in my belly!!!
I have been so fortunate to have a good friend of mine stay with us, to help me since being put on bed rest. With 3 children to care for, one being only 2 years old, bed rest isn't exactly doable. But having my friend here has been SO INCREDIBLY helpful!!! She is helping with my housework, caring for my kids, helping with shopping....just being so amazing! As hard as this is for me, being on bed rest (I am SO NOT a couch loafing kind of person), I appreciate her so much for all she is doing for me and my family right now. Seriously an amazing person to devote so much time and effort to us. Huge heart, great woman.
So I'm here, hanging out on the couch, keeping the legs crossed super tight, hoping he stays in, watching my 2yr old wrestle around with my helpful friend. :-D
