No such luck

12 days to go and still pregnant. While I've been having contractions, they're no where close to the consistency the ones on Saturday night and into Sunday morning were.

I have been experiencing some really strange pains all day, though. They only last for 1-2 seconds but feel exactly like the peak of a contraction. When I called about them I was told that it may just be the baby moving and hitting a nerve - sending a shooting pain. Either way, I'm just ready for it to be over. I know I'm only 38 weeks and therefore still possibly have another 4 weeks to go... but I don't want to think about that part.

That being said, I'm starting doses of Evening Primrose Oil in the form of capsules tonight. They say past 38 weeks it's safe to insert up to 4 a day, but I think to cut down on oily discharge during the day, I'll stick to one when I get home from work and one when I'm ready for bed.

We'll see how it works and I'll report back in a few days!

Still here, still pregnant

38 weeks! With 5 days left in the month of September I'm giving up my dreams for having a September baby and deleting all the beautiful sapphire birth stone jewelry I had bookmarked. Sorry kid, but it looks like you're going to have an ugly birthstone. (No offense to those born in October, opal just isn't my personal favorite).

We did have an interesting night last night, though. I started having contractions around 1:15am at 3-5 minutes apart. I fell asleep and they woke me up again around 4:45 - more intense and at 2-3 minutes apart. While I was contemplating calling the midwife / doula I fell asleep again, so it's safe to say I wasn't in labor. Throughout the day today I've been having mild contractions with no real consistency, so we'll see what comes of it.

Foodie!

We went to BJ's a few weeks ago, and while perusing the bakery / food section I came across this:

Go ahead an say it. Holy hell. Yeah, I know, doesn't it look delicious. I promise, it tastes 4589734593789 times better than it looks. It's called a  "veggie crunch mix" and what I like the most about it is that the green beans look like green beans, the squash looks like squash, the carrots look like carrots, and the schnoz berries taste like schnoz berries. 

Full Term - Submit your guess!

Want to submit a guess of when baby girl will arrive? There's a prize for the winner! Scroll down to the end of the post for instructions!

37 weeks. As of today, if I go into labor I can go to the birth center rather than the hospital. As of today she is guaranteed to be here within 5 weeks...and we still don't have our bags packed. I'm quite large and I'm quite grumpy about it. When people ask when I'm due I tell them "Not soon enough." But I don't really mean it! While this is all uncomfortable, knowing that at the end there's another person I'm going to be responsible for is intimidating. But under all the cynicism (that passed spell check!) and sarcasm - I can't wait. I can't wait to feel her helping me and working with my body to come into this world, I can't wait to see what a pro she'll be at everything. I can't wait to see how much she's going to teach us, and I can't wait to see who she looks like. 

On being sick for two

I am going to type this out. And I bet that at least one obnoxious person will think, "Oh, it's going to be worth it in the end!" Let me tell you something: throwing up while snot is dripping out of your nose and simultaneously pissing yourself because - well, you can't control it - is not worth it. For anything.

OK, I lie. That's passive aggressive and will probably put my kid in therapy forever if she finds out I said that. But seriously, it sucks.

Just thought I'd share that lovely mental picture with you. The end.

Using a TENS unit during labor

Straight from Wikipedia: "Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (acronym TENS) is the use of electric current produced by a device to stimulate the nerves for therapeutic purposes."

TENS unit

Back when I was a swimmer I had some really bad rotator cuff issues. I was able to obtain a TENS unit and using it along with the physical therapy, I was able repair all the damaged tissues in my shoulder and it really helped with the pain. 

Last night our Bradley instructor randomly brought up the use of a TENS unit to help with back labor / any other pain during labor. I immediately asked what the cons of using the device during labor are and she said that there's a lot of controversy regarding it. Obviously, this was not the answer I wanted and so I chose to do my own research. I was able to find that while certain uses of the TENS unit could be considered unsafe (like placed over your uterus), using it for other areas (feet, legs, back) is considered safe (read: there are no adverse side effects). 

But this makes me wonder - is using a TENS unit during labor still considered having a natural birth?

True Life: I'm a Control Freak

The main reason I chose to go the natural / midwifery / out of hospital birth is because simply put - I want to be in control. I did my research of local hospitals to see what they "allowed" when it came to labor and birth and it scared the crap out of me! I know assumption is the biggest error trap but I know that feeling out of control would make me tense and stressed, causing "failure to progress" which would ultimately lead to a c-section in our local hospital where the c-section rate is nearly 40%. 

Truth be told: I'd rather lock myself in our bathroom and come out when the kid gets here than be surrounded by a bunch of people telling me what's best and what to do and putting their fingers / hands in places they would normally never be. But I don't think that's an option for us - as both first time parents and rational humans that realize something may just go horribly wrong with no warning. 

Sometimes I forget...

Sometimes I forget that there's things I can no longer do now that I'm pregnant. I'm not talking about forgetting the important things like not smoking or drinking, etc. But the SMALL things that I physically cannot do anymore. Like lay on my back for extended periods of time - which gives me awful back pain and makes me feel like I'm drowning, or move my legs too fast - which sends a shooting pain straight into my uterus. Even every day simple things you don't think twice about - like bending over to get dinner out of the oven. Yeah, you heard me right. Apparently I forgot just HOW humongous I really am and burned my belly on the oven while getting dinner out.