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March 3, 2004
Mid-Week 42: The Rollercoaster Continues
Tuesday wasn’t a bad day. At 2 o’clock my dad picked me up and we went to the airport to fetch his sister, who was very surprised to see me. We stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back to my parents’. It was nice to escape the house—somehow, the change of scenery made it easier to quell the hormonal ups and downs. I did most of the crossword puzzle and went on a walk after Dan called and convinced Dad to bring me outside. I decided to skip my church class and the astonished looks I’d be sure to get when I showed up. Mom brought me home and helped me measure out fabric for curtains in the baby’s room. Somehow she managed to wash our dishes and line our new cabinets with shelf paper before she left. I left the sewing machine out—it sits on the future changing table, so that would convince the baby to come, right?
Sleeping wasn’t so fun. My hips were really going crazy and finding a comfortable way to lie was nearly impossible. At 3am I woke up and remembered that I was supposed to leave a check for my boss on the porch. I did that and read Newsweek for twenty minutes before going back to bed, tossing and turning again. At least I wasn’t sweating and burning up like the night before. I slept better towards morning and didn’t get up until 10:15.
Today, Wednesday, I’ve been oscillating between calm and edgy at a ridiculous pace. We had an appointment for a car seat clinic at 1pm. Dan and my dad had swapped cars (Dan works half a mile from my parents’ house) in the morning so that Dan wouldn’t have to take off work. Dad and I drove downtown in the separate cars and got assistance putting them in correctly. I don’t know if they showed us anything I didn’t know already, but I feel a lot more confident that our baby will be safe now. After buying the tether hook for our Civic, it turns out we can’t use it until the seat faces forward. Oh well, it’s in there now.
I tried to return a couple things at Target on the way home and got really irritated when I realized I’d lost the receipt. I had every other receipt from my errand-running on Monday, but not one from the only store that requires receipts. Argh.
I made an appointment to get our taxes done tomorrow (I wanted to do them myself, but my brain really has turned to mush). It’s a family friend who’ll prepare them and if by some chance I’m in labor, he won’t mind if we don’t show up. He mentioned that his first was born three weeks late. That son is a normal 27 year old now—they all come out someday…
After my failed Target run, I didn’t have the desire to leave the house again, so I started sewing the curtains. I got three of four hems done on the closet curtain before Dan came to pick me up. We went to daily Mass, then to Bakers Square for dinner. My hips were getting worse and worse, and it seemed like we should take the chance to eat out while we could. I’d be standing for most of the day, but not walking much (at the car seat clinic, then ironing fabric), and I wasn’t sure whether that had helped or hurt me.
We decided to go to another mall and walk around after dinner. While we were eating, Dan started writing down the times of my Braxton-Hicks, just to see when they were coming. I’d had two during church, and more during dinner. As we drove to the mall, I had two more—twelve minutes apart. And I noticed that during them, my really-low back would bother me. I’d say that all day today and probably yesterday, my BH have been strong enough to be somewhat uncomfortable. As we walked around the mall, the contractions kept coming—every eleven, nine, thirteen minutes. Now this was getting interesting. I still didn’t need to stop what I was doing, but they were impossible to miss.
We spent almost two hours walking and shopping—I finally used a couple Christmas Barnes and Noble gift cards (on a Noah’s Ark board book, a slow cooker cookbook, and a biography), and went to a craft store and got frames for our wedding 8x10’s. Yes, we’ve been married 2 ½ years. It’s been on my to do list for awhile =)
I called the midwives once we got home to give them a heads up. As I suspected, they said this is probably a prelude to labor. Perhaps they’ll get stronger overnight, or maybe I’ll sleep through and they’ll start again in the morning. Either way, I’m feeling something now that’s new, and it’s very encouraging. Before going to church this afternoon, Friday was feeling far too soon. After avoiding ultrasounds for this long, it was just depressing to think I might need my first one now. Dan seemed more at peace with accepting whatever we need to do than I was. So long as I’m in labor by Friday, I won’t have to deal with that.
At the moment, we’re watching “The Princess Bride”, I’m drinking lots of water, and eating a bowl of granola. The plan is to be in bed by 11:30 to be well-rested for whatever the night has in store.
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