contractions?

Okay so I have read a bunch of places that when you are in labor "you just know." But then I have also read about women who don't realize that they are in labor until they are birthing the poor baby on the side of the freeway.

So all afternoon I have been having crampy-type contractions, but nothing earth shattering or "painful."

And then tonight I laid down around 10 pm to go to bed, but never fell asleep because I would have a contraction often enough to a) keep me awake & b) cause me to look at a clock to check the timing of it.

Since we are 45 minutes away from the hospital my doctor told me to come in when I have contractions 5 minutes apart for 30 minutes, am bleeding, or my water breaks. He doesn't want us to drive all the way down there to be turned away for false labor or whatever.

So I have been having contractions about 5 minutes apart for the last hour and a half. I was laying on my right and left side for the first half hour, but then I wanted to make sure they didn't go away when I sat up, they didn't, so then I had to check to see if they went away when I was up moving around, so I folded some towels-- they didn't go away, but they felt a little different. So now I am sitting here timing them on-line and will probably go wake Jeff up in a few minutes. But I really, really don't want to be in labor at the hospital forever AND I don't want to drive down there prematurely so I am wanting to MAKE SURE that this isn't just my body playing pretend. Plus I think I may be in trouble with him when I do wake him up if I tell him how long they have been around 5 minutes.

Oh, my phone won't let me post anything remotely on here-- so if Elea really is going to be born in the next 24 hours I will try to post when we're home again. Or maybe check Angie's blog because maybe she'll post before I have a chance.

The Color Purple

I just read the Color Purple by Alice Walker this week.

I'm sorry Oprah, but I didn't really get it.

No, I haven't had the baby yet . . .

At my last Dr. appt. (on Monday) I was almost 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. He even said that he wouldn't be surprised to see me in labor & delivery before my next appointment.

BUT

No go.

Since my mom can't get to town until Monday night I am not getting too impatient. I always said that I wouldn't be one of those pregnant women who get impatient before the baby is even technically due. However, I also said that I wouldn't gain more than 30 or so lbs. and we all know THAT didn't happen so whatever.

Yesterday at Wal-mart the girl at the check out stand asked me how far along I was. I told her 39 weeks. Her response: "you look like you're about to pop."

Gee. Thanks.

The good news is that since I've finally officially moved to Cedar I have had time the past couple of days to get some good cleaning done. I am still in the process of hanging picture frames, etc. but I've already hung more at this house than any of our previous places. (Mostly because Ang came to visit with her girls for 2 days and as per Jeff's instructions, did most of it for me!)

I'm going to go figure out how to post messages from my cell phone so that when Elea does decide to "come out" (as Jeff puts it), I can post. Wish me luck.

belly pics

My original plan was to post picture and belly measurement updates regularly throughout my pregnancy. But, I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.

However, I've finally decided to post the pics I have taken of my belly over the past 39 weeks.

Proceed with caution.

21 weeks

27 weeks

29 weeks

34 weeks

38 weeks

NO MORE SCHOOL FOR JEFF!!

Jeff's finished with his student teaching!! What a relief.

It will be great for him to be able to just go to work without having to worry about school stuff anymore.

Almost finished . . .

Jeff should be completely done with his student teaching and teaching licensure requirements in general TOMORROW.

HALLELUJAH!

I am so excited for him to be finished-- probably not as excited as he is to be finished, but close. This week he has football camp in Cedar at 6 am in the morning, then he drives to St. George to student teach, then turns around and goes back to Cedar for football camp in the afternoon. Luckily, Wednesday should be his last day of that nonsense. My first reaction was to try and talk him out of going to the camp in the afternoon because it's mostly defense and he is working with the quarterbacks, but he handled me well. He just reminded me that he needs to be there for everything to show the Head Coach and the High School Administration in general that he is serious about wanting to teach and coach, etc. I am so used to him bending over backwards with stuff like this, without any real payout at the end, that this time around I need to remember that this just isn't something fun that he is doing cause he is bored and someone asked him-- it's for his career. The cool thing is, he loves it-- more than anything I am grateful that he has found what he loves and will hopefully be doing it for the next 3o years.

I am staying in St. George because my sister and her girls are here- but as soon as we figure out a way to get our bed moved up to Cedar, I will be there. In the meantime, I am too selfish to try and sleep on the queen size bed in Cedar with Jeff another night-- it just doesn't work out to well-- we're both just too big.

Dr. Appt.

I had one of my weekly dr. appts. yesterday. Jeff thought it was hilarious to watch me struggle with the stupid paper "sheet" they give you to cover yourself from the waist down. I was so uncomfortable sitting on the stupid table thing waiting for the doc and so I kept trying to rearrange myself to get more comfortable, but there are only so many ways a girl can sit/lay down while trying not to flash whoever enters the room. So he started laughing at me- which made me laugh, which made my belly shake "like santa" as he put it, so then he laughed even harder, and the cycle continued. I am sure the nursing staff outside the room were trying to figure out why we were so dang happy to be in there-- the paper sheet usually doesn't bring much joy to their patients, I would assume.

So the Doc *checked me and I am 1 almost 2 centimeters dilated and 50% thinned out. So not bad for being 38 weeks on Wednesday. His guess was that I would go into labor anytime from the 13th-17th. Pretty safe guess-- any day during the week I am due.

Being up in Salt Lake all last week, and being busy and up on my feet almost all day everyday made my feet swell up ridiculously. They look like cartoon feet because my toes don't swell, and my ankles don't really swell either, just my feet from the ankle bone down. It sounds stupid probably, but when my feet are all swollen, it makes me wish the baby would come ASAP, but today, the swelling is practically gone, and I am totally okay with being pregnant another couple of weeks.

One of the great things about my Doc is that I told him in one of our first appointments that I my goal is to have a natural childbirth. No drugs, limited monitoring, not stuck on the bed because of IVs, etc. He has TOTALLY remembered that and has brought it up in my last few appointments, saying that he really hopes that I go into labor on my own, etc. and am not weeks overdue because once there is any sort of medical intervention, it tends to put you down the road to more medical intervention. At this point, Jeff would be spiking my drinks with pitocin if he could get his hands on it-- but I want to avoid being induced at all cost.

*Note to self: whether "being checked" is just uncomfortable or hurts enough to make your leg cramp totally depends on the position of your cervix. The first couple of times I was checked over the past 2 months or so, the experience wasn't so bad. Yesterday was definitely not something I look forward to repeating next week- especially if there hasn't been any progress!