Good morning! And Happy Mother’s Day!
It’s actually the day before Mother’s Day in this part of the world. I’d really like to have this baby today so that I can have my baby for the holiday. I’ve been told by several people that I’m a mom no matter whether the baby is out or not, but I don’t care. I want my baby.
I’m now past my due date by a couple days. Apparently that’s typical for first births. Almost no one thought this pregnancy would last this long. My baby shower was on April 10th, and I had several moms there that all agreed that I looked ready to throw the baby out any day. Then I had prodromal labor during the next few days. Prodromal labor is even more similar to actual labor than Braxton Hicks pains. With Braxton Hicks, they don’t keep time, and they go away if you drink water or change position. But with prodromal labor, the pains keep time, get closer together and more intense, and they don’t go away just with drinking or anything quick and easy. But you still don’t end up with a baby. Prodromal labor contractions don’t dilate you at all. It’s just yet another way the body is preparing for labor within the next few/several weeks. In addition to the prodromal labor, I also had a few bouts of Braxton Hicks contractions over the next few weeks. Luckily, I knew not to pay too much attention to those and didn’t go to my birthing center. Even so, a month is quite a long time to be thinking that birth can happen at any moment.
I was nervous for a while. Even though I’ve been listening to my positive birth videos and wasn’t scared of giving birth, it still made me nervous since I’ve never done it before. Now, I’m not nervous at all. I’ve heard labor described as “the biggest workout of your life.” I fully believe that, and I’m totally ready. I tend to be a procrastinator (and I think that may have rubbed off on the baby), but birth has been on the to-do list for awhile now, and I’m ready to get it done.
I’m not naïve enough to think that there’ll be any sort of “rest break” once the baby arrives. As soon as he gets here, my husband and I will be thrown into a world of poop, spit up, and breastmilk. We’re going to be more tired than we’ve ever been, but at least we won’t be waiting any longer. We can be doing something to actually gain ground. I keep trying to make big batches of food to freeze, but we eventually eat what I’ve put up. I also thought I did all the baby laundry, but then kind people kept giving us things, so I have a whole new load to wash and find a place for.
We’ve had the crib set up with the sheets on and the carseat in the car for a month, now. I’m ready to use this stuff! I’m also ready to wear my pants again. At the moment, the baby’s gotten so big and he’s riding so low that I only have 2 pair of pajama pants that I can wear. It’s always a fun idea to be able to put your old clothes on right after giving birth, but I don’t even care about that. As long as I can at least wear clothes from when I was 6 months pregnant, I’ll be overjoyed! There are so many pants and tops in my closet that I had to stop wearing months ago that I would love to be able to put on again.
Although I seem to be complaining at the moment, I’m so excited to meet my little one. I can’t wait to hold him and rock him and feed him. I want to find out what he looks like. I know that he’ll be one of the smaller babies (at least at first), and I know that he has some really long legs, but I want to see his other features. He’ll very likely be a blue-eyed, blonde, but I don’t know that for sure. He’ll likely have some very, very light skin, but I also don’t know that for sure.
It’s time to meet this baby and see him with my own eyes. He’s been in the “perfect” position for a long time, now. He “dropped” (that just means he got lower into a better birthing position) a month ago when I first had the prodromal labor. Then, he dropped again a week and a half ago (I didn’t know they could do that more than once!). Then, over the last couple days, he’s wiggled his way even lower. It’s actually comical just how low he’s sitting inside me. His entire head is inside my pelvis, and he keeps rubbing up against my leg nerves when I stand for more than 40 seconds or so. That’s not so funny right now since it hurts so bad, and I’m having to sit/lay down most of the day, but it’ll be funny to think back on. Once labor begins, I’m thinking it’ll go quickly. As my husband pointed out, there’s not place for the baby to go. If he gets any lower, he’s just going to fall out on the floor!
Here’s hoping that we have a baby by the end of the weekend at the very least. Changes in barometric pressure can bring on labor, and a storm is supposed to come through this weekend, so my fingers are crossed.
Metta and Happy Mother’s Day! And good luck to me!
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