Pregnancy 2: 39 Weeks

I really hope this is my last pregnancy post, but I realize there is a chance I could have another week to 10 days to go (please no!!!) Today was my initial due date (by dates) so I'm hopeful. But then again, tomorrow is Isla's birthday and if we don't get the show on the road soon, the kiddos might have to share a special day.

It is seriously CRAZY to me that I could go to bed one night and then before the sun is up, have had a baby. I think about it every night before bed and I CANNOT WAIT! The anticipation is starting to officially kill me. I spend a lot of the night these days laying there awake, wondering if my water will break. It is so weird how you just expect things to go the way they did with your first. My water broke at midnight with Isla and so therefore if I wake up after midnight without sign of any action, I catch myself thinking "Well, I guess it's not happening tonight."

Which leads me to another thing. I don't really know what real, natural labor feels like. I was trying to refresh my memory and remember what the 5-1-1 rule stood for from our birthing class so I would know when to go to the hospital in case labor actually doesn't start with a middle-of-the-night-bed-wetting. Confession: I had to Google it to figure out what the last 1 stood for (contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute in duration for at least 1 hour). Anyhow, every time I have a contraction, I think "Oh! This could be it!" I had been having a LOT of painful ones ~37 1/2 weeks but then they really died down only to pick up again yesterday.

In case you were wondering, I don't have PIH which is exactly what I expected. The extra workup they did last week was definitely overkill but better to be safe than sorry! My blood pressure was on the higher end again yesterday (130/80) but I'm pretty sure that's because I was stressed out that it might be high. The fact that the blood pressure cuff kept literally inflating itself right off my arm also led me to believe that the nurse might not have gotten the most accurate measure...

In other news, my doctor checked yesterday and I'm dilated to 2 cm, 100% effaced and he said the head is "right there." He basically told me I was so "ready down there" that he wasn't sure why I wasn't in labor at that current second. Cool beans! But he also said now we are just waiting for the baby to decide it is time. Which could still be a while. After he checked me, contractions starting picking up and I was feeling really funny and listless. I was hopeful it meant something but here I am, still pregnant.

I've been having a lot of nerve pain in my legs lately (most the right one). Not sure what the baby is bumping up against but it sends the sharpest pain down my leg that literally causes me to scream (and sometimes nearly fall over). It totally freaks Graham out every time it happens. Pregnancy is a dangerous sport, I tell ya.

Over the weekend, summer arrived in the NW and temperatures jumped above 80 for almost the first time all "summer." This did a number on my footsies, causing some major swelling action. I noticed at work on Friday that my shoes were feeling awfully tight (so much so that I was starting to limp) and then after work I put on my walking shoes only to find I had to loosen the laces so much I barely had enough left over to tie! We went to the NW WA Fair up in Lynden on Saturday and my feet looked like sausages when the day was through. They didn't return to anywhere near normal until Monday.

I have decided not to get on the scale again for the rest of the pregnancy. The number does more harm then good so I'm just going to leave well enough alone. Of course I forgot that they'd be weighing me at my appointment yesterday and I gained 4 pounds in a week!! I think I can say with full confidence though that I'm retaining water.

I guess you could say I've been nesting a bit. I am keeping the house extra clean "just in case" because it would seriously nearly kill me to have to come home from the hospital to a messy house. My freezer is also stocked with 15 cups of homemade marinara, 45 large meatballs, a braided pizza loaf, creamy chicken enchiladas, pesto ravioli, gnocchi gratin, huevos rancheros and maple-glazed salmon. Can you tell I'm wondering where I will find time to cook once I have TWO? I also have all the fixings to make BBQ Pork Chops w/ sauteed apples and Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken thighs and was also going to whip up a double batch of my peanut sauce that can be thrown together with shrimp and green beans for dinner in a hurry. Oh and tomorrow I'm going to roast my first whole chicken! Nesting.....?

We still haven't settled on a girl name yet. And yes, the small font is intentional because I'm feeling a bit sheepish. I wasn't even going to mention it but figured I needed to have it documented for this baby's pregnancy journal. We sat down last night and listed all of our favorite names with the goal of crossing off ones that the other absolutely couldn't stand. Somehow though, it ended up being a "his" and "her" list and we sort of just crossed off all of the others' names. We will have one though, I'm choosing not to worry. We have a lot of good options. We just need to see the baby's face and figure out which one "fits."

I am getting so. tired. Like more tired than I have ever been in all my life. Yesterday I didn't think I was going to be able to stand up. Thankfully, I'd planned to walk with a friend and the accountability got me out the door and somehow miraculously walking. I really don't know how I made it through the rest of the day but somehow even managed to grocery shop and clean the house. Today I am being ridiculously lazy but my body is asking for it so I'm gladly obliging.

For all you non-pregnant folk, I'm not making this whole thing sound very glamorous now am I?