Our story of Grief and Joy - Part 8

If you haven't been following along, please get caught up here  before you continue reading.  Thanks!

*

*

*

*

Like I said last time, I'm going to fly through the next few months.

It was time for our big 20 week ultrasound.  When I was pregnant with Sweet Pea, I really wanted to know if she was a boy or a girl as soon as possible, but when we had our big ultrasound, she was... shy.  We couldn't get a good enough look down there to see anything, and by the time we had another ultrasound later on, we had decided not to find out.  With Babydoll, I wanted to know, but Spencer didn't.  He had no problem with me finding out, but I thought it would ruin the fun if I had that big of a secret and couldn't tell anyone!  Plus I didn't trust myself to not slip and spill the beans!  Either everyone was going to need to know, or none of us.  So we opted to wait and find out when the baby was born... when there would be no wondering for months if the technician was right or not. 

That's not to say I wasn't SOOOO tempted to peek!

June 14, 2006   20wks 6days

We had an ultrasound last week, baby is growing beautifully!  The ultrasound was so clear, it was amazing!  For a while Baby had it's arms up in sort of a boxing stance, and at one point it's arm was up and flexed!  It was so cute!  As far as movement goes this baby is very active, and a very strong kicker for such a tiny one!

   I have to step in here and say that that is exactly how she is now!  Her personality in the womb was very much like it is out in the world!

September 25, 2006   36 wks

Only 4 weeks to go!  The last 3 months have gone smoothly, which is probably why I haven't been writing.  The biggest thing is that for the past 3 weeks or so I've been having contractions throughout the day and night.  Most of them are in the afternoon and evening.  It's gotten really hard to get around, particularly getting up, and I'm getting uncomfortable.  I would be perfectly happy to have this baby soon!  I'm incredibly anxious and excited to see our baby!  I want to hug and kiss him or her so bad!  I'm a little nervous though about going into labor on my own - and knowing for sure that it's time to go in.  I also want to make sure that the baby isn't born too soon, so that it can come home with us.  I'll be taking 4 weeks off for maternity leave.

October 4, 2006  37wks 2days

The crib is ready to go and so am I!  Monday and Tuesday were pretty quiet as far as contractions go.  Sunday afternoon we all went to the apple orchard.  While we were driving out there and while we were there I was having contractions between 3-6 minutes apart for almost an hour and a half.  The only reason I didn't go in was they weren't getting progressively stronger.

At about the 38 week point, I suddenly was unable to sleep through the night.  I would wake up after a few hours of sleep, and then be wide awake for hours.  When it hurts to move around, and you know you're about to pull off one of the hardest physical challenges a person can go through, it really sucks to not be able to sleep!

October 13, 2006   38wks 4days

I woke up again last night, wide awake at midnight, but after a while of laying on the couch watching TV, I fell back asleep.  I woke up several times but was able to fall back asleep.  The night before, on the other hand, I was completely awake from 2-4:00, and up and down from then on.  May ankles hurt really bad right now, as do my legs.

I was getting desperate.  My OB was going to try to strip my membranes but was unable to reach them.  This most likely would have sent me into labor, so I was pretty bummed she couldn't do it.  I drank Raspberry tea, ate macaroni and cheese with A1 sauce (gross), exercised, did every idea I could find to try to go into labor.  At 39 weeks I woke up with groin and pelvic pain and a terrible back ache, I hoped it was labor - nope.  I took some tylanol and went back to bed and woke up in the morning feeling better. Better, but still pregnant.

October 18, 2006   39wks  2days

The last couple days I've been having a lot of Braxton Hix contractions but so far no real labor.  I have been able to sleep in my own bed all night for the past 2 nights though! Yay!  I still get up to go to the bathroom and wake up throughout the night, but I've been able to get back to sleep without too much trouble.  I wouldn't mind being up in the middle of the night if I was holding my baby!  I am very excited to meet our baby!!!

If you've been following along, you should probably click HERE for the final chapter of this story!