Having done this birth thing before, I figured I'd know exactly what was going on at all times, whether I was in labor or not. But it's now 8 p.m., and I've been having contractions non-stop since 1:00 this afternoon. I can't figure out what the deal is. They're at a Strong Braxton-Hicks level, bordering occasionally on Weak Real Thing. Sometimes I've had a lot of contractions when I'm very tired, and rest helps them stop, but a long nap with Eric this afternoon made no difference: I was having contractions when I went to sleep, and was still having them when I woke up. You can tell how not-real they are by the fact that I was able to sleep through them, but I don't understand why they're hanging around for so long.
I had my dinner a little while ago, and now I'm working on hospital readiness just in case. I wrote up animal and child care instructions for the friend who is going to be coming to stay while we're at the hospital, prepared little individual packets of food for the birds, and I'm about to pack the hospital bag. Just in case. I'll need to do a load of laundry, because I spilled tomato soup on my bathrobe yesterday, and because the wife of one of David's co-workers knitted the baby the most wonderul little hooded wrap and I want to launder it so we can take it to the hospital, too.
The baby, who as you know usually is quiet in the daytime, has been quite restless during all this time as well. I'm not sure what that means, either, except that maybe the contractions are keeping him awake.
I want the baby to stay inside for at least another week, for his own good. I did my relaxation a little while ago and told him so, hoping it would slow things down, but to no avail. It's possible they have even gotten stronger, and I'm wondering whether it's time to start timing them.
I'm not in labor, not really, but something is going on. I guess time will tell.
P.S. Our labor support team are on their way to Columbus for the weekend to visit family. "Should we not go?" Adrianne asked me this afternoon. "Oh, no," I said. "This is just happening because I'm tired. I'm not going to have the baby this weekend." Boy will they be mad if I was wrong about that.
Posted by Su Penn at March 19, 2004 08:20 PM | TrackBack