Friday, February 14, 2014

Waiting...Happy Due Date to Me


Happy due date to me! I'm starting to get a bit impatient and feel like this baby is *never* going to come, even though we all know that isn't true. Ever since my midwife appointment on Monday when she tried to "help things along" I've been feeling pretty crummy. I have been feeling very flu-ish with lots of irregular contractions and major back pain, which leads me to think this baby is still posterior, which is likely why things are taking forever to get going. On Wednesday night, I was having pretty steady contractions for 3 hours, but after I went to bed nothing really happened. Thursday, more of the same. This morning at 4:30 am I woke up to contractions again, but this time, they were quite a bit stronger...very much "real' contractions. I tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep between them and finally around 7 am I decided to call my parents to ask them to come into town as they were steadily coming about 5 minutes apart. Shortly after that, they were 4 minutes apart and intensifying. I was pretty convinced this was "it". Around 9 am I called the midwife to give her the heads up that I was probably in early labour since they like to be notified in advance. Well, wouldn't you know it...right after that phone call, things settled down. They started to come 10 minutes apart, though they were lasting at least a minute long and were stronger. This happened for a couple more hours, and then pretty much everything just quit. Upon the midwife's recommendation, I took some meds around dinner time and had a long nap. Now tonight I'm still having contractions every now and then, but nothing too crazy. Basically, I'm in early labour, so this could take a couple more days or only a couple more hours!  It's funny how every labour is so different.

 I'm starting to freak out about what I'm about to endure. There are so many unknowns when it comes to childbirth and every labour is different. Truthfully, I am undecided as to whether I prefer a c-section to another VBAC. My VBAC with Nathanael went smoothly, but oh dearly, the pain. I haven't forgotten. I begged and begged for an epidural but, of course, it was in the -40s C and the anesthesiologist's car wouldn't start! (Hello....TAXI?). The risk of uterine rupture is always on the back of my mind along with the fear of how big this baby is going to be. Oh, and did I mention the pain?

My sweet friend, who is a trained midwife, sent me an email today about how she coped with labour and I think I will try her method to "embrace" the pain and focus on it rather than distract myself away from it. In early labour, that is quite easy to do. It will take much more focus to do that in transition, though.

What is really comes down to is trusting the Lord. His will is perfect and He will guide us through this, whatever may come. I really could use prayer that I would not be so fearful about this all.

It won't be long now.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Better late than never I always say :) You have clearly made a nice comfy home for baby to relax in x
God will see you right and give you the strength you need xxx Big hugs and I hope the little one makes an appearance very soon xxxx

Sharon2kids said...

Praying for peace AND patience!!!!

content2be said...

Hi Jenna,
I'm praying for you today. Having had 2 unmedicated VBACs, I can wholly sympathize with your situation. We accidentally found an acupressure point with my first VBAC that helped so much. My husband pushes on the bottom or "small" of the back during a contraction, and it helps immensely with the pain. With my first, I ended up with a large 6 inch bruise on my lower back because I made him keep pushing even after he realized he was bruising me. THAT is how much it helped. Also, deep breathing, low moans and "moos" were much more effective than Lamaze breathing patterns. Lastly, I would try to relax every muscle with as much concentration as I could muster during the contractions. I would picture the contraction as an ocean wave washing over me and then receding. Best wishes, and it will soon all be over and that precious babe will be in your arms.

Linda said...

Jenna, my prayers are with you.
Soon, all the fear and worry will be behind you and you will hold your sweet baby in your arms.
Linda

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