Am I in Labor?

Eeek, less than a week until little Lomonaco is due. And perhaps he or she will come sooner than that. Like in the next day or so...

Last night, I may have started to experience labor symptoms. My back was killing me and I had periodic cramps for much of the night. It made sleeping quite difficult, darn near impossible. I kept getting up because of the discomfort, got chills at one point and even had to vomit. This better not be what they call false labor. If so, I'd hate to see what the real thing has in store for me. Not much fun.

At this point today, I feel pretty normal. I may try to catch some shut eye and see if anything starts up again. Ok, so I am starting to get kinda scared again. Oh, but what an ultimate reward I have in store for me. I've got to keep my eyes on that precious prize.

Ready to POP

I've heard this phrase used several times today. The first couple were about the fact that I look like I am ready to give birth at any minute. The last time, however, was about the buttons on my stretched to the max shirt.

One week to go. I hope that the buttons and my sanity hold up til then.

Just Sleeping?

This weekend, I had a bit of a scare from the child within me. It is not even in this world yet and it is already doing things to make a mama nervous. My very active little kicker stopped moving for hours on Saturday. It was so unlike the baby to do this that I eventually called the doctors office to report lack of fetal movement. This can be a sign that something is wrong with the baby.

As a precaution they had me come in for testing. On the drive in, the little booger started moving around and kicking the heck out of me like normal. Great, it's making me a hypochondriac, psycho lady pre-birth. We continued in anyway since I already had an appointment and got to hear the baby's strong little heartbeat and see it's movement monitored. Everything came out a-ok and the baby seems to be really healthy. The little one must have been sleeping in as it was up all night kicking me awake.

No Baby Yet

Dang it!! A little more than 2 weeks til my due date. I am not feeling very patient anymore. But yet, when I start to go into labor, I am pretty sure that I will be scared. I know this because last Friday when I thought that I might have been starting, I was quite terrified.

We hired a doula (a lady that is experienced in childbirth) to assist in the labor. I am hoping that it will help me in my quest to go natural and not get an epidural. She can talk me through the pain and give me relaxation ideas, massages:), etc.

There is also $100 at stake to go natural. Christa offered up $50 and my mother-in-law said that she'd give the same as a reward. I'm pretty competitive by nature and now that money is involved it ups the ante. I hope that I can do it, as it is ultimately better for me and the baby. There are so many things that can be side effects to the meds (like a groggy, drugged up baby and a paralyzed mama). And I am already spending that money in my head for new skinny clothes for me and a more gender appropriate wardrobe for the little one (so far we have mainly yellow and green outfits for it).

Spring Showers

I didn't expect to have any baby showers as I moved from all of my friends and family at the start of my pregnancy. Today I am having my third one, the second this week. Our family is so blessed with people loving on us and helping us out. I am tremendously greatful and excited to try out all of these new, cute little things on our sweet bundle of joy. It could come any day now. I feel like it may be very soon-maybe this weekend.

Head Down

Less than a month to go. This morning's doctors appointment was very encouraging. The baby is in the head down position and my cervix is thinning out well in preparation. The doctor said that I was in a very good place for a first time mom. The end is near and I feel good. It's like hearing that news gave me a burst of energy. I can survive this. Please pray for me. I want to do this naturally without pain medication.

Head Scratchin'

Twice now I have been stuck behind the same weirdo at a red light. This fuzzy headed mini van driver sits at the light and scratches his head the ENTIRE time. The frenzied scratching continues even when the light turns green. The driver turns the wheel with one hand and digs into his scalp with the other. Is it dandruff? Lice? Crazy, yet kinda facinating to watch and then my head starts to itch a little.