A little bit longer....

Apparently, I'm one of those people other women are disgusted with. I've been in labor I found out since Wednesday afternoon or evening. And I misread things just a little bit as to when the baby is coming yesterday. I had my doctor's appointment like clockwork and was told I had started to dilate and efface and was at 1 cm.

Ironically, I had called my mom when we left the doc's office to give her the update since she had asked me to do so and told me they were expecting 3-8 inches of snow tonight and when she saw the weather report, she thought, yep, she's going to go into labor tonight. And such would be my luck afterall. Leave it to me to go into labor on the first big snow of the season.

Then, not more than 90 minutes after my doctor's appointment, I stood up off the couch and felt something wet on my leg. So I went to the bathroom to check it out and see what was going on. A tiny piece of mucous and an almost clear fluid with a pale brown tint was to blame. Because it seemed to be a slow and steady trickle, I thought, 'Yes! Finally! My water broke!"

So, thinking that it was finally time to go to the hospital and have my son, we rushed to target to pick up a few last minute items we knew we would need since my DBF had just gotten paid. We picked up an infant carrier while we were there since the two car seats we were given are more upright and would require the baby to be able to at least be able to support his head, along with some extra diapers, wipes, nursing pads, and a nursing bra for me.

We then proceeded straight to the hospital from there, while I'm making phone calls telling everyone it's 'time' since our family list can be a bit lengthy and they have all been waiting for this to happen. When we arrived, we parked in the long term patient parking area and got checked in. They gave me a room, hooked me up to a fetal monitor which again Poe repeatedly tried to dodge the whole time we were there and a monitor to check my contractions. My cervix was checked multiple times and they even took samples of the fluids leaking from me to verify if it was in fact amniotic fluid. I began losing my mucous plug we found out, along with 'bloody show' starting to appear.

In an effort to see if things would progress, they had me walking around the maternity floor for about thirty or so minutes and then checked everything again. I had barely gained half a centimeter at this point. I was then left on the monitors for quite a while longer and they even did an ultrasound to check the fluid levels around the baby, which turned out to be at a healthy level, and any fluid leaking my doctor said was from my cervix, not the amniotic sac like I had hoped. Naturally, I was a bit disappointed to find out the baby was not coming just yet.

I was having contractions, but none of them were strong enough to get things going and proceed into active labor. My mother had arrived shortly after we got checked in and kept looking at the graph printing out and kept asking me, "Can you feel anything right now?" And, for whatever reason, I told her I couldn't, it wasn't strong enough to be felt or cause any pain that would register on my radar. Naturally, she was disgusted with me since she felt every one of her contractions when she had my sisters and I. Knowing this, I commented how she was going to be jumping for joy when I finally did feel something. However, the whole time, the most I felt was a slight (and I mean very slight) achiness to my lower back and maybe occasionally an indication of soreness or a muscle tightening somewhere. But otherwise, absolutely no pain.

After being there for a good 4 hours or so, they decided to release me since both baby and myself were doing fine, but full on labor was not in the cards just yet. I was sent home much to my delight and disappointment. Delighted, because I was hungry and if it was labor, they were not allowing me to eat anything just in case. Disappointed because I would love to have this baby already. I was told if my water breaks or I start experiencing painful contractions, to come back to the hospital then. So now I'm at home, waiting for these contractions to actually progress, but unable to go walking around the neighborhood to try to speed things up due to the cold weather and unable to drive out to the mall to walk around either. I'm still hopefully actual active labor will set in before the weekend is out.

We spent last weekend working on getting things setup and put away in Poe's room. We have it done save for a few minor details that will be addressed in time. Anyway, here's a few pics of his room in progress, decor is on the way to brighten things up further, so no worries he'll be getting wall decor along with other items to make his room more fun.

Also, due to the amount of soreness I've been experiencing in the tissues around the hips (perineal, thighs, etc...), the doc said on Friday that I could go into labor within 1-2 weeks. I can't wait either, I'm very much ready to squeeze this kid outta me and be able to reach and see my feet again. I've had BH contractions that come and go since Wednesday night this week and seem to be subsiding for now, we'll see if they start up again tomorrow or middle of the night.. It seems as though my body is somehow teasing me about whether I'm starting real labor or just more practice. A co-worker was shocked I haven't gone to the hospital to get checked out over this, but what is the point if they aren't consistent and aren't intensifying? I don't see why I should sit in a hospital bed for up to 3 or 4 days assuming they would bother to wait that long, if it is the real deal, when I can be more comfy at home until I'm certain we've got actual labor going? I've had so many instances that could be mistaken for the real deal that I could be in and out of the hospital needlessly for weeks or days. They would prolly get sick of me if I went every time I started to wonder if this time was it. Besides, I see the doc again tomorrow afternoon and I'll find out at this appointment if I have effaced or dilated at all. I doubt at the rate things are going right now, that I'm in actual labor just yet. We'll see what the doc says about it...