Start and Stop

What an exciting week so far! (I say that somewhat sarcastically.) After yet another weekend of all-day errands and organizing for the baby's arrival, Paul and I finally feel ready. "Now the baby can come!" said Paul after testing out the new showerhead attachment he got on Sunday evening.

I woke up early Monday morning with contractions. Unable to fall back asleep, I found that they were 15 minutes apart. I told Paul and he patted my head as he fell back asleep. I got some food and dozed off for awhile between 5 and 6am. Then they started coming 10 minutes apart. Paul went to work and I sat around all day, resting and eating little bites as the contractions slowly picked up speed and intensity. By dinnertime, they were about 5 minutes apart and made the process of making a pizza sort of difficult.

We took a walk and visited our neighbors to pass a little time. At 4 minutes apart already, the midwife was thrilled (and so were we!), and suggested we both rest as much as possible in case the night was filled with activity. We chugged some extra-strength Nighty Night Tea and fell asleep. Around 2:30am we woke up and had a snack together. The contractions hadn't increased in intensity at all (hence my being able to sleep through them) but were still 4 minutes apart. We went back to bed and both slept until 8am. Amazing! I felt so well-rested even though my muscles had been working hard all night!

The contractions started to slow down. We took a walk after breakfast, rested, ate lunch, took another walk, and still the contractions slowed down. A dear friend brought us dinner, by which time there wasn't much activity anymore. Just baby kicks, infrequent contractions, and some serious disappointment.

Paul went back to work yesterday while I lazed around the apartment. My body felt so worn out and heavy, and I was afraid to start any projects. I had more contractions in the morning, but they slowed down and got lighter again throughout the day. I napped a lot and tried hard to get over my disappointment. I'm still disappointed. I hate this idea of a "false start," because it wasn't false, things were happening!

Something encouraging our midwife said was that whatever work my body has been doing with these contractions is work it doesn't have to do again later. Well that's a relief! It's all progress, and when the time is right, nothing will stop the baby from coming. Another of our midwives had a similar experience with one of her children: contractions 5 minutes apart all day long, which stopped, and then the baby came 2 weeks later. 2 weeks!!! I really hope I don't have to wait that long.