So, after three months of noticing my stomach tightening you'd think I wouldn't freak out until it was really time to freak out. But last week I thought I really was in labor, for about three hours. I started having almost regular contractions (every five or six minutes) at about 10:30, and they didn't let up until 1:30-ish, when I finally decided to put Jorge & I out of our misery and try lying down to see if it was the real thing or not. Still pregnant, so obviously not for real.
You see, according to my two periods on the second of May and the second of June I would have been due on the 7th of March. According to ultrasound measurements I was actually due two weeks later, or the 20th, approximately. So the part of me that knew this earlier "natural date" was freaking out, on top of what I think was the baby freaking out & making me feel some of his stress (it's gotta be stressful being squeezed so tight for a few minutes every five minutes). I also felt like my heart was beating just a little too fast, a feeling reminiscent of the one I had at the end of labor with Charles.
The fun part of the story is how I got all of the hospital & overnight bags packed for everyone. Jorge will have to fend for himself, but it's only 15 minutes from home to the hospital, so he can come home to shower, etc, when he needs to. The kids didn't have pajamas in their overnight bag, now it's *totally* ready. I didn't have clothes to wear to leave the hospital, now they're packed too... Most of Jorge's collared shirts were un-ironed, and I ironed seven of them before I finally went to sleep, besides some of my own.
(An aside about ironing: We don't have a dryer, we really don't need one, as the climate is so dry. The downside is ironing, because dryer-fluffed clothes are easy to fold and relatively wrinkle free, in my memory, but line-dried clothes are not. I never used to iron anything, except Jorge's Sunday shirts, but that gradually ended with Charles and my realization that we all looked better with ironed clothes.)
I finally decided Jorge was right, that I should at least try to sleep, just to have gotten some rest in case it was the real thing. Well, I lay down and that was the end of it. Almost as soon as I lay down my stomach relaxed and the baby moved around a lot, for quite a while. Thanking me for finally letting him relax, it seemed.
I've continued to have lots of stomach hardening contractions, especially when walking, occasionally when sitting. But when lying down I have hardly any, or they don't bother me at all. I remember with Miriam I woke up (at 2 am) because of the contractions, so I'll just have to try to remember that feeling and not freak out any more. It's rather annoying to have your stomach get so hard you can't continue to sit up straight, but that'll soon be just a memory, and I'll have many not so sleep-filled nights to make it a just a blur.
I have hardly put on any weight this past month, but that doesn't mean the baby hasn't... and he is going to be a big boy like his brother it seems. Maybe he'll be able to sleep through the night sooner. *fingers crossed*
So that's what we've been up to lately... oh no, wait, that was only about the baby. The rest of us are doing fine, living life, having fun, working hard, studying for tests & sending in applications. I've gotten some energy back, (besides becoming repulsed by the idea of coming home to a really un-organized and rather dusty house) and have been cleaning and keeping on top of orderly-ness in our home. I'm beginning to think that I really won't have to kill myself to take care of three kids, provided I sleep and adopt a "little is better than nothing" attitude toward the cleaning the first month(s).
We are already trying to adapt to daylight-savings time, which in Spain starts March 25th this year.
Lots of Love! The next post should be about the new little one.
p.s. I keep having thoughts & occasionally dreams about losing the baby or having it stillborn, etc. I wonder if these are just crazy pregnancy dreams, subconscious anxiety dreams, or maybe are preparing me a little for what might happen. After Charles was born a friend had her second little boy, but prematurely, and he only lived in the NICU, for a few months. Maybe I'm preparing myself just in-case. ~ rpn
