38 Weeks - Surprise!

All About Us - Turn up your volume for this video:)

I am very surprised to be writing this blog tonight. Last night around this time, I was for sure that Lidia was trying to make her debut into this world. Jason and I decided to use one of our last Saturdays as just the two of us as a date night. We had the whole night planned - movie, dinner, and a Girl Scout cookie blizzard from Dairy Queen. The movie we chose was The Hangover - very crude, but very funny. During the movie, I was getting the traditional Braxton-Hicks contractions that I have had since about week 20 of this pregnancy. I thought nothing of them until they started coming more furiously. At around 6:30, I decided to start timing them. They were lasting about a minute long and coming at various frequencies, but never more than 5 minutes apart. I alerted Jason of the contractions and his eyes showed a little bit of panic. I reassured him that I was OK for the time being. I decided to wait until after the movie and then assess the situation. The contractions were still coming steady after the movie, so we decided to go home. After sitting at home for another hour with the contractions not easing up, it started to get extremely real to us that we could be having a baby in the next couple of hours. So we went upstairs to make sure our bag was packed with everything we needed. I called my parents to put them on alert and Jason called his sister Terri to put her on alert. So we sat and waited for the contractions to start hurting, but they never did. We were so excited and really couldn't believe that this could actually be it - our baby girl was about to be in our arms!

About 3 hours into it, I decided to call the doctor. I thought if it was false labor, the contractions would have subsided by then and they wouldn't have been so timeable. The doctor called me back and is quoted as saying, "Your message is cracking me up!" She said I was way too calm for a woman who was in labor. I had let her know in the message that I was not in pain, but the contractions were coming at regular intervals for quite some time. She said that until they get painful and until I'm no longer able to talk through them, then I didn't need to think about coming to the hospital. She said it could be 12 hours to many days until I went into active labor. She instructed me to get some sleep and that's exactly what I tried to do. After 5 straight hours of consistent contractions, I went to bed. I didn't necessarily wake up to them in the night, but I did wake up a lot due to a lower back ache. This morning I could tell that the contractions had subsided. Throughout the day today they have still been coming, but with frequency with which I am familiar. At mass today, Jason asked me if I was feeling OK and I frowned and said "Yes, but I wish I was feeling miserable." Needless to say, Lidia is not ready for this world quite yet. We will keep praying for her speedy arrival, as well as continuing our 2 mile daily walks to guide her into position. We will continue to live our lives as normal. After all, it's up to God when Lidia will arrive...which will hopefully be soon!

Playing Games

You seem to be unfazed with all the squishing mommy's uterus has been putting you through in the past 24 hours. You are still moving like crazy and playing your games with mommy's ribs and bladder. You will be happy to know that mommy and daddy finished our 7 weeks of childbirth classes this past week, so we are totally prepared for you to come now. At our last doctor's appointment, the dr. informed us that there was no change in your progression into this world - mommy is still 1 1/2 cm dilated and 25% effaced. If we make it to Thursday's appointment, I have a feeling we might see a little more progress due to all the activity this weekend.

According to all the books, you are about 7 pounds now, which contradicts what one doctor has predicted - that you will only be around 7 pounds if you are to make it to 40 weeks. You do seem like a pretty small baby, which I don't quite understand because I have always done well to feed you. It could be because mommy has been quite active during this pregnancy, which supposedly leads to smaller babies. The smaller, the better to push you out my dear!

Well, Lidia, we may see you soon or we may not see you for another 2 weeks. No matter when it will be, it will still be the absolute best day of our lives. We love you!