Friday, September 16, 2011

The Beginnings of Labor

Well it appears the spicy pizza did the trick. I will never hear the end of it now.

I woke up at 7:01 this morning with my first contraction. I waited for about 30 minutes to be sure that it was actually a contraction and that I had more than one. Then I woke Mike up so he could start freaking out. We notified family and then got up to start our day. .

Mike insisted I call my doctor, who was unavailable, but I talked to the nurse. After discussing the duration and frequency of my contractions, she told me I needed to go ahead and go into the hospital for observation. I told her no. Even though my contractions were about 7 minutes apart, they weren't very intense - after all, if you can talk through them without yelling or cursing, you aren't about to have the baby. Mike had a hissy. He was quite adamant that I go in, but that would have ruined my schedule. I had pregnancy pictures at 9:30 and I wasn't about to miss those.

How is that for procrastination? I am actually in labor during the pictures. In fact, once I get them I'll post at least one picture that was taken in the middle of a contraction. At least I am still actually pregnant in the pictures. There is nothing like waiting till the last minute.

Contractions have been happening regularly - in intervals of about 5 to 12 minutes for durations of about 20 seconds to a minute. They haven't been particularly intense. Just enough to be uncomfortable. I finally went in to the Dr's office for my scheduled appointment at 1:20 (after a giant lunch - cheeseburger and fires!) After looking at the meticulous schedule of contractions Mike had logged onto notebook paper, the doctor agreed I was not on the verge of having Emily pop out. The cervical exam was conclusive. I am a full centimeter dilated and almost fully effaced. So progress is definitely being made, but it may be a while. 

Right now, Mike is forcing me on another power waddle and then I am going to try to nap through contractions. I doubt that is really possible, but here's trying.

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