38 week update

My anxiety has been much better this week.  That's the power of prayer and a priesthood blessing- I've been more calm and I've felt more peace through each day.  It's still a scary time but I'm so thankful that I'm doing better than last week.

It's been an eventful week- but not as much as we thought it would be!  Last Thursday, the night before Kevin's graduation, I was almost sure baby was on the way.  We had just got back from a great evening at Kev's awards banquet- it was so fun to have a nice evening together.  There had been no signs of labor- until I laid down for bed about 1130pm.  That's when I was introduced to a new life experience: Prodromal Labor.  False labor is such a misnomer because everything about it is the same as real labor except for the progress.  Most of that night I had painful contractions every five minutes that lasted a minute each.  I was trying to get them to calm down because I knew Kevin would be devastated to miss his graduation.  I was really tearful and overwhelmed- but after a while I got into the zone.  Breathing through the pain, focusing, getting ready.  Just as we were about to head to the hospital around 4am, the contractions started spacing 9 minutes apart, and then 12, and eventually even further.  It was an exhausting experience in every sense of the word!  I've had it happen a few times this week.  I probably won't believe it when I go into real labor.  I looked up ways to "deal" with it online...but thus far my technique has mostly been "begging the good Lord for mercy."  You get into the zone to run a marathon, and then it stops suddenly.  I keep telling myself it can't last forever!  It's so emotional because you think baby is finally coming, and then she stays put.  She is the baby that cried wolf!

Trying to bribe her with this cute outfit.  Come and get it!

Despite the exhausting night beforehand, Kevin's graduation was so wonderful!  Blame the hormones, but I was so emotional when they introduced "Dr. Kevin Austin Hanni" for the first time.  I'm so proud of him, and I'm so proud of us as a team.  It's so amazing to see dreams come true that we've been talking about since we started dating.  He's going to be such an excellent health care provider and I am so excited for him to get his career going.  Hurry and push the license through Utah!!

Dr. Kevin Hanni

That weekend I tried to do lots of walking to help Aidia progress down, I can feel her very low and wanted to just help the process along.  We walked all over any big store we could think of.  It was exhausting but actually felt pretty good to get some exercise.  Even comparing my belly from two weeks ago there is no doubt she has dropped!

Walking around with Jack

We did have one hospital visit this week unfortunately.  It wasn't due to false labor though.  I was on my fourth day of what seemed to be normal "bloody show."  Sorry but that's what they call it.  Just another sign that labor is on the way.  However, Sunday morning I passed a clot that was so dark it was like purple or black.  I called the nurse thinking, "It's probably normal..." but the nurse said it was not.  She was also concerned that I had bloody show for four days in a row because she said it normally only takes 24 hours to lose your plug.  With my family history, she sent us to the hospital to check on baby and make sure we weren't missing anything.  I waited five hours to try and avoid going in, but when I passed some more dark blood we went in.  They watched Aidia on the monitor for a while and sent me for an ultrasound to check the placenta.  Thankfully, it didn't show any signs of clots or issues.  It also showed her as being closer to 7 pounds instead of 8 (hopefully it's right... Jack's was wrong.)  While I was there, they checked where I was at and said I was 60% effaced and soft, and was a 2 on the outside of the cervix, funneling into a 1.  I was happy with that progress since I had been barely a one, and not effaced or soft at all 4 days before.  All that false labor was doing something.  Her heart was good enough for me to be sent home, with a follow up NST the next day.

The NST went great- fluid level looked fantastic.  They had a hard time getting her heart to stay on the monitor because she was "so low."  Happy dance!  I felt much more confident about letting her come on her own time once I saw the placenta is still functioning well.  I needed that peace to let her grow a little longer.

Yesterday I had my 38 week appointment and my doctor could tell how miserable I feel.  Like things just need to get going!  She checked me and said I had progressed to being dilated to 2.5cm and now was 70% effaced and baby was at a -2 station.  She said that's normally baby's position for second time moms when they go into labor.  She tried to help get things going by "aggressively" stripping the membranes.  It was excruciating.  I wasn't expecting it to hurt so much for the sac to be separated from the cervix.  Mostly it was pain from feeling like my skin was going to tear from the pressure of her fist.  I am not a muppet.  It was embarrassing because I screamed and I couldn't even help myself.  When I left the office I kept my head down...sorry you all heard me in agony...  She said the procedure was successful though since I was far enough dilated she got all the way around the sac.  She gave me a 50/50 chance of either having my water break or going into labor within the next day or two.  This was about 26 hours ago...so I'm still holding out hope haha.  She said baby feels big already as she felt around my belly which is one more reason she wanted to get things going.  I was super exhausted and uncomfortable the rest of the day.  I didn't have much pain leading up to actual labor with Jack, so this is new for me!

I really hope this is my last update until the birth story!  If not, we have 8 days until my induction!

All I want for Christmas is you!