We were getting closer and closer to her due date and secretly hoping she would make her appearance soon. Sunday morning (September 29th) was like any other Sunday for us. We got up and got moving to make it to church. I don't remember feeling any different that day just wishing that our original prediction that baby girl would be here already had come true. The day went as normal. After service we headed downtown to the International Folk Festival to check out the sites and indulge in some of the international cuisine. We sampled Thai, Vietnamese and Greek.
That evening while watching football I started to get contractions. They weren't really strong and although they were a steady 45 seconds long the time in between was too variable to notice. I could also talk and joke through them so didn't think much about it. False labor I thought. I didn't even want to time them but finally let Josh do so after an hour or so.
We decided to go to bed around midnight to see if the contractions slowed down. Remembering that our doula has suggested taking some benadryl and getting rest early on I took that and hunkered down for the night.
The contractions didn't stop. In fact they increased in both regularity and strength. I wasn't timing them at this point but could tell that they were slowly increasing in number. I tried to doze between them but at this point they were a little too powerful to get any true sleep. Josh's alarm went off at 5:30 that morning and we decided that he wasn't going to go into work that day. Thinking we needed to get things going we headed out for a walk in the early morning. We got about halfway down the road before we decided that it may not be the best method. After calling our doula (who had just finished another birth) we decided that the best course of action was to get into the tub and try to relax.
The water helped a little but wasn't the relief I had imagined it to be. I had heard women rave that the water was the best thing for their pain but, I just couldn't get comfortable in the tub. I had this overwhelming need to get up and move around. I got out of tub and moved to the shower. Standing helped and the hot water felt amazing raining down over my head.
The morning passed slowly and I was able to get some food in my stomach in between contractions. Peanut butter toast never felt so dry in my mouth but I knew I needed to get something down before heading to the hospital where they would restrict my food intake. Mid-morning rolled around and I was urged back into the tub. Again the water really didn't offer any relief. I think laying on my back in the water didn't help. I found myself rolling over on my side during contractions. Finally I told Josh I had had enough and needed to get out.
Still trying to abide by our doula's advice to rest we employed one of the Bradley techniques and I got propped up in our bed. With my feet, arms and back supported by pillows, Josh talked me through each contraction. At this point they were still very manageable. I was able to breathe through each one and could feel them slowly peak. I remember being completely out of my body thinking that today was finally the day. Baby girl would come on her due date.
That evening while watching football I started to get contractions. They weren't really strong and although they were a steady 45 seconds long the time in between was too variable to notice. I could also talk and joke through them so didn't think much about it. False labor I thought. I didn't even want to time them but finally let Josh do so after an hour or so.
We decided to go to bed around midnight to see if the contractions slowed down. Remembering that our doula has suggested taking some benadryl and getting rest early on I took that and hunkered down for the night.
The contractions didn't stop. In fact they increased in both regularity and strength. I wasn't timing them at this point but could tell that they were slowly increasing in number. I tried to doze between them but at this point they were a little too powerful to get any true sleep. Josh's alarm went off at 5:30 that morning and we decided that he wasn't going to go into work that day. Thinking we needed to get things going we headed out for a walk in the early morning. We got about halfway down the road before we decided that it may not be the best method. After calling our doula (who had just finished another birth) we decided that the best course of action was to get into the tub and try to relax.
The water helped a little but wasn't the relief I had imagined it to be. I had heard women rave that the water was the best thing for their pain but, I just couldn't get comfortable in the tub. I had this overwhelming need to get up and move around. I got out of tub and moved to the shower. Standing helped and the hot water felt amazing raining down over my head.
The morning passed slowly and I was able to get some food in my stomach in between contractions. Peanut butter toast never felt so dry in my mouth but I knew I needed to get something down before heading to the hospital where they would restrict my food intake. Mid-morning rolled around and I was urged back into the tub. Again the water really didn't offer any relief. I think laying on my back in the water didn't help. I found myself rolling over on my side during contractions. Finally I told Josh I had had enough and needed to get out.
Still trying to abide by our doula's advice to rest we employed one of the Bradley techniques and I got propped up in our bed. With my feet, arms and back supported by pillows, Josh talked me through each contraction. At this point they were still very manageable. I was able to breathe through each one and could feel them slowly peak. I remember being completely out of my body thinking that today was finally the day. Baby girl would come on her due date.
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