Crazy Talk

So, I was lying in bed resting while Eden was in playpen time. It's been a particularly rough day. I've been in pain for most of the day from pressure Arielle is putting on me. In fact, both my girls were relentless. Arielle on my body and Eden on my sanity. Eden's been repeating words about 50 more times than usual. The whole day has been about watching TV ("PB") or eating ("befas?" "nuch?" "nack?" "ninnah?" "eat, eat, eat, eat..."). I'm just worn thin. My mind is going. Of course, where it goes is to labor.

As I lay thinking about each little twinge I felt and hoping it would turn into a contraction, I decided that I needed to shift my focus to my Creator. I began thanking Him for keeping Arielle safe and for keeping her growing strong and healthy inside me. You might remember, we thought she might come early. I reminded myself that complaining about her still being in there when I'm not even 40 weeks is pretty ridiculous. After all, there are plenty of moms who have had premature babies who would love to be ...

Is that a contraction? It feels like a contraction. My belly's kinda tight.

Come on uterus. Is that all you got!? That little bitty, tiny, miniscule stretchy feeling is the best you can muster!? Get real. I can take it. Give it to me. Give it to me!

sigh

Thank you God that you made my body for this job and for your perfect timing. Thank you for your omniscience in this circumstance. Help me to trust You and remember that you know ALL the circumstances surrounding Arielle's birth. You know about the things I can't possibly know. I want Your best....

Was that another attempt at a contraction? No, no, no, please keep going. Please? I'll relax. Look. I'm not getting excited. You can keep going. Really. Give me a good one. Nice and strong. I'll handle it like a champ. Try me!

sigh

Man. I can't stand this teasing. What's Eden yelling about? Wait. (Thump, thump, thump, thump) Ugh! She climbed out of the playpen! Now I've got to get up and put her back.

Stay in your playpen until playpen time is over, please.

sigh

Now, where was I...

Yes folks. That is how it went. From frustration with my daughter, to thanking God, to taunting my uterus, to refocusing on God, to begging my uterus to frustration with my daughter. It all ended with me going through almost the entire routine again and realizing that I had been listening to her repeat the word "wait" for about ten minutes straight. She was telling herself she had to wait to get out of playpen time. Guess who else has to wait...

Belly Shot: 38 weeks

Arielle is sitting on the couch between my legs...

Nothing Yet

No more contractions.

sigh.

Plus... I think she's flipped. It feels like she might be breech now.

No worries. She knows she better be head down when she decides to come out.

Clarity

There is nothing very clear at all about labor, unless it slaps you upside the uterus with undeniably painful contractions right from the start. There's Braxton Hicks (had those), irritable uterus (had that), pre-term labor (past the threat of that), false labor (whooppee! having that today!) and the real thing (still waiting... obviously). I started having mild contractions around 6am this morning and they continued through around noon. I looked up the definition of false labor, even though I knew I would find nothing helpful. I thought, "Maybe I've just forgotten and there really is a key indicator of whether or not this is false labor." Nice try. Basically, the difference between false and real can only be known after the fact. If you continue to develop contractions stronger and closer together, congratulations! It's real labor. If contractions never intensify, then stop, it was false labor.

So, dress rehearsal today, I guess. It used to be, back in my performing days that if the dress rehearsal stunk, the show was good, so I'm ready for a good show.... whenever the star decides she's ready to enter the stage.

The Blessing of Sameness

This is my last evening with a baby that's not technically full term according to medical standards. I'm 38 weeks tomorrow and so unbelievably blessed to have come this far. God is good. All the time.

Every OB appointment is pretty much a carbon copy of the last. I didn't post about my last one, which was last Wednesday and I had another today, which I almost forgot to post about. Basically, I go in (during the 8 o'clock hour, if possible... takes MUCH less time total), wait a few minutes to be told to go back to triage. Weight - gettin' on up there. Blood pressure - excellent. Urine sample - some proteins, but not rising in count. Wait for the doc a few minutes and sing or look at a magazine with Eden. Doc arrives, gushes about Eden, and asks how I feel. I feel big and pregnant and ready to have a baby. Heartbeat - in the 140's - 150's. Fundal height - right on track. Cervix check? No thank you.

See you next week. :)

Natural Birth

I was looking up some natural birth videos for my friend who wanted some inspiration and training by way of seeing successes. I realized as I watched that I needed some inspiration too. It was truly wonderful to be reminded of the sweetness of my first birth and it was good to be reminded of the pain while seeing women work through it to their wonderful reward. I wrote a free verse poem while in high school that comes to mind.

Reward

A gasp and a sigh of relief as a shrill cry is heard

The mother's painstaking efforts

Are rewarded by the baby in her arms.

One video in particular was my favorite and I'd like to share. It's pretty long and, unless you just love watching birth videos, you may not want to bother clicking. But if you love births, need some inspiration for your own or are interested in seeing a beautifully documented photo/video/scripture/music compilation of a Christian family's birth experience... then click here.

5 Minutes of Fun and Funny

Here's another video of the cutest child I have had so far. :)

Keep in mind that I am using the Mac to video, so, especially toward the end when I'm trying to follow her around the room, I can't see at all what I'm filming. I'm just guessing and pointing the computer towards her as it sits in my lap, so sometimes her head gets cut off or she goes out of the frame for a second.

I started filming her because she was using the little thingy (anyone know what it's called?) that came with her xylophone to hit it to make the notes... as a microphone. Wow, that sentence was amazing. This post isn't about writing, ok? It's about the cuteness you are soon to experience.

Anyway, I don't know where she's even seen anyone use a microphone, but we had the music channel playing on the TV and she was pretending to sing with the songs.

I couldn't get her to do it once she saw her image real time on the computer screen, but I caught some other frolicking and fun.

Enjoy!