No, I'm not in labor. But I have spent the last hour biting my fingernails over a book on childbirth and now I am posting to try to control my anxiety over it.
My first 2 labors have started pretty much the same way, which is why I am nervous for the 3rd. The routine is something like this: somewhere around 36 weeks of pregnancy, my uterus begins contracting - a lot. Not anything that you would need an epidural for - just hard, frequent contractions. They don't really bug me and they can last for weeks.
Then - one night 1 or 2 weeks before my due date (and of course when I least expect it) between 3 and 5 a.m., I wake up suddenly in the middle of hard labor. There are no warning signs, no chance to get into a nice breathing rhythm, no gradual dilating to a 3 and then a 4 and then a 5. There is no chance to call and say "Mom, I'm in labor." I just wake up from a perfectly normal and peaceful night of sleep in sudden, intense pain and literally run out the door to the hospital and deliver an hour or two later.
So you can understand why every night now before I go to sleep, I am disturbed by the thought that tonight might be the night. I just hit 36 weeks and the contractions are a-comin'. At church on Sunday when I could actually think about it, they were 10 minutes apart. I know that doesn't mean I will go into labor any time soon. But I am afraid that it does mean that sometime in the next 3 weeks... I will got to bed just as normal, sleep through most of the night, and then - receive the rudest awakening of my life.
I am really trying to do better this time around at honing my pain management skills because I assume that just as before I will experience the pain whether I want to or not and I may not get to the hospital in time for the anesthesiologist to help me out. So - if you have any suggestions on reading material or methods that have been helpful to YOU in managing pain of any kind (but especially labor pain), you should let me know. Because I am a huge wimp.
Well, I am off to be - if I can forget about what I might wake up to long enough to fall asleep!
5 comments:
Music (specifically the soundtracks to Gladiator and Dear Frankie) and being in the water really helped me. Good luck!
Hang in there, Kelli! I'll think positive thoughts for you!
Oh yeah. I really liked the tub. Wasn't sure I would, but I did.
Can offer no words of advice, since I have never gone into labor, having two c-sections. Can relate about the braxton hicks contrations though, had those most of the time through both pregnancies. Hoping for the best for you though! I am sad that I may not get to meet your new little boy.:(
I wish I had an answer. My contractions never start on their own. You are a true stud to make it through that quickly. Good luck and I hope you make it in time for some pain meds!
Post a Comment