The waiting is the hardest part...

Apologies to Tom Petty for stealing his line, but I don't believe truer words have ever been spoken.  I am SO anxious and SO ready to meet Baby C!  I'm not even that physically uncomfortable now that s/he has dropped, I'm just mentally exhausted from playing the waiting game, and super excited to meet him or her!

I haven't blogged about this yet, but we've had quite a bit of excitement this past week.  DH and I made our first "baby could be here any time" trip to L&D on Friday morning.  I had woken up several times throughout the night Thursday night/Friday morning and was leaking quite a bit of fluid each time, so I called my doctor's office to see what I should do.  They wanted me to go get checked at L&D, so off we went.  Before hanging up the phone, the nurse said, "make sure you bring your hospital bag, we might be having a baby today!"

Cue holy-crap-reality-moment!

Of course, I understand that the logical outcome of pregnancy is usually a baby, but this entire time an actual baby seemed to be just an abstract idea for some time in the future.  DH and I hadn't even packed a hospital bag yet!  So I showered, we threw some stuff together, and off we went to the hospital.  After getting checked by the resident and being monitored for about an hour, we learned my water had not yet broken and we were sent home.  I also learned I was now 2 cms dilated, 80% effaced, and Baby C was at -2 station.  The resident said it could be any time, so of course DH and I have been even more excited and anxious -- especially since we just had an official dress rehearsal for the big day!  lol

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Cut from Friday to this morning about 3:30 am.  I was jolted awake from a dead sleep with some quite painful contractions.  I literally couldn't even get up right away, I had to lay there for a minute to catch my breath.  Once I was finally able to get up, I used the restroom and walked around for 10-15 minutes... and then they stopped.  I was so bummed, of course I was hoping THIS time was the real deal!

Luckily, I had my 38 week appointment today so I didn't have to wait long to see if I was making any more progress.  Unfortunately, I hadn't really progressed much from last week.  :-(  I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.  My doctor again told me he thought I was 1-2 cms, but now 90% effaced and with Baby C's head lower than it was last week.  I know that any progress is good news, but I was hoping for more.  *sigh*

So, that's where I am at now.  Stuck waiting for Baby C to make his/her appearance any day (or possibly weeks) from now.  DH and I went to the mall after my appointment and walked until I couldn't take it any more, and we plan to go do it again tomorrow.  I haven't gotten desperate enough to try any of the other old wives' tales yet, but I might cave soon if this baby doesn't come on his/her own! 

Here's hoping Baby C decides to make his/her appearance soon!

Progress!

Yesterday was my 37 week appointment. I mentioned in my 36 week post that as of last week, I hadn't made any progress yet. Well, I got checked again yesterday, and immediately my doctor said, "wow, definitely a change from last week!" Haha. I went from 0 cms and no effacement to 1-2 cms and 80% effaced in 5 days! I was super surprised and excited. I also was having contractions on and off all day yesterday, before and after my appointment. And (TMI alert!) according to Dr. Google and the ladies of PgAL, it sounds like I have also been losing pieces of my mucous plug. Eek!

I know that all of these things could mean that Baby C might arrive any day now, or that I could walk around dialated and dropping pieces of my mucous plug for weeks before s/he arrives. But I am encouraged that we are at least moving in the right direction! :-)

I am trying to focus on wrapping everything up at work, but my mind is torn between thoughts of finally meeting Baby C, and all of the stuff I still need to get done before s/he arrives (finish washing baby clothes, prep the cloth diapers, put away baby gifts, write thank you notes from our most recent shower...). AHHH! I feel like we have so much left to do! Things are definitely starting to feel VERY real!