Check-up at 36 weeks: Found out I'm 1 1/2 cm dilated, 50% effaced (you may or may not have any idea what I'm referring to here...), and baby has definitely moved down. I was not surprised at this beginning of progression, because I had started having little bouts of contractions and felt that some movement was happening. Just started to feel "different". Though not surprised, this is a new experience for me seeing as how with the other two I really didn't have movement this early on until 1) full blown labor with Addison almost at due date and 2) basically no movement at all before being induced with Cadence, although it moved super fast once it got going! After that appt, I felt like maybe he was going to come a little early after all and it wasn't just
Went on about the week that week, but the "this could be happening any day now" seed was definitely planted in our minds, and legitimately so. Had some more start/stop bouts of contractions, enough to further grow that seed of thought in our brains and make it increasingly more difficult to focus much or want to make many plans. Feeling totally blah, with some days better than others. Had our big brother/big sister sibling class and tour at the hospital that weekend (pics and funny quotes at the end of this post). Middle of the night Monday/Tues morning after the weekend had me timing contractions wondering if this was it. Fell back asleep, so apparently it wasn't! And let me clarify, these contractions are uncomfortable enough to be the real thing and not the "fake" (Braxton Hicks) ones, but definitely not near as bad as they'll get!
Check-up at 37 weeks (Wed): Have moved to 3cm dilated, 60% effaced, baby same position, not down anymore or back up. This business of having babies is very tricky- there are women at my progression in full blown labor and screaming for pain meds at this point. There are women walking around more progressed than I am at the grocery store feeling nothing. Unfortunately there's no formula. My doctor says to me, "This is going to be quick and easy." Should you say things like that? Trying not to make too much of that statement, but I also know that being this progressed already does in fact mean some of the work is done, which means less is left to do when this thing goes active. Which also makes me nervous because I do know it could also mean really fast. I'm so so glad that in a huge city we live ten minutes from the hospital. Then she tells me she's going to be out of town from Saturday to next Wed, so he either needs to come by like midnight Friday or wait until Thurs. Nice. Yeah, I'll work on that.
And that about catches us up to the present. Obviously, he did not come Friday night, which now complicates the situation because it would be nice to not go another week but don't really want a stranger delivering the baby. It is what it is, though. So to answer the original question of how we're holding up... Not gonna lie- this past week has been kind of hard. Day to day life is growing increasingly harder and more strange being stuck in this strange twilight zone time warp where the minutes seem to be like days. We have kept our schedule pretty open, and that's hard on all of us because we like going and doing and being with people. Obviously, it's growing increasingly more uncomfortable for me! His little bottom stretches so high I can barely breathe, and his little head is down so low I can barely walk- that doesn't leave a lot of room left!! So I'm not physically capable of a whole lot. When I drove to church this morning, I barely crammed myself into the seat and then barely reached the petal because my tummy was hitting the steering wheel and I had to move back- yeah, awkward. We're trying as hard as we can to just carry on about business as usual, but focus and productivity are ever elusive and slippery. This is especially hard on poor Chris who has so much to do and in the midst of all of this, God is tremendously blessing the church and we're randomly in a burst of growth and momentum here in the middle of summer- talk about grace, grace!! I think we are operating in like a triple dose of it right now!
With all that being said it's still a very exciting time, so I hope I'm not whining too much. It's just very hard to articulate and explain the nature of these days. I think that's one of the reasons we're all having such a hard time, because we're ready to meet our new little man and ready to move on to the new challenges of life with a newborn, a growing church, and all of the other things going on in our lives. And I'm trying so, so hard to keep my peace, remember that God is in control, constantly turn over my anxieties, fears, and restlessness over to Him, and that His timing and plan are perfect. So, basically- the bags are packed, the arrangements for the kids are made, and we're trying to be ready on a moment's notice but not think about it. Yeah. So maybe the next post will be a birth announcement and story, or maybe the next post will be more of the same. One day (and sometimes one hour) at a time.
Here's our pics from the sibling class...
They learned the proper way to hold a baby and had little practice babies... Addison's baby was bigger than the one Cadence had! Proud siblings!
Annnnd this is what not to do when holding baby. Let's try not to pick our nose and hold Jaxon at the same time, son.
Then they moved on to learning how to swaddle the baby with the blanket, followed by changing a diaper. Cadence was very confident and really did not want any help from me on this. So surprised.
This is my favorite one. Addison's baby was an anatomically correct baby boy, and his face is so classic Addison. He does this expression sometimes when he raises his eyebrows at things like, "whoah". This would be one of those moments. Don't know what about the moment caused the face, but I was laughing! We also assured the kids that they will not really be responsible for changing the diapers, maybe just helping :)
In the middle of talking about babies only drinking milk when they're born (aka do NOT feed your baby your snacks and drinks), Cadence raises her hand and proceeds to tell the class that babies also like tomato juice. Hmm. Have no idea where that came from.
When we were touring the l&d rooms, Addison raises his hand and asks what happens when the mommy is having the baby and she really needs to go to the bathroom. He's really thinking through this process. Tricky, indeed! Actually, most of his questions/comments had to do with the mom which is sweet because he has recently shown some concern/interest with me and my well-being. I keep trying to assure him that I'm okay and that even though it's not going to be a lot of fun for me that I'll be just fine. He's aware that birth is messy and yucky and has no desire to be anywhere near that room!! They know that they will be coming to see us ASAP and when Jaxon is all cleaned up ready to hold. They also got big brother/big sister shirts from the class which they can proudly wear!
One of the funniest things said was at the end of the tour when we finished. Cadence raised her hand and asked if we were now all going to take turns having the babies!! It got a laugh out of everyone. That's about her level of understanding of it all... sort of but not really!
And if you didn't see the pics on Facebook, I finally finished decorating the nursery. Now to put the finishing touches on the other kids' rooms!! It's such a happy and bright space- just how I wanted :) Here's a link to the rest of the pics here: Nursery
(got a sweet app on my iPhone that lets you take a bunch of pictures and it stitches them together to make a panoramic picture- love it!)
And that gets you all caught up. Sorry it's kind of long. Now back to patiently waiting... peace out from the Pate house.
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