Merrily Married: Weeks 38, 39, & 40

So it's been awhile since I've posted but for a good reason! Our little bundle of joy arrived on May 3rd, 2012 but that is a story for my next post. The last few weeks I was pregnant really flew by. I felt great until the Sunday before I delivered too (I delivered him early on a Thursday). My 38 and 39 week appointments with my doctor were very quick and easy as I didn't have any symptoms of labor except the fact that he had dropped. My doctor did note that he was incredibly low so apparently I handled that okay. I really didn't have too much pain, just a little discomfort, mostly while sleeping. At my 39 week appointment, I weighed in at a gain of 29 pounds, but by my 40 week appointment I was down to a 23 pound gain. My doctor assured me that this was normal as I had probably lost some water weight as my body prepped to give birth. I was happy that I hit my under 30 pound goal!

I think I became a little too smug about feeling so good because Sunday night, it hit me like a ton of bricks! I felt awful all night and had very regular contractions. I only went in to work for a half day on Monday to tie up some loose ends before my maternity leave started up and didn't end up going in at all on Tuesday or Wednesday due to contractions. On Monday night, I about had a breakdown due to no sleep and James suggested we get up and try to walk to speed up the contractions (they were coming about every 10 to 15 minutes) and see if we could kick start labor. He was so great and walked around the house for hours with me and didn't sleep at all himself. The walking worked and my contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes! I knew going in to the hospital then was still a risk because I desperately didn't want to be sent home but we went ahead and left the house around 5:30 AM on Tuesday. When we got to the hospital, my suspicions were confirmed that I wasn't dilated enough to stay and my contractions slowed again (probably from sitting in the hospital bed for an hour). I was crushed but I hoped that my contractions, even at their current speed, would do their job before my appointment on Wednesday.

It was another sleepless night but I could tell my contractions had increased in intensity so I knew if labor hadn't started yet, it was coming! I had also had some of the less blog-worthy signs of labor, yuck. When my appointment came around, I tried to not get my hopes up, but I couldn't help it. I hadn't slept in days and couldn't wait to see an end to it all, haha! My doctor checked me and I was almost at a 4! Yay! She gave me the option of going home or heading over to the hospital. I picked the hospital!!! I think it all hit me then that I was going to have a baby in my arms in less than a day. I was a little terrified and a lot excited :) I'll leave the rest of the story to my next post!!

Here is my 9 month shot!