10 Days Until Baby...Is One

I have mentioned before, that before this blog was And Baby Makes Two it was 101 Days Until Baby; a literal countdown until Gemma was supposed to enter this world.

When I look back at the things I wrote then, only a year ago,  it is surreal. I was a different person then. Younger. Not a mother. In some ways, much braver. Completely clueless. Overly optimisic. I read it and I miss myself, and at the same time have to try hard to remember me as that person.

What a difference a year makes.

In honor of being 10 days away from Gemma's birthday....

...pausing to let that one sink in...

I am going to repost what I wrote 8/19/2009; which was 10 days before Gemma's due date, and 10 days before she was born.

Oh, to reminisce...


"10 Days Until Baby"
Oh My GOODNESS!

10 Days.

That is like officially countdown worthy... I can't believe my due date is in a week and a half.
I would like to say it flew by or that it has dragged on forever...but honestly...it hasn't. Time passed, as it does, and now here I am.
WOW.
Ok, as that is beginning to sink on I think I will move on to the beach thing.
I had started a post about this last week but things got hectic and I was being long winded and taking to long to finish it so I never did. :)

So last Wednesday I ended up in the hospital with a Pre-Eclampsia scare. I had been feeling dizzy and swollen and strange so the doctor had me come in. My blood pressure was slightly elevated so they sent me to the hospital. My blood work and such came back fine. They noticed I was having a few contractions and noticed that I had dilated to 1 cm (my first bit of progress!) and then I was discharged since everything was okay. My doctor also told me not to go to the beach and to make an appointment for her in the middle of this week, canceling the appointment I had last Friday since she had just seen me in the hospital.

I came home and told my dad that I couldn't go to the beach, that was my decision, and that I was bummed about but would do what I had to do.
While this was happening I noticed the contractions that had been brought to my attention by the monitor at the hospital were continuing and felt stronger.

My mom called, and when I told her this she asked if I wanted to come stay the night with her at her house so she could keep an eye on me and make sure everything was okay.
Let me interupt myself to say my mom is somewhat of a drama queen. I mean that in the nicest way possible, and I am sure her intentions are good, it is just that sometimes her actions are extreme.
So when I got to my mom's house she told me to tell her when I was having these contractions so that we could time them. For about 2 hours I was having contractions every 5 minutes and they HURT. I was also having a TON of back pain and peeing every 3 minutes (my apologies for the TMI). My mom told me that I should go back into the hospital to be monitored.
I wasn't sure what to do. When I had left the hospital the nurse said come in with contractions 5 minutes apart but the doctor corrected her to say 3 contractions in 10 minutes... I knew these were only 5 minutes apart but with some prodding from my mom and my own building excitement I called L&D and asked them what to do. Of course, they gave me the standard answer of it is better safe than sorry, if I felt I needed to come in please do so, and so on and so forth.

That was basically all the encouragement I needed so I was off again. The contractions continued but there were no cervical changes and I was sent home.

This DEPRESSED me. Not that I have any huge desire for this baby to come super early (or early at all for that matter) but I didn't understand the pain for nothing. And I was sooo embarrassed.

Then I decided I would go to the beach, not worry about pregnancy or impending labor... I decided I would go and relax and just basically enjoy myself as much as possible.

Sunday morning we were off. I rode down with my dad and my sister. We made stops every hour and a half so that I could keep circulation going and such. I survived a 7 hour drive with only minimal swelling and I was so happy.

The first day went well, I read a book (this was a huge accomplishement for me, I haven't been able to finish a book all summer!), I went out on the ocean. The next day was good too... Swam in the pool, browsed through some shops. I was really happy about my decision.

Then somehow it was like a switch had been flipped. I started to feel really negative about being down there and wanted to be home. It was too hot, I felt like I couldn't participate much. I was afraid to walk around shops because I was afraid my water was going to break and I would be forced to deliever the baby in another state.

The thought of my mother not being there AND being with a strange doctor were way to much to handle. I got all emotional and started crying. For an hour or two there was a big debate about who could come pick me up from the beach. Even more crying. Eventually my dad (literally the best dad ever) decided he would take me home. I felt guilty but he told me to get over it and let's go.


We left at 8 p.m. and got home around 1:30 a.m. My dad and my sister stayed at the house for about 5 minutes and then were back on the road. I haven't talked to them yet today (I am assuming they are getting much needed sleep!) to see when they got back, but I am guessing it was somewhere around 7 this morning.

And now, here I am. I feel terrible about wasting people's time and energy. I wish I had of just listened to the doctor in the first place. I still feel like I would rather be at the beach than here but if the baby does come I am so relieved that I will be here...

I think coming back was the right thing to do.

Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment and I am interested to see what she has to say... I am still kind of hoping that she isn't born until Suday at least, so that my whole family will be here.

"After that, as bad as it sounds, I am all for her coming whenver she wants. I have heard that babies make a lot of progress between 37-39 weeks but I think at 39 weeks she should be pretty much perfect so by all means LO...


If you are ready...So am I... I think???

-10 Days Until Baby


P.S. I aplogize for discussing my cervix in this post.

P.P.S. The whole beach debacle was because family vacation was a week before my due date, and I wasn't sure whether or not I should go. I was nervous to leave, but didn't want to be home alone either.

P.P.P.S. I totally wasn't ready.

P.P.P.P.S. I also had a lot more time for looong blog posts ;)