Contraction City

Wow. These past few days have been really weird! Let me give you a little background: Addison was 4 days early. One Sunday morning at 4 am I woke up to this weird trickling sensation. I had no idea what it was, but the only thing about water breaking I'd ever heard of was on Sex and the City when Miranda's water broke on Carrie's beautiful, brand new shoes. I called my doctor and they told me to go to the hospital, so we did. Sure enough, it was amniotic fluid and I had Addison at 10 that night. It was a long, crappy day in the hospital but pretty straightforward.

Well the other day I woke up at 5 am with some contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart and feeling pretty strong. They were really uneven and sporadic, but they did last all day. We spent the night at my parents' house that night and I woke up at 5 am again with more contractions and soaked through pants. Nice... It was especially nice to go into my parents' room to ask my mom if she had an extra pair of underwear as she was laying right next to my dad. I called the midwife on call and they said to wait a few hours and then come on in the hospital. I didn't know what to do. The contractions weren't awful and I was so comfy and cozy at home. I procrastinated (changed my clothes 3 or 4 different times, took a shower, ate a lot of food) and about 9:30 went over to the hospital, not before stopping at Caribou for b1g1 free lattes!

They determined that it was not amniotic fluid. I was like "well what the heck is leaking out of me?" The answer: "Sometimes this late in pregnancy the bladder is so compressed that urine can leak out." Great. Why don't I just stop on the store on the way home and pick up a pack of Depends while I'm at it. Gross!! They had me walk the hall of the hospital for an hour before they sent me home. Neither Devin nor I could could figure out how the heck to put the gown on (and he's an engineer for crying out loud) and the nurse had to help us. One good thing is that I was dilated to a 3 by the time we left the hospital.

As soon as we left the contractions got really strong again, but stayed about 10 minutes apart for the rest of the day...and most of the night. Today it's been about the same. I just want to meet this little baby! I got a $10 in extra bucks for filling out a survey for CVS, so one good thing is I was able to go over there today and stock up on some great stuff (I had to pause on several occasions to get through a contraction).

Things are really different this time around. Besides the weird contraction situation, there are some other differences. For instance, I didn't have to take Addison to the potty in between contractions last time! Oh and today Addison was on her hands and knees saying "My tummy hurts (sometimes the contractions are so intense I have to get on my hands and knees)! Here are a few cute pictures:



















Addison is being my doula since Heather is out of town.














Addison told me she needed to sit on my heating pad because she had an "owie" which is what I was calling contractions. I didn't really know how to explain it any other way.














As soon as my contraction was over and I was done using the ball, Addison said "I'm not feeling very good. I need this." What a copycat!

Anyway, say some prayers for us! I am getting really tired and sore from having all these contractions.

P.S. People have been asking me if I like to have visitors in the hospital. YES! Just please don't try to steal the baby or be offended if I kick you out to nurse or something. You can bring your babies/kids (we always bring Addison). Just don't come if you're sick...duh....