39 Weeks and that time I thought I was in labor

Here I am a jolly 39 weeks pregnant. And all my doctors tried to warn me that I might not make it full term. “If you get that far,” they’d say. Well, little ninja and I certainly showed them!

Last pictures of me pregnant!

This week has been exhausting: full of anticipation, anxiousness, and some emotional meltdowns. On Friday I woke up feeling fantastic and I had a very excited feeling about the day. Around 10 am I started having some contractions, which if it was 10pm I wouldn’t have thought twice about. I hadn’t ever had braxton hicks in the morning so it was new, but I tried not to get too excited. I had an appointment around 1pm and I figured they’d certainly be gone by the time my appointment rolled around.

I continued about my day somewhat aware that my contractions continued. It wasn’t until I was driving to my appointment and they still hadn’t gone away that I began to get excited. I watched on the monitor of my non-stress test as I contracted almost every 5th or 6th minute for the whole 40 minute test. Baby passed her test with flying colors and I joked that I might not get to see her on my next appointment if these contractions continued on!

By the time I left the hospital and drove home – still contracting, I was definitely in the “I think I might be in early labor!” excited phase. At home around 3:30 I messaged Kyle to get him up to speed. I’d told him I may be in labor, but then again maybe not so I’ll keep you updated. Around 4 I started timing them. They were coming every 3-5 minutes pretty consistently and lasting for 45-75 seconds. I decided to relax and read instead of running around like a madwomen since if it was the real deal I wanted to conserve my energy!

Somewhere between 5 and 5:30 they started getting further apart. I walked around. Further still. By 7 they were back to being almost 8-10 minutes apart. I was pretty bummed. The contractions I had all day weren’t painful. They were noticeable and some definitely took my breath away but for the most part I could walk and function through them.

Although, I am glad I don’t follow directions because according the hospital handout I should have gone in around 4 because I was having “labor signs”. (Contracting every 5-7 minutes for 45-60 seconds for more than 1 hour). The reason I’m glad I didn’t go in, is because clearly little ninja wasn’t ready. My body wasn’t ready, it just wasn’t time! At the hospital they would have deemed it ‘failure to progress’ and started pitocin to help keep the contractions going.  Induction or interventions are the last thing I want so I plan on staying home as long as I can.

That night I had quite the emotional breakdown. I was tired, I had let myself get too excited and now I was bummed out. I thought my body was broken and had failed me. I also was super annoyed with Kyle. Sorry honey! Tension was pretty thick that night but all was resolved (with a lot of snot dripping, ugly crying on my part) and we continued on.

The weekend was pretty uneventful. I was still hoping contractions would kick back in, but the weekend proved to be pretty quite. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we tried to take advantage of the beautiful days and we logged a lot of time outside.

I have some appointments today: non-stress test first and then an OB appointment afterwards.

All in all I’m very thankful that this pregnancy has gone so well. I never imagined I’d be sitting here a full 39 weeks pregnant. And heck, in 7 days I could be sitting here saying the same thing but only a week further! As long as little ninja is healthy and kicking she can take her time. It’s not easy picking your birthday you know- you have to live with your choice for the rest of your life!

Although I will say I wouldn’t mind if she hurried it up a little. We had two couples come into our birthing class last night to share their birth stories and they both had little 2 month old baby girls. After seeing their absolute cuteness both myself and Kyle were feeling a little on the impatient side with our little loaf still cooking. I just need me some baby cheeks to kiss!!