Baby Bump - Weeks 37 & 38 and an Update!

The swollen feet have returned! Weeks 37 and 38 were filled with many days of this, but I am very happy to report that my wedding ring still fits! :) Sleep has been extremely uncomfortable, and I've even taken Tylenol PM (recommended by my doc) a few nights just to get enough zzz's in. Cravings have sort of leveled off...so not much to report there.

While I thought about waiting to update you guys until I write Gavin's birth story, I figured I'd go ahead and write about yesterday's events now while I still have the time to blog. Yesterday when I woke up, I began having contractions. These contractions were 5-10 minutes apart but only lasted about 20 seconds each. From 7:30am until 11:00pm last night (when I wrote this post) I had consistent contractions. Keith and I went to my doctor so that they could check me, and I didn't get the news I had hoped for. (I thought contractions = labor/hospital/baby, but apparently not always) I am only 1.5cm dilated but I am 70% effaced and my cervix has considerably dropped! The midwife that I saw told us that I could go into labor tonight or two weeks from now. Since the contractions are very consistent and painful, I am praying that Gavin comes soon. I fear that if I have too many days of this, I will be too exhausted once active labor begins to achieve a natural birth. I will say that while the contractions are painful, they are tolerable. They definitely resemble the pain I experienced with Endometriosis, so it's a familiar pain. I know it's only going to get worse, but for now I can manage these. If Gav isn't here by Thursday then we're heading back to the doc to see my progress. So, that's all for now. I sincerely hope that the next post I write is a "He's Here!" one and not a "Still Waiting" one... 

37 weeks

38 weeks, 1 day