40 Weeks 2 Days

STILL pregnant!!  Hannah seems to be very happy inside me and just doesn't want to come out.  I have had a good amount of contractions, but nothing consistent and nothing too painful (although they are more painful then they have been).  On Sunday night we did have a bit of a scare for a few hours.  When we were just going to bed, I started to feel very nauseous and shaky.  I was also having some pretty strong contractions and they were painful.  I felt very weak, like I was going to pass out and I was struggling to breath...scary!!  I definitely did not like that feeling!  Once Brian helped me calm down and bit a find a comfortable position, we started timing the contractions and getting excited...thinking she was on her way!  After timing the contractions for about an hour, they were starting to let up, so we decided to try to fall asleep and see what happened.  Well, needless to say, Hannah did not make her appearance that night (or the next two for that matter).  I was able to fall asleep without much trouble and when we woke up in the morning the contractions were pretty much gone.  But, because of the scare, we decided to head in to the doctor to get things checked out.  Unfortunately I was still only dilated 1 cm and 60% effaced....so NO change!  :-(  She stripped my membranes again (OUCH!) and told us that I was having prodromal labor (or false labor), which basically means I was having real contractions but they just aren't doing anything.  Ineffective contractions! :-(  When we came home from the doctor's we were so discouraged!  It is just so hard to be going through contractions and all these labor like things and then realizing that we aren't making any progress.  If we had seen some hint of progress, it would make me feel a little better...but nope!  We went back and forth trying to decide if we should just go into the hospital that night (Monday night) to begin the induction or wait until Wednesday night (as planned).  We really struggled to make that decision, but in the end we decided to just wait it out.  Thankfully, last night was uneventful, so I was able to sleep much better!

Today we spent the day enjoying the beautiful weather.  Brian and his sister, Julie played tennis and I was their ball girl! HAHA  What a sight! ;-)  Now we are getting ready to eat a nice steak dinner and enjoy our last night home without Hannah.  Crazy to think that tomorrow night we will be heading to the hospital!  We are still praying that my labor will start on its own before tomorrow night.  Also, we are praying that if we do have to induce, that the Lord will somehow give me the strength to get through it without an epidural!  I know it seems like a silly thing...to not want to get an epidural...but that is what we have wanted from the beginning and even though we are having to induce, we still want to try to labor as naturally as possible.  So please pray that we are able to do that!