This post is a bit overdue... I have had my hands full as our beautiful baby has arrived! Name, Gender and Birth post to follow! Here is a quick recap of the last 2 weeks to birth.
Weeks 38 and 39 were full of Braxton Hicks contractions or practise contractions. These were completely pain free but my tummy would go into a hard ball and in regular intervals. I woke up with them at the end of week 38 and was fairly excited, got up and went downstairs and started googling whether or not I was going into labour. These are pretty common and do not mean labour is imminent as I had hoped but are good practise for your body. I was happy that it was a sign my body was getting ready in preparation for the big day. These continued on and off through week 39.
At 39 weeks pregnant, despite not being overdue I was feeling very impatient and really wanting baby Paicey to make an early appearance. I did conclude that I wasn't in any pain or too much discomfort which I was grateful for, but I just wanted to get labour over and done with and have our baby in our arms. For me, labour being imminent was not scary, it was just the next step and challenge/hurdle on the way to meeting our baby. Mr P and I researched all the usual ways to induce labour which I think are probably mostly old wives tales but we still gave a few of them a try. We went for an hour and a half long walk when I was exactly 39 weeks, and when I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I felt like I was carrying a bowling ball in my pelvis. This feeling as well as lots of lightening crotch/fanny daggers (this term still makes me laugh) continued for the next day so I do think the walk helped to engage the baby further. We went for a 30 minute walk each night to keep it going and also to get out of the house once the sun had gone down as it was so hot for me in the middle of the day being around 26 degrees. I have to admit that we stopped for an ice-cream on one of our night walks and another time we stopped and had fish and chips despite having dinner sorted at home! Every night before we went to bed Mr P would ask me if we were going to have a baby tonight.
I was given clary sage oil which you can put in the bath or dilute with water and rub on your bump which can bring on contractions however I was too scared to use it after I read a few things online. I ate a few pineapples but I heard that you need to eat about 15 or even more for it to have any effect. We had a hot Thai curry for dinner but Im sure its supposed to be a hot Indian curry. However I don't actually believe a curry would induce labour! Sex is supposed to help too with semen helping to soften the cervix. I do believe that baby comes when baby comes and if labour begins after you've tried one of the above to bring it on and it works, your baby might have been ready to arrive anyway but of course who knows and some woman swear by the above!
It seems funny now that baby Paicey has arrived but I had my little check list of things for myself that I wanted to have done before my due date. I had highlights put in my hair, my eyebrows threaded, and a manicure and pedicure. These were probably more distraction/time filling activities however It was really nice to have these treatments done and I felt nice afterwards. The man at the nail bar wouldn't let me have the massage chair on whilst I was getting my pedicure. He said it could bring on labour and he would rather I didn't. I was in my 39th week and would have sent him a bunch of flowers if his massage chair had brought on labour at that point!
The nesting and baking was at its highest and I baked banana cupcakes with chocolate frosting from the hummingbird bakery cookbook as well as a roast pumpkin, pine nut and feta cheese quiche. I even vacuumed the house which was unlike me! Time stood still if I didn't have my daily thing to do. I still managed to get a great night sleep although I was waking at 5 or 6 am every day and then needing a nap around 10 am. It is very odd to wake up so early with nothing at all planned for the day, your body and mind just wants you up! Getting ready for no more sleep ins once your baby arrives!
As the week went on we decided that Mr P would not go to France with his team to play in a preseason rugby game against Montpellier which was 1 day before my due date on Friday 8th August. This meant that we would be able to go to Mr P's cousins wedding which fell on the same day as the rugby game, and so on Wednesday we made a late RSVP and I borrowed a Topshop maternity dress from my lovely friend Shauna that she had worn at her own baby shower. That night on Wednesday evening/ early Thursday morning I went into labour...
