It all began Sunday August 11th...the beginning of "Labor Week" as we liked to call it. Sunday was a happy lazy day....by evening I was pretty sure that I had experienced a couple contractions. However, being a first time mom and never having had this experience before...I assumed they might just be Braxton Hicks or false labor contractions. Our due date wasn't until the 15th, so we didn't "jump the gun"...we just prepared ourselves.
Monday was supposed to be my final doctor's appointment, but unfortunately my doctor was not in and she really wanted to see me (not a nurse again like the week before)...Tuesday she was booked all day, so I wasn't able to schedule my appointment until Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday we relaxed and waited. And walked. We walked a lot. And I bounced on the exercise ball a lot too. Anything and everything to stay comfortable. Both evenings I felt some minor contractions again, but nothing consistent or crazy. So once again, we just prepared ourselves.
Then Wednesday arrived. I was excited and anticipated a good report at the doctors. My past check-ups indicated that I was barely dilating and that she was super comfy, cozy where she was at. With my due date being Thursday, I was anxious to see progress of any sort. However, just as we were walking out the door (literally) the doctor's office called. They had to cancel my appointment due to an emergency C-section and wouldn't be able to fit me in until 1:30 the following day. I was quite disappointed, but thanked the Lord that it wasn't me having an emergency surgery and prayed that the other mother would safely deliver. That evening was like every other Wednesday...we went to church (and had an awesome service) then went to my Dad's for "McDaddies" (the infamous malted milk shakes). When we got home, I felt a few more contractions like the nights prior....so I did my thing and bounced...that ball had become my best friend.
Around 3 am Thursday morning it happened. Consistent contractions. Not to go into "too much" detail, but literally every 10 minutes I would wake up and feel like I had the worst case of cramps ever, mixed with flu-like symptoms. It wasn't really painful....but it definitely kept me up. Little did I know that I would not sleep for the next few days...I finally gave up on attempting sleep and got out of bed. I continued my daily routine (of the week...labor week...lazy week). Of course I cannot remember in detail how that morning exactly played out, but I remembered counting down for my appointment. Corey and I went for our daily "mile" around the circle to help move time along. All the while, I was still having contractions pretty consistently.
The time finally arrived for our appointment and we packed up the car and headed out. When I got there, they immediately took me back...the nurse started talking about how I was now considered "overdue" and that we needed to discuss being induced. This was something that I DID NOT want. I just let her speak, as she brought me back to the heart monitor machine, so they could check out Selah's movement and heart beat. After the first 15-minutes, the nurse said that the doctor did not like her "activity level" she hadn't really moved the entire time...but I explained that during that time of day I rarely felt her...she's a lively one at night and in the early morning...still that way too!). Anyway, the nurse told me she had to "zap" me and wake Selah up. I had no idea what was going on and it kind of freaked me out a little...before I knew it, she "shot" me with this little vibrating gun...and of course, my little munchkin "hop-to". They had me stay hooked up to the machine for about another 15-minutes or so before bringing me to the doctor for checking.
When I finally got back to the doctor, I hadn't really felt many contractions like I had earlier. They were so consistent before, I thought it was pretty strange that they had almost disappeared. I still let the doctor know and she told me that I would need to wait to go to the hospital until they were consistently 5 minutes apart for 1-minute for an entire hour. I remembered this from our birthing class and told myself to take the doctor's orders. Once again, I knew that "jumping the gun" would only lead Corey and I on the path back home. Anyway, the doctor checked me and told me I was 80% effaced and 3 cm dilated...still not at the point of pushing our little princess out. So, she made me schedule for an induction. I knew that just because we scheduled one, did not mean that the Lord couldn't still bring our angel to us beforehand. I walked out of the room slightly disappointed and a paper that read Monday August 19th...6am...unless something else happened prior to that time and date Corey and I now had the estimated arrival of our baby girl.