Labor Has Begun

Well, it actually started on Tuesday but I sucked it up and thought I would wait it out until my Dr. Appt today. Except last night at 3 am I woke up sick to my stomach. And then the horrible water-like diarrhea every 20 mins. I seriously had no idea anyone could have that much water-poo. By 6 am I was miserable and kinda-sorta able to pinpoint the contractions which had increased in pain (I am a back laborer), so I decided to take my son to daycare and head to the hospital. All the way there I kept telling myself to turn around and just go to work until my Dr. Appt later that morning. But we kept going (my dad was with me) and ended up at the hospital.

Long morning & story short, I am having contractions which run about 5-6 mins apart but aren't too consistent. They aren't painful enough for the hospital to keep me, and at around 11 am I was only dilated to 1-1.5 cm. So I was sent on my merry way and I went to work to try and salvage my day. You see, I don't get maternity leave, so I (financially) need to work up until I have this kid. Yet, the doc basically orders me to bedrest until my scheduled c-section next week.

Apparently in hippy-dippy CA, they refuse to do c-sections until 39 weeks, unless your water breaks or you dilate enough to where the baby's head is basically hanging out. I was in Virginia when I had my son, and I began labor, just like I am now, at exactly 38 weeks. There, they said "oh, you're in labor, lets deliver the baby" whereas here in hippy-dippy California, they said "oh, you're in labor, but you're not at 39 weeks and you're not in enough pain yet. Suffer sucka." I am thoroughly annoyed that I now have to spend more than a week in labor before I can deliver this kid. It makes absolutely no effing sense to me at all that I should have to suffer through labor when I am supposed to have a scheduled c-section due to a previous section and the fear of uterine tearing. As if labor couldn't cause uterine trauma or tearing? Seems to me, that if labor has begun, the baby is ready. Especially mine who are humongous, and it's not like I'm premature or anything. At 38 weeks 2 days, I think it's safe to say the baby will be ok. She is also measuring at a minimum 8.5 lbs but will likely be over 9 like her brother was and maybe even closer 10 lbs depending on how long they make me suffer.

Holy crap my back freaking hurts and this (*&^%&$#* heartburn/acid reflux is just ridiculous. I am on prescription ranitidine for it, but sometimes it just doesn't help.

I really wanted to be able to avoid getting worn out and exhausted with labor before I go have major surgery. Not to mention having to deal with my 2 year old... I'm in for a long week ~sigh~

*edited to add that I have a c-section scheduled for next Thursday, Aug 1. I just have to make it until then.

Almost there!

I will officially be at 38 weeks after tomorrow. I went into labor with Chase at 38 weeks and I know that things could start happening any minute now. I have this fear of my water breaking. Not that I would be embarrassed or anything, but I just don't want the inconvenience and the mess. I have yet to come up with a comfortable and suitable solution for protecting my bed. That is a major concern of mine. I do not want to ruin my bed with my water breaking. However, it is hotter than hell right now, my air conditioner can barely keep the house down to 80 and I cannot stand sleeping on waterproof bedding. It's like trying to sleep on plastic wrap. Sticky, sweaty and just yuck. I can barely get any sleep as it is with this awful reflux and RLS. So far I have tried laying some waterproof lap pads down just around the area my lower half rests, but I still wake up completely drenched in sweat and it's gross. Then I switched to laying down some bath towels under my mattress cover, but oddly enough, they don't breath very well either and make me sweat and they also bunch up and I have to tear my bed apart every night to straighten them out.

My c-section is scheduled for August 1 which is next Thursday so I suppose I will just suffer with the bath towels in my bed. It's the lesser of all the evils.

Next Thursday...Holy Crap!