35 weeks and 4 days...

What a week it has been!

A week ago Saturday, I woke up having my body finally given in to the cold I've been fighting. Well, by Monday I had no voice and had no voice basically all week..except when I was talking in bass tones. On Wednesday morning I woke up with extremely strong Braxton-Hicks contractions that lasted all day with no let up. After following my dr's advice and laying down for an hour that afternoon, I was still having them--- 10 during that hour long period. So down to the hospital did we go to maternal observation just to make sure that nothing else was going on.
So hooked up to the machines did I go, and I did feel a little relief that yes, the contractions were showing up on the monitor, but I had no other signs of labor. I had a slight 99 fever, so my doctor who happened to be on call thought that maybe my illness or slight infection started up the contractions.

So I continue to have the BH all day long until the real stuff comes along. I almost always have one when I stand or walk. Yesterday, after a nice 2-hour nap I felt energized, so Emma and I went to the grocery store. About 30 minutes into our shopping trip, they were so bad I was having to lean heavily on the shopping cart and force myself to walk! By the time we got back to the car I was exhausted! I never had BH while carrying Emma so this has been a shock to my system!

Today I did have another regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor (down to every week appointments!). She did a full checkup and no other signs point to real labor. She said now that the BH had been triggered, I'll just probably keep on having them until the real ones kick in- but that if they did, we wouldn't try to stop labor at this point. She said she wouldn't be surprised if I didn't last all the way to 40 weeks, she wouldn't be surprised if I didn't last until 36 weeks even...just to be ready for anytime now. With Emma, I had an appointment 3 days before going into labor on my own, and I showed no dilation and Emma hadn't dropped either, so I think it will be a quick "let's get on with it" labor again. However, I am preparing myself that it might be another 4 weeks of just getting through the BH and the baby still doesn't come until the beginning of April!

Just to be sure, though...I did pull out the infant car seat, rocker, and bed-side crib and all of those fabrics are in the washer, so we'll be ready!!!