Juddmansee.com

It’s been an interesting week here at Chez Juddmansee as the baby’s due date of November 2 approaches.

We had a lovely weekend starting with my “off Friday” (which we like to call “Sabbaday” because even if it’s not a day of rest, is it a day set apart, and usually feels like Saturday), when we picked up a few more diapers and related supplies, ate lunch at RedBones – if you haven’t tried their lunch combo special, you really must! – and went grocery shopping for the weekend.  We enjoyed three sets of visitors from near and far over the weekend, which included time with cute (especially costumed!) and polite children, helpful parenting advice, watching football, and receiving a Pack and Play (which happens to match our nursery animal theme perfectly!).  All necessary baby gear successfully acquired!

By Sunday we were pleasantly tired from the busyness of the weekend, and had two more meals stocked up after making big batches of lentil soup and beef stew for guests with enough leftover to freeze for later. We were happy to go to bed fairly early.

I woke up around 2am with light contractions (30 sec every 5-20 mins) and a few other signs of early labor.  Excited, I got up to avoid disturbing Brian as I paced and breathed through the contractions, kept myself busy by checking email, and waited until 4am to wake up Brian before calling the midwife at 6am.  She said that these were good and normal signs, and to keep her posted on how things progressed during the day, and be sure to keep resting, eating and hydrating.  I opted to stay home from work Monday due to the storm and continued having intermittent contractions. We managed to avoid losing power, and rode out the storm.  I had trouble sleeping on Monday night with more sporadic contractions, but they were not yet regular or progressing.

Our midwife stopped by Tuesday morning to see how we were doing.  I was pretty tired after not having more than a few hours of sleep the prior two nights, and also being nauseous so not eating much.  She checked my vitals and the baby’s heart beat, helped me find some comfortable resting positions – such that I fell asleep for a nap while she was here setting up her supplies – and provided encouragement to rest, sleep and eat, as well as continue with quiet activities to keep myself occupied.  She said that everything was proceeding normally, especially for a first time mother, but there was no way to say if things would progress, subside/stall, or just remain the same for a while.  At the suggestion of both her and my yoga instructor, Brian took me to my prenatal yoga class, which was amazingly helpful and relaxing (for both of us!).

Two more days have passed, and contractions have continued to become more intense and moved lower down, but still are not regular enough to be considered actual labor.  I’ve slept in inumerable positions, in at least 5 different rooms, whatever I can find (sitting, leaning on a pile of pillows, laying on the futon, reclining on the couch) that feels comfortable and provides 30-90 min of rest.  We’ve been taking walks around the neighborhood each morning and running a few errands.  Today Brian installed the car seat.

the car seat is installed!

And our good friend and fabulous interior designer Sarah stopped by with the curtains for the nursery that she made this week (despite the storm/power outage and preparing for vacation!).  They look terrific!

Nursery curtains

So we’re being patient, taking each day as it comes, and hoping that Baby Judd decides to make an appearance soon!