(no subject)

[rivka]

I'm starting to feel kind of dragged down.

I've been in prelabor for a solid week now - a week of intermittent abdominal cramps, back pain, trouble sleeping, flurries of contractions that dwindle away into nothing, and the occasional spot of blood. I don't feel miserable, and I should be grateful to have progressed this far (3cm!) without significant pain. But day after day, I don't feel well. Prelabor is uncomfortable and tiring, and it seems to have no end in sight.

It's hard for me to stay in any one position for very long, and sitting at my computer is one of the worst and hardest to maintain. So I'm mostly camped on the couch, reading, doing embroidery, watching TV, doing minute quantities of housework, chatting a little with saoba, and waiting. Earlier in the week, I was determined to get a reasonable amount of exercise every day, but by now I'm finding that I get worn out too quickly. A short stroll to the store is about enough.

Patience has never been one of my best qualities, but I really am trying. At this point it's not so much that I'm impatient for the baby to come (although of course I am), as it is that I just can't imagine how I could manage to go on feeling this way for very much longer. But I am trying to be patient, and take it one day at a time. I really am.

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

This, too, shall pass. I'm thinking of you often.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I'll volunteer to be impatient for you. How's that?

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Except for the occasional spots of blood, that sounds remarkably like how I felt after I broke three ribs (that was the car accident a few years ago).

You have my sympathy, and continued hopes for everything to go right.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

How long will your OB let you go before inducing?

(hug)

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

I hope all goes well. :)

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. This is the very hard part. Coddle yourself. Let go of "should".

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

The last month of pregnancy is awful. Between the physical discomfort and never knowing when the baby was going to show up, I just wanted to be left alone. Two more days till your official due date, right? At least if you're even a day late, you'll have baseball to help while away the time. ... Okay, maybe that's not such a great comfort.

Do you have a sense of when you'll go into labor? kcobweb and I both had specific ideas of when we would deliver, and we were both right, so I'm wondering if you have any similar feelings.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

oh, kiddo. this is the hard part, i hear. if you see me on im, feel free to message me and i'll be distracting.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Our best wishes, prayers, etc. are with you.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

To put things in perspective, my due date isn't even until Sunday. It's not that the baby is late, it's that I'm finding prelabor draining.

We've got a midwife, not an OB, so whether or when we would have an induction is more up to us. I don't think we'd be willing to consider it without clear signs that the placenta was deteriorating, though. There are too many downsides.

[redbird]

*hugs*

[eleri.livejournal.com]

Prelabor sucketh mightily. "Practice" contractions, my a$$! My midwife suggested sex. Which would have been just fine, except my mom was standing there when she suggested it!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Uh, I'm not really sure what the point would be. I know that a lot of people are impatient for the baby to come. It doesn't seem like that would help me tolerate my current fatigue and discomfort any better.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Ulp. Primigravidas often go 1-2 weeks past term... OTOH, if you're already 3cm, it shouldn't be more than a couple of days.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

My midwife suggested nipple stimulation, which I tried this morning. It didn't bring on any contractions before it started hurting, so I stopped.

I must say that I infinitely prefer the term "prelabor" to "false labor." Damn it, I know that what I'm feeling is real.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

One of our OBs suggested likewise... both because the contractions were useful (and arguably more fun than pre-labor), and the prostaglandins in semen help ripen the cervix, similar to the gel pad applied overnight prior to inductions.

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

OK, hie ye (or have yon SO hie him) to a store and get a butterfly chair.

Trust me. You will thank me, although not as much as you will thank me once critter is on the loose and you need maximum wide lap support.

pre=labor

[(Anonymous)]

Frome an 81 year old mother of three and a grandmother of 3: I had the same symptoms with my second baby. All the labor seemed to have been accomplished during this time and the healthy 8 lb. boy was born I5 minutes after I got to the hospital. The easiest of my three birth experiences. Hope it will be the same for you. From Wise woman.

[eeyorerin]

That sounds terribly tiring, uncomfortable, and unpleasant, especially since it seems like there's no definite end in sight. And it's no consolation to hear things like "one can't be pregnant forever," since it must bloody well seem like it at this point.

Please hurry up, Lil'Critter. You're a very bright and responsible young lady; I'm sure that you can accommodate your poor parents by making your entry in the next few days. :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Hang in there. We'll all be crossing our fingers that all goes well, and waiting for news.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

OTOH, if you're already 3cm, it shouldn't be more than a couple of days.

Unfortunately, when you're 40 weeks pregnant, all kinds of people come out of the woodwork to tell you about how they walked around at 4cm dilated for a week.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

If I could spend much time on IM, that would surely help. But I can sit at my desk for about an hour, total, per day - preferably in short bursts. More than that and I get belly pain and back spasms.

But thanks for the invitation.

[kate_nepveu]

Eeek. I hope that you won't have a story to tell like that after the baby comes.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Hang in there.... I know this is frustrating.

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

Earlier in the week, I was determined to get a reasonable amount of exercise every day, but by now I'm finding that I get worn out too quickly. A short stroll to the store is about enough.

Well, exercising enough to feel tired is at least a "reasonable" amount :-)

Seriously, good for you for continuing to pay attention to yourself, and doing what's right for *you* instead of overly pushing yourself. And thank you, yet again, for being willing to share this experience with relative strangers such as myself.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I was 12 days late with my 2nd and had to be induced but still managed a painkiller-free labourG waiting those 12 days was just *so long*. Have you talked with your midwife about castoroil or accupressure or even acupuncture?

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Many hugs and hopeful wishes for you.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

You have some camomile cream for the nipples, right?

And for once, zorinth's suggestion for all occasions would be the correct one, you clearly need a laptop!

I had a chair, called a "director's chair", a wide black chair with canvas seat and back and high arms. It folded up, with difficulty, and my friend Simon bought it at vast expense because he thought it was all cool and early '80s and then gave it to me when I bought my house in 1987 because he'd gone off it and I needed chairs. For the last month of pregnancy and certainly the last couple of weeks, it was the only thing I could sit in comfortably, because the arms let me haul myself out, and the canvas seat had the correct give in it for a dropped baby plus my pelvis.

I never sat in it again afterwards, because I was so sick of it, and it was pathetic for nursing because of the arms, and I eventually got rid of it, but just for that time when I was huge and having pre-cramps, it was the best chair in the world.

So, worth sending someone out to look for a deckchair?

Prelabour

[ailbhe]

Strong, strong sympathy. I remember how I felt at this stage, and it wasn't funny at all. Can you borrow a laptop to IM from a comfortable bed / bath / beanbag? I did some IRC/IMing leaning over the birthing ball (loved that; bump support and rocking) with the laptop on the floor. The trick was not falling asleep and rolling onto the keyboard.

If you manage sex, I'll be very impressed. We seriously tried.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

At least if you're even a day late, you'll have baseball to help while away the time.

I can't imagine she'll be comfortable enough to play baseball. ;)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you are getting exercise, and that's why you're exhausted. It's just that the muscles are exercising themselves while you have to sit by and watch, and become overwhelmed by the tiredness.
*hug*
I'm really crossing my fingers for a safe and non-traumatic labor.

Re: Prelabour

[rivka.livejournal.com]

If you manage sex, I'll be very impressed. We seriously tried.

Honestly, I can't even imagine.

My Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn book gives the ludicrous advice that you should try to forget that you're having sex specifically in order to bring on labor. Because it's so plausible that, at 40 weeks pregnant and uncomfortable as all hell, you might suddenly just have gotten horny.