OK so here is the deal. Have you heard of that Mother's Instinct, or Intuition? I think I have that... and it is telling me that I am in labor.
Movies portray that labor is a process wherein the bag of waters breaks in a big gush, then the woman goes to the hospital in screaming fits from strong contractions and shortly there after, they have a baby.
Well, in movieland, or even most of the baby story reality shows present that type of labor. Mine however is not typical of television or movies.
When I had Owen, I went into labor on March 12th and he was not born until April 1. My body takes labor very seriously and slowly...I get that now.
I am doing the same thing with Julianna.
My contractions started Tuesday and got stronger Wednesday and now are regularly happening. I am dilating and effacing. So Yes, I am in stage 1 of labor.
Julianna has dropped in to position and I can feel her making progress down the canal. As well as I no longer feel her up in my ribs, I have to pee a lot more and I can eat again.. I mean real meals.. this is it!!
Chris and I have talked about what this means, and have been working out or plan for how it will go, who will do what and who will be with the boys and all that.
I have had several long talks about it with my sister, who many times is my voice of reason, and she and I agree that this is just the way I labor. It makes me feel better, she has this mantra, "It is what it is" and heck yeah sister, Amen to that!!!!

It is sort of difficult to plan our delivery around this long process, but we do sort of have a plan.
First of all, we won't go to the hospital until the contractions are very close together... I don't think I need to rush that trip. I like the idea of laboring at home anyway.. no Dr's or nurses to check you every hour or so...I HATE BEING CHECKED...I will go with what my body and instinct tell me. I don't like being confined to a bed hooked up so I can't even move around. Yeah, this is good.

Chris is taking the boys to Tulsa tomorrow to spend the day with Grandma and he will work along side his dad so I have the day to myself.I want to spend that time making final preparations.
I am going to force some nesting and get my house clean, as clean as I can, and pamper myself, and prepare for the delivery. You know, shave the legs, paint the nails, get presentable.
I already have everything ready for her, and I have my bags packed, ready to go.
I ordered some lotion online that is an herbal remedy to augment labor, or rather contractions, so I hope to get that this weekend and help my kick start the contractions to gain momentum.
I have another visit with the OB on Monday, and my main goal is to get myself to a good 4-5 cm dilated by then so I can try to go as natural as possible. I would love for my water to break on its own, but I don't know if it will.
Once it does, I think things will go quickly.
I am seriously opposed to Pitocin, so I want to avoid it at all costs, that and any other questionable medical intervention that is not absolutely needed. I will let them break my water, but that's only how far I am really willing to let them intervene. If I have to labor for 24 hours plus, that is just fine with me. As long as I am not in danger, and either is Julianna, then I am fine with how long it might take.
My due date is not until Feb 9, so I have plenty of time, however, it's not very pleasant to be having these strong contractions all day everyday and not really see the end in sight. Kind of makes it hard to function normally. Ya know?
I know that my daughter is on her way, I can feel it.. that is not this issue.. I just have no way of knowing when she will get on the fast track and really make her way out.
The other part of my plan is to walk. I will take the dogs for the longest walk I can tomorrow. I find that when I am walking around the contractions really get going and intensify. Another indicator, as if I needed one, that the game is on.
Owen is really getting a kick out of my behavior through all of this. When I am moving around and have a nice strong contraction, I will squat to help 'open' things up and he thinks this is the time for him to come love on me and hug me. he almost always wants to sit on my lap, but ends up knocking me over instead. That's fun!!!

I am so ready to meet her, it's not funny. I dream in pink and that's just a small part.
I have a gut feeling that she will be here by next weekend, but I am not psychic.. I just have a feeling.
( p.s in the 25 minutes it took me to write and edit this post, I have had 5 very strong contractions...you could just call me the "laboring blogger", eh?)

Wish me luck and I hope that very soon, I will be back to post some very exciting news.
Have a wonderful weekend and until the next time.....