39+3 is the Way to Be

These are all just going to be pregnancy updates from now on until she's here, probably. Complete with grainy mirror selfies because the #cantdeal is strong. Here I am at 39 weeks and some change over the weekend.

As the title of this hither post may or may not indicate, I am currently 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  (I'm due on Friday.) I've been having on and off contractions (usually on) for almost two weeks now. However, as of my last check on Thursday, they aren't doing anything to move things along. When checked, I was still 3.5cm dilated, 70% effaced, and at -1 station. 

That's the moment I knew I'd be pregnant forever. 

Not to over-dramatize.

The past few days have been pretty rough. The weekend moved at a snail's pace and I got very little sleep. Crampy contractions would wake me up in the middle of the night and I'd have to get up and walk them off in order to fall back asleep. Sort of unrelated, but I also ate lots of cereal. 

These guys kept me pretty good company though. 

Can we talk about Little Will's cowboy boots? He loves his boots and usually insists on putting them on himself. It's such a quirky little personality trait of his and I LOVE it. I have so many photos of him in a diaper and those cowboy boots. I know they will eventually come in handy for display in his senior yearbook and/or that very sad day when he tries to bring a nice girl home to meet his parents. 

Anyway, my doctor basically told me we can induce whenever we want, which is OH SO TEMPTING when you feel like you'll a) be pregnant forever, and b) that when your body suddenly decides not to be pregnant forever, it's going to expel the baby in record speed and you'll surely have a roadside birth. Much rational is the way of the greatly pregnant. BUT! We are remaining patient.

Sort of. 

Don't know how that got there.

38 Weeks with Zelie in My Belly

Still pregnant. 

Or nah?

Feeling like one of those people who takes mirror selfies at the gym.

Black is really slimming, ya'll.

I guess I still have a sense of humor re: my enormity, so perhaps that's a good sign. I'm 38 weeks and, as of 12:11pm today, officially the most pregnant I have ever been in my whole lifeeee. Little Will was induced two weeks early for high blood pressure, and somehow that fact makes the wait much worse now. 

I've been dealing with contractions the past few days that I don't want to admit are prodromal labor, but I'm pretty sure are prodromal labor. I'll have a few painful ones in a row where I get my hopes up a smidge, and then… three more painless Braxton Hicks contractions. Yesterday morning I woke up to painful contractions at 4 in the morning. They were about 7 minutes apart and I couldn't sleep through them, so I went downstairs to consume Cheerios and watch the news. I dozed off again on the couch only to be awakened yet again by two painful contractions in a row. Then they continued irregularly all day, but never picked up. So annoying. But I guess I'm not desperate enough to do the ole nipple stimulation (sorry, Dad, if you're reading) or walk for hours on end, etc., so maybe that's on me. 

Yesterday I had a checkup. My BP was nice and low (111/62, I think? Lowest it's been in a loooong time), however, I found out I am GBS positive (womp womp). I was 3.5cm dilated, 70% effaced, and homegirl is at -1 station. My doctor proclaimed, "Yes, she is even lower, -1 station, no wonder you are having uncomfortable contractions!" Yes, doctor. I am aware. Fortunately, the stupid, no fun, fakey not-labor contractions I'd been having did stop, and I was able to sleep much better last night. But really she is so low that I can feel her slightest movements against my bladder. Lightning crotch is more like thundershower crotch. They aren't quick zaps of pain, but last for seconds (which feels like an eternity). Those will keep you from sleeping too, FYI. 

I took Little Will back to Flip n Play today in an effort to see if I could get some contractions going again. I bounced around on some equipment and challenged Little Will to some races. (He beat me every time.) It didn't quite have the same effect on me, besides feeling like I realllyyy needed to pee the whole time. Though if he ends up taking a 3+ hour nap again (we're almost at 2 now!), it's all worth it! 

Today would just be too convenient a day to go into labor. Will could leave work a little early, childcare would be easy to arrange over the weekend, and the clock on Will's 10-day paternity leave wouldn't start until Monday.  

It's so weird being all WHEN WILL LABOR BEGIN!? I never really got to experience that in my last pregnancy. Will was about to go TDY for nine weeks, I was so anxious to start labor that I was doing everything suggested by the Internet to get labor going. I was so stressed out. It probably led to my blood pressure problems. Either way, I had the date of our elective induction in my mind (at 39 weeks), so there was a definite end in sight. This time, I'm a lot less proactive about starting labor. I mean I just do not have the energy or willpower to be walking curbs or pacing up and down the stairs, no matter how fervently little Zelie wants to prod my bladder. To be honest, I'm more stressed about leaving Little Will to go to the hospital and getting there in time to not have a driveway birth than I am about when the shebang will go down. It's more of a joyful anticipation (if not still penitential, because, ahem, thundershower crotch), but still hopeful anticipation nonetheless. Remind you of another certain season we are in? Life is interesting like that. 

Third Trimester & a Coming of Age Story

Yesterday was officially the start of the third trimester with baby Zelie in my belly. Yep, less than three months to go.

I'm pretty sure I've gained approximately the same amount of weight as I did at this point last time, somewhere around 25 pounds gained. I feel about 100x better physically at this point, though, than I did with Little Will. Probably from chasing around a toddler and generally being too busy to stop and whine about the little aches and pains. I really do forget I'm pregnant and that I even look pregnant. (Even though during the first half of the pregnancy, I couldn't stop talking about how HUGE I felt.)

A bump-date of sorts:

Derp.

Turns out it's not easy to get the best bump angle when you have a little human clinging to your hair for dear life.

27 weeks with William. 

IN MORE IMPORTANT NEWS . . . Little man got his first haircut today. 

It's a real coming of age story.

BEFORE: BUT A BOY

Pure mullet.

AKA mad scientist hair.

He was surprisingly docile during the actual haircut. He sat on Will's lap and had this concerned look on his face that silently screamed WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING? But, alas, those two little fingers found their way to his mouth and then he settled in for a smooth finish.

AFTER: BOY II MAN

He was so satisfied with the results he did a little dance in the street for us. (As we screamed at him to get out of the middle of the street.) 

Both these guys got haircuts today actually. 

Lucky ducks.

Anyway, I wanted some snaps of what we all look like now, because by the time Will gets back from SOS (Squadron Officer School in Alabama - freakin' acronyms) in five weeks, I will [definitely] be much larger, William will [hopefully] have some curls back, and Will will [probably] be all slim, trim, and buff from working out in his free time. I guess we'll find out in time.