April 2nd dawned bright and early for me. At 4am I was woken up by a contraction. I could talk through it, but it was painful enough that I wondered if it was the start of labor or not. They continued at a slow pace of about every 30 minutes. Just enough time in between them, that I would just start drifting off to sleep and be woken up by the contraction.
The kids were up by 6:30 and we slowly started our day. I let Jarrod know that I was having contractions but they hadn't moved from 30 minutes. (He was a little bummed that he didn't need to stay home from work ;) ) He did feel free to comment that it was only 15 hours till his birthday, haha!
Around 9:30am he asked if there were any changes. I responded with, the contractions were so scattered and not getting more intense, so it was probably more practice labor and he could stay at work all day. I did the laundry, made Jarrod's birthday peanut butter pie and tried to keep the house in order...didn't really work that well as it seemed the kids were full of energy and imagination!
Jarrod came home for lunch and contractions were still anywhere from 10-30 minutes apart. Still lacking that extra intensity but uncomfortable enough that I didn't want to walk through them anymore. He went back to work and I did odd things around the house till 2 when I laid the kids down for a nap. I laid down too and tried to sleep but the contractions jumped to every 8-20 minutes making it so I couldn't fall asleep. I take forever to fall asleep.
Around 4 I decided to just get up as I heard Jadon awake in the other room.
The girls soon joined us and we built Duplo houses and played. My contractions all of a sudden went to 8-11 minute intervals but still lacking that extra intensity. At this point I couldn't decide if I should go for a walk and try to pick things up or try to lay back down and rest in case this was indeed, just like Azelia's labor. Jarrod came home and suggested a walk and if nothing picked up to try to sleep while he fed the kids dinner. So off we went. The wind was brisk but it felt good to be out in the sun and fresh air for a few minutes. I texted my mom with an update and she excitedly told me that it was only 7 hours till Jarrod's birthday! (funny thing is Jarrod was keeping track all day too!) I responded with "I really don't mind waiting to have the baby. Just wish these would stop so I could sleep a bit".
I didn't want to go into labor exhausted as I've experienced that twice now and it is not easy to work through a contraction or find the motivation to walk around when I'm lacking sleep.
Over the course of our walk, I noted that I didn't have a single contraction. Not even a contraction that was just tight feeling like I had been having every.single.time. we would go out for a walk during the previous few weeks. Nothing. And we walked for over 10 minutes. So I texted my mom again...
"Have you been praying the cx wear off?"
"Yes so you could rest!"
"It's working!" (sign #1. Answered prayer)
The kids were being promised a picnic dinner in the living room and a special movie with Daddy as I walked up the stairs, hoping to be able to rest.
As I laid down, the contractions started in again between 20-30 minutes. I lay there, trying to shut off my thoughts as they were NOT helping me. "this is going to be a long labor just like Azelia's" "You're going to be so exhausted you'll end up a c-section cause you won't have the energy to push the baby out" "You're going to have contractions all.night.long."
I finally turned on classical music to try to tune out the thoughts but it didn't help. Liz texted asking for an update and I let her and Abby know that I wasn't doing well thought wise and was panicking about labor and the thought of it being so long. As Liz and Abby wrote back responses, I audibly heard God say...
"Do you trust Me?"
"God, if you would just let me know what's going on...."
"Do you trust Me?"
"I just wish I knew if this baby was coming soon God."
"Do you trust Me?"
"Yes. I trust You."
Directly after that I received these encouraging messages from Abby and Liz.
"Try to NOT think big picture. Think right now. You CAN do this. And so so soon. Maybe tomorrow or maybe in a few days-you will be holding that babe in your arms!"
"Don't let fears creep in or anxieties that it's going to be just like some of your harder ones because it's following the same pattern. Instead, put your trust in the Lord, knowing that HE knows how it will go and He wouldn't give you more than you can handle. Focus on resting and relaxing through contractions. Allow the contractions to do their job."
Amazing right? Right after God and I had that conversation, Liz reminded me to put my trust in Him. (sign #2)
After wrapping up conversation with them, I headed back downstairs to join the family. Being alone with my thoughts just wasn't working and the distraction of a movie and the kids would help me I thought. It was 6:45pm at this point with contractions still 20-30 minutes apart.
To be continued.....
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