I don't blog anymore. I don't really think that blogging is a 'thing' and hasn't been for a while. But it's a good place to come by every now and then to get some thoughts out and hang out with 'friends'. But I'm sitting here waiting for a baby to come which is the worst kind of waiting. And I wish that I could say that all of us Mommy's understand, but we don't because not only does pregnancy affect everyone differently, it also affects our families differently because each family has it's own unique set of challenges that come into play. I'm sure someone could be found who is pregnant with their fifth and has two girls who are 8 and almost 7 followed up by two boys who are 5 and 3. But I don't think that you'll find one with that identical age make up but where the 8 year old has a chronic illness, the 5 year old has learning/developmental issues, the almost 7 year old is starting to find her independence in not so pleasant ways and you constantly worry that the 3 year old is going to succumb to a parasite picked up from one of the hundreds of snails that he constantly is handling. Nope, we're unique just like every other family therefore, this pregnancy is unique.
But I'm sitting here waiting. I know 37 1/2 weeks pregnant still leaves a lot of time left for when the baby could come. I get that. But here's the problem that I'm finding myself in. I carry my babies crazy low. I have a feeling that this is due to a few different reasons. 1) I have an amazing ability to have children fairly easily that I never knew I had until i started having them. 2) I had my first four babies really quickly-like we're talking four babies in less than 6 years. That's a lot to put your body through and I'm positive that my muscles are damaged from that. So when you're 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and you carry super low, guess what? Literally everything hurts! And I'm embarrassed everywhere I go. Not in a, 'Yeah this is my fifth baby and you must think I'm crazy and I'm pulling my hair out because my hands are so full' type of embarrassed. No it's more like, 'I waddle like a duck, my feet are swollen, if I sneeze too hard I'll wet my pants, and I haven't don't my hair in days so I effectively look like the unfortunate love child of Quazimoto and Daisy Duck' type of embarrassed. Yeah, that kind. It does wonders for the self esteem-I recommend it everyone!
I've nested and re-nested and invented new nesting projects to get me through this time. In fact, with all of my other kiddos, I never would have even said that I nested. Things were just the way they were when we had the baby-messy house and all. No, this time, her room is not only set up and ready to go, but so is the carseat, so are my hospital bags, so are the music playlists for suring labor (2 of them-one upbeat, one mellow-like you do) along with my own snacks to take to the hospital because I'm not confident that they will have what I'm craving as soon as I'm done with delivery (cheese cubes and fresh berries and grapes-natch). I've made the prep list, checked it twice and in the mean time crocheted two more hats for Penelope to go along with the two blankets that I've already crocheted since February when we found out we were having a girl. to say that I'm ready is the understatement of the century.
When I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago, I was very excited because at 35 1/2 weeks I was 2 1/2 centimeters and 75%. I knew it was going to go fast. The doctor even predicted that I would go somewhere around 37-38 weeks! So when I went in a week later, I was prepared for news that things were progressing rapidly. Nope, at 36 1/2 weeks, I was only at a 3+ and still 75%. But he told me that as soon as I hit 37 weeks, I was welcome to go into labor at any time. Tuesday night of this week, Carson and I went to dinner and walked around Target picking up some odds and ends. I had tons of contractions to the point where I was timing them on my phone app. I thought for sure I wouldn't need to go to the appointment that I had the next morning....nope. Still made it. At 37 1/2 weeks, I was at a 4+ and still 75%. What??? I had almost nothing to show for all of those contractions that night before. So here I sit, waiting.....I wish that I could play with my kids more, but if i mover in certain ways, my hips dislocate (you know that whole carrying low things?). So, fortunately or unfortunately, my kids are having the kind of summer that they probably don't know they want-one where they are not scheduled and they get to watch TV or play outside literally all day every day. However, that means that I spend most of my day hollering 'Close the door' or 'turn down the TV' or 'It's your brother's turn to pick the show.' It's super exciting around the Mitchell household these days. I tried to have this week be our 'Mommy and Kids Week of Fun'. I made it two days. I hope they understand.
I had a friend come over and walk the neighborhood with me hoping it would start something. It didn't. I scrubbed the bathroom top to bottom hoping it would help. It didn't. I scrubbed the kitchen (again) hoping it would move things along. It didn't. All that resulted is me feeling crummy. The doctor did say that he doesn't expect me to pregnant next week, so there's that. But seriously, I'm so done with my ribs aching, my back hurting, my hips locking and dislocating, feeling her hiccups, waking up every hour. I'm just done!!!!
