wow, so this week has been a little crazy…. starting to show all these signs of prelabor. i’ve been going through this nesting syndrome. of course, it could just be my normal “gotta get everything done” personality, but i’ve never had a desire to wash walls before or wash loads and loads of clothes. i started washing baby clothes and couldn’t stop. i told myself, “ok, you really don’t need to wash bigger sized clothes… after all, caleb won’t need those clothes for close to 12 months.” did that stop me? nope! all of caleb’s clothes are washed… for the first 2 years of his life!
sunday, i started losing my mucous plug, which is normal starting at 36 weeks. i’ve been getting more braxton hicks contractions and lower abdominal crampiness…. all normal body preparation for labor. thursday, i went to a pediatric trauma/critical care conference. during the last few hours of the conference, i started getting stronger contractions every 10 minutes. the contractions didn’t let up even as i drove home. so i went into an “oh no” phase… i called in sick to work for the next day (friday)… and i started running all these errands. after all, i HAVE to buy that replacement light bulb for that hallway light that’s been out… right? hee-hee. so when i finally get a heap of stuff done, including packing our hospital bags (for us and the baby)… and finishing up our thank you gift basket for the nursing staff, i start slowing down and resting. next thing i know, these contractions slow down too and pretty much stop. ha… i was tricked! but the false call kinda made me realize that i’m so unprepared physically and emotionally for this labor. i don’t wanna be like my fellow coworker who worked one day, and started labor that same night. i actually do want some rest before caleb comes. so, it’s official. i went to my ob’s office on friday and turned in my official leave of absence form to work. no more 12-hour ER work days!