Not yet!!!

It's been an interesting week. On Monday Kadence was sitting next to me rubbing my belly, and randomly informed me that Daddy and Jesus would protect the baby and keep him from coming out before he was ready. Good to know, cause things got interesting Tuesday. 

Patrick is off on Tuesdays, and Kadence had requested a "Mommy-Daddy-KK date" since we had gone on a date without her the week before. We decided that was a good idea, since it will probably be awhile before that can happen again. We decided to go see Kung Fu Panda 2, and then she wanted to "go shopping and buy treats for my baby brother." 

We went and ate breakfast at Grandy's and then went to the theater. She was so excited. There were only a few people besides us when we got there, and Kadence informed Patrick that the other kids would be there soon. He told her that he didn't think there would be more kids, and she said "No, the other kids will be here soon." The movie started, and low and behold, a whole bunch of kids showed up.

She LOVED the movie. She kept throwing her arms around with the characters trying to do Kung Fu. She was very quiet during the movie, except for one part. One of the bad guys says "Wipe those stupid grins off your faces!" and she yelled "We don't say that!" (She's not allowed to say "stupid.") We let her have a few Twizlers during the movie, and when I gave her her last one and told her that was all she was getting, she proceeded to suck on it for the remainder of the movie.

After the movie, we went to Wal-Mart and she rode around on the wheelchair with me (since I'm not allowed to walk). We took her to the baby section to let her pick something out for her brother. She chose a soft green sea turtle ice pack. I'm guessing she's anticipating that he'll need it as much as she needs all of hers. :)

We stopped to get her "chicken hands" (chicken nuggets) at Chick-Fil-A on the way home. . .and Patrick actually ordered "chicken hands" and then had to correct himself. Hahaha

I woke up from my nap that afternoon feeling weird, and was unable to eat. . .not even watermelon, and you KNOW that means something is up. Mom decided that would be a good time to go ahead and wrap my recliner in plastic so it wouldn't get ruined if my water broke.

That night around the time Kadence was going to bed, I noticed that my contractions were entirely too regular. . .so I started tracking them. 7 minutes apart, every time. Some painful, others just extremely uncomfortable. I drank a lot of water to make sure hydration wasn't an issue, and took a hot bath to see if that would help. Not only did that not help, the contractions moved to being 6 minutes apart.

Now, by this point I was pretty sure we weren't having a baby, since the intensity of the contractions hadn't changed. However, I do believe in being prepared, so I made sure things were in order and that Kadence would be taken care if in case something did happen and we had to go to the hospital. Since this had been going on for about 2 hours, I called Kathleen (my midwife) to see what we needed to do, other than just deciding that I wasn't going to have a baby right then.

She said to take at least 700mg of extra magnesium, stay on complete bed rest, and drink plenty of water. If things didn't get better she would come over, but I really didn't think that was necessary. After all, it was too early to do this, and I was refusing to have a baby.

After about an hour she called to check and see how things were going. The contractions had started to die down a little, but not enough that I would be able to sleep. So she said that I could have a beer or a glass of red wine, or take Benadryl. I don't drink beer, I had no wine, so Benadryl it was. After about an hour after that things were calm enough that I could sleep, and by the next morning things were almost back to normal.

Now, for those of you who would have said (and those of you who did) that God was in control, and I needed to surrender control, acknowledge that He was in control, and that things would happen on His time etc. etc. etc. let me say this. I'm aware of all of that. 

I fully acknowledge that regardless of what I say, what He says is what's going to happen. I have no problem surrendering to Him. . .but ONLY to Him. My body does NOT get to decide what is happening, and I am not about to relinquish control to circumstances that ARE within my control. That, to me, would be like a cancer patient dying because they did nothing about it, when there was something they could have done.

Besides, if you know me at all, you know that I want what I want, and I want it the way that I want it. This really doesn't have to do with the baby, because he will be just fine one way or another. Kadence is right. . .Jesus (and Daddy?) will protect this baby and keep him from coming out before he is ready. I would LIKE to make it to full term, but even if I don't he'll still be fine. I realized that weeks ago.

I don't always get what I want, and I'm fine with that. For instance, this baby will come before 38 weeks, so the water birth that I wanted is now out. I'll still labor in water, but because his lungs will already be wet, birthing in water isn't a risk we're willing to take. See, I don't always get what I want. :)

But here's my point. It's ok that I want what I want, the way I want it. I'm not arrogant enough to assume that JUST because I want it, I can make it happen. But guess what? Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. - Psalms 37:4  HE cares about what I want, and HE can make it happen. That's why I won't quit fighting and let go of what I want until I'm told BY HIM that I need to. If that were to happen, I'm already completely at peace about it.

I spent all day yesterday in bed or lying down in the recliner, while Kadence spent the day with Ashley and Caiden. Contractions stayed about where they had been, so instead of moving our next appointment up, we decided to wait until today when it was already scheduled.

Kathleen came over to do the 36 week appointment today. I'm measuring 37cm, pretty much fully effaced, and dilated between 1 and 3. She didn't do a complete check to see exactly how dilated I am since that could trigger something, and we don't really need to know exactly.

Technically, I won't be 37 weeks until Thursday next week, but because of the way things are progressing, we're going off of the estimated due date from the first sonogram. That date would make me 37 weeks on Monday. So we are good to go after the weekend, and I'm on strict bed rest until then.

We're all certain that this will be a quick labor. Kathleen was concerned that by the time I figure out that I'm really in labor, she might not have time to get here before he's born. However, my mother is here, she's a nurse, she's had 6 kids herself, and been there for MANY other births. Just the same, I WANT my midwife and my photographer to make it in time, so I'm confident that my Heavenly Father can make it happen. If He decides not to, oh well. . .it'll be an interesting story. :D