Contract(ion)ual Obligations?

Just to let everyone know what's been going on:

I swear I am not ignoring any of you. I have been a bit preoccupied for a few days.

This evening wraps up the 4th day in a row of early labor contractions besieging my poor abused belly. So not only do I feel like an overripe melon, but also like an overripe melon left rolling around in the back of a truck.

This all started Wednesday. I'd noticed smaller contractions all day, mostly spaced out - not more than 2 per hour most of the afternoon. By the time Rick got home, I realized they were getting more frequent and regular. We started timing, and they kept hovering right on the edge of worrisome/exciting. By 11:30pm, we gave in and called Julie, who agreed that it wasn't quite concerning, and said if I could get some rest to do so and see how I felt in the morning because they'd likely peter out over the next hour or so.

3:30am Thursday I finally fell asleep from exhaustion, still having contractions. They were coming in sets. I'd have an hour of consistency and increasing length, then have a sudden break for 20-30 min. I slept about an hour or two at a time, and dreamed about having contractions.

Rick had planned on having lunch with me Thursday noon, so my last 2 hours of sleep came between 9 and 11am that morning. He brought food, and I was still contracting. We called Julie again, and she was surprised to hear it had gone on all night. At that point, she told us to head to the clinic for a checkup.

Result of exam: Baby doesn't seem stressed by the contractions, which is good. I was dilated about 1cm, which is inconclusive. Baby's back was also turned too far towards my spine, which was causing back labor, which is what causes those start-and-stop sets and all the fun back pain. We got instructions on things to try to get her turned face down into proper position, and confirmed that it probably is very early labor and that it could go on anywhere from hours to weeks. Let my mother know that she needs to start keeping her cell within reach NOW instead of 2 weeks from now. Went to Target and walked around for a while to see what it would do to progress things along, and to pick up our last few baby items. Went home. Tried to rest with mixed results. By 11pm was feeling exhausted and beaten up again. Finally fell asleep.

Rick took Friday off because the darn things wouldn't stop OR progress enough to move to active labor and he wanted to be home with me "just in case." By this point, I was getting quite frustrated and beyond tired. We called Julie again to let her know nothing had changed and ask for advice. She said so long as I am able to rest and wait things out, our best course of action was to go with it. But if I were to get too tired and worn down, we'd have to start thinking about what to do next - speed it up or stop it. We opted to do nothing yet, and went to run errands around 12:30pm. Ended up walking the mall a few times up and down, until I was having trouble lifting my feet to step. Got the contractions up to about 2 min apart and well over 45 seconds long for a while... then headed home, almost falling over tired and with a splitting headache, about 5pm. Contractions stopped completely for an hour or so. About the time I was ready to say we were done, they started back up. That repeated all evening/night. Clusters of 3-5 contractions over maybe half an hour tops, then nothing for an hour. Lather, rinse, repeat. Around 10pm, I was done fussing with the whole thing and told Rick, "It will be what it wants to be, and this kid is contrary enough to take her own sweet time and do it ONLY on HER schedule." So Rick massaged my back for a while. Then I took a warm shower and some Tylenol. Then we got some snacks and climbed in bed and turned on Craig Fergusson's late show and laughed ourselves silly. Finally fell asleep in the wee hours, and actually got a few consecutive hours of rest. (Minus the 3 trips to the loo, but that's normal now.)

After giving up and relaxing and doing some de-stressing, the contractions came back and continued through the night, though at a more relaxed pace than before.

This morning, they were still going. Went to the chiropractor this morning for my upper back and neck, which blessedly stopped the massive headache that I'd had since yesterday afternoon. Now I am getting 10-20 min between most of the contractions (with some faster clustering through the day as well) and many are lasting upwards of a minute. But they haven't stopped. We went to see the Noises Off matinee at FVCC, and I had about 6 or 7 contractions in the 2 hours we were watching.

(By the way, having a 75lb dog slam his front paws into the top of your uterus - especially as you're just ending a contraction - can bring on another one immediately. And with no break from the pain, it hurts like a sonofabitch. Just FYI.)

Anyhoo, if things are still doing this same song and dance come Monday, I'll be talking to the midwives again and probably asking for another pelvic exam. (Did those words really just come from me? Ugh.) I'd rather know that any progress is being made, whether it's dilation or effacement or whatever, than going on indefinitely, wondering wtf is taking so darn long and why the hell does it need to involve this level of discomfort and pain to get there, sheesh!

So that's what's been going on with me for the last 4 days. And likely, for the foreseeable future. I am around, and will probably answer texts or Facebook messages. But the phone is hit/miss, depending on contractions. (As entertaining as it might be, generally when someone has a phone call involving nothing but heavy breathing on the other end, there is a stalker or a 1-900 number somewhere in the mix.)

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

And, if you'll pardon me, I'm having a contraction right now.