39 Weeks

Headed to the hospital on Wednesday morning (30 July)... False Alarm!!  Evan woke me up at 6am crying that he wanted to go to the airport.  After I got him settled down and back to bed, I went back to bed myself.  As soon as I laid down I felt pain in my lower abdoment and back.  This was unlike the pains I had been feeling recently, and seemed familiar to how we started the day when Evan was born.  I tried changing positions, but nothing really helped.  Figured I'd better go ahead and get up and shower.

Started timing my contractions after I got out of the shower, and they were coming fairly regularly, approximately 5 minutes apart.  I got Blaine out of bed, and he called Grandma & Grandpa to come pick up Evan.  Got Evan ready to go, ate some breakfast, and called Tricia.  She said she would meet us at the hospital and check me out.

Got to the hospital around 8:35am.  Registered and went to triage.  Tricia had to go back to the office, so the nurse checked me at about 9:30 and I was only 1.5 centimeters dilated.  Uh oh, I knew I still had a long way to go if this was going to happen today!  The nurse talked to Tricia, and she said for me to walk around the hospital, drink some water, and get checked again.  Blaine and I walked around the hospital, back and forth to the cafeteria several times, before returning to triage at 11:00.  While we were walking I had a lot of pain in my hips, and my back was starting to hurt, but it seemed like my contractions weren't very close together.  I started wondering/fearing if I was going to be sent home.  

Around 11:30 the nurse checked me again.  She said the goal was for me to be at 4 centimeters.  Yeah, not even close.  Still only at 1.5 centimeters.  So they sent us packing.  My next regular appointment with Tricia is tomorrow (Thursday, 31 July), so as long as nothing happens tonight I'll go to my appointment tomorrow and get checked out again.

It's been just about 9 months that we've waited to meet Nolan, so what's another day or two, right?  But this waiting is driving me crazy!  Evan keeps saying that he's ready to meet his brother.  We all are, little boy.   

Had my checkup with Tricia on Thursday, 31 July.  Still no change.  Nolan tricked me on Wednesday, but it looks like my body is nowhere near ready for him to arrive.  If nothing happens over the weekend, I'll go back and see her on Tuesday, 5 Aug, and she'll try to get things jump started.  Blaine never thought I'd make it to August.  Now let's see who's birthday will be first - Nolan's or Blaine's!

38 Weeks

My most recent checkup was on Thursday, 24 July.  Same as usual.  Everything checked out just fine, and Nolan's heartbeat was still going strong.  They asked if I wanted to be checked that day to see if I was dilated, but Evan was with me.  We'll see if I make it to my next appointment next week!

37 Weeks

Everything's still moving along smoothly at this point.  Evan went to my doctor's appointment with me this week.  He was really excited to hear Nolan's heartbeat.  But, we ended up waiting so long that I broke out the iPhone just before the doctor finally came in, and by the time he heard the heartbeat he was engrossed in watching Word Girl!  I told Evan that Nolan should be here soon, and he has told me several times that he's ready to meet him.  Not long now.  Any day now...

Next appointment:  24 July. 

36 Weeks

Had my 36 week checkup on Thursday, 10 July.  Again, everything is looking good.  Nolan's heartbeat was strong, and he is slowly getting into position for delivery.  I wondered if he was starting to drop, since my hips started hurting on Tuesday.  Little man has been practicing his kickboxing lately too.  I think I'm going to be bruised on the inside from all the kicking! 

Next appointment: 17 July, starting weekly checkups now.   

35 Weeks

34 Weeks

Only 6 weeks out, and we are beach bound!  We wanted to make it to the beach this summer before it was too late, so we headed to Hilton Head Island for the weekend.  Went to the doctor the day before we left, just to make sure Nolan was doing well.  The checkup went just fine, and he's still kicking away.  In fact, when Tricia put the monitor on my belly to listen to his heart, he kicked it right off!  Next appointment: 10 July.

Evan had a blast at the beach, as expected.  We all had a great time.  Can't wait to go back next year, when Nolan can enjoy the beach too.  We'll just have to make sure Evan doesn't try to bury him in the sand!