Crunch Time

I'm am just about a month away from my due date.  I am officially declaring it crunch time.  Especially since I don't really think I'll make it the whole month.  I've spent more than one night in the past week sitting next to my husband on the couch as we watch TV feeling the uncomfortable tightness of early contractions.  I've been having quite a few of them but they have not been regular.  I worry that I might have trouble recognizing true labor this time.  I honestly felt hardly ANY contractions in the days prior to actually going into labor with Will.  And when I finally did start having contractions and went to the hospital, I was pretty sure that they would keep me even if I wasn't in true labor since I was past due and scheduled for induction two days later anyway.  It actually never even occurred to me that I might not be in real labor at the time because is was TIME for it.  But I worry now that, since I'm not expecting labor, that I might not recognize it when it's really happening.  And I worry that it might happen quickly when it does.  Will was born in 12 hours, start to finish; from the wimpy early contractions to the doctor placing him on my belly all warm and new.  That's like, really fast for a first baby.  And things tend to move even faster with each progressive baby.  I worry that I won't get the ball rolling as soon as I should when the time comes now that I have Will to make arrangements for too.  I guess that's my biggest concern; making sure my little man is taken care of.  The plan is for my parents to come and babysit when all this goes down, but they are at least an hour away.  I'm sure that it will all work out and that I'll have plenty of time both for Will's hand-off and to get situated at the hospital.  But I can't shake that little nervouse twinge of fear that it won't all go as smoothly as planned.

While not as panicked by the idea of Jamie being gone when I go into labor as I was the first time around, it does make me nervous that his new squadron's policy is to have him home only 10 days in advance of my due date.  My parents are very close and I have a good friend who lives even closer, so I don't feel as alone as I did in Charleston.  But still . . .  Plus, I'm growing this huge baby who has a pretty high likelihood of arriving early.  So, you know, he could miss it.  That possibility is kind of eating at me too.

On a positive note, feeling the crunch has spurred me into some serious action in the last two days.  I have unpacked all the remaining boxes in the house (except in the office - which is Jamie's domain) and cleared out the new nursery of all non-nursery things (with one exception - but I need Jamie's help for that).  I also cleared a corner of our bedroom for the rocking chair.  I had kind of planned on buying another glider to put in Will's room, since he still likes to be rocked to sleep, and moving our nice rocker/glider/recliner into the new nursery.  However, in the interest of our finances, we have opted to find a way to use the one chair for both kids.  This means the chair must be in neutral territory so that we can soothe one without waking the other.  I'm not sure my husband has come to terms with the fact that the only available neutral territory is our bedroom.  It is certainly going to make night wakings a shared misery.  I also worry how it will complicate things when Jamie needs to sleep during the day.  I'm not convinced that we won't end up with another glider in the end, but we'll see how this works out first.

The next task on my to-do list is curtain shopping.  I need curtains especially for Will's room and the nursery to make those rooms more conducive to daytime napping.  But most of all I need a thick, sound-muffling curtain to cover the opening between the nursery and the master bedroom.  We are using the sitting room off of the master bedroom as a nursery so that Jamie can use the third bedroom for his office and when necessarily, a guest room.  So, the nursery is not a true bedroom.  Which means it has neither a closet nor a door.  I think it will work out though.  Whatever.  It's a better option than just having the baby room with us entirely.  And he'll be close for all those night feedings.  And he's less likely to wake Will this way, whose bedroom is on the other end of the house.  Plus, once he's sleeping through the night, we plan on rooming the boys together anyway.  So this is temporary.  And before you think I'm all naive and delusional, let me expand my definition of temporary to mean 8-12 months.  Hopefully sooner though.  We'll see.  Maybe I'll get a good sleeper this time!  Here's hoping! 

Comments

[Stephanie]

Hang in there! You WILL know when the real contractions start! 24 hours of natural labor have me convinced of this! Everything will work out; it always does. Best of luck :)