False Alarm!

I sort of have 3-4 different posts swirling around in my brain and instead of taking the time to write them down, perhaps one day at a time, I've been OCDish about keeping my house clean because of our planned homebirth. {I would probably be obsessive about keeping the house clean even if I was doing a hospital birth because, seriously, who wants to come home with a new born to a house that needs cleaned and 3 other young children to attend}. But doing the homebirth, there is the added pressure of wanting a relaxing environment coupled with impending visitors.

Right now, however, my house is not clean, and I have very little energy to get it done. I was up half the night having contractions, so I told the girls to color while I took a nap this afternoon. That translates to coloring, painting, cutting, and apparently, making their own lunch. Sigh. At least, they let me get some sleep.

I guess that's a nice lead into a post about false alarm labor. I have had Braxton-Hicks contractions with all my girlies, but this is a new experience, where they actually proceed like early labor for a while as far as being consistent, and then quit. Last night, I was nearly certain I was in labor. They were regular and increasing in intensity throughout the day. I was simply waiting for the pain level to increase to call my midwife and my mom. They never did.

I would not consider myself an impatient person, and I did prepare myself for going late; even though, the odds were against it with #4. However, I had talked to enough moms with multiple children to know that it's not always the same. What I didn't prepare myself for was the emotional ups and downs of thinking I was in labor and then having nothing happen. In some ways, the first baby is blessing because you don't know what to expect, but at this point, I'm well aware of the impending pain. The only consolation is the hope that it goes a lot faster! So, when labor kicks in, so do the emotions. "I don't want to do this." "Let's just get it over with." "Think of the prize at the end." "I'll get to hold my baby!" "I wonder if it's a boy or girl?" "What on earth will I do with a boy?" "Am I sure I like those names?" "Oh crap, this is going to hurt." "I wonder how much Tylenol I can take because the cramps after Gigi were really bad?"

All of that excitement. Anxiety. Fear. Lack of sleep. Only to have to do it all over again.

My other two concerns that have been nagging me are the size of the baby (my girls were all 8,2 or more, 39 weeks and some days) and feeling stir-crazy. My midwife assured me today that I have plenty of room to push out a 9+pound baby, and she also told me not to feel like I have to stay home. The girls and I like to go during the summer! We spend most of the winter confined and summer is our fun time. But even if I thought I had the energy to take them somewhere, it's been way too hot. So today, we stayed home. If there is no baby tomorrow, I have decided we're going to the pool!

The other things I wanted to write about were home-schooling, Accountable Kids, budgeting, menu planning, and turning 30. But alas, I really do have to clean. {wink}.