My original due date was April 8th and my pregnancy overall went really smoothly leading up to the big day. With Liv, I had nausea/morning sickness & hip pain from the very beginning and the delivery was a super lengthy process. This time around I wasn't nauseated at all, only threw up once (literally 5 days after conception, before I even knew I was pregnant. Super weird). My hips started hurting at like 20 weeks, and I barely got the dark line, linea negra, around 30 weeks.
Because this was my second baby & Olive was huge, my doc set the schedule to induce me on April 3rd, 5 days early. Let me rephrase.. I scheduled myself haha. He had no concerns about needing to induce me early, just out of convenience to me. ;) love my OB.
I packed the hospital bag right after that and basically waited until the day.
Micah had a lot of traveling in March (for work) so naturally I totally thought I'd go into labor when he wasn't home.
At my 37 week appt my doc checked my cervix and I had started dilating! Nothing earth shattering, I was measured to a 1, but With Liv I didn't dilate at all until I was in the hospital on a pitocin drip.. So that was super exciting! Later that same night I started having contractions.. Not just Braxton Hicks but actual real labor contractions. And if you're wondering, no it doesn't feel good.. At all! Every 10-15 minutes or so I would get a fresh wave of contractions, lasting for a couple of minutes each time. Two hours passed and they finally diminished and stopped.
The next week Micah left for Texas and wouldn't be back till Thursday, almost exactly 1 week before my induction date. I'm typically really ok when he leaves for work travel.. He has to go about once every month and a half or so but only for a couple of days at a time.. But goodness, it was SO hard to say goodbye to him this time!
The week passed by without incident and surprisingly was really easy. I had a lot of distractions (thank goodness!) so the days slipped by very quickly.
At my 38 week appt I was dilated even more, no doubt from the 2 hours worth of contractions inexperienced. I was measuring at about a 2, so my body was definitely prepping.
We finished Lincoln's nursery, stocked our fridge and pantry with food, and waited for Linc to make his appearance.
On Sunday March 29th I had more contractions but these only lasted about 20 minutes. They were right up there with the last ones though for discomfort! I just kept thinking, "oh this labor will be fun!"
On Tuesday, March 31st I was busy busy busy all day. We dropped off Zoey to my sister's house so that Dianne & my mom wouldn't have any allergy issues. I got into serious spring cleaning mode and cleaned out all the drawers and cabinets in my kitchen, wiped down all the counters, and swiffered + steam cleaned my hardwood. No doggy germs for my mom-in-law & mom! I'm not sure if it was because I was moving around so much or what, but Linc was pushing downward SO much that day! I also noticed when I would go pee that my mucus plug was coming out. Fyi, that sounds far more gross than it actually is. Just another sign my body is totally gearing up for labor. Woo!
The following morning I scheduled a couple of people to come thru and help me deep clean. The first was a super sweet woman to do some basic but exhausting cleaning for me of baseboards & dusting, then some general cleaning. I've never hired someone to come clean my house before... Ever... So it was a little uncomfortable for me at first to just sit around while someone else cleaned my house... But she was really talkative (not annoyingly so but just right) so I got over the weird little hump pretty fast.
She left after a couple of hours and round two came thru.
Since Zoey is a dog with fur and dander, I wanted to deep clean our carpets and get as much of the doggy-ness out as possible. I randomly found Longhurst Carpet Cleaners on FB and scheduled them to come out. I'm not gonna lie, I was super sketched out at first when they pulled up in a real hearse (no joke) and they looked a little rough around the edges, but they did an amazing job. It was only $99 for my whole house (the carpets I mean) to be cleaned. They also cleaned all of my rugs which was an added bonus. :)
After the craziness settled and carpets dried, I headed out for a little last hurrah with my sister Jess. We just chatted and laughed and got some red mango frozen yogurt amazingness and it was SO much fun to just relax without the babies and talk. My sister is one of the few people in my life that gets me 100% and there is literally not an ounce of judgement on any spectrum and I freakin love it. And her.
On Thursday April 2nd, both my parents and Micah's parents came over to give me a blessing and talk about the prep for this weekend. It's always something that we take for granted, but once we actually need our parents for help, they never cease to amaze me at their willingness and instant selflessness.
Micah, with the help from my dad, & father-in-law gave me such a wonderful priesthood blessing. When we were dating, Micah and I would go to the temple pretty often as dates and he would do a lot of the confirmations, or blessings for me, and even baptize me when we would do proxy work for the dead. I remember writing in my journal (and can read about it in my journal) about how I felt so incredibly close to him and God when we would go and I would feel of his connection to the Lord. It's something very very personal and close to my heart so I don't broadcast it very much, but it is something that I didn't even realize at the time, but is so important to me in my life... To have my husband and the father of my children be so connected to God and able to bless our family in times of need or comfort. When Micah started giving me the blessing I felt an immediate sense of comfort as he spoke. My nerves had been aaaaaaaaall over the place that day and as we talked more and more about leaving Olive and the induction process it truthfully was really giving me anxiety. But Micah's blessing was exactly what I needed.
We hugged and thanked our parents for coming out & they left after a little while. Dianne (my mother-in-law) stayed as she was going to start tending Olive the following morning for us.
Sleep didn't come easy for me because it's me... And it's like anticipating Christmas so you can't really tell your stupid brain to stop processing, goodness.
Finally around 1am sleep came and I was out. Till 6am when I had to call the hospital to see when I could come in. At first the nurse told me to call back at 8:00am-8:30am to see when I could come in. I was suuuuuper annoyed because I have a really hard time falling back asleep after I wake up in the mornings.. Especially for only 2 hours. Ugh. But I knew it was a possibility if they were swamped and wasn't mad at the nurse obviously but just the situation. So I set my alarms again and rolled over, when my phone started ringing again. It was the hospital saying the first nurse phrased it wrong & they wanted me to BE AT the hospital at 8:00-8:30. Whew! Thank goodness!!
So I laid in bed for another half hour or so then realized I wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, & got up to get ready for the day.
Livi will sleep in till 8:00-9:00 most days and so on the one hand I was a little bummed about the timing to leave because I'd only see her for like 2 minutes before we had to leave and I didn't want to make things harder for her to adjust without us.. Oh leaving my little mini is the HARDEST thing ever!!
To help me cope while I'm away I took some pics with her the day before..
Liv and I rocking the "model face". She kills me.
We got up & had a tiny breakfast (as big as I was allowed) and gave Liv some last minute loving before slipping out as Dianne fed her breakfast.
To the hospital we go!!
xoxo
Mandi
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