Friday, February 27, 2015

Pre-labor. "I feel weird, a little crampy, strange." Prelabor starts, scared, excited, prepping for protrolling, procuring, and 5 S's.

Something is afoot, or two.

This morning there were some signs, a little blood, discharge, and "cramps," with moments hunched on the counter.

"Crampy" means what exactly?

I had to explore the words "cramps" and "crampy" with Laura for a bit, to understand them. I've only had cramps like leg cramps, and stomach cramps after say, too much nachos and beer. None of this is at regular intervels, hopefully.

It turns out the word also means "contractions,"! as in regular events that could be timed! So, there we were, in prelabor all of a sudden. Grab the timing apps (we're using the free Full Term this time). Laura wanted to go for a walk, but it was about 4 degrees out. These crampy contraction thingies come about every 15 minutes, very mellow. Midwife coming at 10am for an already schedule appointment. Grandma picking up Shaw from school, just in case. I brought Shaw to school and I'm wrapping up at work while her mom and brother say hello and then head out until called back.

The first days with a new baby are hopefully coming.


We learned with Shaw that we like to limit visits to an hour or less each day, in the first few days, even for grand parents and best friends. They all want to help, and stop by a lot more then that, but really, folks in house just add stress in ways that are hard to communicate, but are very tangible. I have plenty of time to do all that is needed since I'll be off work. After a few days of brief daily visits, then I'll need A LOT of help.

We had to be firm in this, but it was the most wonderful time getting to know a new being in the world. With Shaw, Laura was mellow, quiet, nursing and resting. I was coming and going, doing laundry, dishes, cooking, errands, etc. Or as my daddy friends and I say, "patrolling the perimeter and securing protein!"

I'm scared, excited, and I hope to be patrolling, procuring, and doing the 5 S's soon. They are trickier to get right then they seem, off to study up, and perhaps write a post on it...


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