The Storm is Brewing

I went to bed last night around 1am, and was able to doze off for awhile. I still was feeling contractions every now and then, but they weren't strong enough to keep me awake. That changed around 3:30am or so.

Starting around 3:30, the pain doubled and woke me up. On a scale of 1-10, with one being discomfort and ten being excruciating pain, yesterday's strongest contractions were a 2. So far, today's strongest have been a 4. I got this image in my mind I was standing in the ocean, just splashing around. Every time a contraction came, it was like a big wave I had to swim over. I started practicing some breathing techniques.

Between 4-5am, they were almost 10 minutes apart, about 30 seconds long each. I almost was going to take a shower, but as 5am approached they started to let up again so I decide to rest. I noticed now contractions weren't just centered at my uterus, but also enveloped my lower back while it felt like someone was pulling my pelvis in half. Still, I dozed off awhile more. They came back stronger again around 7am, but again faded. I got up around 9am, and since that time I have had one almost every 30 minutes.

In line with my wave analogy, and from having a Dad who loved to watch the Weather Channel when I was growing up, labor to me right now is like a tropical wave that is coming off the coast of Africa. We are all watching this wave, seeing it strengthen now into a tropical depression. We still aren't sure if this one is going to get organized enough to reach full hurricane status, but all we can do is just keep watching and waiting to see if this is the "big one" or not.

Keep checking here for more updates! The hospital has Wi-Fi normally and I plan at some point to get on Michael's computer and announce the birth before I get home! It definitely feels like it can happen any day right now. If these contractions continue steadily, I hope for sooner rather than later.