Jude's Prelude

In my last entry, I mentioned that labor had to be getting close. I was right. And now I have a sure fire way to bring on labor. But I'm not sure anyone wants to replicate it on their own free will. Let me back up to the weekend leading up to Monday morning to begin Jude's birth story.

Since I reached 37 weeks and the doctors have cleared me for my regular routine, as much as possible, I decided I'd start taking back some of my responsibilities to give Mark a much needed break. So I woke up early on Saturday morning when I heard Mia stirring. I went up and got her some milk and played with her, same as normal. Then we came downstairs right about 7AM, just in time for Sesame Street. We snuggled in on the sofa and watched quietly. SO NICE. Mark woke up a little later around 7:30 and Mia was so excited to see him. She ran over with her arms outstretched and gave him a big hug. He picked her up, sat on the loveseat and said, "Lay your head on my chest and snuggle with me." But she fought him a bit. He insisted and as soon as her head hit his chest, it was like Old Faithful. She started vomiting like we haven't ever seen from he before. Four giant heaves. Mark was frozen in place just trying to contain everything as I ran for the paper towels in the kitchen. WHOA. Where did that come from??? As soon as she stopped, she was fine. Same as before. A little tired, but no other signs of illness. Freak incidence. We sent her to swim class (fine) and she came home and took a nice long nap.

After her nap, we packed it up for our weekly "bakery surprise" trip. We were headed back to Hyde Park and just as we were approaching our destination, I heard the dreaded heave-ho in the back seat. Oh no. Not again. Yes. Again. In her only outfit we had on hand, in her plush carseat in 100+ degree weather. Great. We will never get this smell out of the car and our child has no clothes. We quickly pull over, remove her and her clothing and I proceed to scrub with what wet wipes we stashed in our diaper bag. We run over to Walgreens in search of some temporary clothing and wet wipes. Wouldn't you know it. The only Walgreens in town without onesies. I tell Mark to head over to the Hancock center. There's a Sears over there and I know we can find inexpensive children's clothing. Score. An entire outfit (dress and bloomers) for $3.25 including tax. And we're back in business. Again, Mia shows no signs of being worn down with the exception of a lack of appetite. That's ok, I'm a little weary of feeding her too much anyways.

She is a little fatigued that evening and on Sunday morning, but other than that, she seems absolutely normal. But by lunchtime on Sunday, I'm starting to feel a little nauseous myself. Maybe it's just gassiness from the pregnancy. But it continues. And by 2pm, I'm running for the toilets. But nothing. I lay down for a nap, yuck. Wooziness. Yup, I'm going to be sick. Now, not only am I having contractions, but my stomach is doing flips from this 24 hour stomach bug which only brings on MORE contractions which only makes me MORE nauseous! OMG, will this cycle ever end??? I remember saying to Mark, I know something that's worse than having a stomach bug, going into labor while having this bug. Thank goodness we're NOT!

I sleep most of the day away trying to recuperate while Mark keeps an eye on Mia. Fortunately, she's still pretty groggy herself. By the time bedtime rolls around, about 10pm, I'm starting to feel a little stronger. I make my way to the kitchen and get some fresh fruit and dry cereal into my system.

Before closing my eyes, I pray that I make it through the night.