Week 38

i apologize for not posting anything for a whole week, but this past week was just plain strange and crazy. i felt too emotionally off-kilter to write anything! but things are better now.

last thursday night, i hardly got any sleep. i kept having these mild contractions that were too frequent to ignore. since i couldn't sleep, i decided to time them. they were about 10 mins apart. they were quite regular, but i was puzzled by their mildness. with both Skye and Claire, when labour started, there was no mistake about it. i knew right away because the contractions were so intense and so fast. but this, what was this? i had no idea. by 5am, friday morning, the mild contractions were about 5 mins apart. around 6am, we called the midwife. we got busy filling up the birthing tub. once the girls woke up, they were all excited too. but when the midwife arrived and she checked me, i was only 1.5 cm dilated. and by then, the contractions were getting even weaker. was i imagining things??? my midwife stayed with us for a couple of hours and then left since nothing was happening, but kept in touch with me over the phone throughout the day. Phil took the kids out in the morning and since i had no idea what to do and i had a batch of danish pastry sitting in the fridge, i baked a batch of cheese danish (which btw was delicious). then i took a thoroughly good nap and woke up to find the contractions were no longer regular.

they say that the third birth is unpredictable (all births are rather unpredictable, but the first is usually long, the second is rapid and the third is a bit of a mystery) and that is proving true for us. since last week's incident, i am discovering many women out there who have had such false starts to their third labour. my midwives reassure me that this is all ok. i am glad to be in the company of women who embrace the mystery of the body and believe strongly in the body knowing what it is doing.

who knows when this baby will arrive and in what fashion? but i'm learning to take it day by day, still trying to accomplish as much as i can before baby arrives.