The last weeks of pregnancy were both bittersweet as well as dreadful. I got to a point where my back was hurting so awfully bad that I could barely sleep through the night. I was also up almost every hour having to pee! Many women say that are miserable during those final weeks, but I can honestly say that I never did! I had my days where I was so over it, but overall I didn’t hate it. God has a way of preparing us in an unexpected way to face what lies ahead and the lack of sleep due to not being able to get comfortable was a for sure way of prepping me for sleepless nights!
For the most part,the beginning of August wasn’t very eventful. But it was exciting. We had our baby shower on the 14th and had a wonderful time. We got lots of great things and had a super time with family and friends. Tina did a fantastic job of decorating and entertaining! We did several games including trivia, guess how big my belly is, and guess how many jelly beans are in the bottle. I didn’t even look at the bottle but for a quick second and guessed 92 and guess what!!?? There were 97 in there! Guess CAM had a hand in telling mommy how many to guess! Shane stayed for a little while, but then took Hallie and Ethan to the park to entertain them so that way Lisa could enjoy herself. It was nice to have him there for part of it, since he didn’t stay at all for my bridal party.
The next weekend was the WeeCycle consignment sale. I was super super excited for this sale since in March (when the last sale was) we didn’t know the sex of the baby and couldn’t get anything. I was able to get a new parent pass and get some early shopping done on Friday night. When we arrived at 7:10, they were supposed to have already started letting people in, but there was a long line and none of the new parents were even inside yet. They had consignors and volunteers shopping and there just wasn’t enough room for all of the people. Fortunately, they didn’t make us leave right at 8, they let us shop as long as we needed to. We ended up getting several great deals including a diaper genie, a sling, a carrier for Shane to hold her on his back / front, sports clothing (Shane’s picks 
While the beginning of the month was drug out, the end of the month got us on our toes anticipating CAM’s big arrival. On the weekend of the 20th, I began having some strong Braxton hicks contractions. I wasn’t in any pain, but they were intense. As the week progressed, they started getting closer together and I was able to time them. Being a first time mom, I got worried and decided to call the hospital on Thursday the 25th. They told me that it would be best if I came in and they started monitoring me. This was around noon and by time we left the hospital it was 4. They had me hooked up to the heart rate monitor and the contraction intensity machine the whole time. I had several 8 out of 10 intensity contractions, but my cervix remained only a centimeter dilated the whole time. I never saw a doctor on this trip, only 3 different nurses. When we finally asked when I was going to get to go home, the nurse told us that Dr. Grasinger advised that I go home, but take it easy so that I didn’t progress any further. She didn’t want me to deliver before 37 weeks, at the earliest, and I was only 35. The next day, during the early afternoon I discovered a large discharge that the doctors believe was part of my mucus plug. I monitored my contractions from 4 – 4:30, and I was having noticeable contractions about every 10 minutes apart So, Dr. Miller wanted me to take another trip to labor and delivery to get monitored. After I got hooked up to the monitors and answering 20 questions, the nurse decided that she wanted to check me to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid. At first, she did a test, and the results were negative, but not a for sure negative. After about an hour of being monitored, Dr. Miller came in and did an internal exam to see if I was leaking amniotic fluids. Sure enough, I wasn’t and I was still only a centimeter dilated and 40% effaced. This visit, the discharge instructions were totally different. She told me that if I were 38 weeks, she would induce me right then and there and have the baby. She explained that little girls mature quicker than little boys and because CAM’s heart rate was good, even during the strong contractions, she felt that CAM would be ready to enter the world healthy if she were to be delivered before 37 weeks. So, she said that if we were ready to have a baby, then to go home and walk, have sex, and get CAM outta there! She seemed fairly confident that CAM would be making her arrival VERY soon and we needed to get ready. This instilled a high in Shane and I and we thought that CAM would be coming any day and we allowed this to take over our daily life. We weren’t motivated to do much of anything. After about a week of this, we finally decided that CAM would be coming on her own time and we didn’t need to keep this the focus of our days, we needed to continue on with our daily life, but still be ready when she did decide to come.
At my September 2 visit, I had dilated another centimeter, but didn’t efface any more. Dr. Grasinger did my group B test this visit to determine if I would have to have medication during delivery. I never did find out the results of this test, but I’m pretty sure that it was positive being I had antibiotics at the hospital. The next week, I effaced to 80% and just about 3 cm, but not quite. ON the 10th, we had Jessica Marsh’s baby shower. Shane had a football game out of town that day, so Tina came and got me. I enjoyed playing the games that they had, especially the one that the squashed food like candy bars in a diaper and we had to guess what the item was. There were 10 diapers and by the 8th one, I didn’t want to see another one. She got some great things, had a great turn out, and overall a wonderful day! It was nice to see her blessed like she was.
The 15th approintment, the possibility of an induction during the following week was discussed with Dr. Miller. Shane and I had thrown around the possibility of waiting until I was 40 weeks, but we were both so eager to meet CAM, that we just couldn’t wait any longer. She told us that we could talk about it again at the 39 week appointment and go from there. I mentioned to her that Shane didn’t want me to have my membranes “swept,” and she kindly said “Well, I just did that!” I think we were both taken by surprise because we had no clue that it wasn’t this big procedure that required special tools. Dr. Miller told us that if this didn’t jump start my labor, then the only thing to do would be to give me pitocin at the induction. I was very excited knowing that we could be having CAM very soon, as research on the internet informed me that usually things start happening within 24 hours after a “sweep.” During the next 72 hours, magic started happening!
29 Week Belly
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