here it comes...

Coranelle was so anxious to wear her new green capris from her Auntie Amanda that she pulled them on over her other leggings.
Coloring with her new dry erase markers.


And the contractions have continued. That's really all this update needs to say, but I'll fill in the details. By my appointment last Friday, I'd had contractions for almost 2 days and I was really hoping that the Dr. would tell me that they had dilated me or were doing something to help bring Sheldon down and out. But, I was still only 1.5 cm dilated. Fortunately, my OBGYN got to feel two of the contractions in the 10 minutes she was with me. She monitored Sheldon's heartbeat for a whole contraction and they're not doing anything to harm him- so that was good to hear. But, I was still frustrated. My doctor could tell that having contractions every 5 minutes was wearing me out, so she offered the suggestion to induce me after 39 weeks if I continued having them all weekend and I wanted to do something about it. We discussed the fact that my contractions were the same with Coranelle- they were consistent and constant, but didn't DO anything to bring her down. She was just floating, as it seems Sheldon is too. In order to bring Coranelle into this world, I had to have my water broken and then had to have pitosin administered when nothing had happened after 11 hours of hard contractions. So, I suppose you could say I was induced with Coranelle too.

As the weekend progressed, the contractions continued and we tried to decide what we should do. I have been drinking Raspberry leaf tea multiple times a day (it's supposed to cause your uterus to contract). I have been walking, stair stepping, lunging, squating, eating spicy foods, "it", the whole list of things. I even contemplated Castor oil. Ideally, we'd like Sheldon to come on his own, but nothing seems to be changing the contractions. Meanwhile, they're really wearing me down. A few nights this weekend, they were coming every 2 minutes for over an hour, lasting more than a minute. They get more painful as the day goes on and my body gets tired. By 5pm or so, they are hurting my lower back and abdomen instead of just being hard, tight and uncomfortable. Last night, a few of them woke me up and I had to sit and breathe through them. They've continued that way today, being more painful. I am not sure if it's because they might actually be doing something, or because my body is exhausted. I went for a walk this evening and was in so much pain that I was afraid I might not make it home.

Keeping up with Coranelle has been rough this week and my patience is definitely suffering. I have been relatively calm about all of this until today, when I just broke down after my college friend and her baby girl left. Coranelle had been a terror for two hours- hitting, refusing to share, screaming, and having to be sent to her room twice. Then, she was crawling all over me, trying to stand on me. I know she can sense the change and that I am tired and not feeling well and it's just been hard to be calm and reassuring when it's literally hard to breathe.

But, to help me through all of this, we had some wonderful gifts this past week/ weekend. Ryan's parents, aunt and uncle and my mom came over this past Saturday to deep clean our house. While Coranelle and I played at the park with Grandpa Steve, my kitchen was scrubbed from top to bottom. I mean the cabinets, inside and out, the tops of the cabinets, the microwave vent, the fridge, everything. My bathrooms were cleaned, the windows, the floors, etc. Ryan even cut me some new shelves for my linen closet and his aunt reorganized everything beautifully. Seeing the linen closet was enough to make me tear up. So, our house looks amazing. While the ladies were cleaning, Ryan, his dad and uncle were working on some much needed house and electrical projects. I've been spoiled!

My sister, Amanda, sent us a whole care package for Sheldon and Coranelle. One of my friends from MOPs dropped by wonderful gifts for me, Sheldon and Coranelle. Since people have found out about my contractions, I've had non-stop e-mails, phone calls and texts from wonderful friends and family checking in on us. I have been so touched by everyone's willingness to help and everyone caring so much about our family.

So, there are the details. And, here's the bottom line. I had to decide by today if I wanted to schedule an induction by this Friday. Based on reading this post, I'm sure you can guess what I decided. I am scheduled to be induced at 6:30am this Friday, April 8th. I feel almost guilty revealing that information and wish everyone would think I just went into labor on my own on Friday, but I promised to be honest on my blog. I would LOVE for Sheldon to come on his own. But, when I take in to account how Coranelle arrived, I wonder if I would just wait through another week or so of contractions and have to be induced then. I cannot even imagine how tired I would be by then. So, if nothing happens on it's own, the process will be started for us this coming Friday morning. In the meantime, I'll try to rest and spend as much quality time with my family as possible. We're going to have a baby by this weekend! How crazy is that?! I think I need to spend some time wrapping my head around that. Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated as we embark on this new chapter of our lives. I know that the next few nights I will awaken thinking about nursing, Coranelle's adjustment, labor, the possibility of an epidural, having everything packed in our bags, Coranelle visiting at the hospital, the cost of delivery, what will Easter be like this year? What will next week be like? What will Sheldon look like? How long will labor be? And so on and so forth.

Okay, my head is getting away from me. I am going to be done with this post and watch Parenthood and try to ease these contractions. I hope you are all enjoying the spring!