Another Restless Night

I will write my 8 month pregnancy post tomorrow, but I lie here and cannot sleep now. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions for awhile now. Nothing new or alarming. With Jackson I felt the tightening but it wasn't painful or overly uncomfortable. I thought women who complained were just wimps. I apologize to those women!

Each pregnancy is different and these Braxton Hicks contractions are no joke! They rival my early labor (when I labored at home and knew Jackson was on his way) with Jackson! My uterus gets so tight and since it's still growing it feels so strange to feel the tight muscle and then my softer sides that aren't full of baby yet. They have been alarmingly close together this week. Yesterday evening they were right on top of each other and last night I couldn't sleep they hurt so badly. I had at least 4 hours of painful contracting that ached my head, tensed my back, and swelled my nausea. Thankfully it was the weekend so in the morning Matt was able to watch Jack while I slept a little longer.

Today I still had contractions all day and they were still painful. I just figured it may be this way until the end. Around 4 pm I began having this shooting pain around my tailbone. Looking online this could be caused by multiple things, but I think it's a mixture of baby sitting back further and my I ligaments loosening and hips widening to prepare for birth. I can barely sit down and every movement shoots pain up through my pelvis and down my legs. It is torture to walk or stand. I would just lie on my side, but then a contraction hits and my tummy can't handle being pressed against the couch/mattress. Or I have to go pee for the umpteenth time in an hour. I took some Tylenol, have tried massage and slight stretching, and have used my heating pad. No help.

If my water doesn't break to signal labor (didn't break with Jackson until post epidural and 8 cm) I'm worried that baby might be born at home or in the car! Often second labors progress quickly so I have to get Matt home, have our sitter come to stay with Jackson, and get to the hospital before baby arrives. If my water doesn't break I don't know how I'll be able to tell the difference between these contractions and the real deal. These are 2-5 minutes apart for several hours. When they give me a slight break I still have at least 2 in an hour.

We were pretty sure this would be my last pregnancy and we'd adopt to finish out our family (unless God gives us another pregnancy- but we wouldn't plan to try again). After this I am definitely on board with that idea. I am open to trying once more if we adopt and decide we want more children, but this pregnancy has not been as easy as Jackson's. Only a little longer before Daniel is here! Hopefully he's not trying to escape sooner than expected! And hopefully this pain in my tailbone will cease- 8 more weeks of this? No thank you!