The VBAC Blog

First of all, if you missed yesterday’s post, read the one below this. Mason has turned and is no longer breech!

Yesterday morning, I was working on my laptop and crying at the same time. I thought it was because I was still so upset about another possible c-section. The more I cried while working, the more I realized it was hormones. I also had a subtle ache in my lower back but didn’t give it much thought. I did have a fleeting thought that the hormones might mean Mason was getting close to launch-time.

This morning, at 2:30 a.m., I woke up with a backache. It didn’t hurt much, but enough to wake me up. I then noticed a contraction starting. It was a pretty good one, much stronger than the Braxton Hicks ones and uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t say it was very painful, just very uncomfortable.

It subsided and I got up to go to the bathroom. When I lay back down, I had another one. And then another, and another, and another. I was very excited and wished I could see the numbers on the digital clock. The clock was hiding behind the gizmo that we use to charge our cell phones but I didn’t want to get up. I was enjoying lying there and talking to Mason in my head, asking him, “Is this it, Baby Boy?”

Still in a state of denial, I was telling myself they were no big deal and that it wasn’t labor. Then I realized I usually only have 2-4 Braxton Hicks per hour and these were coming every 5-10 minutes or so, though not very regular. I got up and went to the bathroom about a dozen more times over the next hour (the contractions were wreaking havoc on my bladder) and an hour and a half after they started, I decided I’d feel better if the suitcase was packed. (We’d planned to do it last night but I got busy on email, and Richard cooked dinner, and it never got done.) So, I went downstairs and packed a suitcase with my and Mason’s hospital clothes. While I was downstairs, I only had one contraction, meaning they were slowing down when I was moving around. That means FALSE LABOR. Bummer.

I was still very excited because this means the real thing is just around the corner. Could be today or it could be two weeks from now, but my body is working and practicing and Mason’s arrival is imminent and no longer seems like something far, far into the future. I also had the funny thought that I’m 39 years old, this is our fifth child, and it still works!

I came back upstairs and crawled back into bed again. Richard had slept through everything, including my dozen trips to the bathroom. Ha ha. I’m glad because if he thought I was in real labor, he’d have dragged me by my protruding belly button to the van and raced to the hospital.

As soon as I laid back down the contractions started a regular pattern again. I got a notebook and started writing them down. They were only two minutes apart. I wrote down the time for five of them and then stopped, knowing there was a definite pattern and also knowing it was false labor. Mason was moving around throughout the two hours, even during contractions, and I knew he was handling it all just fine. I did have a tiny bit of tenderness around the left side of my c-section scar for the last few contractions and that was a bit of a worry for me. I’ll have to mention that to the doc. About an hour later, I woke up, realizing I’d fallen asleep and that the contractions had stopped. That was okay, too, because I still have so much to do!

When Richard woke up this morning, I excitedly told him he’d missed all the fun. He got very excited, too. He’s packing the cameras, my ipod, etc. this morning just in case. Once we have everything ready, maybe the real thing will begin.