I didn’t think that my final pregnancy update would only include one week but, it does! Going into my 36th week of pregnancy I was MISERABLE. I cried almost every day because I felt so uncomfortable, couldn’t sleep, and started puking again.
Everything hurt and I just wanted this baby girl to get out of me! I was excited to be in the home stretch and even more excited I was that much closer to experiencing the birth process. I kept telling Mike that there was no way I was going to full term and I knew she was going to come early. I feel like my entire pregnancy I was always trying to stay a few steps ahead, and I’m so glad I did.
The day I turned 36 weeks, Mike and I went to get foot massages. After our massage we drove two minutes to Jersey Mikes for lunch. When I got out of the car I felt a big wet spot on my shorts. I knew I didn’t pee my pants, I would have felt that. The seat in the car wasn’t wet…did my water break!?!? We came home and I googled what to do and laid down for 30 minutes on my side to see if any more fluid came out. It didn’t look or smell like pee so it had to be my water. After 30 minutes I got up and there was a little bit more fluid so we decided to go to the hospital and get checked. Better to be safe than sorry, right? We cleaned up the house, I showered and did my hair (JIC), and we were off to the hospital. I was getting so excited. This could be it! But it wasn’t. We got to the hospital and got settled into a room, where a nurse did a swab and sent it to be tested. They hooked me up to the monitor to see if I was having any contractions and check on the baby’s heartbeat. Before we got the results back the nurse asked me if I could feel anything and I couldn’t. I was having contractions every three to four minutes apart. The results came back and it turned out that it was not my water that broke…aka I peed my pants. The nurse had talked to my doctor and he wanted to keep me on the monitor for thirty minutes to see if my contractions stayed the same or if anything changed. We were released shortly after. The next day I had my 36 week doctors appointment. He walked in and said “So, you peed your pants.” I guess this kind of thing happens to pregnant women a lot. As much as I wanted it to be the real thing it looks like I was going to have to wait.
After my 36 week appointment I decided that I was going to start doing everything I could to induce labor. Some people may think that it wasn’t a good idea or “let the baby cook”, but they aren’t the one’s carrying this child and feeling everything I was feeling! Drinking raspberry leaf tea and taking evening primrose oil were just a couple of the things I was doing. My cousin and I went to go have “The Salad”, which was actually really tasty. Nothing worked btw. My entire pregnancy felt like it had flown by until now. This felt like the longest week ever.
Toward the end of the week I started swelling… a lot. I couldn’t even walk around the house without my feet and legs swelling up. It felt like I had shin splints. I wore compression socks and kept my feet up thinking this was all normal pregnancy symptoms. Sleep was non-existent as I was waking up anywhere between three to five times to go to the bathroom, couldn’t get comfortable, or fall back to sleep. I would cry my eyes out trying to fall back to sleep. Throwing up came back and an ongoing headache started. Uncomfortable, miserable, grumpy, sleep deprived, I was ready to meet my baby girl!
Little did I know, what felt like the longest week ever, was going to be my last week of pregnancy.