I’ve been having semi-regular contractions at about 10 minutes apart since early yesterday evening.  They’re not painful – I was able to sleep well last night – but most are strong enough to classify as what I’d call crampy.  Experienced moms know that this doesn’t necessarily mean anything will happen very soon, but I do feel like I’m in the early stages of labor.  The question is, when will things kick into gear?  Today?  Tomorrow?  Next weekend?

We’re heading to church this morning.  I know better than to sit around twiddling my thumbs all day, waiting for something to happen.  Anyway, there’s a/c at church, and we have a date with the pastor’s swimming pool this afternoon.  I don’t plan on missing that unless I really have to.

Last night, hubby and I walked 3.3 miles.  This morning we set out again and joked a bit about going 5 miles.  At least, I thought we were joking.  We walked a new route with lots of hills and when we got back to the van, we had only gone 2.6 so decided to go a bit farther.

And farther.

And farther.

And then I realized we weren’t joking.  When we made it back to the van a second time, my pedometer showed 4.75 miles.  We could have stopped there, but it was just too tempting to go on.   2 miles earlier, I was whiny and hubby was encouraging me to go on.  Now, I wasn’t quite ready to stop.

I don’t know if I’ve ever walked 5 miles in my life, and I know I’ve never done it while 8 days overdue.  In fact, I’ve done very little while 8 days overdue – mainly just stuff like giving birth.

All told, we did 5.15 miles this morning, 3.3 miles last night, and just might do enough this evening to make a total of 10 miles in less than 24 hours.  I may still be pregnant, but I’m also going to be in shape.  Hey, round is a shape!

No particular news.  I missed my walk the last 2 mornings, so hubby and I walked 3.4 miles this evening.  Usually I get very few contractions while walking – far less than just puttering about the house – but this evening was different.  For some reason, I had 5 in the space of the last 20 minutes.

But they slowed to normal once we got home, and now I’m back to where I’ve been for most of the week: noticeable but not particularly strong contractions every 10-20 minutes, just enough to draw my attention from what I’m doing and make my legs feel weak and tingly.

It’s the weekend, so I have high hopes.  That’s when nearly all of our babies seem to make their grand appearance.  But I also have a sneaking suspicion that this baby could very possibly wait for another week.  It’s just not hard for me to imagine.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll try to keep walking.  I love the energy and the absence of “normal” aches and pains!  I just hope I’d don’t suddenly go into TV-style labor and drop a kid on a gravel road a mile from home.  Then again, that could be the best birth story ever…

But no baby.  Obviously, this little one is waiting for Mom to reach the proper level of desperation.

I had very noticeable contractions again for all of the afternoon and evening, beginning very soon after my chiropractic adjustment.  I had high hopes that he had set something in motion, but I knew the contractions weren’t strong enough to be accomplishing anything yet.

I picked up hubby at work, and we tried to go see a movie but couldn’t find anything we wanted to see.  Instead we had dinner at Pei Wei (delicious and very reasonable – my new obsession!), picked up The Blind Side from Redbox and brought it home to treat the family to a late night showing, starting at 10:30.  I was still hoping (but not really believing) that I might be in early labor.

By the time the movie was over, I was pretty sure hubby wouldn’t be getting today off work, and he didn’t.  I slept soundly through the night and much later this morning than I care to admit.

And I woke up still pregnant, much to the children’s disappointment.

But I jokingly told hubby and children that the birth was scheduled for tomorrow, exactly one week past the duedate.  I think I’ve begun labor on a Thursday over 80% of the time so far, and I’ve never yet gone more than 8 days past my duedate so it seems very likely that things will begin to happen very soon, quite possibly tonight.

And just because it seemed to help once before, I even scheduled a last-minute chiropractic adjustment with the practitioner recommended by my midwife.  That’s today at 3:30, then I’ll drive into The Big City to pick up hubby at work and we’ll probably hang around town for the evening, enjoying one last date.

Last night didn’t count as a real date since we had 2 teens in tow.  It was more like a mini-family night.  It was fun and I’m sure people thought we were a cute family with our 2 children and one more on the way.  We’re obviously giving it one last try for a boy, right?  If only they knew…[evil over-populator laugh]

But in all fairness, I have to add that I’m still not desperate or even terribly impatient.  Realistically, I feel like this baby could stay put for another week.  Which leaves you plenty of time to enter our Big Baby Giveaway, if you haven’t already.  Or maybe you just don’t want to win free stuff from Thanks Mama, Maccessorized , Marie Madeline Studio, New Creation Apparel, and Vision Forum?

Nothing is happening.  Absolutely nothing.  Now that the weekend is over, I’m back to having far less false labor than usual and am totally convinced that this baby will arrive fashionably late.

Since I was in a hurry to exercise as much as possible before the baby arrived and I since I seem to have been granted a little extra time, I walked 3.3 miles today including that nasty 1/4 mile hill that leads up to our driveway.  I didn’t mean to go quite so far.  I blame my nifty new iPod and the sweet husband and daughters who gave it to me.  I was busy listening to an audiobook and found myself in no hurry to get home.  Tomorrow, I’ll probably listen to The Chicken Whisperer talk about Muscovy Ducks (ht to my friend Mother Hen).

My walking seems to be paying off.  After just over 4 weeks, I have actually lost inches on my bust, hips and waist.  Yes, waist.  Laugh with me.  Laugh at me.  My belly still measures bigger from top to bottom at every prenatal appointment, but apparently I’ve lost some padding on the back and sides.  Don’t hate me.  It’s recently acquired padding and didn’t belong there in the first place.  I was congratulating myself on losing inches until I remembered how horrified I was at my recent measurements, and that my hips, etc. still measure far bigger than I realized.  I like to boast that my non-pregnant weight is still very close to what I weighed when I was married at 19, but it’s amazing what a difference in size there is between muscle and fat!

But my biggest hope is that the activity will make for a better labor, which is why I’m so determined to keep walking daily.  I still have hopes of repeating labor & delivery #6, which happened during the summer of the bicycle obsession.  The week before she was born, the very week she was due, I rode 12 miles to a nearby town.  We biked several miles nearly every day with 5 little ones in tow, riding luxuriously behind us in their double bike trailers and bicycle baby seats.

I also had my first-ever chiropractic adjustment during week that she was overdue.  Did I mention that I put in a call to my midwife today, asking for her recommendation of a chiropractor?

What do you think contributed to your best-ever natural labor? And by best-ever, I mean least painful. Let’s just get that clear right from the start.  :)  No fair bragging up your epidural since my midwife doesn’t carry those in her little black bag.

I’m still having mild but noticeable contractions, 3 days and counting.  They are enough to keep me from sleeping very soundly at night, but I feel rested enough that it’s not really bothering me – just enough to get me psyched for labor and baby!

Today at one point they were as close as 10 minutes apart but not strong enough to convince me that the baby was going to be here any time soon.  Now they seem to have spread out again.  At this rate, I may be able to tell the baby someday that I was in labor for a week, though it hardly feels as dramatic as it will sound.

I still don’t realistically expect to have the baby before next weekend since weekend babies seem to be such a well-established pattern for us, but we’ll see.  It’s fun to finally feel the anticipation building!

On the bright side, nearly all of my checklist is done and I have a new toy that I hope to use a lot during labor: hubby, Lydia and Kaitlyn conspired to give me an iPod Nano!  It’s Lydia’s gently used one since she plans to upgrade soon.  I had intended to save my pocket money and buy it from her when she was ready, but she and hubby saw how much I’ve enjoyed borrowing it for my walks so they struck a quiet deal.  Kaitlyn added a pair of genuine Apple ear buds for me, and hubby also bought an arm band to make it easier for me to carry and use when I exercise.  I’m so tickled to have one of my own!  I spent some time today loading it with Max McLean’s Bible (love his voice and enunciation!), Dandelion Fire by Nathan Wilson
, and all my Jamie Soles albums, plus some other quiet, peaceful music that I hope will be good during labor.

Oh – and did I say in a previous post that there were less baby animals around here?  I forgot to mention the fact that we caught the tarantula in the very act of creating an egg case while our company was here on Saturday evening!  I don’t know if she got along with her old boyfriend better than we thought back in January or if it’s just wishful thinking on her part (apparently captive females will sometimes create a whole case of unfertilized eggs), but it was shocking to say the least.

And our 2nd broody hen, who I thought was expecting sometime after the weekend, is now the proud mother of between 7 and 10 fluffy baby chicks.  I can hear their happy peeping all the way up on our deck.  So sweet!  Can’t wait to hear my own sweet baby soon!

No changes.  Still having mild but noticeable contractions 2-3 times/hour, but this just doesn’t feel like labor and I don’t tend to dilate until the real stuff kicks in.  At this point, I can still walk through the contractions, though they are strong enough to make my legs feel weak and tingly so I have to slow down.

Since this 3 day weekend is nearly over, I’m pretty convinced that the baby won’t show up until next weekend in spite of the persistent false labor.

I guess we’re having another June baby.  I wonder how hubby feels about June as a middle name for a girl?

I just checked my statcounter and found that we’ve had more visitors to our blog today than we ever had on a Sunday, about 3 times as many as usual for a weekend even though holiday weekends tend to be slower than average.

It’s as if you all were watching us, waiting for something to happen.  I can hardly imagine what that might be.  ;)

For those who are wondering, I’ve had very noticeable contractions 20-30 minutes apart for most of the day.  They’re far from painful, but enough to make their presence known.  This doesn’t necessarily mean anything.  I often have that for 2 months before delivery, but this time I haven’t so maybe it’s different.

For the last couple of days, I feel like my body is gearing up for labor.  The question is, when? All the kids just headed to bed and I’m waiting to see what, if anything, happens once everyone is asleep.

But I’m not holding my breath.  As Freida pointed out, I just don’t feel desperate to deliver yet.  Eager, yes.  Desperate, no.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I tend to go into labor when I feel safe and relaxed – when all my ducks are in a row.

I know this is a very common phenomenon.  My various midwives over the years have agreed, and that has been my mom’s experience too.  Most of us simply don’t go into labor when we have too much hanging over us.  House guests, outside obligations, stress and fear, ovarian guilt…all seem to contribute to procrastination when it comes to labor and delivery.

When this weekend began, we still had 7 of our 8 Golden Retriever pups for sale.  I had really been hoping to sell more of them before the baby arrived.  We also had 2 social engagements for today, and one more invitation that we had to decline.

This morning, we said goodbye to 3 pups and we have received deposits on 2 more.  That leaves us with just 2 pups to sell!  Can you hear my huge sigh of relief?

After selling puppies all morning, we spent the afternoon with my extended family, and the evening catching up with friends from 20 years ago.  Our guests just left, and the house is nearly quiet.  I was looking forward to both events, but am also breathing another sigh of relief because my calendar is now cleared for the foreseeable future.

This was it.  I have nothing else but church and a tentative prenatal checkup a week from Monday – and that appointment is so tentative that we didn’t even choose a time.  My midwife and I really expect to see each other before then.

My whole point is…I’m holding out hope for a Memorial Day baby.  I really expect (or did expect) to wait until next weekend, but Monday is looking better and better.  My ducks are in a row.  My breathing is calm and relaxed.  There are far less puppies pooping on my deck, where I intend to give birth.   My false labor is picking up and slowly, gradually becoming more consistent.  If I don’t allow myself to get too tied up in the date and create a false sense of tension, I feel like it could happen that soon.

Then again, maybe it’s wishful thinking.  Maybe I will wait until next weekend and our pattern will be ruined.  That’s OK too.  No stress.  I’m relaxed.  I’m cool.