It’s been pretty cold and snowy here, and Mio’s been experiencing some major cabin fever! Snow days can be fun, but between winter break, MLK Day, and snow days, Mio’s only gotten to go to preschool 3 days so far this month and she’s been bored to death at home. She keeps saying she wants to go to school! (I wish she could go to school or have makeup days, too, since it pains us parents too to pay full tuition when over half her school days are off/cancelled…)
I’ve also been stressed out because since Friday night, I’ve been experiencing what is called prodromal labor… Also called pre-labor and misnamed as “false labor,” it begins like traditional labor but does not progress to the birth of the baby. I started having strong contractions (clearly different from Braxton Hicks) at around midnight on Friday night, which grew to be 3-5 minutes apart for 3 hours. I called my OB and just as we were about to leave for the hospital, they slowed down and got weaker, and completely fizzled out around 5am, so we stayed home and I was eventually able to fall asleep. Since then, I’ve been having irregular contractions on and off almost every day — usually in the evening or at night, though none have been as consistent or as strong as they felt that first night. It can be quite stressful because I never know when it might escalate to true labor, and is exhausting because it’s depriving me of sleep (the baby gets really active each time and moves a lot, so even when the contractions stop, her movement prevents me from falling asleep). According to what I’ve read online from women who’ve experienced prodromal labor, this can continue for days or even weeks before baby actually arrives. It’s apparently not all in vain, though — these annoying contractions supposedly condition the uterus, and prepare the cervix for dilation and effacement, and oftentimes active labor will be shorter (and hopefully easier?) as a result. I didn’t experience this at all when I was pregnant with Mio, so it’s totally new and unfamiliar. It’s just frustrating to wonder “Could this be it?!” every time the contractions start… we made sure to have the hospital bag packed and ready to go at any time, and Dan’s shoveled the driveway to be clear of snow and ice in case we do have to run over to the hospital.
Here are some photos and video of Mio recently… not very exciting, since we’ve been stuck indoors, but cute all the same. 🙂
Here’s a video of her topping the pizza: “Okay ~ Put it ON! Bounce! Bounce!” She cracks me up.
Hope everyone is staying warm in the snowy weather!