I am living my worst nightmare. I have been let off of bed rest (14 weeks later) and now we are coming down the home stretch (34 weeks). I am miserable and in pain from skin stretching constantly and my belly up around my throat and yet the baby is down bouncing on my cervix and cerclage. I did not gain a lot of weight-but its ALL belly so the stretch marks radiate from the belly- button like a hideous sundial (no more running bras only when running). I am now back at work and cannot sit up at the computer for long without stretch mark pain or discomfort. How am I living through this time? I am focusing on having a paycheck for the holidays-3 months prior without. I am focusing on the filled wine fridge that I cannot wait to raid onnce my son is born.
I am focusing on once again being able to walk (and run!!) 10 feet without panting like an obscene caller. The best part about this time is my 3 year old racing to rub my belly to calm his little brother when he thinks I am in pain from the kicks.

After I was told I couldn’t drive anymore at 8 months pregnant I got really bored. I had to depend on people taking me places! And I hated doing that. So what I did was read, read and read and oh yeah like the last week before my daughter was born I cleaned like crazy and got everything in order. It was like I got this BIG SPURGE of energy that came out of nowhere!

I swam! My son was born in August, in Georgia, and if I could’ve slept in a swimming pool, I would have. It was the most comfortable place to be. Pregnant women float really well, so once I got too tired to do laps in that final month, it was fun to just lie on my back and enjoy the weightlessness. The lifeguards always teased me about the fact that they were certified in CPR but not in labor and delivery!

The doctor told me to walk walk walk. So, I did just that. I would wake up at 9, walk for an hour, come back home for an hour, and do this over and over again until about 7 p.m.

Had my baby on my due date.

With my first son, I was due on Christmas Eve. And there I was, at the mall on Christmas Eve, shopping! I walked the entire mall for hours just hoping that my water would break. That never happened so my Dr. scheduled an induction for a few days later. I spent those last few days cleaning, getting a manicure/pedicure and packing my and baby’s bag for the hospital. I was overly prepared

I never had a “glow,” and being pregnant wreaks havoc with me emotionally with all those hormones flying every which way. Nor did I do any resting so to speak.

With my first, I left work a few hours early at 40weeks for an induction that didn’t work (he was born on *his* terms, not the hospital’s at 40w3d).

With my second, I think we tried that one “tried and true” thing to get him out, which didn’t work. His brother didn’t notice a thing other than when he went to bed, mommy had a baby in her belly and when he woke up mommy was taking a nap next to a new baby (homebirth at 40w3d).

With my third, I was still a sahm and chasing my other two while planting my garden. And fwiw, planting 125 asparagus crowns and over 100 tomato plants won’t send you into labor unless the babe is truly ready. May give you a few hours of false labor though. After 40w came and went, I started trying tons of natural induction stuff because everybody in our house was miserable – mostly because I was (if mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy). At 41w6d I was more than ready to get that girl out of me when she finally decided to. (She was another homebirth and my quickest labor at barely an hour and a half – talk about a wild ride.)

If I could do it again, I’d definitely try to take a few days off before having a baby just to have a few days to myself (since it wasn’t going to ever happen again!) and maybe get a few things sorted/cleaned/put away. Rather than planting the garden and staying caught up on laundry and making sure parts of the house are clean enough for the midwives to hang out without sitting on piles of laundry.

Each pregnancy is different and there is no way to really prepare.

I walked a lot and ate healthy throughout. My first pregnancy, I told everyone that my due date was too weeks later than it was because I didn’t want everyone calling me. Of course baby 1 arrived right on his due date, 8 hours of drug free labor and he weighed over 10lbs. I got pregnant with my second approx three months later. I started dilating in December, the doctor stripped me my membranes in January, tried everything and he never came until the end of February, the day after his brother turned 1. The entire labor was less than an hour and barely made it to the hospital. He weighed just under 10lbs. When I got pregnant with #3, I was definitely worried toward the end. I knew exactly when I got pregnant and was due in middle of May. My mother-in-law came to stay with us for 6 weeks. My father-in-law called every day. I tried everything suggested, sex, eating cherries, castor oil, the Dr. stripped my membranes, whatever. I didn’t deliver until the middle of June. Two hours of drug free labor. He weighed 10 lbs 8 oz.

I just took each day as it came, you get through it and the end you hope for a safe delivery and a healthy baby.

With my first I took no time for myself. I worked later than I should have and did things for other people that I would dread doing now. Well, now that i am just 4 days away from baby #2, I’m even busier. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner today and I have plans to be very busy pretty much all of the hours I’m awake over the next 3 days. Maybe I’ll get a chance to relax before #3…

I spent the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy visiting my dad in hospital everyday and night. Luckly my labour only lasted 2 hours and my daughter arrived on her due date.