Dry Run
BROTHER UPDATE -Well, we thought for certain that we would have a baby boy by now, but brother seems to be a bit of a tease. Yesterday we went out to Ikea, thinking the shopping and walking would help get things started. And it seemed as if we were right. After we had chosen new dishes, but before we had finished deciding on hangers Susan was having contractions that could not be ignored nor discounted. As they grew closer together, it seemed like a good idea to head home, so we gathered our purchases, made our payments and loaded the car.
The contractions eased up a bit during the drive home, which is to be expected. We did have a brief scare when we encountered a freeway sign which alerted us to an accident ahead which had closed all lanes of the freeway. But before we could dwell on the idea of a roadside delivery we came to the next exit, which quite conveniently was the detour straight to our house.
Home without incident, the contractions continued to grow in strength and come closer together. Fairly certain we were in early labor we did some cleaning up, made sure Lux's bags were packed and gave Karen a heads-up phone call. Then, deciding that it had worked for Lux, we decided to take a walk. Maybe it was the fact that the temperature was a good 45 degrees cooler, but Susan's water did not break during the walk as it had last time.
We tucked Lux in bed and Susan settled down with a bad movie while Paul made a last minute grocery run for milk and frozen food. By the time he returned, all contractions had stopped. We let Karen know we didn't need her right away, but asked her to keep her phone nearby in case something changed in the middle of the night. All that happened in the night was that everyone here, including Lux, slept very soundly. Karen, in a state of red alert, probably had a less restful night.
So now we understand why all those people who don't take childbirth education classes are so often sent home from the hospital with "false labor". Because after three or four hours of contractions that were too strong to ignore, even we were pretty certain that labor had begun, but we knew that since Susan could walk, talk and smile during them, that it was far too soon to head to the hospital. The good news is that all contractions do something, even if it is just preparing things for the big event, so there really isn't such a thing as "false" labor.
This afternoon we'll try the same combination of walking and shopping to see if it does anything. If not, we can always try driving down some cobblestone streets.
REGULAR PROGRAMMING
Lux enjoys Ikea a great deal. As a reward for her excellent behavior during a marathon shopping spree we bought her an easel that her Aunt Karen had originallly intended to give her for Christmas, but was out of stock. When we came home, Lux promptly drew about 10 feet of art. Today we bought her some magnetic letters, since one side of the easel is magnetic. This is great because our stainless steel (or more likely aluminium) refrigerator is not magnetic, but Lux has always loved playing with magnets.
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