12:57 Definitely in labor. I woke at 2:30 this morning because of one of the contractions. Quietly felt the next one in bed, then got up to see if more would follow. As I began tracking the contractions this morning, I sat quietly on the sofa for a while. I became slowly sure that this was no coincidence, and that my daughter would be born today. She's earlier than expected, and yet not - we had been making plans for Monday and Tuesday because I'm scheduled for induction for Wednesday morning.
So far, they don't feel queasy like I have feared. They have a sharper pain, more like the wrenching pain of really bad food poisoning than of the nausea of mere flu illness. I can deal with sharper pain. It doesn't sneak around my capabilities - it is localized, a hurt, rather than dispersed, an emotion. I know eventually my belly will be doing so much that it will trigger all types of nerves, but for now it just triggers powerful clenching. One is happening right now and I can type through it as it begins to grow, then the clenching clamping swells beyond my ability to ignore it, and I have to stop and cling to something or double over. These are not pains to sneeze at. They hurt hideously, but they're like wasabi - a quick burn and then when they're gone, there's almost no aftertaste. I'm just back in normal-land and can go about my business. A bit of soreness at this point in the abdomen, in the gaps between, but just like a muscle that has been stretched or the beginning of a sore muscle from exercise.
Posted by argus at September 8, 2008 11:19 PM