Well, I made it through another (work)week pregnant (my thoughts at 6a this morning). Never been pregnant this long. Didn't think I'd make it this far. But doing fine.

Had some crazy false labor early Wed. morning. It started about 2:30a and lasted, consistently, till about 6:30a. Contractions every five minutes. It was weird. Looking back, I should've known it wasn't real labor. But the contractions did hurt. Just not enough to consume every fiber of my being in relaxing it away. So I lay there dozing off, thinking "What a nice way to start labor!" I could focus enough to say some prayers during these contractions, and then think about how this was going to work out so well, who I would call and when, and basically thinking about the day. Dan was home from work that day, due to the snowy weather. Cool! He already had the day off!

I called my midwife around 3a, just to give her a heads up. Looking back, that was a little crazy. But I had never had 'false' labor, and i just assumed these contractions would get worse. Anyway, when I called, she said that her driveway was snowed in, and she probably couldn't get out till dawn, at least. (It snowed a lot on Tuesday, then Tue. night into Wed, there were a lot of high winds, causing very high snow drifts) Oh, I wasn't worried. I was feeling so good. So excited. Which later turned into so disappointed. The contractions kinda tapered off a bit. My mom came over and the kids were totally enamored by having a visitor upon waking. So no one bothered me. As morning went on, the contractions just kinda got more and more mild. I ate a bite, rested. Soon it was lunch time. After lunch I took another nap. I was so bummed 'labor' had stopped. I kept hoping it would pick back up. At some point though, I ditched my jammies, got dressed and decided I couldn't just sit around all day waiting. I talked to a doula friend of mine, who was telling me to rest if I could, in case labor did start up again, but otherwise, just basically go about my day. Ugh! I knew this, but I didn't want to admit labor wasn't happening! But once I said 'forget it' and started my day, I went back to my list, and decided to make the biscuits I'd been putting off. (Had some extra buttermilk and was going to make homemade biscuits). I think my mom thought I was crazy. She helped me start dinner. I kept talking about making these biscuits, but not really wanting to. So by the time we started dinner, I was into making the biscuits. Had the flour and rolling pin out and everything. It made about three or so dozen, and they turned out okay. Not quite what I expected, but good enough to eat some and- you got it- freeze the rest!

That evening, the kids wanted to have a dance party, with the Beach Boys music. We popped the CD in, and I loved dancing with my little ones. It was so fun. Yes, I danced and danced, and jumped all around. Still no labor! :) But I had such a good time.

So yesterday, I was right back into pregnancy mode. Not disappointed. Perfectly content, patiently waiting. We did school. I paid a forgotten bill, and a couple other things on my 'list'. I was supposed to go visit a friend on Wed. afternoon, but cancelled in favor of more exciting things that never came to fruition. So I reset our craft date for Thurs. afternoon. It was soooo nice. Not only was it motivation for me (and Rose) to do the work we needed to that morning, it was a great reward for the afternoon. My friend had planned a little craft for the feast of OL of Lourdes- to make a simple holy water font. Well, the kids got to playing, and only half of them came back to do the craft! Guess it's been a long time since we've been around other people! It was so nice, though. Just enough to fill my need to get out a bit, but not the least bit overwhelming.

When I came home, I made a quick dinner. I wasn't feeling that great during dinner (I blamed it on the half cup of delicious coffee I had earlier). I was really tired, too. After dinner, the kids were just kinda bothering me. I was ready for them to be in bed, but too tired to do it. Plus, they were holding out for Dad to play 'blast off' (see below) with them. It wasn't happening fast enough for me, so I ran some bath water, planning to take a relaxing bath.

Sometimes, I think our kids are the goofiest ever, based on what they find so fun. When Rose and DD were little, Dan would sit on the floor in front of the couch, and they would run the length of the hallway, first counting '3-2-1-BLASTOFF!' They would run up to Dan, and he'd lift them over his head, and plop them on the couch behind. They LOVED it. Well, we did that for a long time, but our shrimps did start to grow, to the point they were too big for that. Instead, they would still run, but just crash into the couch themselves, and try to avoid Dan's tickling. The game recently evolved again. Dan was sitting in the chair in our living room, watching them run back and forth. He stretched out his leg and kinda teased one of them, pretending to trip them. Oh, boy was that a hit. So 'blastoff' is now 'run and Daddy tries to trip us' Like I said, some times I think my kids are nuts. DD is the only one that doesn't really buy it. He cautiously slows down and walks around Dan's outstretched legs.

So that was the game of choice last night. Add in some background music courtesy of the Beach Boys (per Rose's request again), and you have an exciting dance party on your hands. I didn't dance this time. I forgot about my bath and had so much fun watching these crazy kiddos. I took lots of pictures (but we're having issues getting them to the computer). I noticed something while sitting there watching. I didn't have the usual pain in my ribs after dinner. I was sitting down a lot, and it still didn't hurt. And the baby was kinking and kicking, but it felt different. The kicking was lower. And not ridiculously uncomfortable. But, by golly, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom...again. Gosh, I felt good! Is this what it meant for baby to drop? I think so.

Still feeling good today. Lots of things on my list today, and little ones that woke up early. We'll see how the day goes!

Off to make a loaf of bread into french toast...to eat and freeze the rest!