Day 2

We had a good first night in the hospital - we both even got to sleep a little bit. We had to wake the baby to feed her even. The longest the hospital will let them go at night is 4 hours between feeds. Overnight we began the big debate over the name selection and didn't really get anywhere. John preferred one name, I preferred the other. We finally decided we needed to sleep more than we needed a name for the baby and agreed to revisit the problem in the morning.

We had a busy morning. The baby had her hearing screening done, had another visit from the pediatrician, a visit with the OB and had her pictures taken all before lunch (I'll post the hospital pictures separately because there are a lot of them)! We also had a visit from the cutest big brother and his Grandma! The hardest part about being in the hospital was being away from William. Up until the baby was born, the longest I was ever away from him was roughly 7 hours. Even though I was overjoyed about our newest bundle of joy, I was fiercely missing me some big boy.

William and Grandma coming up for their visit - William is carrying his present for the baby. How cute is our boy?
William giving the baby "pats". He was surprisingly gentle with her - I was so relieved!
Still calling her his "baby brother", he also says "cute!" when he's looking at her!

Helping Mama hold the baby and looking at her little hands/fingers.

A favorite activity: playing cars with Daddy on the windowsill and watching the cars drive by the hospital

Hmm...turns out when babies cry, they are LOUD! So funny that he did this on his own!

After the big boy left and every one else quieted down, John and I tackled the name problem again. In the end, we put the two top names on pieces of paper and put them into a hat. Same story as what we did when William was born and we were trying to name him. The name that came out of the hat: Amelia. And so she was named.

For the record, this was not the name I had already given her in my head during our special moment the day before. However, John did not really like my name very well...and in the end he was right about her being a girl...and the paperwork was filled out and turned in...so the name stayed. But, I will tell you that I struggled mightily with the name for the first week or so. I'm guessing largely due to hormones, because Amelia was one of our top names and a name I really like. But, I was having a hard time telling people her name without feeling like throwing up and I cried about it almost every day. I didn't want to blog about it because I didn't want to write her name. It just didn't feel like her name. We talked about it quite a bit and even made some phone calls to different offices and looked into officially changing her name. And then we didn't. For a lot of reasons that are probably also hormone related and not very interesting. In the end, I wanted to give you a heads up about my feelings about her name, especially if you are planning on talking about it with me in person. If you're looking for me to be all...warm and fuzzy about it, I'm not. I love her name and we're keeping it.

I've rewritten the last few sentences 100 times now and they still sound crabby. I don't really feel crabby about it anymore - you'll just have to take my word for it.

PS And no, I won't tell you the other name.

The weekend before...

So what did we do the weekend before with family in town? I meant to post these pictures on Monday morning (3-30), but then I went and had a baby instead.

It was raining outside, so we went to the Mills inside play area. Good thing Aunt Megan was with (her first trip to our house) - she didn't mind climbing up, over and around with William!
Sometimes it is nice to just watch your energetic kid play from afar...
Buying tickets for the....
Merry-go-round!
Weeee.....! Who is having more fun?
We also stopped by the NASCAR store for a quick picture
But ended up staying for awhile to admire the cars.
Playing house with Grandpa...ding dong! Who is here?
Sunday afternoon, Grandpa and Megan had to leave. After dinner, William and daddy went out to work on their lawnmowers to get them ready for mowing season!
William loves to be a helper, so he would carefully watch what John was doing and then do his best to mimic with his own lawnmower...very cute!
And then Sunday night we got this before bathtime! Perfect time to start potty training, right? Five hours before the baby is born? For the record, I ask him if he wants to use the potty every time we're in the bathroom. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. Usually he sits for 6.2 seconds before hopping up to do something else. Tonight he sat and sat...and revealed something pretty exciting when he finally got up. Has he done it since? Nope, but that's okay. We're going to go full force with the training late this spring/summer.

William meets his Sister

We finally started making calls around 8ish in the morning to our family. We were most excited to have our big boy come up to the hospital to meet his new little sister! The funny thing is he keeps calling her "baby brother". I think we've been talking a lot about him being the "Big Brother" he just assumes everyone is a brother? We have not started talking about gender differences yet, so I know he isn't confused about that yet...

The Big Brother coming up to the hospital with Grandma
Look! The baby brought you a present!
How did the baby know you like cars?
Helping Mama hold his new baby sister when she was just a few hours old(or "baby brother" as he likes to call her)
Grandma Kim gets her hands on her new grandbaby
Grandma and her grandchildren
Look baby! Cars!

A family of four!

She's Here!

One of the birth plan preferences* we had was to not find out the gender of our baby until delivery day. We also wanted John to be the one to announce the gender after the baby was born. After our baby was born, I looked to John to make his announcement. He studied the baby carefully, turned to me and said "It's a girl!" My jaw dropped (if you're coming in new, I was convinced this was a baby boy. Totally 100% convinced) and I said "What?!?!?!" John repeated himself clearly "It's a GIRL." I still didn't believe him and I had to sit up and look for myself. Twice. Yes indeed, we have a little girl. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be wrong.

Another birth plan preference* was for me to cut the cord if at all possible. And I did it! I'm not really one for blood and gore, but I cut the cord and am very proud of myself. We have pictures, but I currently cannot post them because...well the whole world can technically look at this blog. If I can get them appropriately cropped, I'll put them up to share.


By the time things got cleaned up and everyone was out of our room it was almost 7am. John and took a while just to admire our new baby girl. I was still in disbelief, so I kept telling John "It's a girl!" and John kept on smiling. Smiling big.

Somewhere in here, we decided it was too early to call anyone and tried to nap. John was successful in this, I was too smitten by my new baby girl to do more than doze off before waking up to look at her. While I was gazing at her, I was trying to figure out which one of our girls names was going to fit her best. At one point, a special song came on the radio (it is a long story and not very interesting) and I was pretty sure I knew what her name was.

I know this picture quality isn't the best, but it is the first picture of me holding my daughter!
John holding his baby girl
A little more cleaned up, after the cord has been cut
Weighing in...8lbs 8 oz
What our girl did a LOT of...cry. She was NOT happy when she had her clothes off!

Nor does she like having her hair washedBut, she sure is pretty when she is all cleaned up!
All cleaned up and back with Mama
I am in love with her wild woman hair! It is super soft and wavy, although with everyone touching it it gets greasy fast. This picture also gets the hair color about right. Again, with everyone touching it, it turns darker with all the oils (yuck).

*Birth plan preferences are a set of wishes that you would like to have followed during your delivery. During labor it can be difficult to communicate what you would/wouldn't like to have done, so most of the time plans are written up beforehand and signed off by both the dr and yourself. However, birth plans are not honored in emergency situations.

Baby's Birthday

I've put together 3 versions of this event. Feel free to read the version that you are most interested in and skip the rest.

The short short version
We had a baby! It was a girl! Yay us!

The short version
On March 30th we had a baby girl at 5:45am! I can't believe we have a girl - I was totally convinced that we were going to have a boy! One of our birth plan preferences was for John to tell me what the gender of the baby was. When she was born, he told me "It's a girl!" I said "What?!?!?!" and then I had to sit up to see for myself. She has a lot of wavy brown hair and dark blue eyes. She weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 21.5 inches long with APGAR scores of 8 and 9 after delivery. Both mom and baby are doing well!

The long, expanded, detailed and entirely too much information version

I woke up at 1:30ish on Monday morning. I had been sleeping for a few hours and was groggy. I stood up and out of habit went to the bathroom*. I went to the bathroom and returned to bed. I felt a contraction as I got back into bed. However, I had been having contractions pretty regularly for the last few weeks and I figured if this was going to be the real thing I wasn't going to sleep through it and I wasn't about to stay up half the night analyzing false labor. So, I dozed off but was unable to stay asleep. I was so uncomfortable! Finally, I got up to do a little walking around the house, get a drink of water and see if there was anything timeable.

I was having trouble timing the contractions I was having and finally at 2am I decided things were real enough to wake John for some assistance. As expected, John sprung into action out of a dead sleep. We timed contractions for 15 minutes before making a call to our doctor to let her know we were going in to the hospital. John ran around and gathered our last minutes items that needed to be packed while I wandered around trying to help. However, most of the time I would be distracted by a contraction and not complete the task I was working on or forget what I was doing all together. John would run by and grab whatever I was holding to throw into the bag or finish what I was doing.

The contractions were getting more intense and it felt amazing to have John pressing on my lower back during the contraction. Just before 3am we woke my mom to hand over the monitor for William and let her know we were going. (For the record, I don't know what took so long. It really didn't feel like an hour.)

I'm not going to lie - the ride to the hospital was long and not a whole lot of fun. I had put a lot of relaxation music onto our MP3 Player and I listened to it on the roughly 30 minute ride. I tried to relax, but it wasn't going so well. The contractions were NOT fun while I was sitting down. Things had been workable as long as I was able to move around. But, it the car, it wasn't easy. A little over halfway to the hospital, I felt a huge shift downward. After that big movement, things got even more intense and there were fewer breaks between waves. While we were driving, I was carefully considering my options and coming up with plans**.


Finally we arrived at our hospital emergency room (laboring moms are all admitted through the emergency room after hours). It was just about 3:30am and as we approached, the woman behind the desk asked us "Is she is labor?" In answer, I leaned over the window to work through the peak of a contraction and gave a little groan. She hurriedly opened the door and gave us directions to L&D. She asked if we wanted to use a wheelchair - I declined because of the whole sitting problem. It took a long time to get to L&D because every time I had a contraction, I needed to stop and work through it.

We finally got to L&D and the nurses took one look at me and hurried me off to a room. The nurses had to help me change into a hospital gown and then told me they would like a urine sample. This is funny to me because in my head I was saying:

I'm so sorry, but I just can't right now because I can't sit down and I'm so uncomfortable. I'm really sorry!

But, what they got from me was this:

BLANK STARE

Then they asked me to go ahead and get into the bed so they could start an IV and hook up the monitors for the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. Again, in my head I clearly remember being polite and nice:

I don't think I can sit right now and I'm sorry if that makes your job harder. However, I'm totally willing to help you do whatever you need to make things easier for you. I'll hold still, eat green beans or stand on my head. Just won't sit down. Again sorry!

And again, all they got from me was this:
BLANK STARE

While this was going on, John was busying himself with applying extreme amounts of pressure to my lower back. If he stopped for even a second or moved his hands I would let him know that movement or lowering of pressure was unacceptable. The contractions were coming roughly every minute and lasting a freakishly long time (I don't know how long they lasted - it just felt like f-o-r-e-v-e-r). At 3:45, they convinced me to climb up into bed for a minute to be checked so we could make a plan. I was 100% effaced at 6cm dilated. I was so happy to have made it so far.

Somewhere in here the contractions started having more than one peak and not coming fully back away to give me a break. After several of these, I decided it was time for some relief. An epidural was placed at about 4:30am and by 4:45am I was finally able to speak to people outside of my head again. The differences in epidural from William's birth was incredible - even though the exact same person administered both of them. The epidural I had during William's delivery was very strong and I was unable to feel anything. This epidural was really light and I could still feel the contractions and some pain with each one. However, I wasn't feeling the worst edge of each one. It also helped that after the epidural was placed, transition was over (the most intense part of labor) as the contractions spaced themselves out and were not as long lasting. Kind of stinks because I had to be sitting down through the most intense contractions to receive the epidural - and we all know how I felt about sitting down.

At just after 5am I was checked again and found to be completely dilated and at zero station. This is also where the nurse discovered I didn't have any membranes (my water had broken)**. Our OBGYN was called and our room was prepped for delivery. Our OB arrived at 5:29am according to John's notes and we started pushing. Pushing was much easier this time because I could actually feel what was happening. After 15 minutes, our baby was born - it was a GIRL!

*This is the only time I can figure my water broke. I wasn't awake enough to really notice what was happening and things sure picked up after I used the bathroom.

**I had been again planning on not having any medications during my labor and delivery. Just hours before I was adamant about not getting an epidural. I still felt strongly that I didn't want the medicine, however during the intense contractions I could feel myself questioning if that was the right plan. In the end I decided I would wait and see how things progressed and leave the final decision for later***.
***Now I feel like I have done everything but the pushing without the drugs, I am still up for having labor without drugs. So if (which is a BIG if right now), I was going to be pregnant again, I would again plan on a medication free delivery.

We're Home

We're home and we're working on getting things around here back to a new normal. So far, things have gone very smoothly, but we are currently working with 3 adults and 2 children. Soon, it is going to even out with 2 adults and 2 kids and we'll see if it is still smooth.

I have a lot of pictures to sort through and tons of e mail to catch up on. And there is that whole sleep thing. So, it is coming. But, it might be awhile.

So it turns out I was wrong (and I'm even admitting it)

I apologize for the delay in getting this post up. I'm just barely over the shock of being wrong. I still can't believe we have a little girl. A daughter. I couldn't be more happy. We couldn't be more happy. Everything continues to go well - or as well as you would expect with a new baby around. There isn't a lot of sleep happening and we're just going hour by hour. John and I have spent an enormous amount of time over the last 2 days deciding between our two girl name choices. It has been a tough decision to make, but I think we finally have it figured out (well, all the official paperwork is filed anyway).

We are so excited to introduce you all to Amelia Ann! I'm posting a few pictures here now and there will be more to come when we get home to a faster, more reliable internet connection.

Amelia Ann Heidt - this picture does not do justice to her wild hair. She has long, wavy, dark brown hair.

Mama and Amelia
William meeting his little sister (and holding her with help). So far, he has been very gentle and very excited about spending time with her.

Our new family! John, Kelly, Amelia, and William

Not

Pregnant anymore! Baby girl arrived this morning at 5:45. She weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well. Pictures and name update will come later.

Status Update

Still pregnant, still waiting. Grandpa and aunt Megan left, but Grandma is still here waiting for the big event. How long will she have to wait? I don't have any idea...

Still Pregnant

Enough said :)

Celebrating 10 months of Pregnancy

Whoever said that pregnancy is 9 months long lied. Lied or couldn't do math. Every month has 4 weeks in it. Currently, I have been pregnant 40 weeks which equals 10 months. And it currently doesn't look like the situation is going to be changing anytime soon. I'm feeling great and sleeping well. The pesky items like not having shirts long enough to cover the belly, not being able to reach my toes, or not being able to easily pick William up anymore are just inconvenient. See? Still hanging onto my zen. As a special treat, I thought I would share this:

This is the most pregnant I've ever been: 40 Weeks.
From the front. The shirt says: babyonboard. I'm trying to get some good use out of it before it isn't true anymore.

Warning: Bare Belly Ahead

Last night I noticed I had a really crooked belly. The picture didn't turn out great because I didn't want to wake John, but let me assure you my belly button is usually in the center of my belly. Also note, I cannot see my toes.

In other news, my parents and sister will be arriving this afternoon. My dad and sister will depart Sunday-ish and grandma is here for the long haul. We're glad to have them, although sorry we won't have a new baby to show off just yet.

Turn the Prayers Off

First of all, there isn't a baby and it isn't looking like today is the day right now. I know things can change in the blink of an eye, but I'm not feeling it right now. Which is okay. Zen, remember?
___________________________________________________________________

It occurred to me yesterday that after our car accident at the end of last year, a lot of people called and e mailed to tell me they were praying for our family and more specifically that NewBaby would stay put. If you all could do me a favor and quit praying for that, I would appreciate it very much!


However, there are some family of ours that need our prayers. The Red River on the border of MN and ND floods every year, some years more than others. This year is a "more" year and we have aunts/uncles in John's family living very close to the river in Fargo. For more on this, go here. We have heard recently from both sets of relatives, but the situation isn't good based on the weather, flood predictions, and locations of the family homes. We also have my family north of Fargo in Grand Forks and although they appear to be in better shape right now, a little happy thoughts wouldn't hurt.

Baby Watch 2009

First of all, there is nothing to watch. Not really anything to talk about either. Just more of the same. And seeing how I still have my zen on, is fine by me. I secretly (not anymore) am holding out until the 26th. That would make William's birthday 1/26, mine 2/26 and Newbaby's 3/26. John's would still have to be 6/10, but still. It would be cool. The other thing greatly assisting my zen-ness is the doctor telling me that by the end of next week I would want an induction. Now, this may have been true otherwise. However, now I can guarentee I am going to be working my hardest to sunshine and flowers at my next appointment. Plus, not wanting an induction. Because who is HE to tell ME what I want (for the record, this is a long standing issue I have with anyone about any topic. I have problems with other people telling me what I should/need/want to do. One of the top reasons I am a teacher: I like being the boss).

_________________________________________________________________

In other news, I had a dream earlier this week. I went into the bathroom to use it and came out with a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L baby boy. In the dream, I was trying to wake John or get his attention away from whatever he was doing. His response? Oh good! Now we can name him Pepipito Taco after the Taco John's mascot. Ummmm.....WHAT? Even in dreamland, I had no response for him regarding this name suggestion.

The best part about this dream? When I woke up, I remembered this dream and was still mad at John. Seriously. He wanted to name our kid Pepipito. After a fast food restaurant.

By the way...

I've gotten a lot of comments about my bathroom post :) I do have to confess that this isn't the first time William has figured out the stall lock. I thought I was safe in this restroom because the locks were different than the last bathroom he had figured out.

Although, I was smarter this time. Last time I was in the handicapped stall figuring we needed the extra space. Turns out the extra space isn't helpful because you can't reach the door to shut it. In this case, the door stays 100% of the way open as your toddler cackles and waves to the other women in the restroom.

Well,

it isn't looking good for today. Today (39w 3 days) is when William was born. This one appears like it might make us wait a little longer. Which, is okay with me. This pregnancy has been easier for me to keep the zen. This baby will come when it is ready. This baby will be born when it is supposed to be born. And so on. From the beginning, I've felt like my due date was maybe a little on the earlyish side and this one might come late. From the pregnancy tests that refused to turn positive until later than they should have to our first dating ultrasound, I felt like this one might be a little late. Which is okay....ommmmmmm.

This was further confirmed by my OB appointment today which revealed nothing had changed in the four days since my last appointment. This OB (not my regular dr) felt pretty strongly that I should start working on scheduling my induction for next week. This Induction Talk interferred with my Pregnancy Zen and left me crabby for part of the day. I'll get over it eventually...or not.

As much as I'm looking forward to meeting this new little one, I'm also enjoying the last few moments of peace with our quiet family of three. Well, as quiet as it gets when you are living with a very pregnant, very hormonal, and very determined (read: stubborn) woman. I am running out of rooms to organize, purge, and clean which leaves me with a very good feeling. Our house is still not approaching Magazine Camera Ready, but it is way cleaner, more organized with a lot less stuff in it than before. Not to worry though, there are still items I need to check off my list.

Last night, I participated in the pregnancy Olympics. It was a triathlon and very challenging. I completed the following tasks without assistance in under 2 hours: cutting my toenails, painting my toenails and shaving my legs. Why? I don't know, but I will tell you it was hard work. I also decided that I absolutely could not have a baby without getting my hair cut first. So, I called around today and found both an appointment and someone to watch the Big Kid while I got my hairs cut. Who knows what I will decide tomorrow.

Picture with my Big Kid on Saturday (39 weeks, 1 day)
And no, carrying him around (all 31ish pounds of him) on top of my belly isn't doing anything to put me into labor.

And finally I tried to catch a little nap today in the chair while John played with William on the floor nearby. William didn't want me to feel left out, so he drove his cars on my head and gave me kisses to wake me up. Wonderful...

For Nicole

I've been writing this post for my friend Nicole for a long time in my head now. See, Nicole is doing something both incredible and difficult at the same time. Nicole has decided to start running - and I am so excited for her. Although I've not had the pleasure of meeting Nicole in person, our stories are so similar that it is amazing our paths haven't ever crossed.

Her story has gotten me thinking back to when I first started running and how much hard work it was. So, as a little encouragement, I thought I would share the short version of my own running story here. So here it is!

I started running the summer after I graduated from high school. Previously, I was not not anywhere near athletic. I did not participate in sports and my motto was (I know someone else famously said this, I'm shamelessly stealing it) "Why run when you can walk, why walk when you can stand, why stand when you can sit, why sit when you can lay down, in fact why get up if you don't have to." To sum up, totally uninterested in athletics and not a participant in any way if I could help it at all.

I'm not sure why I started running the day after graduation. And really, using the word "running" is a stretch. In the beginning I struggled to run for any stretch over 1/4 of a mile. And honestly, that might be a stretch. But, I started and I kept it up even though I felt stupid chugging away on the streets in my neighborhood. In the fall, I started my freshman year of college.

Here I am with my fabulous roommate and best friend Jessica on the first day of school. (posted without permission from her). As a note, I am currently about 10 pounds heavier 9 months pregnant than I am in this picture*.

Throughout that year, I worked really hard and I achieved one of my first goals just before Halloween: I ran my first mile without stopping. It took me four months to accomplish, but I was so SO proud of myself when I finally did it. By May, Jessica and I registered and ran in a 5K run. In a little over a year, I went from being totally nonathletic to being able to run 3.2ish miles in a row without stopping. (Please note: still completely uninterested in sports)

Jessica and I post 5K run

It goes without saying that running increased my confidence in myself and pushed me to take on new challenges. It changed how I viewed my body and took care of it. It also really made me see how taking time for myself and only me made me a more giving and happy person. Taking up running was a monumental, life changing decision.


After my first year of college, I kept up the running, although my dedication came and went as my class schedule and other life commitments changed. I do want to point out that I've never been anywhere never the competitive level of running. I am neither graceful nor swift as I jog around the track. However, I've never run for anyone but me. And I'm proud of that. Running is hard. It requires work. I'm not naturally good at it and I do it anyways. While writing this post, I've also realized that I've now been a "runner" for over 10 years. That is a major accomplishment.

After William was born, I renewed my dedication and hit the track at our local Y hard. It was hard to start over. I had to work again to run that one mile without stopping. But I did it and grew stronger. I made it my goal to train and run another 5K. Again, so proud to have accomplished that goal. After NewBaby makes his/her appearance, I'm sure you'll find me back at the track again.

Ready to run 5K, March 2008

*Although I'm sure running helped, I also am an incredibly picky eater. So picky that I went on the all cereal diet part way through my freshman year. I gave up on the cafeteria food because I didn't like it and ate only cereal.

The Awww....didn't last

I have to tell you the rest of the story from our music class last week. Just because it shows you exactly what I've been dealing with over the last few weeks. We left music class without major incident and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about how cute our kid is. Before leaving any building lately, I require a pit stop. So, William and I went into the ladies locker room. I picked a stall and pulled William inside with me, quickly locking the door. William was instantly fascinated. I tried to distract him, but I was also reaching emergency stage of bathroom needs*. So, I proceeded...and I'm sure you can see where this is all going.

Yes, he figured out the lock within 1.212 seconds and yes there was both a swim class, cycle class and aerobics class filling the locker room at that very moment to view my very pregnant self. And, yes I had to go to the bathroom so badly that I just did my best to keep the door more than 50% shut while I took care of business.

*If you talk to my mother about this, she will laugh and tell you that I have more than earned this moment based on my own childhood behavior.

Our Boy

While I won't say he is perfect, William has been very very sweet and very very cute lately. Here is a serving of the sweet and cute for you:


1. Yesterday we went to our music class. Another boy in the class has a 4 month old baby sister who usually naps in her stroller during most of the class. However, yesterday she wasn't having it and her mom finally pulled her out of the stroller and brought her to sit in the circle with us. The teacher was got out some sandblocks for the kids to play with and all the kids (from 18-36 months) were pulling the sandblocks out of the bucket and returning to their adult to sit. William was walking back towards me when he noticed the little baby didn't have any blocks. So, he veered off and tried to give them to the baby. "Share!" is what he said and collectively an "Awwwww..." came up from the crowd.

2. What could be sweeter than the first ice cream cone compliments of Grandma and Grandpa (photos courtesy of them as well)

3. He has been full of hugs and kisses lately. We are totally loving this as he was so stingy with handing them out before.

4. Yesterday we had a small thunderstorm blow through. I saw the lightening and while I waited for the thunder, I wondered about what his reaction would be. The thunder was loud and long when it came causing William to stand up and drop the cars he was playing with and come running to me. He burried his face into my neck and said "Wind? Scared? All done?" He then proceeded to sit in my lap for the rest of the 20 minute storm and snuggle in close every time it thundered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also had my OB appointment this morning. We had a good appointment with the best news being that I've progressed from a 1cm to a 3cm. That is good news! However, the doctor (not my regular dr) was fairly confident that I will be back next week for my appointment because I am still posterior (don't google this unless you REALLY want to see something graphic).

I also had a contraction while the doctor was listening to the baby's heart beat. It was good to confirm that what I've been feeling were indeed contractions. However, they are not uncomfortable and they are exactly the same as what I've been feeling since about week 24. So, still probably Brackston Hicks. Fine by me at this point as they don't hurt!

T-Minus

Ten Days and counting....more or less.