The Middle? of the End in Pregnancy Journal

Tuesday morning I woke up in intense pain from a strong contraction. They were of a different sort than those I had experienced up to that point. I was still very sleepy and tired, but thrilled that this meant labor might be starting after all.
I remember yelling in a sort of half frustrated, half deliriously tired sort of way at DH. “Good thing YOU can get any sleep and not wake up every 20 minutes!”
It didn’t make any sense but I was just mad about everything. I then laughed crazily and left the bedroom.
7 am rolled around, and my contractions were still ~20 minutes apart with an occasional 10 minute. I was getting more desperate; my planned homebirth was slipping away before my eyes, and I wanted to do everything in my power to prevent a transfer. So I called up my chiropractor and got in as soon as they opened.
There is a chiropractic technique called Webster that can help the baby get in optimal position for birth, and sometimes even help labor start or to become productive. DH drove me to the appointment while I squirmed in discomfort all the way there. I sat on layers of towels in our new vehicle (lol).
I warned my chiropractor that my water had broken before he adjusted me. The adjustment was very quick, but I felt a change immediately. As I left, contractions were consistently 10 minutes apart, and occasionally 7 minutes. On the way home, I watched the clock obsessively (even though they tell you not to do that, I couldn’t help it). So much was riding on me going into labor that day.
It was over 48 hours since my water broke. I was delaying calling my midwife as long as possible. I kept thinking maybe I would break through to the 5 minute contractions at any moment. I wanted to wait as long as possible before calling it quits.
Finally at noon DH called her. We all talked on speakerphone. My temp readings were great, the vitals for baby were stellar (even in the womb babe had an excellent heart rate and strength), my midwife agreed to give us another day. I was so relieved to hear that. She did warn me to conserve my energy, to continue to eat, to nap when I could and stay well hydrated.
I don’t really remember the rest of that day. I think I was too tired and there wasn’t enough excitement for anything to really stick.
I remember falling asleep several times while sitting on the birth ball doing nipple stimulation, my hands falling down onto my thighs woke me up.
At that point, my contractions would only get more intense (painful) with stimulation but the frequency remained at 7 to 10 minutes until very late that night.

Last updated April 16, 2020