What a night..!

Well, to start-we had our 36 week appointment yesterday.  Everything seemed pretty good, and our midwife Abigail was super excited that I was only 5 days away from the 'green zone' to deliver at the birth center.  Although, she measured my belly, as they do every appointment, and I was strangely measuring small.  I have been measuring right-on since the beginning.  So my last measurement at 34 weeks was measuring right at 34 weeks; however, yesterday I was measuring 33 when I should be at 36....hmmm...Abigail was a little concerned and scheduled us for an ultrasound asap.  Asap meant Friday for NM Sonographics-ugh, I hate the waiting game.   But, I really feel that everything is fine-especially since I have been measuring well up until this point.  Abigail said that once the baby drops that it is hard to get an accurate measurement.  I think that this is most likely the case-Harper is dropping down south, getting ready for labor.  Especially with the lightning crotch episodes I've been having that I told you about last time :-)  But, we have an ultrasound Friday just to confirm that baby doesn't have any growth restrictions or that I'm not leaking fluid or something...

So, after all that 'excitement'-last night I had my first experience with some serious Braxton-Hicks contractions.  I've been having painless Braxton-Hicks for months now-just tightening of my uterus.  But, last night was the first time they have been painful and somewhat consistent.  I honestly wasn't sure if I was in the early stages of labor, or if these were just practice.  I am scrambling to finish all my school work this week; so last night around 8:30 I'm doing my take home exam for Civil Litigation and these contractions start...nothing consistent until around 9:45 when they start coming every 10 minutes-uh oh!  At our appointment that day, Abigail had JUST told us that the best thing to do in this situation when you're unsure is to get into a warm bath.  Josh fixed the bath for me and I got in-the contractions then relaxed and went back to being painless uterus tightening.  Wow-just goes to show the relaxing powers of water!  However, when I got out of the bath and ready for bed, they started up again slowly.  Josh was sound asleep next to me around 12:45 when these pains were coming on about every 2 minutes!!  Felt like pretty bad menstrual cramps in my back that would wrap around to my uterus.  I just kept thinking-- "Seriously!?  We are FIVE days away from being able to deliver at Dar a Luz!!"  Needless to say, Harper did not decide to come last night!  Phew!  The discomfort (on top of my concern-is this really happening tonight?!) definitely interfered with my sleep-I wasn't able to get to bed until around 2am when the contractions went away-but they finally dwindled off and I got some shut eye.  What a night!!