Letter to the Sesame Seed - Week 40

Hello Sesame Seed!!

Welcome to week 40! We've arrived at your estimated due date, which means that the phone calls of friends and family "just checking in" may take on a more anticipatory vibe. I can already see it in the eyes of people when they drop by--like they're just waiting for me to say, "Why yes indeed, you've arrived just in time to see me start labor."

Even your father has devoted a new level of attention to me. He's primed for action, ready to jump at a moment's notice. Take this example from a couple nights ago:

You'd had a fun day of jumping on my bladder, and I wasn't looking forward to my 50th trip to the bathroom. To express some of my discomfort I said to your dad, "Honey, I really don't want to get up; would you please go pee for me?" Well, he was halfway to the bathroom before he realized the difficulty of the task.

It feels great to have reached this day and know that your arrival is imminent, even if the chance of you actually showing up today is about 2%. This is particularly true when considering your parentage. That kind of punctuality would make me question whether aliens hadn't swapped our real son for a better organized, more disciplined model.

Your grandma flew in from Vegas yesterday and immediately started taking care of me. I tell you, there is nothing like having your mom around to make you feel safe and loved. Just knowing that she's here has helped me relax and feel like I don't have to be quite so on top of things. I think you've been waiting for her to show up before you come into the world--somehow you know how important it is to me to have her around for labor. And to prove my point, we had some really great signs of progress last night. I had my first actual contraction just before I went to bed!

For the benefit of my girlfriends who are now salivating at that thought: these could go on for days if not weeks, so take a big breath.

***

There... do you feel better?

During the past week I've been having more frequent Braxton Hicks practice contractions (painless tightening of the uterus that happens throughout the pregnancy) as well as a couple low, crampy feeling ones. These are both normal pre-labor workouts for my muscles. But last night as I was watching the last few minutes of a movie I could feel my back start to ache and the muscles in my abdomen tighten in pain. I got up and moved around to see if it would go away, but after about five minutes I was still rocking and swaying and breathing deeply through the pain. It was so cool!

I know that's a strange attitude, but it was my first contraction, my first real sign that I will, in fact, be having a baby soon. If pain means that things are progressing, then pain is a great thing.

I haven't had any more since that one last night, but I don't think it will be long now.

I hope you're getting excited about seeing the world. I'm very excited to see you! Don't be scared about the journey you have to make--we'll do it together--and you'll see that it's well worth it.

I love you,
Mommy